What does it take to stand out in a noisy but bland world?

I play a game with my 10-year-old on the way to school to alleviate the monotony of traffic. She calls it the ‘spot the car’ challenge. We look for pink, purple, or turquoise cars, and the first to spot 10, wins.

It’s good we don’t have to find white, black or silver cars, or the game would be over in two minutes. We’re overrun by them! And you might have noticed that they’re all starting to look the same. It’s true that car design and production teams are following the same processes to make cars safer, more aerodynamic and fuel efficient.

But the result is that Jeeps are starting to look like VWs, and Hyundais are starting to look like BMWs. Look around and you’ll see this trend of ‘averaging’ everywhere: in interior design, coffee shops, restaurants, food photography, office spaces, Instagram posts, clothing, architecture, logos, and advertising.

We’re inundated with more messaging and noise than any generation before, but all of it is converging to more of the same, more bland.

In the words of designer Thomas Heatherwick, we’re in a blandemic¹. But if the sea of sameness is the effect, what’s causing it and how do we rise above it?

Stop trying to be all things to all people

Advertising teams will say that they struggle to convince clients to make bold choices necessary for standout communication. This is particularly true in corporate environments, where choices seen as risky are likely to be sacrificed for the safer, proven approach.

This is compounded by the dreaded ‘target market’ definition, which often is less of a target and more of a net designed to capture as many people as possible. In Africa, the drive for inclusivity can sometimes result in a homogeneous and inauthentic brand image.

This is heightened in South Africa, where organisations are acutely aware of the need for mixed representation. Extrapolate this to brands operating at a Pan African level, across multiple national identities, and you see how a catch-all strategy can lack impact.

Well-intentioned inclusivity can lead to generic, dull communication that fails to connect with anyone. If the word ‘dull’ doesn’t already hit a marketer where it hurts, the fact that there is an extraordinary monetary cost to a brand that is dull and bland certainly should (see Challengers vs. The Cost of Dull²).

Reflect real lived experiences

Most brands aim to make inroads with underserved markets deemed lucrative for the future (read ‘Youth’ and ‘Middle Market’). But content aimed at these markets often recycles the same visual references and tropes.

Part of the issue is that this work is informed by an echo chamber of insights and ideas from research and creative partners who are often themselves not diverse enough to capture the nuanced, lived experiences of African audiences.

While universal truths can create broad appeal, the diversity of our audiences requires a balance between leveraging these truths and leaning into hyper-local culture. Shifting trends and emerging subcultures shape the evolving attitudes of these markets, and tapping into these cultural nuances is one way to add the emotion and surprise needed to cut through the blandness.

More ethnography and social listening and partnering with others deeply immersed in these cultures can create more authentic connection. KFC³ did a great job of this recently with their #Made for Sharing family bucket.

Their communication reflected a more in-touch understanding how ‘family’ is interpreted amongst its audience, and through this understanding reflected a shift in how its famous bucket was being shared.

Use surprise and storytelling to break through

Increased digitisation has also made the branding environment noisier and more homogeneous while shortening attention spans. Global trends and increased interconnectedness contribute to groupthink in the digital space, often playing out through a convergence of ideas and executions on most social media platforms.

Brands activating locally often follow trends established in the West, relying on the same big name influencers and digital tactics and recently AI, which further homogenises the brand landscape and makes it difficult to create a distinctive brand voice.

On top of this, neuroscience tells us that people are hardwired to tune out when they know what to expect, with the brain filling in the blanks for what it thinks is coming. It’s becoming harder to keep people’s attention, which means it’s necessary to surprise them with something unexpected to break through.

Anyone who has bought funeral cover will know the standard MO is an (often unprompted) sales pitch via a call centre or broker, with the same key marketing messages and imagery played out repeatedly.

Bucking the trend, Sanlam’s highly successful Uk’shona Kwelanga WhatsApp mini-series⁴ used drama, storytelling and suspense to create an unprecedented level of interest and ultimately a new way of interacting in what is generally a muted category.

Solve uniquely African problems

It’s a beautiful time to be an African brand. Globally there’s a strong sense of African pride and identity on the rise as the continent’s contributions to music, dance, and fashion have begun to influence global trends. Now more than ever, embracing our Africanness creates opportunity for distinction, not only in how we activate our brands, but also in how we use deep insight into local cultures to solve uniquely African problems.

Think YOCO, a payments facilitator whose purpose to stimulate and support the growth of small business owners is particularly relevant given South Africa’s very large informal economy. Or Emata, a Ugandan micro funder using AI powered alternative credit scoring to provide affordable loans to small farmers enabling them to scale their businesses, important in many African countries where trade and skills-based companies can absorb a low skilled labour force if given opportunity to scale.

In summary, there is a tendency to averaging all around us, attention spans are shorter, and the world is noisier. Standing apart requires brand custodians to change the way they engage.

Brands need to be bold enough to connect with people on things they care about, surprise them by challenging the category conventions they’ve come to expect, use emotion and dramatic storytelling to arrest attention and show distinctive character.

Without this they run the risk of becoming one those monochromatic cars that blends into an increasingly bland background.

Dhatchani Naidoo is managing director at Delta Victor Bravo (eatbigfish is represented in Africa by Delta Victor Bravo). She specialises in helping clients build profitable, sustainable brands. An analytical, big picture thinker with a flair for solving complex business problems, Naidoo specifically focused on using customer insight to build and leverage brand strength and contribute to business growth.