Barely in their thirties, Social Media platforms have already lived - and evolved - a lot.
Naturally, the kind of content we consume and produce has also changed. The polished, impeccable feeds of the 2010s have become passé, opening space to content that is anarchic, flippant, chaotic.
Now, Social Media is firmly into its unhinged era.
But how can brands, perpetually worried about coherent distinctiveness, use this chaos to their advantage?
Let’s first trace the messy origins of unhinged content.
WHEN MASKS FALL: DITCHING PERFECTION FOR MESSY REALNESS
The Internet has always been somehow strange, a place where one could explore niche interests and forbidden desires more freely.
However, while in the past madness would rarely cross to personal, attributable Social Media profiles, now it’s unashamedly produced or reposted by young people, unafraid of tainting their identities.
A nihilistic response to the perpetual insecurity of the last few decades? A firm rejection of the impossible standards promoted by first-wave influencers? A middle finger to society’s ever changing ways of making us conform?
Regardless, Social Media’s humour just hits different now, revelling in self-deprecation to set free the need for control. Hyperniche jokes and shitposting are now ubiquitous, standing out from glossier meme accounts of yesteryear by its indulgent randomness that often disguises ironic, deep critical thinking.
In other words, unhinged content is how we transform reasons to cry into reasons to laugh.
It was only a matter of time before this new LOL language was embraced by broader culture.
WHEN SHITPOSTING BECOMES MAINSTREAM
From Doja Cat to Julian Casablancas and Azealia Banks, musicians were amongst the first influential figures to embrace shitposting. Soon other celebs followed, anxious to appear relatable or simply ceasing to care about being #inspirational.
With shitposting going mainstream, brands started dipping their toes in this sea of deranged content. Throwing away the universal rulebook of effective branded content, social media managers have deprioritized masterbrand campaigns, promotions, and stylized product features to give grid space to fleeting jokes and community interactions that are riskier, but can dramatically affect brand sentiment.
However, for all the success Duolingo, Ryanair and Nutterbutter have achieved, there’s been a multitude of brands failing at unhinging themselves. After a summer in which we all cringed at everyone going brat before switching to demure, it’s important to know how to adopt this social media strategy in a way that is effective and credible, yet still authentically deranged.
THE RULES OF UNHINGED FOR BRANDS
- It’s not for all brands.
As with everything in life, trends don’t suit everyone - and that includes unhinged content.
Not all brands can shitpost: doing it effectively depends on their category, reputation, tone of voice… Above all, it depends on a thorough understanding of the audience, otherwise it can come across as forced and awkward.
As a general guidance, it often works better for B2C brands, like FMCG, quick service restaurants and tech players, particularly those who are challengers, whilst companies whose business are primarily built on trust, like health providers, charities or financial players, should be more careful.
There’s no hard and fast rule though: Kamala Harris might have taught a master class in LOL political content, but if it came from the Tories, it would probably alienate voters. Liquid Death made its unhinged tone of voice a differentiator in a world dominated by benign, angelic Evian - but if the latter suddenly changed its approach, it could look ‘me too’.
For Duolingo, beyond brand sentiment, viral videos increase app downloads and incentivise usage by the existing base.
It’s all about knowing the people you’re engaging with and how this approach could benefit your brand.
- It takes time to pay off.
As unhinged social media works better as organic, non-paid content, it should be seen as a long-term bet, as it takes time to properly seed a tone of voice, get talked about, followed, and finally see the shift translate into sales and actual business growth.
Even Duo’s platonic relationship with Dua Lipa wasn’t love at first sight, but a slow burner dating back to 2021.
Shitposting takes time to pay off, with two implications.
First, even brands for whom unhinged content is a great fit shouldn’t jump at every single fad (yes, brat summer still haunts me, but Moo Deng jokes are coming close now). Obviously, social media managers must be aware of changing TikTok trends and join the conversation whenever possible, but there’s no need to reproduce each passing social media meme; you can create your own lore too.
Second, unhinged content can rarely fully replace mass reach campaigns - both need to work in tandem. Ryanair’s success, for example, stems from the fact the brand fully owns its substandard flying experience on social media, shitposting about it and shifting brand sentiment without improving one single aspect of it.
After all, they know we’re all doomed to break our next ‘Ryanair, never again’ promise.
- Sometimes unhinged flops, so risks must be factored.
With shitposting, rewards can be great - but so are the risks. Sometimes flops are just posts without engagement but, other times, they can mean tremendous backfires.
Burger King, a known guerilla marketer, has long pursued earned media, with post-partum meals and rotten Whoppers - however, it was with a tweet intended to flip sexist standards and promote women as chefs that the brand had to publicly apologise in 2021.
One year later, Duolingo found themselves under fire for leaning into pop culture’s obsession with the Johnny Depp / Amber Heard divorce, with a joke that seemed to make fun of domestic violence and didn’t translate well.
In an era in which everyone can get cancelled at any time, leaning into unhinged content is obviously scary, as the limit between relatable and offensive can be tenuous. Whilst speed of content is paramount, it’s important to have a diverse team that can preempt possible concerns.
However, for those brave enough to take the plunge and commit to it, it can pay off beautifully - and even suddenly, as NutterButter has proven with their weird brand universe.
WE ALL NEED TO LAUGH AT THE CHAOS
It’s human to feel inadequate at times. Whilst Social Media still heightens this feeling of not belonging, the unhinged narrative has been shifting it by normalising weirdness - and making us all laugh about it.
Like people, brands are not perfect, and trying too hard to seem so is a recipe for apathy at best, and alienation at worst.
And apathy is truly the enemy of brands, which need salience and talkability to keep themselves present in people’s overloaded minds. You might not like Tesco’s OOH ads with the dashes but, as Ben says, they’re fun and got talked about.
Brands exist in the real world, not in neat frameworks and perfect powerpoints. As brand guardians, it’s often hard to escape the trap of over-intellectualising our work and the people we serve, but it’s important to save space for chaos.
Ultimately, the real world is a chaotic place, and sometimes all we need to navigate it is a good dose of LOLs.
By Diana Lopes
Strategy Partner
