For decades, brand-building followed a clear playbook: be consistent, stay polished, and protect the brand at all costs.
But platforms like TikTok are challenging what brand expression looks like today. Not because they’re trendy, but because they’re showing us how people now expect brands to behave — with more speed, more authenticity, and more spontaneity.
This isn’t a call to abandon your brand guide. It’s a call to adapt how you express it.
Why This Shift Is Happening
Today’s audiences are constantly connected. They don’t just consume content they scroll, react, share and remix. In that environment, slow and overly controlled messaging gets left behind.
People have grown more skeptical of traditional advertising. They’re tuning out big, polished campaigns that feel scripted and gravitating toward content that feels more real, more responsive, and more human.
Platforms like TikTok didn’t invent this shift. They’ve just made it impossible to ignore.
What’s the Takeaway for Brands?
This isn’t about throwing out your brand book. It’s about applying it with more agility.
Your core brand — your purpose, tone, values — doesn’t change. But the way you bring it to life might need to.
That might look like:
- Loosening the rules for certain channels (e.g. behind-the-scenes content, community responses)
- Allowing for faster production cycles with simpler formats
- Trusting your teams to apply tone of voice in more conversational, less scripted ways
- Creating content that feels participatory, not promotional
Consistency still matters but it’s no longer about uniformity. It’s about creativity and relevance.
Evolving Without Losing the Brand
Think of it this way: platforms like TikTok are not asking brands to be silly or off-brand. The smartest brands aren’t throwing away the rulebook — they’re learning when to flex and when to hold the line. They’re showing that strong brand foundations can support creative, responsive, even imperfect expressions without diluting the brand.
The Bottom Line
The shift isn’t about being trendy. It’s about being timely, trusted, and human in a world where attention is fleeting and authenticity matters. This isn’t the end of brand discipline. It’s a reminder that the best branding today balances strategy with agility.
And that’s something every great brand is built to do.
