It wasn’t long ago that brands didn’t have to prove their existence anew every single day. Today, adidas and Ritter-Sport are fuelling increasingly shorter hype cycles with collabs and launches. What does this mean for brands that want to remain relevant tomorrow?
Hype is great. Quick impulses, exploding figures, total attention: the Swatch x Audemars Piguet drop with around 11 billion social views or the Adidas x Bad Bunny collab with a 7.7 billion US-dollar media impact value: the algorithm pulls the brand upwards and turns visibility into demand. This is perhaps the most seductive state in the market. But because this success acts immediately, an addiction to more quickly develops.
Another drop.
Another collab.
Another gamble.
Everything for the moment.
Hype works. For a while, at least. Until the dopamine evaporates. Ergo, the hype.
The rush of the moment
Brands that have experienced this brief rush often fall into a kind of activism. Labubu (a plush toy hype with little sharp teeth) or DirTea (ice tea with benefits) show how quickly things can go up, but also how rapidly it can be over. Bye-bye, hype. Anyone without a foundation then has to come up with something new quickly or pay a high price. Because attention alone is not yet a business model.
So what remains when the hype is over? In the best case, something significantly more valuable than the next viral moment: a strong brand identity. A true identity. While hype constantly asks, "What is working right now?", identity asks, "What defines us?"
What remains after the hype?
A strong identity that grows from the core of the company is initially surprisingly inconvenient. Because it sets boundaries. It doesn’t just say: This is who we are. It also says: This is who we are not. That sounds banal, but it is one of the most valuable capabilities a brand can have. Identity protects against constant reaction without falling into brand narrow-mindedness. It enables a clear no:
No to unsuitable collabs. No to fleeting trends. No to pure chasing of reach.
A prime example? Telekom. The T- Magenta, the sound design. No one would seriously consider replacing the catchy "Da-Da-Da-Daaa" with a "Di-Di-Dumm" for a hype effect. Or suddenly dyeing the Telekom Magenta a soft pink. Here, the brand codes are far more than just design elements. They are part of the brand identity. Built over years, consistently repeated, and grown into an unmistakable brand moat.
But people recognise more than just a logo, a colour, or a sound. They recognise an attitude, a taste, a character. And that is precisely where relevance is created. Because when you connect something so strongly with a brand that it becomes part of your own identity, people talk about it. They recommend it. They identify with it. They say: That’s me, too. They understand me. They speak from my soul.
The art of clever symbiosis
The problem is not constant new drops and collabs. On the contrary: used correctly, they can recharge a brand again and again, open up new target groups, and even sharpen its identity. The decisive factor is whether they contribute to the brand’s core or merely generate short-term attention. LEGO x Star Wars, adidas x Stella McCartney, or IKEA x Sonos show how this works. Successful collabs do not simply add reach. They create a connection that makes sense for both brands and, in the best case, produces something that neither could have created on its own.
A strong brand does not always have to do the same thing. But it should always be recognisably the same.
So what to do? Jump on the hype train or build an identity? Answering the question with a simple "either-or" would be wrong. It is not about fish or fowl, shoes or barefoot, a punk concert or the opera. The art lies in credibly combining both. Because hype and identity are not opponents. They have different tasks.
Hype gets people to look. Identity gives them a reason to stay. Great brands that master this game virtuously include, for example:
- Porsche
- Rimowa
- Patek Philippe
Hype creates visibility, identity substance
They generate attention without bending their identity. They play with desirability, scarcity, and cultural relevance. Always based on a brand core that has grown over years, often decades. Here, hype is not a one-time big bang, but a cultivated background noise. And identity is not the dull brother of hype, but the foundation for desirability and "wanting to have."
The future does not belong to the brands that fight loudest for attention. But to those who have something relevant to offer when the attention is there.
Daniel Ernsting
works as Head of Concept at Strichpunkt Identity in Hamburg/Berlin, for clients including Hamburger Hochbahn, the state of Baden-Württemberg, and Deutz. He loves great brands, great advertising, and great ideas.
