Samantha Keah: Unhinged Marketing – Do Brands Need to be “Weird” to Win?
By Samantha Keah (pictured), Biddable Manager at Assembled Media
The internet has always been a weird and comforting place where niche, online communities can thrive. Whether it’s on TikTok, Reddit, Discord, or my personal favourite growing up, Tumblr; these platforms have served as a place where subcultures can take off. Platforms like Tumblr birthed everything we know, from pastel goth aesthetics to hyper-specific fandoms – they’ve shaped the way people engage with content, businesses, and each other. Back then, brands didn’t belong in these spaces. If anything, they felt out of place and were desperately trying to fit in.
Today’s world portrays a different story – gone are the days of brands being faceless corporations! Now, it’s more important than ever to have a brand personality that stands out in a cluttered environment. But the question is: does this actually work, or is it just another fleeting trend?
Do brands really need to be weird to win?
The secret to winning over Gen Z
In a move that has been coined as ‘unhinged marketing’, brands are actively leaning into the weirdness of the internet. They’ve realised winning over the key markets of Gen Z and Gen Alpha requires more than just a catchy slogan (looking at you, The burgers are better at Hungry Jacks) or a perfectly curated Instagram feed. It’s about having a unique and authentic voice.
Gen Z has grown up in a digital age making them highly adept at spotting (and usually rejecting) marketing fluff. They tend to shy away from traditional, polished brand messaging and instead crave brands that feel real, relatable and aligned with their values. This is where unhinged marketing comes into play. Brands that embrace the chaotic weirdness, whether it be jumping on meme culture, unfiltered humour or self-aware irreverence, can leverage a guaranteed way to capture and maintain Gen Z’s attention.
Driving cut through in a cluttered environment
With a million brands constantly fighting for our short attention spans, finding bold ways to stand out is no longer optional – it’s essential. For challenger brands, unhinged marketing offers a way to cut through the noise and compete with more established names. By defying traditional advertising norms and leaning into unpredictability, challenger brands can disrupt expectations and create shareable, buzz-worthy moments that demand the attention all brands crave.
The key is to be unique enough to be memorable, but familiar enough to be relatable. It’s not about outspending the competition but outsmarting them with authenticity and a willingness to push boundaries.
Though it sounds weird, it’s clear that unhinged marketing works. Just last month, we experienced a cultural phenomenon which no one saw coming – Duolingo announced the death of its beloved owl mascot in a viral marketing stunt. The campaign quickly gained traction on TikTok with the initial video amassing over 7.5million likes and 117k comments within days. It generated the kind of engagement marketers can only dream of! This content dominated my TikTok algorithm for weeks, further being amplified with interactions from other major brands and even celebrities like Dua Lipa.
A campaign like this goes to show that unhinged content can be highly effective and engaging – especially through a platform like TikTok that boasts an algorithm so powerful that it amplifies content to go viral in extremes and influences public opinion. With the right mix of wit, timing, and cultural relevance, even niche, challenger brands can go viral.
So, should every brand go unhinged?
If every brand could see the same success as Duolingo by going unhinged, every brand would! But it simply wouldn’t make sense for every brand.
Legacy brands often have an established reputation to uphold, making out-of-the-box strategies a little harder to implement – but not impossible. Unhinged marketing works best for startups or challengers aiming to disrupt traditional industries. Add in a main target audience that skews to younger generations like Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and you have the ideal setup for a brand to create content that uniquely resonates with its audience.
But there’s a catch: Gen Z can smell inauthenticity from a mile away and a ‘one and done’ viral post just doesn’t work on its own. For unhinged marketing to work, you need a bold brand personality and a long-term commitment to the chaos.
It may not be for everyone, but unhinged marketing can be a game-changer for those who are willing to take risks and push the boundaries of conventional strategies. If done right, it could be exactly what you need to take your brand to the next level.
So, if you’re ready to take the leap, go ahead – embrace the weird and see where it takes you!
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