Cultural trends shift faster than you can blink these days.

By the time you search for them on TikTok, they're gone. And your nanosecond attention-spanned audience is on to the next new shiny thing.

I.e. it's a waste of time.

Following the latest fleeting trend in a time where memes change by the literal hour is

1. exhausting and 2. not going to move the needle with consumers.

However, tapping into cultural moments is important for brand relevance.

Not only does it capture attention, but it also helps connect with consumers on a deeper level. And that's crucial in an oversaturated media landscape.

What you want is to create lasting cultural impact.

JoJo Siwa's rebrand? Drake and Kendrick's ongoing beef? Gypsy Rose Blanchard's release from prison/ rise to fame?

2024 has been full of them.

Penn State University says it's 'a pop culture moment or cultural moment refers to events happening instantaneously around the world and that catch the public's attention through media content.'

The "zeitgeist' is the intellectual, moral and cultural climate of an era, shaped by these defining moments.

Playing a greater role in the culture than tacking on to the back of a meme trend, if you will, with the intention of deepening our relationship with our audience.

Sometimes, these moments occur organically.

Like when Beyoncé dropped Formation, and everybody eagerly awaited to see if Red Lobster would respond to her reference (they did.) To stay relevant, marketers need to be attuned to what captivates the collective attention.

To keep their brands relevant, marketers need to stay familiar with the cultural zeitgeist. What are people interested in? What's capturing their collective attention? What are they talking about?

It's making your audience feel like your brand is a part of their lives. If you understand your audience, you're no longer reacting. You're helping people come up with definitions of themselves and what's going on around them, through you.

And 'understand' goes deeper than having audience segments. Every segment has unique cultural beliefs.

Many marketers forget that 'married females, ages 45 to 54, with household incomes above $75,000' each have their own perspective on the current zeitgeist.

Prime-time programming doesn't command the same mass attention it once did. This means our attention is scattered across many moments and pieces of media.

But there are still peak moments that have become centred in monocultural status. Barbenheimer, Squid Games, The Will Smith Slap. These moments connect and unite us despite the mass fragmentation of our interests.

Social media is what connects these moments and drives them to become of cultural significance. Consumers are in the driver's seat and holding all the power in determining 'where this thing will go.'

A collective group of people with a common goal or interest, namely, online.

Building an authentic community is key. Understand why your community forms, what they stand for, and how your brand can support them/ their values. This is how you transform your audience into brand ambassadors.

If you do this right, it will likely lead to organic marketing and your brand's implementation into the zeitgeist.

But it has to be done in a way that feels authentic.