Creed, cringe and the comeback of the century

Issue 3: Cringe is on a comeback

Dec 14, 2023

Creed are the latest in a seemingly constant thread of bands, brands and beings to make a surprising resurgence in 2023. Yep, we’re talking Creed with a “C”. For those of you looking for the Greed issue, that will come later, this is a Creed issue. We’re doing a Creed issue.

Who’d have thought we’d be closing out the year talking about a Florida four-piece the majority of people didn’t find particularly good even when they were the ninth best-selling act of the noughties? But here we are two sold-out cruises later, with the vaguely Christian-tilting post-grunge band dominating a whole subset of social media, being credited for the Texas Rangers’ ALCS championship (where they appeared as guests of honour), and frontman Scott Stapp’s now iconic custom Dallas Cowboys jersey – worn during an unforgettable NFL halftime performance 22 years ago – becoming a costume of choice this Halloween.

It seems like an almost overnight revival, but this situation is more like a duck paddling underwater: it’s been still on the surface but the legs have paddling for some time.

Suggesting that a communications mastermind was behind all of this is a fairly long bow to draw, but we’d argue that it’s entirely possible for a brand to engineer its own Creed moment by carefully studying the way the band has, unintentionally or otherwise, managed to take smart actions at the perfect intersection of time and place.

So, how can your brand manufacture a Creed moment? Let’s find out.

1. Act

The big conversation-starting ideas, strategies and executions that give businesses something to talk about. It’s about walking the talk to lay the foundations of a powerful message.

The best action starts with the best insight. The good news? You don’t need to pay big research bucks, you just need a login (plus the mental fortitude to avoid death scrolling). Social media is usually seen as a tool to amplify – and it’s a damn good one – but the fringes of the internet are also a fantastic way to pick a storm that’s building. Listen to what’s trending, and the right action can open the floodgates:

Burger King are the undisputed masters of this, if you have the time and the inclination, watch CMO Fernando Machado’s 2018 presentation at Cannes.

Heinz jumped on the Taylor Swift bandwagon to release this condiment.

And Vaseline drove product growth for the first time in years with the slugging trend.

Point being, it’s not always about coming up with something that’s going to spark the conversation; sometimes it’s about taking action to make the existing conversation smarter for your brand.

Enter the Creed comeback: springboarding from the high-flying frenzy of the band’s halftime show, Creed posting has weathered the storm, now appearing alongside other icons of pop culture, soundtracking everything from menial cleaning tasks and family holidays to the most important day of your life. In a deft move, the band saw their moment to strike and announced their first live performance in 11 years. Not, as it would happen, with a modest show at The Greek Theatre… but on a cruise ship.

The announcement of their Summer of ’99 Cruise defied odds and sold out so fast it demanded the announcement of a second cruise, which also sold out in an hour. Now, the band are promoting a national tour, and one look at the (admittedly cringe) promo would assure any doubters that they are keenly aware of their newfound love’s origin. They’ve even started preorders for a commemorative halftime show tee. Not only have they managed to convert conversation into sales, but their action has only served to send Creed posting into overdrive, taking the band Higher, from an object of obscure comedy into a legitimately cool prospect that someone might consider getting tattooed.

But sitting around and waiting for your brand to become the subject of a fringe TikTok trend isn’t always going to cut it. Instead, you can engineer your own moment by finding the elements of broader culture your brand can affiliate with. In Creed’s case? Vice argues it’s the pleasure in the mundane. A more fun way to put it? “Getting drunk on a budget.”

Do with that what you will.

2. Explain

The way those big ideas are distilled into words that resonate, build brand identity and nail the message.

Speaking of pleasure in the mundane, there’s clues to be found in the cultural landscape that set the scene for Creed’s comeback, and tapping them can help you explain your next message.

The “so bad it’s good” aesthetic is on the rise post COVID, as Gen Z and millennials turned to the Y2K era for a healthy dose of nostalgia and comfort. Similarly, it doesn’t take a genius to link the getting drunk on a budget appeal of Creed to a cost of living crisis. This same trend has also driven much of fashion toward more understated sensibilities, epitomised by the vice grip of Carmen Berzatto’s white T-shirt on mainstream culture during Season Two of The Bear. Meanwhile on socials, normcore god Tony P and his “it’s ok to be just ok” message (coined by us, not him) is all the rage, while voyeurism over daily routines is on the rise.

What does this mean for you? The dial has shifted, as it always does, and a twist of noughties nostalgia or a peppering of the mundane in your next message can go a long way. It helps if you can pull it off with a tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Want mundane? British marketing agency Drummond Central didn’t bother explaining their product, they just went viral live streaming a puddle outside their office #DrummondPuddleWatch.

Chasing nostalgia? The tone of this year’s superbowl ads is a great guide.

How about a masterclass in budget-chic? Check out IKEA’s latest campaign, scoring bonus points for a nostalgic nod to MTV Cribs.

For a lesson in copy that celebrates the normal over the exceptional there’s This Girl Can.

And then there’s whatever this is on the actual Summer of ‘99 Cruise website.

3. Amplify

It’s not a conversation if no one’s listening. Cleverly amplifying the message to the right audience, at the right time, is the final piece of the puzzle.

Act and amplify go so hand-in-hand for this issue it’s tricky to find something fresh to talk about: just look at the Vaseline example earlier on. Sometimes the smartest conversation is an existing one you fuel in your favour. Creed tapped into the zeitgeist with the right action at the right time and the amplification across press and socials has been nothing short of wild.

But there is one other lesson to be gleaned from this saga: Creed wasn’t the only brand amplified with the announcement of the Summer of ‘99 Cruise… Could anyone have imagined when the cruise industry was up shit sea without a propeller thanks to COVID, that we’d be celebrating sell-out voyages just four years later?

The huge volume of press for Creed’s cruises has also been subliminally amplifying the message that, in addition to cringe, cruises are cool again. Or perhaps it’s that there’s nothing cringier than a cruise. Either way, they’re selling tickets. It’s a solid strategy to turn a brand reputation around: allowing affiliated activity to generate press for you when your own brand is not so crash hot, and the cruise industry has been leaning into broader pop culture to do this for some time.

This doesn’t work in every scenario, but when you consider Barbie – the greatest PR and marketing campaign of 2023 – the arguments stack up. Mattel gave Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig creative freedom to reimagine a 64-year-old doll plagued with anti-feminist connotations, to sparkling results. Robbie and Gerwig achieved a total and remarkable brand transformation, turning almost every negative about the Barbie brand into a positive. Yes, the comms rollout cost an absolute fortune, but it worked. Sometimes the best strategy is to hand the reins to someone else who sees new value in a brand.