2025 will be the year of brutal brand honesty

The early 2020s were characterised by caution and self-editing in the advertising world. During those “uncertain times,” messaging was shaped by a heightened sensitivity—likely influenced by the COVID era and the subsequent culture of scrutinised public accountability. 

Every brand has a core truth. It comes not from the inner halls of operations but from the consumer’s mind.

Brands often softened their messaging, and in striving not to offend, they shifted focus from expressing their own identity to addressing their audiences’ preferences. Ironically, in an age of inclusivity, brands somehow excluded their own authentic selves from the narrative. 

But as we approach 2025 and the mid-point of this decade, we’re going to see the emergence of brand truths, fearlessly stated. 

What’s most true? 

Every brand has a core truth. It comes not from the inner halls of operations but from the consumer’s mind—what they associate with them. Good or bad, so long as it’s true, it can be leveraged to make a lasting emotional connection that places the company into the permanent consideration set for consumers. My team and I call this “what’s most true.” But to take advantage of this dynamic takes quite a bit of fearlessness. 

This brutal frankness worked, and Domino’s knocked out Pizza Hut to become the #1 pizza chain by 2017.

Take Dominos changing their pizza formula circa 2009, for example. They had gone through testing and realised their product was waning in popularity. In rolling out the all-new Domino’s, they could’ve said they simply improved the recipe. 

But that wouldn’t have leaned into what people really thought. Instead, they famously did a mea culpa with ads that admitted the old formula was terrible and the new style was a course correction (which was the most true). This brutal frankness worked, and Domino’s knocked out Pizza Hut to become the #1 pizza chain by 2017 with $5.9 billion in annual sales. 

Domino's Pizza Turnaround

The current landscape 

Fast forward to today, 2024. Coming out of the first-half of the decade, things have begun to change. With so many saying so little about themselves, this was the year that some clever brands took advantage of this environment. Standing out by stating their core tenets in brutally honest ways. Even if (and especially if) those things had a downside available to dramatise. 

When faster isn’t always better 

Take 5 Oil Change is a good place to start with their We’re faster than you think campaign. Customers sit in their car working on something they assumed they’d have enough time to complete, only to learn the oil change is already over. Cut to a mishap caused by not completing what they had planned to do during their car being serviced. It’s a brilliant use of aftermath. 

 With so many saying so little about themselves, this was the year that some clever brands took advantage of this environment.

Originally the agency, Erich & Kallman, had also envisioned positive things happening from it being too fast, but ultimately settled on more dramatic moments of mayhem and inconvenience. Turning a (possibly invented) potential drawback into a memorable attribute. 

Take 5 Oil Change's We’re faster than you think campaign

Competition is the point 

Nike’s Winning isn’t for everyone campaign, by Wieden + Kennedy, stood out for its unapologetic exploration of competition’s essence. The campaign’s centrepiece, the Willem Dafoe-narrated “Am I a bad person?” spot, captured the raw, uncompromising spirit of athleticism. Highlighting the selfishness and ruthlessness sports often requires. 

There followed a torrent of digital and outdoor work that unapologetically spoke to the true nature of meritocracy and competition in sports. Lines like “My dream is to end theirs.” “I don’t want first. I want first ever.” and “They didn’t lose. They got a lesson.” Spoke with a stark boldness that brought Nike back to its core as the voice of unrelenting determination in sports.  

Freedom, Unfiltered 

Tubi, on the other hand, dramatised its brand truth of being a free streaming platform with the Tubi is for everyone campaign by Mischief @ No Fixed Address. Pairing unlikely—and sometimes morally questionable—duos, they underscored the universal appeal of their subscription-free service. 

By digging deep into research—not just as a validation tool but as a cultural compass—brands can identify their core truths and present them in ways that resonate. 

Teachers were featured alongside kids who skipped school to vandalise buildings. Shop owners with gang members who shook them down. Firefighters and people who take day naps with so many candles burning, it starts a fire. All to make the point that the FAST channel’s “freeness” was truly an attribute that didn’t discriminate.  

Previous work had been more nuanced, addressing the bingeable nature of the content available on the platform. But when research showed 62% of consumers who were familiar with Tubi still didn’t know they were free, they focused on dealing with this core brand attribute in a provocative, but certainly unforgettable way..