The brand control exchange
Social media made a promise. Humanity would be more connected than ever before. One-to-one communication would remove the barriers between brands, celebrities and the public for the mutual benefit of them all. This utopian notion unravelled fast. Social exploded and took on a life of its own – controlled by a handful of the hyper-rich, built around addictive behaviours and as problematic as it is powerful. For brands, the challenge posed by this runaway train changes from one day to the next. But, at its heart, the conundrum of social media comes down to a matter of hegemony of substance. What is social for? What is it made of? What does it do?
The development arc of social is entering a new phase. The original promise of social gave way to advertising and brand content. Legendary BBH co-founder John Hegarty says that ninety percent of content is – in his words – rubbish. Brand marketers have their own business priorities but we also have a responsibility to reduce that percentage. Adding to the noise isn’t good enough and, with algorithm changes and a shift in focus on the part of Meta, it won’t cut it in terms of performance either.
So what’s next? According to Meta, less focus on specific formats and more algorithmic demand for “authentic, original and high quality” content. The social media marketing industry has been talking about storytelling forever. It’s both a creative motivator and a meaningless buzzword. It’s the essence of what we do, yet the core of everything we should do but don’t. Depth, value and insight are now mandatory.
The brand control exchange
When it comes to translating the value of content into a potent tactic in the battle for meaningful attention, catching the eye of users is just part of the job. Generating engagement is another, and in 2025 that means more than a passive like on a post that says nothing. Likes mean less than ever. Users like less and the ones who do have been shown to be less engaged in what they’re liking than we might like to assume. With the option to make them invisible now well established on Instagram, the value of a like is in decline. For brands, real depth of engagement comes at the cost of control. This is the Brand Control Exchange. Brands loosen their grip on their social comms and messaging. It couldn’t be further from the early days of social content. Creative campaigns that lean into community remixing are in vogue and can drive up the quality of attention but they can only work for businesses that are comfortable putting their brands – brand assets, content, raw materials and all – into the hands of others. In return, they can create opportunities to drive genuine, relevant, durable engagement and foster community among their audiences.
IKEA talks about the “wisdom of the crowd” in democratised product development. Its Co-Create platform sets out a creative process and provides resources for groups of colleagues to join forces in the name of innovation. Lego Ideas has delivered crowdsourced creativity for years. Coca-Cola brought new technology and fresh execution to a simple idea for its Create Real Magic campaign, which generated engagement through the co-creation of holiday cards using AI.
But it isn’t just the domain of giant consumer brands. Liebherr’s customer co-creation programme provides a space for B2B development. In 2023, Gothenburg’s Municipal Executive Board launched the “world’s largest workshop” to invite people to suggest creative ways to make the city a great place for people to live. Co-creation is a great way to build true engagement. Involving consumers in product development has long been known by psychologists to inspire and strengthen their connection, not to mention increasing their subsequent preference for the product in question. Social media and digital content are now so immersive that some brands will be able to embrace co-creation to make that connection in online communications too.
Content remixing
We expect to see more brands open up their social content to be remixed and to work with their social communities to create moments and develop products. Whether it’s using AI to make Christmas cards, collaboratively designing interactive worlds in Roblox or shaping IRL experiences, social will be both a mechanism for collaboration and a medium for the storytelling and outputs that come from it.
But for brands seeking true engagement through co-creation in social it means relinquishing some control to their customers and consumers. It means a relaxed grip on messaging and style, and an openness to the unfiltered reality of authentic interaction. Brands who’ve invested time and commitment into building consumer connections are primed for the Brand Control Exchange.
It’s not for everyone but the potential benefits are massive.
