My neighbor's take on 'authentic' brand voice really threw me

We were talking about a big soda brand's new ad campaign that's trying to sound super casual, and he said, 'They're trying too hard to be my friend, it's like a bad first date.' That hit different because I've always pushed for brands to loosen up and be more real. But he's right, it feels fake when a huge company uses slang they clearly don't get. I saw a post from them using 'no cap' and it had over 5,000 confused comments. Maybe being clear and helpful is better than trying to be cool. Has anyone else seen a brand try to be 'down with the kids' and just totally miss?

2 comments

2 Comments

angelas781mo ago

Wait, they actually said "no cap"?

angela_carter1mo ago

Yeah, the "wait they actually said" part gets me. It's just slang, it comes and goes. People said "for real" and "word" before this. It's not that deep, it's just how kids talk now. Getting worked up over it feels like making a big deal out of nothing. It'll be something else in a year or two anyway.