Five creative content trends that never go out of style

  • 22 June 2021

Who would have thought that flared jeans and bum bags would have ever made a comeback?

Just like fashion, creative content trends come in and out of vogue.

Trendsetting – doing something that everyone is doing or wearing – seems to contradict the very essence of creativity.

But timeless style is always in fashion.

From authenticity to incorporating an element of surprise, these are the creative content trends that have been around for a while, and will never go out of style.

Storytelling

Humans were born to tell stories. We’ve been telling them ever since we could draw on the walls of caves.

Robert McKee, one of Hollywood’s go-to story consultants says “story is a metaphor for life, and life is lived in time.”

The best stories are the ones we relate to, and can escape in. A brand’s story needs to do the same.

A brand story needs to be an expression of your brand’s purpose, beliefs and personality. If told well, it can become an emotional force that elevates the functional offering of your brand.

When you think about it, Apple has never told the story of its amazing technology.

Instead, it has told the story of ‘the rebel taking on the status quo’, right from ‘1984’ to it’s recent ‘Behind the Mac’ campaign.

In this film, Apple showcases notable figures — celebrities, musicians, journalists and other content creators — who rely on Mac for their work.

In each of those stories, we see our rebellious selves.

Making people care

Relevancy is the currency of a conversation. In our playground of skips, swipes and scrolls, why should people stop and care about what you have to say?

The answer all comes down to why your organisation exists. Why do you wake up every morning to do what you do?

Perhaps you give people the permission to expect more, like Toop + Toop?

Maybe you’re like Nike, a sports brand who shares its beliefs with a sports star fighting social injustice?

Or, perhaps, you care about the planet, just like Who Gives a Crap? whose goal is to bring proper sanitation and toilets to billions of people around the world who don’t have access to it.

What do you care about? Because that’s what makes you human, and that’s what other humans are going to connect with.

Authenticity

Authenticity is the key driver of the content we spend hours laughing at, sharing and commenting on.

Ever find yourself dropping out of a series after a couple of episodes, or hitting stop on a movie halfway through?

It’s because you don’t believe what’s happening, and it’s failed to win you over. If your brand is going to be part of the content landscape, you have to be the real you.

Take Patagonia. They walk the talk of sustainability—right from their B Corp status and values, to the initiatives they support and most importantly, the way they make their products.

Authenticity comes from taking time to discover who you are and what you believe in, nurturing that personality and then staying true to it, consistently across everything you do.

As David Ogilvy said, “tell the truth, but make it fascinating.”

Working your platform

How many times have you seen a TV commercial squished into a 1:1 format?

Working across platforms isn’t just about reinforcing messages, it’s about doing it in a way that continues your narrative in a seamless, integrated and interesting way at every step of your customer’s journey.

After all, platforms are created for the ultimate user experience — so wouldn’t it be logical to create content that’s made for that experience?

Sometimes, all it takes is a little planning and on-set hustling to get some social-first content while shooting your TVC.

The final product is a story that has a beginning, middle and end and results in people engaging with your brand across multiple touch points — just like the recent creative content campaign we worked on at Fuller for the South Australian Tourism Commission’s Great State voucher initiative.

Following a five-day shoot, we edited a series of seven 15-second videos to be deployed across a range of digital channels, including Facebook, Instagram and Catch Up TV.

Another example is McDonald’s Australia’s Snaplications, a one-of-a-kind Snapchat lens that enables Snapchatters to apply for a job ‘in a snap’.

Incorporating an element of surprise

Let’s face it, life can be pretty mundane at times.

We chase ‘different.’ Most category brands circle around similar promises.

The ones that tell their story creatively are embraced. Surprise people with the unexpected, and they’ll thank you for it.

Whether you’re telling people to wear seatbelts while driving, announcing the importance of advertising in the Yellow Pages or advocating the ban of animal testing for cosmetics, question how you can do it differently, by incorporating an element of surprise.

Maybe it’s about using an unconventional platform, an unthinkable execution or looking at the product in an entirely new way.

Whatever your plan of attack, don’t stop thinking and you’ll eventually surprise not only your audience, but yourself as well.

The content you create for your brand should stir up something in the people consuming it.

If you’re creating trends, and are trending in people’s minds, keep doing what you’re doing. You’re doing it right.

If you’d like to discuss how Fuller Brand Communication could help your brand create timeless and creative content, contact our Business Development Manager, Paul (PK) Kitching today.