How dating apps accidentally solved B2B's biggest problem
Picture this: 600,000 fashion brands, tens of millions of consumer goods, and thousands of new launches every day.
When the market’s this crowded, it feels a lot more like invisibility than competition. Brands are turning to something stronger: culture, woven straight into strategy.
From streetwear sliding into underground music scenes to beauty brands riding social movements, culture has become both the medium and the message.
Speaking the language of subcultures gets attention. Speaking it well earns trust.
GUCCI, BOTTEGA, AND THE TENNIS CLUB INVITE
Tennis has always carried an aura - country clubs, Wimbledon whites, that quiet if you know, you know.
Gucci is one of the best examples of how a heritage house can turn that aura into strategy.
They skipped the sport entirely and went straight for the culture that surrounds it. Over the last few years, both Gucci and Bottega Veneta have leaned in by backing Italian players. Every time a player carries that duffel onto the court, the brand steps into the spotlight.
We wouldn't call this _just _a smart product placement. It’s cultural placement. A way of saying: you don’t need to play the game to belong to the club.
**MUBI: FROM STORIES TO MOVEMENTS **
MUBI is known to start conversations. Each collection feels handpicked, orbiting around politics, aesthetics, or movements that matter right now. That’s why their recommendations hit different: they feel intentional instead of the regular accidental.
And then there’s Notebook. MUBI's very own magazine. It dives into cinematic language, visual style, and influence like a film nerd you actually want to listen to.
And to top it off, MUBI's reach goes further.
They partner with film festivals, museums, and indie distributors. They stitch themselves into the spaces where cinema is protected and pushed forward.
That’s the promise. Not endless choice, not convenience. A kind of belonging. For their small but loyal audience, subscribing to MUBI is buying into culture itself.
WHEN CULTURE GOES WRONG
Of course, brands miss the mark too.
Pepsi x Kendall. Adidas’ “We hear you, Boston.” The kind of culture play that feels like watching someone bomb a stage dive.
Culture is lived reality. It’s memory, ritual, slang, music, and community. Borrow it without backing it up, and it unravels fast! If you must know, audiences can smell the difference between participation and performance.
Nike’s long-term commitment to Black communities runs deeper than campaigns.
Athlete-led programs, multi-year contracts, non-profit funding, leadership changes, it’s a structural investment. That’s why the message resonates: because the community knows it’s real.
THE TAKEAWAY
Culture is currency.
But it only spends if it’s_ authentic_.
So next time you’re tempted to drop your brand into a trending conversation, pause and ask: "Are we just performing? Or are we adding relevance that lasts?"
UNPEELED SPECIAL is where we give our leads free rein. No approval chains, just their thoughts that keep them awake at night, served unfiltered.
This one comes from Vasudha Bakshi, Design Lead at Social Kiwi.
Got thoughts? We're all ears. 🥝
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