By Ben Jones

Back in the noughties, you’d be in your big monthly marketing catch-up, having just found out which hero product needs to make a splash. Cue an almighty brainstorm: ideas are volleyed around, heads nod in unison and you’d throw celebrity names around like it was the guest list to China White’s (RIP). 

The end result: you’ve got the framework for a promo…that might go live months later…if you’re lucky. 

Many are still working this way. Not at Coolr though. For us, agility is just as essential as air and water. It is the lifeblood of our agency, informing our every move – from building our teams to hiring content creators.

That’s because the world we live in is defined by speed. Algorithms are tweaked on what feels like a daily basis, trends come and go faster than you can say “Labubu” and conversations change faster than a Labour u-turn. 

And this problem isn’t going to suddenly vanish. More than 70% of marketers expect content demand to grow fivefold by 2027. When this happens, social teams can’t spend weeks booking studio time, fine-tuning every frame and over-editing assets to death, only to sit idly by waiting for sign-off. 

Putting all your eggs in the “hero basket” is no longer a strategy; it’s a surefire way to miss the moment. The pursuit of perfection should still be the driver – but it’s time to acknowledge that agility is the new ultimate differentiation. 

(And I’m 200 words in, and I’m yet to mention the letters ‘A’ and ‘I’).

From side dish to main course

Without wanting to sound like a distorted Spotify song (today’s version of a broken record), everyone should know by now that social has graduated from bolt-on to blockbuster. If you need any further proof, check out Deloitte’s latest research. 

It found that social is one of the dominant forces in media and entertainment, with consumers spending just shy of an hour per day on social media – which rises to 1.4 hours for Gen Z. Staying on the shoppers of tomorrow, Gen Z are influenced more by ads and product reviews on social media than they are by ads on streaming services. 

In short, social ticks every box. It’s where people discover, debate and decide. It’s why TikTok Shop is becoming increasingly popular. To stay front of mind in this environment, your reaction time will need to rival that of a Lando Norris pole start. 

Rewriting the production script

Throwing out your old production model doesn’t mean going rogue – but it does mean being flexible, while ensuring all the correct procedures, licenses and insurances are still in place. 

Don’t let your shoots be one-and-done. Build an extensive content library. This not only gives you reusable in-house assets, but also enables creators to remix and reimagine them. Bonus: repeatable formats create economies of scale (and who doesn’t love saving money?). It’s not unusual for the team to shoot six or more pieces of content in a day. 

Agility also hinges on being able to escape the paperwork trap. Obsessing over project portfolio management (PPM) may appear the most efficient way to keep tabs on your production’s process, but it will kill momentum faster than you can say “sign-off loop”. One-pagers and trust between makers and clients are more important than ever.

There’s a healthy balance to be struck between polishing your idea and bringing it to life. It’s possible for a picture to be “too perfect” and a video “too realistic”. Authenticity and timing are king on social. Audiences will forgive a few jump cuts and blurry shots, provided the foundation is solid and the idea is original. 

And remember: you don’t have to go it alone. No one embodies the speed of social quite like content creators. Take Brandon B, the visual effects (VFX) YouTuber turned founder of his own production studio. 

Brandon’s success doesn’t just stem from his ability to keep his finger on the social pulse and create eye-catching videos. He believes that the narrative has to align with his own values – something which also applies to collaborations. “Even if and when we’ve had incredible opportunities to work with my favourite brands growing up, if the story or the idea doesn’t feel right, we unfortunately pull away”. 

The importance of genuineness can also be seen in the way that user-generated content (UGC) resonates. In the US, more than 28% of ecommerce marketers believe that it’s the visual content format that impacts purchase decisions most – while a quarter think it generates the most trust. Empowering your audience to be the stars of your show isn’t just cost-effective; it’s culture-effective. Anyone who doubts this need only look at the way Spotify Wrapped takes over Instagram every year. 

We feel the need for speed – do you?

It wouldn’t be a future-gazing blog without giving a quick nod to AI – the harbinger of the latest technological revolution. 

Fact: AI’s influence on the production process is only going to grow. At Coolr, we’ve already embraced an experiential mindset. Generative AI is being deployed across the agency – from using DALL-E and Midjourney for storyboarding to more advanced tools like Veo 3 to create short-form videos. 

Staying ahead of the curve means being open-minded about what AI can offer. Because as these tools continue to evolve and become ingrained in the content creation process, speed won’t be a nice-to-have. It will be the key to survival. 

The days of over-processed, over-engineered content are numbered. Moving forward, the winning brands won’t be polishing their campaigns weeks after the moment – they’ll have already moved on to the next trend.

What do you get when you combine television’s spiciest reality competition with a line-up that perfectly blends traditional celebrities with new-age social talent? Answer: The Celebrity Traitors. 

Four episodes in and we’ve already been gifted a stream of “OMG, need to drop that in the group chat ASAP” moments. From Tom Daley’s (sorry – Daylee’s) Oscar-worthy eye roll to Celia Imrie’s unexpected flatulence, social feeds are being dominated by a rolling commentary of reactions, recaps and reactions to recaps. 

Naturally, brands were quick to jump on the bandwagon. Low-effort memes with “relatable” captions were rolled out en masse as everyone attempted to become the talk of the town, if only for a second. 

To paraphrase Kate Garroway: this has left me flabbergasted. Brands love to latch onto these ephemeral moments, thinking they will fast-track them to relevance. But here’s the thing. Yes, you can win by jumping on a trend. But there are rules of engagement that you need to follow. To really stand out, brands should shift their focus away from chasing trends – and start generating them. 

Same same but not different

Let’s be honest, the main reason that trend chasing has become the de facto strategy of choice is because it’s easy. The template is formulaic, to the point that it can be distilled into one line: 

Meme format + brand mention = job done. 

Except the job isn’t done. Audiences have become fatigued by seeing content time and again. Every brand is relying on the same low hanging fruit (i.e. content format and cultural moment), leaving them with no identity or originality. Feeds have become a sea of surface-level commentary, a mass of copy-pasted slop mixed with AI generated content. 

It’s no surprise that driving differentiation has become a challenge for even the most valuable brands.

Newsflash: a brand that jumps on anything and everything stands for nothing. And audiences aren’t falling for it; they’re more savvy than you think. This is particularly true of Gen Z. While they like a laugh as much as the next person, humour isn’t a guaranteed winner. This is a generation that prioritises authenticity above all else. They don’t want your brand in their world – unless you’ve earned it. 

Cast your mind back to the countless posts that followed the engagement of ‘Tayvis’ (Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to the uninitiated). There were plenty of ‘Love Story’ references and “funny” callbacks to the duo’s ‘English and Gym Teacher’ nicknames – but they missed the mark. Why? Because these were branded agendas being pushed under the thinly veiled guise of ‘authentic’ content, a surefire way to tank any standing you have with audiences. 

If you’re not first – be best

So, what does it take to break through the white noise? 

It starts by setting the pace. Although trend chasing can bring your brand into the fold (provided it’s done right), there are limitations. By joining the queue, you’re letting competing brands and influencers muddy the waters and dictate the narrative. Rather than settling for joining the conversation, use your unique personality and POV to start one. 

The brands that everyone fawns over on LinkedIn don’t just react to culture – they’re engineering it, setting their own trends and shaping the conversation. For social-first brands that want to thrive in our new world, the real opportunity lies in shifting from participation to ownership. 

And if you’re not going to be first, make sure you’re better than everyone else. Just ask Lidl. Like many, the grocer wanted to capitalise on Oasis’ reunion – but it didn’t want to be left looking back in anger at what could have been. 

That’s why, rather than going in all guns blazing, we used Berghaus’ release of a new Liam Gallagher-promoted rain jacket as a jumping off point. It just goes to show that you don’t need to force yourself onto audiences; there are more interesting (and organic) ways to play into culture and drive engagement. Sometimes all it takes is a simple one liner. 

Too often, brands become so hung up on visibility that they see no other alternative than to opt for reactive post after reactive post. However, it’s not frequency that moves the needle. Being more selective with your activations and emphasising originality helps ensure that your social activity actually delivers value. 

No identity, no influence

In the immortal words of Mufasa (who said The Lion King couldn’t be relevant in 2025?!): “Remember who you are”. You can’t shape culture if you don’t know yourself – and I don’t mean what products and services you have to offer. I mean your voice, your purpose, the role you play in your audience’s lives. 

Are you a playful brand that acts as a ray of light on a rainy day? Or do you prefer to keep things more grounded in reality, with comms taking a more subtle tone? If you can’t answer these questions, playing in the right trends (or potentially generating them) will become second nature. Fail and you’re not ready to lead the conversation. You’re destined to be just another brand trying to court customers with a meme – which can harm your brand and lead to you being banished.