Are They Okay? The Pull of Weird Branding and Brand Voice

Imagine, you open Tik Tok or Instagram and the first post you see is of a distorted cowboy with a peanut head named Aidan, riding the back of the cat saying, “Can you hear me?”

Yeah, so have we.

Why are brands utilizing bizarre images to promote their products? In the age of memes and

declining attention spans, short but eye-catching videos, are key to capturing an audience. Posting odd content will create a buzz around your brand, leading to more social media interactions and clicks. When spotting your brand in the real world, these videos may trigger a content connection, with the consumer saying “Hey, I saw a weird video about this brand. We should try their product.”

Nutter Butter is an example of one company that is currently utilizing the “strange” approach to branding and brand voice. They know their target audience would likely be Gen Z or Gen Alpha. Admittedly, these generations have peculiar humour—myself included as an older Gen Z. This generational demographic are also the ones who would be more likely to purchase a sweet snack for work or school in comparison to older generations who may prefer healthier alternatives. By creating social media marketing content that appeals to the target demographic, consumers are more likely to choose to purchase, or ask a parent to purchase, a product that aligns its brand humour with theirs.

Younger generations spend more time on the internet compared to older generations, often describing themselves as chronically online. This younger generation is the ideal audience from a social media marketing standpoint. Content therefore must be tailored to their interests. Nutter Butter for example has chosen to utilize distortion because it is translated into humour. These videos and images would fall under the category of cursed memes. This has prompted multiple Tik Tok users to post videos asking if the Nutter Butter social media manager is okay. This is a rhetorical question as marketers are aware that it follows the meme format characterized primarily by Gen Z. Nutter Butter has gone as far as developing its own world for the Nutter Butter brand complete with characters. Nutey Nuter is the main character—a peanut with a realistic human face. There are also multiple other fan favourites such as Mr. 1021, who has a connection to a monster from Criminal Minds. By creating colourful characters, audiences will begin to recognize them within videos, perhaps even developing a favouritism and interacting with posts pertaining to that character. The company is ensuring that their brand marketing and voice are connecting with consumers on multiple levels, through the shared sense of humour, while also creating its own fandom through the Nutter Butter universe.

Duolingo is another brand that is using their unique brand voice to appeal to Gen Z

consumers. In a blog posted by Duolingo in 2022, a graphic revealed that over half of their users are aged 13-29. Gen Z falls from birth years of 1997-2012 (Dear Duolingo, 2022),

meaning that Gen Z is this exact demographic. Duolingo uses this weird and wacky brand voice to relate to its users. Duo’s mascot is also infatuated with current pop culture celebrities such as Dua Lipa and Heeseung from Enhypen. Duo often publicly professes his love for these celebs. Duolingo connects to users of specific fandoms to develop a relatability factor which then creates a desire for users to share with other individuals within the fandoms and creating more views, also leading to more potential app downloads. Duo has been spotted at both Dua Lipa and Enhypen’s concerts in the United States. It is important to note that Enhypen is a kpop group. By connecting with international fans of the Korean group, the use for a language app is significant.

Recently, Duo has gone through a significant physical change on their European social media accounts. Duo has done some work on his body and is now quite buff. Buff Duo has caused a lot of commotion in the social media sphere. This seems to stem from a post of the German Duo cosplaying as an immensely popular anime character, Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen. This form of brand strategy would typically be seen as unusual as Duolingo is aligning itself with brands outside of itself. Once again creating the pull of intrigue from significant and large fandoms of outside brands that may utilize the app. Curious anime fans may want to learn Japanese in order to better understand their favourite shows. Nutter Butter and Duolingo are not the only two companies that have exacted extreme marketing tactics to develop their brand voice and appeal to new consumers. Skittles and Old Spice are two examples of brands that have been creating strange content for many years. Taking a page out of their playbook, Duolingo and Nutter Butter are now creating a new sphere of weird marketing that will attract their current target audiences. Skittles and Old Spice commercials have previously drawn their target audiences, millennials and Gen X, in during the height of cable TV. Now, weird marketing is being reformatted to connect to the new

generations of consumers on social media platforms.

References

Blanco, C. (2024, September 9). How does language learning differ across generations?. Duolingo Blog. https://blog.duolingo.com/dear-duolingo-how-does-language-learning-differ-between-generations/

Hicks, K. (2024, March 1). Why brands are embracing the “graphic design is my passion” look. Marketing Brew. https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2024/03/01/why-brands-are-embracing-the-graphic-design-is-my-passion-look

Nutter Butter. [@nutterbutter]. (2024, September 25). TIME. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DAWzL4solIy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Deann, Michael. [@michaeldeann]. (2023, October 18). @Duolingo CAME TO SEE @enhypen #HEEDUO #kpop #enhypen #fateworldtour. Tik Tok. https://www.tiktok.com/@michaeldeann/video/7291391605385252142

duolingodeutchland. [@duolingodeutschland]. (2024, July 16). Daddy Duo or Buff Duo? #duolingo #gojosatoru #buffduo #jujutsukaisen. https://www.tiktok.com/@duolingodeutschland/video/7392214946068565281