This Strategy Changed the Way Netflix Connects With Audiences

"When you work in marketing circles, you'll hear some variation of this statement from brand executives: "We want to be part of culture." The imperative is usually delivered over lacquered conference tables and catered lunches. It is an odd phenomenon because culture is acknowledged as if it were a room to gain entry to if only the right creator is hired, the right vernacular is borrowed, or just enough internet looseness is folded into brand copy."

"Then the campaign goes live, and the lines blurring between imitation and intimacy become painfully obvious. The brand tweets in a dialect it has not earned and borrows cadence without context. Audiences respond swiftly and mercilessly. Not with outrage exactly, but with something more brutal - collective embarrassment on its behalf. The internet's side-eye is a brutal form of market research."

"Underneath that reaction sits a truth that many companies still struggle to absorb. Culture is not performance, costume, slang, or aesthetics. The corporate obsession with appearing relevant to people whose approval it has not earned through patient, immersive work is a misstep."

"What he built there now informs what he calls his own approach of anti-general marketing. This philosophy is rooted in a simple but increasingly urgent belief - broad messaging has become one of the least efficient ways to tap into culture."

Brand executives often claim they want to be part of culture, treating culture like access that can be gained through hiring, borrowed vernacular, and internet looseness folded into copy. After campaigns launch, imitation and intimacy blur, and audiences respond quickly with collective embarrassment rather than outrage. This side-eye functions as harsh market research. The core issue is that culture is not performance, costume, slang, or aesthetics. Companies that chase relevance without patient, immersive work misstep by seeking approval they have not earned. Broad messaging is presented as one of the least efficient methods for engaging culture, motivating an anti-general marketing approach focused on more authentic connection.

Read at Inc