“Relatable” brands pretending to be your bestie just need to stop now. Because we’ve all had quite enough performative chaos. The new kid on the marketing block? Aspiration. But wait, she’s not the same girl we knew ten years ago. The one that was so flawless, you could never imagine actually being her. No, this new aspiration still promises an escape from our current reality. But she’s more grounded, more attainable. So, how can your brand be her? [Here’s how]

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Gooood morning y’all. And a good morning it is indeed (trust me I’m just as surprised at my optimism as you are.)

But it’s always a good day when a grown ass man who is also a billionaire has a very public meltdown about something extremely trivial like a rival ad. Sam Altman launching a 420-word tirade on X over Anthropic’s Super Bowl campaign was not on my 2026 bingo card. I certainly didn’t expect the tech overlord to be so sensitive. But he's accusing the company of being “dishonest,” “deceptive,” and guilty of “doublespeak” for criticising OpenAI’s move toward ads. The internet promptly reframed it as the digital equivalent of a toddler throwing a tantrum. And maybe that's what happens when two AI giants argue over who gets to monetise the future more tastefully.

Here’s an example of a man who isn’t as messy as Nicki Minaj—Joseph Gordon-Levitt—who seeks to deliver us from digital evil. He's currently showing up alongside parents, survivors, and U.S. senators to demand Big Tech accountability. It's another signal that the “platforms are neutral pipes” fantasy has fully collapsed. Actors, advocacy groups, grieving families, and lawmakers are all standing on the same stage saying the algorithms are failing people. And that's when this stops being a fringe critique and starts looking like a cultural breaking point. One that’s needed too.

Joseph is calling for the reform of Section 230, a foundational US law that protects big tech from liability for content posted by users. The law provides immunity for defamation, negligence, or other harmful content generated by third parties. It’s a double-edged sword for creators and agencies. Gutting Section 230 could create real operational risk for people building and distributing content (yeah, us). But leaving things as-is clearly isn’t protecting kids.

Which is part of the reason France is literally raiding X’s offices over concerns tied to harm caused by Grok. Yeah, the bot that denied the Holocaust – a crime in France nonetheless.  Kind of badass to see law enforcement walking into tech headquarters and dissolving the fantasy that Silicon Valley gets to operate above the mess of nation states. Governments are no longer politely asking platforms to behave. They’re busting down the door. The truth is that we built tools that move faster than our moral frameworks. And now we’re trying to retrofit accountability onto systems that were designed to optimise attention, not care.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

She just wasn’t doing it like she used to. And you know what they say: when one supreme falls, another rises. And she hath risen. Aspiration. Unapologetic, polished, elevated aspiration.

The world is, to put it lightly, a mess right now. I’m not the only one feeling it. Everything feels (very) chaotic, uncertain, and frankly a bit sh*t. So, the last thing people want from brands is more chaos disguised as relatability. Like, I think my eyes would roll so far back I’d see my f*cking brain.

We don't want to see brands being "real" about their “struggles” or performative vulnerability. We don't want another "we're just like you!" moment that feels fake asf.

Beauty. Fantasy. Something that feels elevated and completely removed from the dumpster fire of reality. That’s aspiration at its finest.

When brands position themselves or their product as "aspirational," they are marketing a life to you that’s desirable. It focuses on a state that you would like to be in, that may only exist in your imagination, aligning with your vision of success, progress, status.

They’re selling you your dream life with their product as the catalyst. And right now, that’s exactly what people are responding to.

That feels dated and very tone-deaf now.

The new aspiration is more sophisticated. It's polished but not fake. Elevated but not exclusionary. It's showing people a version of life that feels achievable if they work for it, not so far out of reach it feels like a taunt.

The brands who get this right are almost always in fashion and beauty. I'm talking your Rhodes, Skims, MSCHF, even Gucci with collaborations like The North Face.

These brands craft beautiful, curated moments that make you want to be part of their world. They're selling you a feeling, an aesthetic, a lifestyle, not pretending to be your buddy who also can't get their sh*t together.

Every brand started posting the same "relatable" content, same self-aware jokes, same bullshit vulnerability theatre. And people got tired of it.

Because when your feed is wall-to-wall brands trying to be authentic, it all starts to feel incredibly inauthentic. Go figure. It’s almost like… everyone downloaded the same playbook on how to seem real (newsflash, they did).

People are rebelling against the pressure to be perfect AND the pressure to perform imperfection. They want something that doesn't require constant emotional labour to engage with.

Aspiration is refreshing because it’s not ashamed to make you admit you want more, want to be more, want to feel different, to embody that which you are not. It shows you something beautiful and lets you decide if you want to be part of it. And most of the time, you do.

Know your audience's reality. Aspiration only works if it feels within reach. You're not selling an impossible fantasy - you're showing people the best version of what they could achieve.

Focus on feeling, not flexing. The goal isn't to show off wealth or exclusivity. It's to create a mood, an aesthetic, a world people want to step into. Think less "look what I have" and more "look how this feels."

Invest in production quality. This is not the time for iPhone videos shot in bad lighting. Aspiration requires polish. Beautiful imagery. Thoughtful editing. Make it worth looking at.

Stop apologising for excellence. You don't need to downplay your brand being good at what it does. You don't need to make self-deprecating jokes to seem relatable. Just be excellent and own it.

We had to break down the impossible perfection of early social media, because that sh*t was exhausting bruh. Brands needed to be humanised a little and show that realness could sell.

But we overcorrected. Everything became too performatively messy, and now people are craving something different.

Aspiration is back. Not the toxic, unattainable version. But a new kind - one that offers beauty, escape, and elevation without apology. So, if your brand is still trying to be everyone's relatable best friend? It might be time to grow up, get polished, and give people something to aspire to instead.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The trend comes from Jonatanas Kazlauskas, better known as Lithuanian Justin Bieber. Back in 2015, he auditioned for X Factor Lithuania with Justin Bieber's "Sorry". Plot twist: he forgot the lyrics, awkwardly said "sorry" (which is part of the song), paused to physically cringe at himself, then just kept dancing through the pain. 

The clip lived quietly on YouTube for nearly a decade before resurfacing and absolutely exploding recently. Now, he's the internet's go-to green screen for that "I messed up and I know it but I gotta push through anyway" unfortunate and painful spirit.

Now, people are dropping him into their most apologetic moments where they've run out of excuses and just have to commit to the cringe. My fav examples:

Use the Lithuanian Justin Bieber green screen template. Drop him into your scenario, add text describing the moment where you're apologising but still gotta push through the awkwardness.

A few ideas to get you started:

-abdel khalil, brand & marketing exec

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Textbook tuck and roll
❤How wholesome: Best friendship unlocked
😊Soooo satisfying: i love bubblewrap way too much
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Red curry cabbage cups

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.