Hi there,

Lately, I've caught myself genuinely enjoying matcha. I've tried it with oat milk, coconut milk, almond milk—in trendy cafés, with fancy mugs, to-go, or sipping it slowly on Barcelona's sunny streets. But then I stopped and asked myself: Do I actually like this? Or did I just fall into another trend?

That's when I spotted the Stanley Cup on my desk. I didn't need a 40-ounce thermos. I barely even liked the color I chose. But somehow, there it sat—like a trophy I never meant to win.

Having one is never enough, though. Suddenly, you need the pastel version. Then the iridescent one. Then come the accessories: the matching straw, the cleaning brush, the color-coded handle, the lid attachment, the neoprene sleeve. Hydration becomes performance art. A reusable bottle—supposedly about reducing waste—transforms into another excuse to accumulate more stuff.

At some point, trends stop influencing what we buy and start dictating who we think we are.

If you work in branding or content, you've felt this creep too. That slow realization that your taste, your creative ideas, your supposed uniqueness are being quietly replaced by whatever the algorithm decided worked last week.

Trends don't just influence us—they replace us.

When Mimicking Becomes the Goal

Trends aren't inherently evil. They're cultural signals, attention-grabbers, sometimes even genuinely useful. But when following trends becomes the strategy instead of having a strategy, we stop creating and start copying.

Take the Labubu toy craze (wtf is a Labubu). What started as quirky art collectibles now resell for thousands of dollars. People queue for hours for the latest drop. Limited editions break the internet, entire communities form around acquiring them, and naturally, the counterfeits and copycats follow.

It's modern brand culture in miniature: something once meaningful gets flattened into a mass-produced identity symbol.

The same pattern plays out everywhere. Matcha lattes and açaí bowls—once authentic cultural expressions, now content props. And the latest craze? Salmon sperm facials. Yes, really.

@jenanistonworld

Jennifer Aniston saying that she has already had cosmetic procedures with salmon sperm 😂😅 #jenniferaniston #fypシ #jimmykimmel

Beauty brands are pushing "salmon DNA" serums promising miraculous hydration and regeneration. It's exclusive, buzzy, and already creating supply chain chaos. Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Aniston are praising it as their skincare secret, sparking curiosity from millions.

Nobody's asking what this costs beyond the price tag.

But here's what happens when millions of people decide they need the same thing at the same time: the real world starts paying in ways your feed will never show you.

The Real Price of Viral Culture

What they don't mention in the Instagram posts:

Matcha's boom industrialized small Japanese farms, destroying biodiversity and centuries-old traditions. Producers cut quality with fillers. Labor practices turn exploitative. All to feed the wellness content machine.

Açaí demand triggered aggressive Amazon harvesting, with illegal extraction outpacing replanting across Brazilian regions. Workers destroy trees before they can regrow. The rainforest pays so your smoothie bowl can get likes.

Stanley Cups once symbols of sustainability have became overconsumption trophies. Collectors hoard dozens in different colors and seasonal editions. The symbol of less waste created... more plastic.

Salmon sperm treatments raise serious questions about overfishing, aquaculture ethics, and the luxury industry's endless hunger for "rare" ingredients. We're literally harvesting genetic material from marine life for our glow-ups.

These might sound like isolated fads. But multiply by millions of followers and billions in revenue, and you get real environmental destruction powered by digital hype cycles.

We're trading authenticity for a culture of fast trends with very slow consequences.

Creativity Doesn't Scale Like Content

Trends demand conformity. They ask you to fit the dominant template of the moment. But creativity is inherently messy, it resists predictability and viral formulas.

The brands and creators who actually shape culture don't follow trends. They respond to them or ignore them completely.

Look at Tyler, the Creator. Too weird for mainstream radio, too unpredictable for traditional marketing. He never adapted his aesthetic for algorithm-friendly content or chased whatever sound was trending. Yet he sells out worldwide tours, launches successful fashion lines, and builds cult loyalty because he doesn't ride trends—he makes them irrelevant. While everyone else pivots to match the moment, he just keeps being Tyler.

@kristy.sarah

it’s small but mighty #jacquemus

Or consider Jacquemus with their tiny handbags that were "impractical" by fashion standards. Instead of following luxury trends, they created their own visual language. Those miniature bags became cultural symbols precisely because they ignored conventional wisdom about what handbags should be.

The same principle applies to brands setting today's creative benchmarks. Patagonia runs "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaigns when everyone else chases consumption. Apple barely posts on social media while competitors scramble for viral moments—their restraint creates more desire than any trending audio. Glossier built a beauty empire by rejecting traditional advertising, instead creating authentic conversations that felt nothing like typical beauty marketing.

Real originality doesn't announce itself with trending hashtags. It just exists, confidently. And in a world drowning in sameness, that confidence is magnetic.

So… What Now?

This isn't about rejecting all trends. It's about staying conscious. Before you jump on the next viral wave, ask:

• Why am I using this sound, this aesthetic, this reference?

• Is this idea actually mine, or just what got engagement yesterday?

• If nobody double-tapped this, would I still be proud of it?

The most compelling creators today aren't just following what works. They're betting on what might work tomorrow. They're building something with a longer shelf life than a TikTok trend cycle.

The goal isn't being part of today's conversation—it's still mattering next year.

Your Creative Voice Is Worth More Than Viral Moments

If creativity is your currency, don't spend it all chasing algorithmic approval.

Let trends pass like trains at a station. You don't need to board every one. Most are heading nowhere interesting—and they might drag your originality along for the ride.

The brands that shape culture don't follow it, they trust their instincts over engagement metrics. They choose authenticity over optimization. They'd rather be remembered than liked.

Your weirdness is your competitive advantage. Your refusal to fit the template is what makes you irreplaceable. While everyone else pivots to match the algorithm, your consistency becomes magnetic.

In a world drowning in sameness, being genuinely yourself isn't just rebellious—it's revolutionary. And revolution is exactly what cuts through the noise.

About the Author: Lucia, our Community Manager, brings a unique perspective on creativity and consumer culture from her work building communities around authentic brand experiences.

Brand Wars: Battle of the Water Bottles

Stanley

Started as a 100-year-old thermos company selling to construction workers. Then a car fire changed everything—a woman's Stanley survived with ice still intact, hitting 96 million TikTok views. Rather than manufacture a lifestyle pivot, they offered her a new car and maintained their blue-collar identity.

Their evolution came through cultural partnerships that felt authentic—like the multi-year Messi collaboration built on his decades-long use of Stanley's mate products. This expanded their reach from viral moment to global cultural relevance while staying true to their heritage.

Hydro Flask

Built their position through systematic lifestyle marketing—influencer partnerships, outdoor sponsorships, adventure positioning. Their "We Make It. You Own It." campaign spans streaming platforms, celebrating personalization through comprehensive paid media strategy.

When Stanley's viral moment threatened their market share, Hydro Flask adapted tactically: launched Stanley-style tumblers, leveraged Stanley's lead controversy to highlight their safety record, and reinforced competitive differentiation through responsive positioning.

Ad Vault: O2

Meet Daisy? (2025)

While telecoms burn budgets on "watch out for scammers" campaigns, O2 built an AI grandmother who wastes fraudsters' time. Daisy keeps scammers on pointless calls about her knitting for hours.

Most brands would've made another defensive PSA. O2 went offensive. They didn't warn people about the problem—they became the solution to it. Every minute a scammer spends with chatty Daisy is revenue they're not stealing from actual victims.

The strategic genius here is positioning. O2 shifted from "the network that connects you" to "the network that protects you." That's not a tagline change—that's a business model evolution. They're not just moving data anymore, they're actively defending it.

This campaign works because it does something instead of just saying something. While competitors make noise about caring, O2 built proof.

Lento Vibes

A bit of random inspo from around the grounds:

• Cellphone Bill Gets CreepyLiquid Death spoofs Silence of the Lambs with Boost Mobile’s “Cellphone Bill”—a horror-comedy take on family plans. 👉 Watch the spot

• Primark Pushes Denim: “In Denim We Can” highlights affordable style and everyday confidence—without the luxury price tag. 👉 See the campaign

• NFL Ads Go Big on Streaming: EDO data shows NFL ads are 66% more effective on streaming, with playoffs and star power boosting results even higher. 👉 See the report

• Nike Flips the Slogan Nike reworks “Just Do It” into “Why Do It?”—fronted by LeBron, Caitlin Clark, and Tyler, the Creator. 👉 Catch the drop

• Anthropic Hits $183B Valuation: The AI company raises $13B in Series F funding, cementing itself as one of the fastest-growing tech giants.
  👉 Read the update