Tell me if you can relate, Reader, but when it comes to trends, I'm always late to the party.
I'm super skeptical of whatever's hot now.
I'm also a social creature who wants to fit in.
I remember being in middle school and coveting my pair of white low-top Converse tennis shoes and low-rise bell-bottom jeans—yet feeling embarrassed to show up at school in my new cool-kid uniform.
(For context, it was the mid-90s and the fashion at the time was circling back to the 70s groovy flower-power vibe. It's much like how Gen Z is currently circling back to the baggy jeans and crop-top look of the late 90s and early aughts. Not essential, but still important information, I think you should know.)
Even as I stared at my gleaming white tennies, I thought to myself, "What a poser". (How's that for some authentic 90s slang?!?)
I hated being too on-trend because it felt like an act.
But I also wanted to look like my peers.
This dilemma has yet to escape me.
Last week, I turned 39 years old.
That feels ancient in the modern "online business" world.
I recently found myself Googling "menopause symptoms"—no, not perimenopause, Reader, but like, the real one, because I LITERALLY FORGOT that I am not in my 50s.
I had a moment recently when I used the term "girly" in an email and cringed at myself, even though I love the way the word rolls off the tongue.
It just felt too…trendy. Like a word I stole from my Gen Z counterparts.
The language didn't feel authentic to me anymore.
Something was…is…happening…
Now that I'm older and obviously wiser (😏), I notice the brands trying to appeal to younger audiences and their buying power all the time.
But sometimes, it feels incredibly staged.
It turns me, a millennial with a double and disposable HHI, into someone who thinks, "Oh, this product is for young people. It's too trendy. I would feel silly buying it."
Conversational copywriter, here 🙋♀️ I think having a culturally relevant voice is SUPER important for brands.
But, I think you have to find your version of relevancy.
Your tone has to straddle a line between generations.
Gen Z is shaping product development. But Gen X are the ones buying things.
I'm working with a client right now doing some incredible future-thinking when it comes to creating products that appeal to the culture-shapers and the buyers.
Working out their brand voice and messaging strategy was a dream come true because I would have aspired to own their products yesterday, but I can actually afford them today.
The company doesn't want to lose my purchase because their tone is too "Gen Z in her soft-girl era" and not enough "Girl Bossed my ass off so I can buy what I desire."
If we developed campaign language that felt too trendy, it would be outdated by tomorrow.
Given the state of the world and everyone's general exhaustion, I think it behooves us all to quiet the voices out there selling you trending marketing and copywriting tactics.
Instead of writing and selling like them, focus on creating authentic, big-picture messaging.
Focus on:
- Uncovering your brand's foundational truths—the values and purpose that won't change with the TikTok algorithm or next year's color palette.
- Speaking to your actual customers in language that respects their intelligence and life experience, not chasing the attention of people who were never going to buy from you anyway.
- Building a voice that grows and evolves naturally with your brand instead of jerking wildly between whatever's trending this quarter.
The brands that stand the test of time aren't the ones jumping on every bandwagon—they're the ones who know exactly who they are and communicate it consistently, authentically, and with confidence.
Thoughts?
(Gen Xers, I GOTTA hear your take. You are the wise aunties and uncles now. I need your hot takes on marketing and cultural consumerism, and I need them now.)
Your fav Elder Millennial Copywriter™️ who will never give up her em dash,