The Rise & Shine of Unconventional Branding
In today’s world, we’re constantly inundated with visual stimulation, leading brands to experiment more with unconventional branding strategies. Gen Z is the most visually savvy generation to date, making it increasingly challenging for brands to stand out among endless online content, especially through advertising. The distinction between brand identity and brand marketing has become almost indistinguishable – inextricably linked.
So how do we create new brands and give them that special je ne sais quoi that sets them apart from the crowd?
A striking trend among brands is the borderline-comedic tension between visuals and storytelling. This tension sparks intrigue—a break with convention—as our expectations for stand-out brand moments and ads have become finely tuned. Whether consciously or not, we recognize familiar advertising clichés: a runner in activewear sipping on X filtered water; a parent riding bikes with their kid to promote Y allergy medicine; a dentist in a lab coat recommending Z toothpaste. All from the same playbook, with storylines that are easily transferrable to different products with minimal changes.
These tropes have become so pervasive that their use can feel condescending at times. So, how do brands break through the barriers of bad branding habits of the past?
Lessons from Breakthrough Brands
1. Own the Obvious
The Hans Brinker Hostel in Amsterdam is an exceptional example of unconventional branding. Once dubbed the "worst hotel in the world," this breakthrough brand revamped its website and brand positioning, leaning into the opportunity with a remarkably bold approach. Rather than erasing its infamous reputation, the brand embraced its status as the worst of the worst.
2. Create a “Wait, What?” Moment
If you've been to a festival or any outdoor concert in recent years, you've probably seen the plethora of product marketing pop-ups for Liquid Death. At first glance, the aluminum can and its intricate packaging design seem more in line with a craft brewer’s latest flavor launch, but it’s actually premium mountain-sourced water. The brand's co-founder and CEO, Mike Cessario, realized that all the brands that were good for you had boring, stale marketing. So, the idea became, "What if we could take something good for you but act like it wasn’t?" Subverting visual conventions within a product market creates an instant moment of interest—ones that your customers can’t help but engage with.
This experimental idea with reverse psychology is highlighted in one of their famous viral commercials, which features a group of kids throwing an epic rager, Liquid Death cans in hand throughout. It's one of those "Wait, what?" moments in branding that has the power to pull consumers in, grabbing their attention.
3. Go Simple for Big Impact
Oatly is another brand that uses self-awareness and humor to subvert convention. They don’t labor over telling you that switching to oat milk will help you live to 100. Instead, they’ve replaced photo-perfect images of oat milk splashing into your favorite cereal with bold, simple copy, sometimes basic illustrations, and other times seemingly mocking themselves with just a clean image of the product without context.
Matty Matheson's new food company belongs in this category too. As a celebrity chef and creator of the hit Hulu series The Bear, he’s undoubtedly gained his street cred. But the branding for his company is beautifully simple, unpretentious, and extremely approachable. In an industry known for its 'big egos', the muted warm tones and unassuming sans-serif typography capture a humility normally reserved for a family recipe. This draws consumers in.
Other examples include Mountain Dew throwing the launch party for an alcoholic seltzer product at a retirement home in Florida and the now-famous sunscreen brand, Vacation’s decision to feature an 'out-of-stock' hovercraft as a permanent part of their product lineup. These playful, unconventional elements help brands stand out.
All these examples pack a welcome freshness—an unexpected turn that takes a new product on the market and makes it into something fun, maybe even funny. Something that forces you to take a second look because of its unconventionality and uniqueness. That worthiness is the key to unlocking a true connection with the consumer, providing brands the ultimate opportunity to break through the noise.
The Takeaway
By challenging traditional advertising tropes and embracing your brand’s unique differentiating characteristics with self-awareness, irreverence, and a touch of humility, brands can forge distinctive and memorable identities that boldly stand out in a saturated marketplace. Creating lasting impressions for brands and their customers—from a logomark to a billboard, a retail environment, or a doctor’s office—holds the potential to transcend conventional expectations and deliver a fresh, nuanced brand experience.
The rise of unconventional branding signifies a shift towards more authentic and relatable marketing, proving that creativity and boldness are instrumental in making a lasting impression and connecting with audiences in a thoughtful and meaningfully memorable way.