Brands need to know whether they are trying to be seen or remembered.
It sounds like a subtle distinction, but this is often the difference between a campaign that generates noise and one that changes what people think, feel, or do.
Attention is not a strategy itself – it’s an input. The more important strategic consideration is to understand what this attention is meant to achieve. Is the brand trying to reach new audiences? Shift perception? Rebuild trust? Reinforce authority? Create a cultural moment? Or remind people why they cared in the first place?
Coachella 2026 offered a useful reminder of this. Two of the festival’s most talked-about performances came from Justin Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter. Both generated huge amounts of coverage and social conversation, but they did so in very different ways.
Carpenter’s performance was built as a spectacle. Big production, costume changes and legendary guests created moments designed for social media virality. It was a performance made for clips, commentary, and cultural visibility – and it generated immediate attention and fuelled online conversation.
Bieber’s approach was very different. Instead of competing on scale, he leaned into familiarity, nostalgia, and direct connection with fans. By revisiting the early stages of his career and creating looser, more intimate moments through YouTube and livestreamed song requests, he generated attention through emotional resonance rather than spectacle.
The point is not that one approach was better than the other. It is that both artists understood what their audiences wanted from them. They knew the role they occupy in pop culture and built their performances accordingly.
The same is true for brands.
For some businesses the challenge is visibility. They need people to notice them, understand what they do and require differentiation in a crowded market. These are the instances when high-impact activations, bold campaigns and culturally relevant moments can be effective tools. The job is to make people look.
For others, awareness is not the problem. Their challenge is reinforcing trust, credibility, or relevance. In these cases, heritage, consistency, and established brand equity can be more powerful than spectacle. The job is not simply to attract attention, but instead to give people a reason to believe.
The point is not that one approach was better than the other. It is that both artists understood what their audiences wanted from them. They knew the role they occupy in pop culture and built their performances accordingly.
This distinction is clearly demonstrated by two businesses – IBM and Salesforce.
IBM frequently draws on more than a century’s worth of innovation experience to reinforce its position in the market. As conversations around AI continue to dominate the technology sector, IBM can credibly reference its role in previous waves of technological change. Its message is clear- ‘we’ve seen every tech wave, we’ll guide you through this one too.’
Salesforce takes a different approach. Its annual Dreamforce conference has become one of the biggest events in the technology calendar, combining product announcements with celebrity appearances, theatrical staging and experiences designed to generate discussion far beyond the event itself. The objective is not just to communicate business updates, but to create a cultural moment that attracts attention and extends reach.
Both approaches can work. More importantly, both work when they are aligned with the position the organisation already occupies in the market.
This is where many communication strategies go wrong. Brands often default to what has worked for a competitor, an industry leader, or the last campaign that went viral. But copying the form of a successful campaign is not the same as understanding the strategic reason it worked.
The better question is not whether a brand should take the “spectacle” route or the “heritage” route. It is what problem the campaign is trying to solve.
If a business is launching a new product, entering a competitive market or trying to reach a new audience, visibility may be the priority. Creating moments that people want to share, discuss and engage with can help accelerate growth.
If a business is already well known but needs to strengthen trust, demonstrate expertise or reinforce its position, heritage and reputation may be more valuable assets. In that context, the strongest campaign may not be the loudest. It may be the one that makes existing associations more credible, more relevant, and more useful.
Before planning their next campaign, brands should ask four questions:
What position do we occupy in the market?
Who are we trying to reach?
Are we trying to be seen, remembered, trusted, or reappraised?
And what do we want people to think, feel, or do once the campaign is over?
These questions will do more to shape effective communications than any trend, platform, or viral moment.
Because impact rarely comes from following a formula. It comes from choosing the right strategy for the audience, the objective and the brand.
Article by: admin
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