Do you know your marketing Roman Empire from your no cap?
Online culture moves fast. If you work in communications and marketing, we don’t need to tell you how hard it can be to keep up. Tracking the latest terminology, trends and behaviours of our audiences can feel like a herculean task.
We’re going to be taking a look at this in today’s Substack – exploring how different generations view their brand and personal image, how this is changing, and how stepping outside of our comfort zones (and yes, sometimes posting the things that might feel a bit cringey) can actually help us connect more authentically.
Historically, being called “cringe” was an insult, used as a way of pointing out behaviour that felt awkward, embarrassing or uncool. However, as upcoming generations are continually pushing the narrative for how we interact and market ourselves on social platforms, this conversation is changing.
Just a few years ago, internet trends could dominate for weeks, even months. Today, cultural moments can rise and fall in a matter of days, sometimes even hours. This leaves some marketers feeling like:
Take the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce engagement news that happened at the end of August 2025. Within minutes, socials were flooded with people and brands rushing to share their take, even if they didn’t have much to say. For some, that rush to jump on the trend feels “cringe.” For others, it’s a sign you’re culturally in-tune.
What might feel “cringeworthy” for some audiences can actually be exactly what certain demographics want to see. Content is subjective, and it’s about time we stop letting the fear of appearing cringe prevent us from talking about the topics and themes that genuinely matter, for individuals, teams, and brands alike.
We’ve had prospective clients tell us, “I don’t want to look cringe on LinkedIn or online.” We get it. Nobody wants to be the person oversharing their dog photos or posting their breakfast every morning. However, here’s the thing: learning how to overcome that fear or shift that mindset is where opportunity arises.
Sharing your perspective, your expertise, and yes, sometimes even your personality online is what builds credibility. The businesses and leaders winning right now are the ones who combine offline authority with online authenticity. That’s exactly what we help people do at RVM.
The diagram below, from the great Nick Broekema, shows something we talk about a lot with clients: you don’t just have one homogenous group to engage with:
You’ve got your supporters and advocates on one side, and your ideal customers (ICP) on the other. Their behaviours might differ, however, learning to create content that speaks to both is where you can really shine.
This doesn’t mean posting everything for everyone; as a brand, you should be leveraging consistent, audience-specific content to bring those groups together and build a brand that works on and offline.
And yes - showing up consistently in this way can feel uncomfortable at first.
Whether you’re Gen Z, a millennial, the upcoming Gen Alpha or an entirely different generation, it’s natural for you to fear appearing as “cringe” when you first start off.
Remember, though, it’s about the consistency in brand narrative, consistency and engagement that builds a reputation that you can generate business with, be proud of and shape a community.
We’ve seen this play out with a media agency we’ve recently been working with. Historically, they hadn’t been doing much content at all. Their CEO already had a strong offline reputation, but this wasn’t reflected online.
We used that as a starting point to make a real shift. Together, we worked with the team on personal branding, sharing practical ways to use their social channels to grow awareness and generate leads.
One idea that stuck was video. Their CEO is a natural on stage, but hadn’t explored video before. We launched a new video series with them, and the first release performed brilliantly.
Even better, it’s inspired others in the team to experiment with their own writing and content, which is amazing to see. If you’d like to see the first video for yourself, drop me a message and I’ll happily share the link.
The client was hesitant at first - they were worried about looking “cringey” or getting the tone wrong. However, with the right guidance and support, they’ve built a new touchpoint between themselves, their clients, partners and the wider public.
October has been a busy month for the team here at Real View Marketing. One project we wanted to shine a spotlight on today is the new whitepaper that we have been working on with Patrick and the team at 300 Consultancy.
We’ve helped bring their latest whitepaper, entitled “Commercial Resilience: Building Revenue in the Age of More“, to life. The project is a deep dive into the three pillars that drive sustainable growth for agencies in this ‘age of more’ - new business, client relationships and talent - to build systems and teams that thrive.
We’ve loved working with the team on this and seeing the conversations it is starting in the industry. You can check out the full whitepaper here.
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