How to tap into cultural moments through advertising

Summer has only just begun in the northern hemisphere and there’s already a lot going on. The Euros are currently ongoing. We’re gearing up for the Olympics which will begin in a few weeks. Plus, it was just Independence Day in the US and election day in the UK.

With all these cultural moments hitting at the same time, I thought it would be a good time to talk about how to capitalize on them with your advertising. 

Because no matter whether it’s a single day like the 4th of July, a sporting event like the Super Bowl or the Olympics or a full season like the winter holidays, it can be hugely impactful to tie your brand to a cultural moment because you can resonate more strongly with what people are feeling and thinking about in the moment. 

In this article, I’ll share the four tips you should keep top of mind to make the most of that opportunity.

Your first step is, of course, creating an ad that’s relevant to the moment at hand.

Think about the themes of the holiday, event or season. What are the traditional cues you need to include? What’s the consumer insight you can tap into that will make your ad relevant to this moment? 

What's the mood or vibe you need to reflect? Your ad won’t land as expected if the tone of the ad doesn’t reflect the mood of this specific moment in time. 

I think this year’s Euros ads are a great case study to explore this. All the ads are relevant to the event, for example: 

• Paddy Power: Reflects the excitement of the event. Portrays stereotypes of English fans done in a very humorous way.

• Irn-Bru: Shows the build up and banter between teams. And the optimism of the Scots. 

• Coca-Cola: Demonstrates the rituals fans go through as 'lucky charms' for the event.

• Sky Bet: Bemoans supporting different players than you usually support during the Euros season.

And yet, the vibe is a bit off in the Sky Bet ad. It’s not as uplifting and passionate as the others — and even the insight isn't as inspiring. The ads highlight the problem with the tournament (supporting players you normally don't support while stopping support for players that are normally yours) rather than the positive. That’s not really the right tone for the excitement and passion of the event. 

But in all of these cases, the brands focused on important aspects of the event so the audience doesn’t miss the connection.

Tapping into a cultural moment gives brands endless possibilities to make people feel something. And when people feel something, ads are more memorable and the overall positivity rubs off on the brand.  

Focus on how to use your insight surrounding the event or moment to build an emotional connection. It can be anything from optimism related to the moment, laughter, love etc.

John Lewis is a great example of the brand that’s led the way in establishing what we now think of as traditional Christmas advertising in the UK. Each year the brand typically produces an ad that creates strong feelings of love and togetherness — like its classic “Buster the Boxer” ad. They’re known for being very emotive.

Of course, cultural moments can be noisy with many other brands weighing in.  And if all brands are trying to be relevant to the same moment, they risk producing ads that are too similar. You have to be distinctive to stand out. 

I love Irn-Bru’s ad for the 2024 Euros. The brand created something hugely distinctive (top 10% of all ads) and entertaining to truly stand out among the competition. 

And we probably all remember when there was a brief power outage during the Super Bowl in 2013 and OREO responded with this iconic image in a tweet: 

With so many brands fighting for attention leading up to and during the Super Bowl, this tweet stood out as distinctive. 

One thing I’ll note about distinctiveness: It can be a fine line between producing something that’s bold and different and something that’s offensive. To make sure you’re on the right side of that line, getting consumer feedback in the development process is key. That feedback will help you push boundaries without crossing them.

One of the issues we see with ads that tap into cultural moments is they become relevant to the moment rather than the brand. But if consumers don’t know the ad was for your brand, what was the point of it? 

So it’s not enough to be relevant and distinctive, the ad has to give a clear role to your brand or product so that it is unmistakably yours. And if anything, you need to be even stronger in executing in a way that cues your brand because it's an even more cluttered environment.

Hershey’s has a great holiday ad that has run for over 30 years in the US. It’s just 15 seconds and it features Hershey’s kisses acting as handbells that play “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” It taps into the cultural moment of the holiday season and has a clear role for the product. 

Circling back to the Euros, most of this year’s ads got the mood right, fit with the brand and were distinctive, but they didn’t provide enough of a role for the brand in the execution to be truly successful. Sky Bet doesn't have a clear role to play in its ad, while Irn-Bru’s ad works for those who already get the brand, its vibe, colors, etc. — but not those who are further from the brand.

Finally, it can be tempting to capitalize on a moment in a way that makes sense for that moment, but that doesn’t actually fit with your brand. And that’s always a recipe for disaster. 

No matter what point in time you’re associating with, you have to stay true to the tone, visual identity, brand assets, etc. of your own brand. Your ad is unlikely to land well if the audience doesn’t think your brand makes sense in the ad. 

This ad from beverage brand Innocent Drinks capitalizes on the Coleen Rooney vs. Rebekah Vardy drama from a few years back in a way that’s consistent with its typical authentic, down-to-earth brand voice. 

When you think about it, this advice is really what you should be doing with your advertising all year long! So as you move forward in your next ad development process, ask yourself: Is the ad relevant? Is it distinctive? Are we connecting emotionally with your audience? What role does our brand or product play? And, are we staying true to our brand with this ad? 

By asking yourself these questions and checking in with consumers throughout your development process, you’ll set yourself up for success when trying to tap into that next cultural moment.