Imagine a brand that doesn’t just speak, but sings, dances and dreams. A brand that lives and breathes as we do – true to its nature, but never afraid to take risks. A brand animated by the same stuff as us. Attuned to the world and the people in it. A brand so alive and kicking it demands to be looked at and never forgotten. A brand that has gone from a concept in a design studio to real, authentic experience in the world.
Welcome to the world of Living Brands
In their latest piece of thought leadership, All About Brands explores the idea that the brands succeeding today are not static constructs or surface-level identities, but living, breathing beings – emotionally resonant, culturally attuned, and deeply human. These are brands that don’t just react to the world, but reflect it, challenge it, and even change it.
So, what is a living brand, and why are we entering an era where conventional brand identities and traditional marketing tactics no longer cut it?
The article doesn’t try to reduce living brands to a single definition – this isn’t possible. After all, like us, they’re complex, multi-layered, and constantly evolving. They can’t be summed up by one quality, campaign, or tagline.
Instead, it explores the qualities, behaviours, and emotions that make certain brands feel more alive than others. It asks the big questions: Why do some brands stick in our minds while others slip past unnoticed? What makes a brand feel real, resonant, even human? And how can marketing evolve from something that interrupts to something audiences actively want to engage with?
What you'll discover
Why we’re battling not attention deficit but attention selectivity
In a world oversaturated with advertising, the challenge is standing out in a way that feels genuine. The brands that win today are those that spark surprise and deep emotion. But what exactly makes audiences pay attention?
The cause of audience dis-enchantment
Modern life has left many of us numb and even suspicious of inauthentic messaging, with brands that don’t make us feel something quickly tuned out. Could the key to engagement be in bringing back a sense of magic?
A French aesthetic theory with serious marketing potential
If you haven’t heard of frisson, you’re not alone. But once you understand how it works, you might just start building campaigns that give your audience chills.
Why brand purpose is no longer optional
These days, consumers don’t just buy products, they buy into values. The brands thriving today are the ones that stand for something, and can prove it with real action.
Why demonstrating human traits can be your brand’s superpower
Artificial polish and automation is everywhere, and many people fear the world is losing its innate humanness. With audiences craving imperfection and authenticity, it’s time to embrace real.
What it means to be alive
This isn’t just about clever taglines or slick design; it’s about building something that can respond, evolve and grow with its audience. Something that taps into the same innate instincts and behaviours that govern human life.
The Rise of Living Brands invites a total shift in how we think about marketing. These are brands that don’t sit still, don’t settle, don’t wait to be seen. They are brands you feel in your chest. Brands that leave echoes, and refuse to be forgotten. This isn’t about visibility, but vitality. In a world full of noise, it’s living brands that make themselves heard, staying alive in the mind long after your audience has stopped scrolling.
Ready to breathe some life into your marketing toolkit?
Read the full article from Living Brands here and at the end you'll get the bonus content for The Marketing Society Members - we shared with All About Brands that 69% of our Members state "winning attention" as a key marketing challenge always on their mind (Pulse Survey 1, 2025), so they gave us some bonus content, just for our community.
Here are some quick takeaways
1. Understand attention
Attention is a resource, and these days consumers are much more careful with how and where they spend it. No one wants to waste theirs on content that doesn’t offer value. And, crucially, we all have the power and ability to redistribute our attention quickly and easily. It’s not about scarcity, it’s about consumers becoming increasingly discerning and suspicious of brand messaging
2. Bring the magic back
In an era marked by doomscrolling, hyper productivity, and existential uncertainty, audiences crave small moments of wonder.
They feel numb and emotionally fatigued, but that doesn’t mean they are disinterested in what you have to say. To get through, brands need to spark strong emotions like joy, nostalgia and awe. Open your audiences eyes to a world of possibility – make them feel real again.
3. Surprise your audience
Surprise isn’t about shock value, but about disrupting expectations in a meaningful way. When we sense the familiar about the unfold and then it doesn’t, our brains light up. That moment of cognitive reorientation is attention-grabbing, and it’s also the root cause of aesthetic chills.
4. Stand for something
Purpose is no longer optional, but it’s also not a performance. The problem today is that while plenty of brands claim to stand for something, too many conflate belief with branding. When purpose is reduced to a campaign message, it feels hollow. When it drives decision-making, it inspires.
5. Be real
We live in a world of artifice and fakery, and brands have a responsibility to bring back some humanity into the conversation. But ‘authenticity’ is thrown around with such frequency by brands that are anything but authentic, the word has all but lost its meaning.
Keeping up with change
Over half of marketers also worry about keeping up with change. The good thing is, this isn’t about constant reinvention, but about knowing who you are.
By building from a place of authenticity, truth and humanity, your brand will not need to chase the latest trend or fad, and in place of short-term hype will be rewarded with long-term brand loyalty.
A living brand doesn’t react to culture, but creates its own. It lives by a consistent internal logic, while staying responsive to the world outside. By prioritising real human connection over clever messaging, and purpose over performance, you have the power to build a brand that grabs attention and keeps it – a brand that is relevant in the current moment, and remains so over time.
It will be human, with a strong belief system and a rich emotional landscape – leading with purpose, speaking with heart, and never losing its place in the conversation.
