In a world where every brand wants to "join the conversation," Chloe Wren, Senior Strategic Planner at BETC Paris, argues that true cultural relevance is about curating what matters. She explores how brands can uncover their authentic place in culture, build enduring connections, and turn fandoms into meaningful communities.
Brands are expected to play an active role in culture today, not just advertise but participate. How are you seeing clients respond to that shift, and what role does your agency play in helping them navigate it?
There's a big difference between observing culture and contributing to it. Too often, brands chase fleeting social trends without contributing anything distinctive. The campaigns that resonate most come from ownership: a clear point of view, a creative twist, or a meaningful reason to exist in that space.
Brands today need to evolve from cultural participation to cultural curation: bringing something new to the table rather than simply reacting to what's happening. Our role is to help clients uncover where their DNA naturally intersects with cultural energy, and to enter those spaces with authenticity and intent.
For Canal+ and Wednesday, we reimagined both brands' codes by having Wednesday Addams reinterpret Canal+'s iconic brand music and imagery through her gothic lens-merging two worlds in a way that felt unexpected yet perfectly aligned.
How do you evaluate whether a cultural trend or fandom is a smart branding opportunity?
Not every trend is an opportunity and not every fandom is a fit.
When it comes to trends, we look for moments that have perennity: signals that the cultural shift is more than a flash in the pan and aligns with the brand's long-term story.
When it comes to fandoms, the key is alignment. Does the brand naturally belong in that community? Does it have something valuable to contribute? Fandoms are built on authenticity and shared identity, and brands that fail to respect that risk being ignored or rejected.
A way to evaluate this opportunity is through three lenses:
Authenticity: Does the brand have permission to participate?
Adjacency: Is there a natural connection to the community or trend?
Impact: Will this create enduring resonance, not just temporary visibility?
What strategies do you employ to ensure a campaign doesn't just capitalize on a moment, but creates lasting cultural relevance for the brand?
Culture moves fast. Trends evolve daily, and audiences are experiencing real trend fatigue. To build enduring relevance, we focus on macro-cultural movements rather than micro trends.
These are the deeper shifts in how people express identity, connect, and consume. If a brand can root itself in one of those macro-shifts it becomes part of an ongoing cultural story rather than a passing moment. Culture rewards consistency, not just presence.
For example, Duolingo's "Calling All Emilys" turned a pop culture moment into a global conversation. Building on Netflix's Emily in Paris, the brand invited every real-life Emily to improve their French by offering a free month of Duolingo Plus. What could have been a simple tie-in became a witty, participatory campaign strengthening the brand's playful, culturally fluent voice.
As consumer behavior evolves and digital spaces become more fragmented, how do you see the role of niche subcultures or micro-influencers shaping brand narratives compared to traditional celebrity endorsements?
The celebrity endorsement model has reached saturation, big names are everywhere, endorsing multiple brands at once. It's made their influence less distinctive and, in many cases, less believable.
Niche subcultures have become mainstream. We see this clearly in music where today's pop icons often start in hyper-specific spaces: alt-TikTok or closed SoundCloud circles. They don't talk to everyone, they talk deeply to someone.
For brands, that's powerful. The future of brand storytelling lies in cultivating these smaller, more connected ecosystems where fandoms, creators, and communities shape narratives together. As the digital landscape fragments, success won't come from shouting the loudest it will come from listening the closest.
For Tekken 8, we brought the community itself into the spotlight. By featuring real gamers and fans in the live-action trailer Get Ready for the Next Battle, we turned promotion into a celebration of fandom giving ownership back to the players who built the franchise's legacy.