Why brands must resist jumping on every viral bandwagon

I’m a self-confessed Swiftie. I can still remember the early days of becoming a fan: driving to netball training at high school with my girlfriends, blasting Fearless on a homemade cassette tape. I’ve seen her in concert multiple times – including on her most recent, record-breaking Eras tour – and I’ve listened to her back catalogue (both originals and ‘Taylor’s Versions’) more times than I can count. 

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So of course I remember where I was when I heard her new album announcement (tuned into the New Heights podcast scrolling Instagram teasers), and then her engagement news to American footballer Travis Kelce (doom scrolling on the couch). 

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Because yes, I’m not only a Swiftie, I am also chronically online. These two passions often collide and never more so than lately, with everyone – and everything – leaping gleefully on the Taylor viral bandwagons. This includes, but is definitely not limited to, Olive Garden, Papa Johns, Peppa Pig, Colin the Caterpillar, Durex and M&Ms. 

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The growing trend of companies inserting themselves into every viral moment, meme, or cultural micro-trend – whether it fits their identity or not – is a risky business. Get it right and you ride a wave of re-posts and good vibes. Get it wrong and you run the risk of looking silly, out of touch – or, worse, downright offensive.

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Just because you’re a Swiftie, doesn’t mean your company has to be. 

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The allure – and danger – of viral trends

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Since the dawn of branding, smart marketeers have jumped on cultural figureheads, trends, and movements. Social media has upped the stakes. We now live in an era where content itself is the commodity. How clever, witty, sharp, or fast you are to respond online can give your brand clout with existing and new customers. It's a low-cost, low-investment way to establish relevancy.

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This has led to KPI pressures as well as a fear of missing out. The social media landscape moves so quickly that brands think, "Shit, if we miss this, we're not going to be able to have a stake in the conversation at all." The question of whether they should have a stake in it often gets lost in the rush to post post post.

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When bandwagoning works 

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When bandwagoning works, it's because the companies forge a natural connection between themselves and the viral moment. McLaren, Panera Bread and Lidl came up with smart and savvy Taylor tie-ins, while Papa Johns’ content worked by offering discounts to people called Taylor and Travis. Funny, but also useful (to a niche audience, granted).

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Constant bandwagoning is another skill altogether. Relentlessly mining news and cultural moments for content is difficult, but, if successful, can positively impact public perception of a brand. Ryanair does this brilliantly with its witty comebacks and savage roasts on everything from its own seating policies to Barbie ("She's everything. He's just baggage"). And, as an Australian, I’ve really enjoyed the Queensland Health department's use of bandwagoning to broach difficult health conversations. (Linking engagement news to self-love? A stretch, maybe, but a funny one.) 

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These brands combine self-awareness, humour and relevancy. Their content consistently brings the conversation back to their products, so posts feel intentional, valid and authentic.

When bandwagoning goes bad

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Things go wrong when it looks lazy, misses the point, or is downright offensive. DiGiorno Pizza learned this in 2014, jumping on the #WhyIStayed domestic violence hashtag with, "#WhyIStayed You had pizza". The company was, unsurprisingly, widely criticised for trivialising a serious issue.

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Burger King’s 2021 “Women belong in the kitchen” gender disparity campaign deserves a mention, launched as it was on International Women’s Day. With the campaign line tweeted alone for shock value and the (entirely valid context) only appearing in follow-up tweets that many people missed, it was a total disaster, proving that execution is as important – often more so – than good intentions. 

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This also explains why fans weren't impressed when brands used the wrong shade of 'brat' green rather than Charli XCX's iconic lime during 2024’s ‘brat summer’. It was seen as inauthentic – as was corporate companies forcing 'brat' aesthetics into marketing without understanding the messy, rebellious spirit behind the trend. No, boring insurance company, that’s so not ‘brat’.   

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The recent wave of meme-driven micro-celebrities deserves a mention, too – random people rocketed to instant fame by brands latching onto viral flashes. (I’m looking at you, ‘Ibiza Final Boss’). Those moments are special because they’re unpredictable and they’re usually fun and lighthearted. No problem. But, by the same token, jumping in without due diligence can backfire massively. Taylor Swift, Barbie, and ‘brat summer’ are known quantities, ‘normal people’ are very much not. It can be a “milkshake duck” scenario – everyone loving it, until something awful in their background comes to light. (No shade on Ibiza Final Boss.) 

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The recent 'Coldplay couple' case (the cuddling pair captured on the gig's 'kiss cam' who turned out to be having an affair) will be studied in future bandwagoning seminars. Many brands merrily roasted the situation…until people lost jobs and families were torn apart, making the laughs suddenly feel pretty awkward. It was a proper lesson in online 'banter' having real-life consequences. 

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(Interestingly, the company at the heart of the scandal, Astronomer, where both cuddlers worked, actually leaned into the drama, quickly hiring “very temporary” spokesperson Gwyneth Paltrow – yes, the ex-wife of Coldplay’s Chris Martin – to release a tongue-in-cheek promo video advertising its business. A pretty ingenious way of turning the tables on an online storm.)  

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Where’s the sweet spot? 

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Having studied every viral moment in the history of the internet (a slight exaggeration), these are my must-consider questions any brand should ask itself before jumping on a viral bandwagon: 

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• How do we make this trend genuinely relevant to our brand? 
• How will it sit with our current audience – and how much does that matter?
• Does it match our established brand tone of voice? If not, is that part of a strategy?
• Are we adding value to the conversation or just fluff?
• Could this cause backlash or real-world harm? Where do we sit ethically?
• Do we really understand the cultural context?
• Are competitors already on it – and can we offer a unique (and better) take?

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Constant trend-chasing can wash out your identity. If you're a Swiftie one week, Barbie the next, then Ibiza Final Boss, consumers lose sight of what you actually stand for. And, if you only post about surface-level stuff, you may open yourself up to accusations of being silent over more serious issues – things no one would have expected your company to have an opinion on until you posted that meme about being ‘brat’. 

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Relevance versus regret

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There is a balance between consistency, curation and missing out altogether. The thread running through good examples is relevance, self-deprecation, humour and validity. Brands that succeed find genuine connections between trends and their own message, products, or values.

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If you're not sure, the smartest move is definitely to sit it out. Right, DiGiorno Pizza?