Last week, Taylor Swift changed her Instagram profile picture to orange. That’s it. No new album. No tour announcement. Just a colour change. And within hours, 50 brands lost their minds.
I watched in real-time as Sesame Street, FedEx, Dunkin’, Crumbl Cookies, airlines, makeup brands, fast food chains and more posted orange-themed graphics. Elmo in headphones. Orange Tic Tacs. Lipsticks. Planes. Glitter. A sea of orange squares flooding feeds across X and Instagram.
Why? Because orange was trending. And apparently, that’s all it takes.
When Did Being First Matter More Than Being Relevant?
This wasn’t strategy. This was reaction.
It was watching a pop star change her display colour and deciding, almost blindly, to join in. Without context. Without a point of view. Without any brand logic.
What happened wasn’t cultural marketing. It was cultural desperation.
Real cultural marketing understands why something matters. It doesn’t just see that something is happening and bolt a brand logo onto it. It finds the overlap between the moment and the message. And when that overlap doesn’t exist? It pauses. It waits. It doesn’t post.
The Problem With Reaction-Driven Marketing
Too many brands have mistaken urgency for relevance. They think if they don’t post quickly, they’ll miss the moment. But the truth is, if your brand has nothing to say, you were never part of the moment to begin with.
This Taylor Swift moment showed how quickly marketing teams can go from “culture-first” to “culture-chasing.”
- Was it entertaining? Sure.
- Did it drive actual connection or brand value? Doubt it.
- Will anyone remember who posted what two days from now? Absolutely not.
It’s the equivalent of jumping into a group chat mid-conversation and saying “me too!” without knowing what the chat is even about.
What Good Cultural Marketing Looks Like
The best cultural work doesn’t just follow culture. It comments on it. Challenges it. Celebrates it in ways that make sense for the brand.
Here’s what that usually involves:
- Knowing your brand’s voice and values
- Having clear cultural guardrails: what you comment on and what you don’t
- Picking moments that align with your purpose, not just your timeline
- Adding value to the conversation, not just volume
Some of the smartest brands stay silent during most trends. Not because they’re slow. Because they’re selective.
What This Moment Says About Us
The orange posts weren’t just a moment of harmless fun. They were a symptom.
A symptom of teams feeling pressured to constantly “be part of it.” A symptom of marketing that confuses attention with strategy. A symptom of KPIs that reward speed, not sense.
And more dangerously, a reminder that brands are forgetting how to say no.
A Colour Isn’t a Story
If your entire marketing move hinges on matching a celebrity’s Instagram palette, you don’t have a strategy. You have FOMO.
Because the best cultural marketing doesn’t try to hijack the moment. It earns its place in it.
So next time the internet turns orange, or pink, or Barbie-core, or tomato girl summer, ask yourself: is this us? Or are we just scared of being left out?
You don’t need to post to be relevant. You need to matter.
Moey writes here. 
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