Brilliantbox Trends For A Brilliant 2021

This is one of the best seasons of the year; not just because of the gifts and time spent with friends and family, but because we get to take a look into the future and discuss what trends will impact our business, our brand and our clients. 

This year, I asked the Brilliantbox team what brands/branding trends they were most excited about – here is our prognostication:

Immersion Will Be Front and Center.

Branding -and your brand – is more than a logo or set of colors. It is the full customer experience from awareness to purchase to loyalty. Customers are craving an immersive journey from product design to content creation to the customer experience. A cohesive, memorable and comprehensive experience is crucial to creating advocacy and loyalty with today’s consumers. The unboxing experience of a product is just a crucial as price and service. Brands must design and execute a true customer experience with thoughtful and meaningful details which immerse users into your culture and vision and carries them on a brand journey. 

Intense Colors Engage. 

2020 is dead to us and to a lot of consumers! Desperately wanting to get away from the past year, bright, intense colors will engage and excite consumers and deepen emotional connection to brands. Rich, luxurious, vibrant colors – paired with simpler, muted hues – invite consumers to live again and get excited about your brand. These colors also signify your brand’s willingness to embrace the day and move forward boldly.

Expressionism Rules the Day. 

From colors used in surreal ways to abstract logos, people are looking for brands to express themselves in unique and interesting manners to break out of the box and show their personality and bring the consumer along on the journey. Simply put, today’s multicultural, multi-generational, multi-faceted audiences accept and reward brands who express themselves authentically and in unexpected ways. 

Logo Adaptability is Crucial. 

Brands need to be everywhere and engage varied groups of people. AND, they have to maintain their uniqueness to set themselves apart from the competition. Logo adaptability allows brands to create consistent yet memorable marks and icons that can be utilized across social media, packaging, advertising and still maintain a uniqueness. Logo adaptability allows brands to show and grow their personality in an endless – yet constant – manner. 

Representation Matters. 

Brands must know and represent their key audiences in all of their content, advertisements and branding activities. 2020 signaled a seismic shift in what consumers want to see from brand – representation that is authentic and real. This goes beyond simple diversity and body positivity inclusion to a deeper, more realistic, complex, nuanced, and aspirational portrait of consumers to create a more open and welcoming brand for all.  

Humanizing of Brands. 

Trust has become a “four-letter” word for brands. Most consumers don’t trust brands and are wary of only being sold to. Humanizing branding through attaching a personality in creative outputs, storytelling, content creation allows brands to drive deeper connections and reliability with consumers, as well as create an authentic relationship to grow into brand trust and advocacy.  

Minimalist Design is Key for UX. 

The clutter has got to go. Simple, sleek and stylized design will continue to be crucial when creating digital and social user interfaces to drive user interaction on Website. Endless pop-ups, irrelevant notifications, photos and illustrations that weigh down the user experience are out. Consumers want to be able to easily find and navigate your site. 

Instagram is King. 

Instagram is taking over the world and will continue to be the place brands must focus on to engage with consumers and prospects. From quickly becoming a viable sales channel to offering IGTV to allowing cross-platform content to ensure consistent brand storytelling, Instagram will continue to be the social media platform consumers use to  discover, engage with and rewards brands. 

Hashtags Deepen Social Communities

While hashtags are not new, the use of unique or branded hashtags are allowing brands to exponentially grow their social communities, deepen collaborative connections, identify advocates, and generally engage smarter with their audiences. 

TikTok is the new Anti-Ad. 

No longer the little sibling on the social media block featuring dance challenges and thirst traps, TikTok has quickly emerged as a crucial platform for brands to engage with GenZ consumers and beyond to drive discovery and awareness, spark purchase, and incite action. Content created and featured on the platform goes beyond traditional advertisements to showcase authentic, human, connections and is often seen as the antidote to traditional adverting fatigue. 

Purpose is Powerful.

It is clear that we are in a new reality. Brands have to not only be authentic in how they engage, but also must operate with purpose and meaning. More than any time in recent memory, consumers expect brands to reward those that take a stance on social issues and make these stands part of their core brand identity.