Keep Your Core Close

What started out as a conversation with our resident apprentice Georgie about the merits of brands supporting Pride Month, turned into a more meaningful dialogue about brand strategy.

With trends fleeting as fast as they come these days, caution is key when deciding which ones to align your brand strategy with. You need to delicately toe the line between staying current and not alienating your core base.

Bumble's recent billboard advertisement

Mean What You Say

Bumble's recent billboard blunder exemplifies this risk. The dating app has built its brand around empowering women and facilitating meaningful connections, even stating on its website that "85% of Bumble users are looking for marriage or a boyfriend/girlfriend" and "less than 4% of men and less than 1% of women are looking for a hookup."

So naturally, when Bumble unveiled a cheeky billboard boasting against celibacy vows, the overtly sexual messaging represented a jarring departure from the values it had promised its user base. The off-brand ad drew swift criticism from outside audiences, but more importantly left Bumble's core users feeling perplexed and betrayed about the platform's true purpose.

Bud Light's 2024 Super Bowl commercial

Don't Ditch Your Fans

When we compare this misstep with Bud Light's debacle a year ago, we see the same problem. The VP of marketing at the time said she had wanted to update the "fratty" and "out-of-touch" brand, and inadvertently nearly drove the brand off a cliff. Bud Light campaigns have been backtracking into their 'fratty Americana' image through sports and country music marketing, but sales are still slow to recover.

These substantial examples remind us not to work overtime just to make going back to the basics an uphill climb. In today's volatile climate, straying too far from your built identity can undermine years of brand cultivation.

Stay true, stay you. Your business will thank you.