About a month ago while scrolling Reels late at night (yes Reels, I’m proudly an elder millennial), I viewed the now iconic Jools Lebron “very mindful, very demure” video. I watched, chuckled and kept on scrolling. But then I started seeing it over and over again in other videos as a soundbite. Then, the celebs caught on. Then, the businesses…infiltrating my inbox and app notifications wanting me to “be demure & mindful” with their products. When this meme peaked in August more than 200,000 unique authors were using the word “demure”.

Memes can infiltrate every part of our cultural zeitgeist so obviously, brands would want to latch on; it’s a way to resonate and create relevancy in the moment. This strategy has reach, engagement, and let’s be honest, smaller budgets. But it’s a flash in the pan, a shooting star…it’s fleeting and will disappear as quickly as it appeared. Meme-based marketing strategies are a constant game of chasing the next moment. Brat summer is over, so now what? Are you just going to pivot to Demure Autumn? Meg Ryan Fall?

Not to mention the other implications of this strategy; brands that don’t read the room, that jump on the bandwagon just to stay relevant WILL get called out and could be more harmful than helpful in the long run. Not very mindful. Not very demure. 

So what do you do as a brand…do you just not participate? Do you let these moments just pass by? Perhaps. When these meme explosions happen, it’s important to zoom out. Just because a meme is trending, doesn’t make it a “trend”. What’s important is finding the larger meaning, the cultural movement that’s happening here to allow that meme (and all its copycats) to catch fire and figure out if that’s something your brand can authentically align to. What do brat summer and demure autumn have in common and (more importantly), does it align with my brand?

So let’s workshop this. 2024 brought us brat summer, the year before that it was Barbie summer, and the year before was hot girl summer. Each one looks, feels, and is interpreted uniquely different. But when you zoom out past chartreuse and bright pink, you see that the larger correlation is this urge to brand an aesthetic, a way of being & behaving.

We also know that younger generations primarily lead these types of branding trends, our always impressive Gen Zers, who crave community but not in the traditional sense. Brat summer, Barbie summer…these aren’t just things or looks, they’re vibes. They’re based on mutual understanding and appreciation for a unique way of life and leisure and branding it just gives it life and a foundation.

So if you feel like this larger cultural movement of creating vibe-based communities aligns with who you are as a brand and what you stand for, then go for it! Be a brat, be demure, heck create your own winter trend (I for one am hoping for the return of Couch Goblin Winter). Aligning to the right trends/cultural movements shows you know your audience, you are definitive in your positioning and you are in the business of generating brand love, not just brand likes.

But if not, let this one pass. No one asked for United Airlines to be demure and I’m pretty sure we’d be fine without a vegan sausage being brat. And that’s OK. Be choosy. Stay true to your brand, lean into authenticity, and wait for your cultural moment to arrive, which may come in any second since culture moves at the speed of light these days. In other words, when it comes to your brand, be mindful.

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