Should Brands Follow Trends? The Real Cost of Chasing Them
28-07-2026 | Article
The pressure to stay current
Should you really follow every trend that comes along? Every founder feels the pull at some point — another site suddenly looking cleaner than yours, your own logo starting to feel dated.
A competitor starts running AI-generated ads. Someone on the team suggests opening one more social channel, “just to stay visible.” Trends come in every size, from a genuine cultural shift to a passing TikTok trend — and the pull to react feels much the same either way.
These are the shifts we mean by marketing trends — changes in how people think, behave, consume and interact. They show up in market demand, consumer interests, visual style and aesthetics, tone of voice, and cultural signals. The pressure to keep up is real.
But should you actually change course because of them? And if so, how far?
When chasing trends in marketing helps — and when it costs
Trends can deliver real value. They bring relevance, visibility and a sense of taking part in the cultural conversation. They create momentum — but the kind of momentum, and what it costs a brand, depends on the situation.
In practice, brands run into trends in a handful of recurring situations. In some, following the trend helps. In others, it costs the brand.
When developing products. Catching a genuine long-term shift in demand can be powerful — a brand that anticipates real market change can adapt and succeed. Misreading a short-lived trend as a lasting one, however, often means ending up with a product the market never really wanted, and sales that never arrive.
When building a new brand. A new brand built mainly on whatever is currently popular can look polished at launch, yet it rarely earns lasting loyalty. Once the trend moves on, there is little authentic foundation left for customers to hold on to.
When pursuing growth. Trends can bring new attention quickly and open doors to audiences a brand might not otherwise reach. The risk is that much of that attention comes from people who engage briefly but never convert or stick around. At the same time, a well-chosen trend can help a brand test its assumptions, and every so often turns out to be genuinely useful in ways no one expected.
When trying to stay relevant. Trends are often used to signal that a brand is current — using user-generated content (UGC) or AI creators in advertising is a clear example. If the audience is young, tech-savvy and open to innovation, this can feel natural and strengthen relevance. If the audience is older or holds more traditional values, the same choice can feel forced and create a misfit instead. Relevance only works when the trend matches what the brand’s actual audience expects of it.
When an established brand adopts trends. For a brand with existing equity, the risk looks different. Adopting a trend that conflicts with its established identity can damage recognition and trust. Jaguar’s recent rebrand is a clear illustration: the work was visually striking and in line with visual trends, yet it clashed with the brand’s core of luxury and tradition, and was largely rejected by its primary audience.
When trends sit at the heart of the business model. Some brands are built to run on trends. Zara is the clearest example: its entire system exists to absorb and rework seasonal fashion trends at speed. For Zara, chasing trends in marketing is not a surface decision — it is operational strategy, and its audience expects exactly that.
Across every one of these situations, one pattern holds: trends that align with and extend a brand’s core tend to help it.Trends that sit outside that core are where the cost of chasing trends really shows up.
Principles for relating to marketing trends
The pattern running through these situations points to a clearer way of working with trends.
Brands that hold a strong core tend to do better over time than those built primarily on what is currently popular. A clear core may develop more slowly, yet it creates lasting distinctiveness. It supports authenticity, and attracts customers who value the brand beyond the current moment. Over time, this depth usually leads to stronger loyalty and more resilient commercial equity.
The more useful approach, then, isn’t to react to every trend by default, but to maintain a deliberate relationship with them. That relationship can be more or less open depending on the brand’s core values and business model. When a trend is worth engaging with, the stronger results tend to come from reworking it through the brand’s existing language and character, rather than adopting it wholesale.
These principles are the foundation. What follows is a practical way to apply them.
A practical framework for relating to trends
Once the principles are clear, the next step is a simple way to decide how the brand should relate to any specific trend.
One useful approach is to view the brand’s relationship to a trend through one of four positions:
Protagonist. The brand actively leads the trend. This position works best when the trend sits close to the brand’s core and when the business is not overly dependent on it. Taking a strong lead can create visibility, but it also carries higher risk if the trend fades quickly.
Antagonist. The brand acknowledges the trend but deliberately stands in contrast to it, emphasising the values it holds that the trend doesn’t — whatever those happen to be for that brand. This approach can strengthen distinctiveness.
Supporting companion. The brand understands the trend, selectively adopts certain elements, and reworks them through its own language. It neither leads the trend nor rejects it. Instead, it engages with it carefully and selectively.
Observer. The brand stays in its own lane. It watches the trend, evaluates it, and feels no particular pressure to respond. This position protects focus and consistency. As an observer, the brand can still acknowledge the trend without making it a headline, choosing instead to join the discussion with its audience in a lighter way.
The real decision
These four positions give founders a practical way to decide how far, if at all, to engage with any given trend — not to avoid trends completely, nor follow them automatically, but to make the choice intentional.
The pressure to follow trends won’t disappear. The clearer path is to hold a strong core, know the level of risk the brand can take, and choose a consistent position — protagonist, antagonist, supporting companion or observer — for each trend that appears. In the end, the real question is whether following a trend strengthens the brand’s long-term position, or quietly erodes it.