Media fragmentation has become something of a scapegoat for modern advertisers. In response to the dispersed media landscape, giants like Nike have been shifting away from high-production hero ads towards always-on ecosystems of content, aiming to get campaigns in front of as many eyes across as many platforms as possible.
But the mainstream can still shine in big cultural ‘moments’ like Barbenheimer or the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, argues Craft Media London in the free planning guide it has published today (11 June).
Anti Ultra-Processed Planning: the human made guide to effective comms strategy aims to summarise ‘nearly a decade of Crafty thinking’ and lay out the agency’s philosophy of brand-building in an era of fragmented media. It argues that the mainstream still matters, but the internet has made ever-smaller cultural groups accessible to brands, giving marketers a new forum in which they can really build and pitch an identity.
Craft calls this ecosystem the Cultural Cascade, and it comprises four distinct layers: Mainstream, Identity, Subcultures, and Tribes. Cultural trends and ideas flow through this cascade in both directions, and understanding the differences between them allows brands to identify places where their advertising can make the biggest waves.
The guide defines Mainstream as ‘cross-scene culture with broad reach’, Identity as ‘community-owned, lived identity spaces and rituals’, Subcultures as ‘big, named scenes with shared codes’ and Tribes as ‘small, practise-led crews in tight networks’.
For example, Super Bowl viewership is Mainstream. Here, Craft argues, messaging must be crystal clear and universal, holding its shape across crowded, high-reach channels. One example of marketing to the mainstream is Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl, which invited the general public to create their own ads. This campaign turned passive viewing into active creation on a massive scale and turned the huge event into something people felt personally connected to, making the brand’s sponsorship more memorable.
The LGBT+ community, especially localised, is an Identity, as is the category of parents. For these, Craft suggests the strategy shifts from observed visibility to long-term utility and deep relevance. Always’ #LikeAGirl campaign is cited as an example which succeeded because it accurately reflected a feeling which resonated with women but was not often discussed in the mainstream, and gave viewers a sense of authenticity and a feeling of being heard.
A fandom or hobby community is a Subculture, and a specific fandom meetup group or server is a Tribe. Craft’s guide states that Subcultures reward attention from brands and value specificity and earnt participation, while Tribes reject ‘brand speak’ and expect brands to adopt the group’s infrastructure and communication style. An example of marketing to Subculture is Nike’s Air Max Day, an annual event when the brand encourages sneakerheads to show off their collections and post Nike content, making a splash which makes big fans more emotionally connected to Nike and gets shoe lovers’ content in front of more casual buyers, making it seem endorsed by real people.
Anti Ultra-Processed Planning argues that media fragmentation is not solved by doing smaller, faster and more expensive things. While econometric data from Dr Grace Kite proves mathematically that multi-channel distribution is vital in a phenomenon she calls ‘lots of littles’, this guide posits that reach alone is hollow without cultural context. Ultimately, Kite provides the proof that fragmented distribution works, but Craft provides the creative blueprint required to execute it. If Craft’s diagnosis is correct, the Cultural Cascade is the key to making sure that brands leaping into a new era of marketing can match their media deployment with genuine human connection and actually stick the landing.
