Cultural power: Cool or consequential?
James Collier, chief data officer at M&C Saatchi Group, dives into why cultural power is a big deal for brands today, and looks at how resonance and momentum can really set them apart.
Culture. It’s what makes us human. It’s what we wear, eat, listen to, watch, and believe. It’s how we behave, who we trust, and what influences us. It permeates every aspect of our lives, shaping the decisions we make and the brands we buy.
Yet, despite its omnipresence, culture often gets mistaken for ‘popularity’ – reduced to a hashtag or headline. But popularity is fleeting, a symptom rather than the cause. It’s like trying to understand a symphony by only listening to the horns – you miss the depth, the emotion, and the resonance. True cultural power runs deeper – it taps into the systematic, personal, and profound ways people make sense of their world.
For brands, this isn’t just semantics. It’s the difference between being a passing distraction and a lasting influence.
Why cultural power matters
At its core, cultural power is the ultimate competitive advantage. It’s what enables brands to do more than sell products; it helps them build meaning in the minds of the people that matter.
Brands with cultural power don’t only win market share; they win mindshare. They attract new audiences, energise existing ones, and drive sustainable growth.
But let’s be clear: building cultural power isn’t about hopping on the latest meme or trying to start a TikTok dance challenge (although this can have a place). It’s about understanding the deeper forces that shape how people think, feel, and act – and finding your authentic place within that
dynamic. It’s about resonance and momentum.
The cultural power equation
Cultural power = cultural resonance + cultural momentum.
Let’s unpack that.
Cultural resonance is about relevance. It’s about striking a chord with people, not just as consumers but as human beings. Resonance happens when your brand aligns with the values, aspirations, and emotions of your audience. It’s not about being liked; it’s about being meaningful.
Cultural momentum is about action. It’s the ability to drive change, whether that’s in attitudes, behaviors, or conversations. Momentum is what keeps your brand moving forward, evolving with – and sometimes ahead of – the culture around it.
Combine these two elements, and you have cultural power: the ability to matter today while shaping tomorrow.
Building brands that matter
Our aspiration is simple but ambitious: to build brands that shape culture.
This isn’t just a lofty ideal; it’s a business imperative. In a world where trust is scarce and attention even scarcer, brands that fail to connect culturally risk irrelevance.
But here’s the kicker: cultural power isn’t something you can fake. You can’t buy it with a bigger media spend or a flashier campaign. It’s earned through consistent, intentional effort. It’s about doing the work to understand your audience – their fears, their dreams, their truths – and finding
ways to serve them meaningfully.
Measuring what matters
Of course, no good marketer or agency would talk about an idea without a way to measure it.
That’s why we’ve developed a proprietary measurement and evaluation system to quantify cultural power. By analysing the resonance and momentum of hundreds of brands, we can pinpoint not only where a brand stands today but also how it can grow.
This isn’t just about vanity metrics like followers or shares. It’s about understanding how your brand performs within its category and against competitors, as well as how it influences the broader cultural landscape. While measurement provides valuable insight that guides and focuses effort, it still requires ambitious marketers to unlock the full potential of cultural power.
A final thought
Cultural power isn’t about being cool or sigma (sorry!); it’s about being consequential. Cool fades. Consequential endures.
For example; Gymshark’s meteoric rise in the highly competitive sports apparel category was driven through its deep understanding of gym culture, its ongoing relationship with fitness influencers and a focus on offering real and meaningful value to the broader fitness community.
It’s how Lifeblood energised Australians to give blood through it’s ‘….. is the reason’. A community platform for Australians to share their very personal reasons for donating blood.
Or how Taylor Swift created a cultural tsunami with her Eras tour, elevating her above other music icons to become a major economic influence in her own right! These aren’t just brands or artists; they’re cultural forces.
Put another way, they don’t show up to ride the wave, they’re set on making it!
Don’t get me wrong, that TikTok dance challenge might work out well, but cultural power isn’t just about chasing what’s trending, it’s about being part of what matters.
James Collier is chief data officer at M&C Saatchi Group.
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Nice one Jimbo!
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The problem with measuring, and relying upon, cultural power is compounded by the wild variance in the landscape. Immediately prior cultural powerhouses such as DEI and ESG are today’s shareholder cannon fodder. There may be a great upside, but leveraging cultural power within a commercial context is fraught and promising it as a marketer is wildly ambitious. I hope you charge a premium, if you can deliver.
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