What the hell is culture anyway?

Ah, culture. That mystical all-powerful force that adland swears by. That elusive je ne sais quoi that everyone’s chasing, tapping into… Usually while desperately refreshing TikTok and convincing clients and stakeholders that yes, this insurance brand can be loved by Gen Z if they just use the right meme.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s a phrase that gets bandied around at pitch meetings, but Jules Chalkley, Ogilvy’s chief executive creative director, shuts the concept down. “It's dangerous going into culture without a proper strategy, and that's where brands will die very quickly.”

So what does culture actually mean? And how can adland harness it? Of course, on one level culture tells of human high achievement: the arts, literature, science. And then there is culture around beliefs, values, customs, language.

“When we talk about culture in terms of commercial creativity, what we're talking about is connection,” says Chalkley. “What culture does, in that sense, is to influence how people behave, and how people interpret the actions of others – a sense of shared discovery.”

At Ogilvy, he says, the agency is always innately “looking at what's happening in culture. It's a bit like an airline saying, ‘we fly planes'".

For an industry that prides itself on being at the cutting edge of culture, most of adland still hasn’t quite crystallised the nebulous concept. Is it about predicting trends? Understanding micro subcultures? Making a brand feel like it belongs in the zeitgeist rather than forcing itself in like an awkward uncle at a wedding?

“Culture is a slippery word. It’s got as many definitions as people you ask. That’s confusing,” admits Josh Bullmore, chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett. He says good work starts with knowing how people feel, what matters to them, what they talk about, which is “easier to get your head round”.

The challenge of getting it right

“But here’s the problem – adland rarely gets it right,” Bullmore says. “We exist in a bubble, playing ideas back to each other, mistaking what resonates with us or what connects with the nation.”

Culture is such a hazy concept that Leo Burnett built a proprietary research platform, PopPulse, which listens to the nation’s listeners (taxi drivers, financial advisors, physios) and layers insight from neuroscientists, anthropologists, and political analysts to decode not just what people are saying, but why.

“The best agencies don’t drop in at the last minute, they embed themselves in the conversation early, listen properly, and create work that adds to culture, rather than disrupts it,” says Bullmore.

Take McDonald’s 'McRib' campaign. After 10 years of speculation, McRib’s fandom was reaching fever pitch with fans hoping for its return. The Leos team fully leaned into that. It started with an “accidental” cryptic app notification sent to 20 million people: “McRib_Test.notification 16.10.24 [TEST].” Cue internet meltdown.

From there, the agency stoked the flames – posters were ‘accidentally’ revealed (then covered up), unfinished TV ads ‘leaked,’ corrupted sound files mysteriously played in McDonald’s restaurants. 

Fans obsessed over every move, dissecting every clue, and as a result, the return of the McRib became the top trending topic on X and delivered £375 million in earned media.

“Whether you love the McRib or not, you knew about its return,” says Bullmore. “Ultimately, ignite a fandom and you can reach a far broader audience than you might normally reach alone.”

Similarly, Leo’s 'Reddit Edit' campaign for Škoda tapped into a niche but passionate audience. Recognising the Octavia’s cult following on the subreddit ‘r/CarTalkUK’, the brand handed over control to the community, letting them shape ad copy and voiceovers in the 'You Said It' campaign. It didn’t just talk to fans – it was built by them.

Respond to the cultural conversation

It's important to meet consumers in their own cultural space, “rather than asking them to come into our world,” believes Stephanie Jacoby, Diageo’s senior vice president for vodkas. 

Most recently, McCann’s work for Smirnoff – one of Diageo’s top brands and the world’s number-one vodka by volume and value – has done just that through its ‘We Do Us’ campaign and a tie-up with Aussie singer and actor Troye Sivan, a support act in the Charli XCX Sweat Tour of summer 2024.

“Culture is where we meet our consumers,” says Jacoby. “Our most impactful strategies come to the fore when we listen to our consumer – as simple as that sounds. We like to meet them in their cultural space.”

Planning is culture-first as opposed to brand-first, she says, with resources poured into understanding the target consumer. This, Jacoby says, “enables us to foster an authentic relationship with them and respond to their cultural conversation in ways that feel both natural and organic.”

She underlines the importance of hearing voices and opinions from a broader group of people, versus solely the core brand team, in order to generate a more rounded view of culture and the ways to reach Smirnoff’s target audience.

“Our agencies help us mine vast amounts of data to unlock highly relevant trends and cultural spaces that feel authentic for Smirnoff to activate within,” says Jacoby.

Avoid the risk of rejection

Of course, culture can be a dangerous space for brands that get it wrong. The infamous Pepsi-Kendall Jenner debacle serves as a cautionary tale of culture-hijacking, rather than contributing to it.

And nothing kills credibility faster than a brand forcing itself into a space where it has no business.

“That's what happens when you're jumping on something that isn't relevant,” Chalkley says of the misstep. “You've got no right to play there, and you will be rejected, eviscerated.”

Cultural misalignment is one of the biggest risks brands face, believes James Broomfield, strategy partner at BBH, who argues that successful brands are those with a clear editorial stance. “The brands that do this well have a point of view – like a good media brand would. They turn up in spaces where people actually want them – and contribute to the conversation rather than just interrupting it.”

Created by BBH, Tesco’s 'Voice of the Checkout' took a cultural insight from the business and turned it into a light-hearted call to engage, free from any 'sell'. The TikTok edit accumulated 42 million views in 10 days, highlighting the value of an audience-first approach when it comes to showing up outside of paid spaces. 

Not another shooting star

Lisa Stoney, deputy chief strategy officer at Pablo, emphasises the importance of longevity.

"The word ‘culture’ is spoken about a lot, and often clients will say, ‘We want to be embedded in culture.’ But our job is ultimately about brand building – we have to focus on making sure that whatever we do isn’t just a one-off and stays in line with the active brand platform. So it doesn't just become another shooting star that goes into dust, but becomes inherently baked into our point of view.”

Pablo’s work for Deliveroo exemplifies the long-term approach. The final episode of Gavin & Stacey in December 2024 was a big cultural moment, one Deliveroo anticipated would drive orders for Smithy’s iconic curry order – plus those all-important chips.

"We had previously seen a 55 per cent spike in orders of Indian food after the original Christmas special aired in 2019," says Caroline Harris, VP of global marketing at Deliveroo. “Our campaign to replicate the famous Smithy order ahead of the finale meant we could insert Deliveroo into the conversation. It was relevant and fun, yet it authentically spoke to our core business proposition and brought our brand platform to life.”

This is the key distinction: a brand that’s truly in tune with culture doesn’t force itself into conversations – it earns its place there.

“For over a decade, we’ve played a role in shaping food culture,” says Harris. “It’s not about hopping on the latest TikTok recipe trend; it’s about being embedded in communities and celebrating how people eat today and in the future.”

Climate vs. weather

One of the biggest missteps is conflating culture with trends – and adland loves a trend. Brands scramble to jump on viral moments like desperate party crashers, hoping to snatch a few seconds of attention before the internet moves on. The result is often half-baked campaigns that try too hard.

The difference between culture and trends is the same as between climate and weather, explains Chalkley. "Trends are fleeting. Culture endures. We operate at the cutting edge of culture, but we do it instinctively," he adds.

Commercially creative companies sell the ability to speak to people, to be relevant, and then influence their behaviour towards the product and brand. That's when having deep understanding of culture – mainstream or subcultures or pop culture, Black culture, micro culture – is critical in being able to position a product or a service, in a really relevant way. And that’s what adland truly specialises in.

The best work doesn’t chase culture – it feels like it already belongs there.

Ogilvy’s CeraVe’s Michael Cera conspiracy was the culmination of a long-running brand story, entirely – and organically – generated by fans of the brand, says Chalkley. "CeraVe had always been big on TikTok, but when a Reddit theory suggested Michael Cera was behind the brand, we leaned in.”

The result? A Super Bowl spot that felt entirely organic. "You’re using culture directly to blow up your story, but not just brand-jacking the latest celebrity,” says Chalkley.

Another recent example of tapping into culture the right way? Hellmann’s partnership with award-winning fashion label Chopova Lowena to create the ‘Margaret’ bag, a luxury accessory featuring elegant compartments crafted to fit the iconic Hellmann's jar – later seen on the arm of Julia Fox on Late Night With Seth Meyers, complete with a silver Victorian spoon – presumably to satisfy emergency mayo needs.

Ogilvy built on this cultural relevance by leaning into the ‘brat’ aesthetic, which was dominating TikTok, partnering with Charli XCX to make Hellmann’s ‘so brat’ – a fusion of cultural relevance and brand authenticity.

The brand offered fans queuing to see her gigs a free ‘club classic’ sandwich, aptly named after one of the tracks from the Grammy-nominated brat album (cultural cornerstone of 2024). The sandwiches were given to fans in covetable plastic bags, paying homage to the infamous bag used in XCX’s UK tour poster.

Initially banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for its resemblance to drug paraphernalia – the poster caused an online stir when the singer responded in a TikTok post humorously suggesting it was only displaying a sandwich bag. In the clip, which snagged more than 10 million views, she also encouraged fans to bring their own sandwiches to her shows. 

"It’s about looking at what’s happening in culture and what’s happening around you so you can take an appropriate platform to do something engaging," says Chalkley, who proudly states that the Ogilvy team is “chronically online” – with weekends being a significant time to watch for cultural shifts.

How not to be “cringe”

The key, says Kit Altin, chief strategy officer at The Gate, is understanding, not appropriating, culture.

"Culture has always been a very important part of our strategic process – understanding culture, having our strategies informed by culture. Great creative strategy is about joining the dots, and sometimes it's about joining them in surprising ways."

For The Very Group, the agency broke ‘hun culture’ down into its constituent parts before researching how Very customers indexed against those traits.

“We weren’t going to say, ‘Hey, huns, come shop with Very’ – that would be cringe. Instead, we took the spirit of hun culture and infused it into the work to make the brand more attractive to people," says Altin. "It's about taking the spirit, inspiration and energy of that culture that's currently riding high in our broader culture – and that fits our brand really well – and infusing it into the work to make the brand more attractive to people."

“Culture is life”

So, where does this leave brands today? If one thing is clear, it’s that culture is not just a marketing tool – it’s the foundation of modern brand-building and it’s about so much more than simply trend-jacking.

In a world where “big-brand-shouting” is no longer something brands can rely on, they need to focus on building really powerful connections with the people you’re trying to reach.

In an age where social media drives cultural shifts at an unprecedented pace, brands must be more agile than ever. And those that thrive in culture are the ones willing to take calculated risks.

“The creative act is always a risk,” says Chalkley. “You’re putting something into the public psyche, and you don’t know for certain if it’ll be embraced or eviscerated. But as Tibor Kálmán, the legendary editor-in-chief of Benetton's Colors magazine famously said: ‘When you make something no one hates, no one loves it.’”

Every day, culture changes. The best brands don’t just follow it – they become part of it. That means listening. It means engaging. It means contributing in ways that feel real, not opportunistic.

"Culture is life," Chalkley concludes. "And if culture is life, then connection is everything."

So, what the hell is culture anyway? It’s the difference between a brand that’s simply seen, and a brand that’s loved.