Aesthetically Pleasing?
Why heritage and contemporary brands, despite their differences, make the same mistake with social content.
In short:
Heritage and contemporary brands play it too safe to trying adhere to a particular aesthetic vibe, but lose their sense of personality and distinctiveness in the process.
Let’s break down the typical nature of the two camps.
On one side:
Heritage brands with centuries of history. They hold back to protect their legacy and are terrified of saying anything that might feel “out of character” or diminish their positioning.
On the other side:
Contemporary brands. They’re just finding their feet. They hold back to signal alignment with the cultural zeitgeist, which is core to their identity. They’re mostly worried that a wrong step will blur their carefully curated aesthetic.
These respective acts of self‑preservation end up in the same place:
Generic characterisations of the brands they aspire to be.
The aesthetic is there: beautiful imagery, consistent colours, a recognisable feel and vibe. The issue is their voice. The feed looks good on first glance, but depth is missing. There’s no real reason to stop, no reason to care or no reason to stay.
The trap is treating your aesthetic as a box to stay inside.
When a brand’s only goal is to “look the part,” it becomes wallpaper over time. The audience nods, acknowledges the beauty, but they also scroll on. There’s no friction, no opinion, no perspective to grab onto.
The alternative approach:
Let your aesthetic be only the first layer of your brand’s character. How you choose to express your brand voice matters too; if not more.
The strongest brands view and use their visual identity simply as a foundation. They then layer perspective based content on top. These are genuine points of view that sit within their brand world: bold or insightful opinions, depictions and demonstrations of taste or influences their audience can get behind. It’s about creating meaningful’ back and forth’ conversations with your audience. This is what builds real community over time.
A heritage brand that’s been around for two centuries has long earned the right to have a voice. A contemporary brand with a clear mission, equally has the right to say something heartfelt too.
Key takeaway:
When creating content, the main question isn’t just “does this fit the look of our feed?” Instead question: “does this fit our point of view?” or “how strongly do we feel about this?”.
Give your audience a reason to stop, explore, and stay. A beautiful image earns a glance. An interesting perspective earns a deeper connection.
