Have We Seen The Peak Of ‘Unhinged’ Brands On Social?

Hey – I’m Sam and I’m a social media strategist based in Manchester 👋

Welcome to the first edition of this newsletter. This will be published monthly and contain rambles about social media strategy designed for marketers and business owners.

As the title at the top suggests, this edition’s theme is based around ‘unhinged’ brands on social media.

Let’s get stuck in!

What is an unhinged brand?

That’s an excellent question. If you Google this, there’s thousands of results each giving their own definition of ‘unhinged’.

I like this one from Digiday:

“It means breaking the fourth wall and leaning into the language of the internet to appear relatable and human-like. Sometimes, it’s using shock value to drum up engagement and go viral”.

In a nutshell, unhinged brands are those that use shock tactics to generate talkability.

Okay. Give me some examples, then?

There have been some incredible brands who have used this strategic approach to generate cut-through over the past few years.

Duolingo is probably the most famous one, with Zaria Parvez and the team taking their famous green owl mascot to a whole new level. If you were to sum up their TikTok strategy in one word, it’s probably ‘chaotic’…

But it’s unquestionably led to incredible results for the brand. According to an article published by Barrons earlier this year, Duo’s TikTok account has amassed over 54 million views so far – and this popularity has helped to boost the company’s bottom line. By the end of 2024, Duolingo expects revenue of $717 million to $729 million, above Wall Street’s expectations of $699 million.

And it’s not just Duolingo. Ryanair have also tapped into this. They’re famous for their clap backs on Twitter/X, which I’ve always been a huge fan of…

But it’s on TikTok where things get more unhinged, with the famous ‘plane face’ calling out customers and their annoying habits.

Other examples include US brands Wendy’s and Nutter Butter (more on this one below).

So what are the benefits of being unhinged?

As we’ve seen by the Duolingo figures above, being unhinged has the potential to shift the dial for your business, leading to increased profitability.

You also get the added benefits of mass awareness and engagement – all leading to an increased chance of virality.

But if the results are great, what’s so bad about this approach?

Unhinged can go too far sometimes. Radioshack found this out a couple of years back…

And nope, their Twitter account wasn’t hacked! It was all part of their unhinged strategy to gain more attention.

Yes, unhinged social could increase your engagement. But it could also land you coverage for all the wrong reasons, damaging your company’s credibility and reputation.

This is obviously an extreme example, but everything I’ve talked about so far has a common theme; it feels like the social media manager’s gone rogue on the brand’s channels.

The novelty of this was great a few years back, when unhinged was fresh and exciting. But are consumers now starting to see through it?

We’ve all seen the meme below. When audiences start to feel like a brand is becoming too ‘try hard’, audiences can hit back.

When a company hits gold on social media like Duolingo, it’s because the content doesn’t feel corporate and crafted. It looks like their social media manager has got bored, skipped their approvals process and posted the wildest content they could think of – risking their job in the process.

Geared towards a younger Millennial / Gen Z audience, it almost feels like ‘one of us’ is in control of the brand account.

But when customers get wise to the fact that actually, it isn’t a social media manager that’s gone rogue – and that it’s all part of a carefully planned strategy that other brands are copying – what happens then?

Give me a recent brand example?

Nutter Butter have hit the headlines recently through their approach on Twitter/X, Instagram and TikTok.

Their X account feels like a stream of consciousness from someone who’s had too much of a good time at a house party…

It’s no doubt led to an increased amount of engagement and attention, including plenty of headlines!

Maybe this is just me being a grumpy Millennial, but it almost feels like brands are trying to ‘out-unhinge’ each other, with each iteration of this approach becoming slightly more wacky than the last.

So we’ve arrived at ‘peak’ unhinged. What happens now?

Unhinged CAN take your brand to the next level. BUT it’s worth noting that this strategy isn’t suitable for all brands. There’s only a select few consumer-facing businesses who have the resources to pull this off successfully.

Will consumer brands continue down this road, going slightly more unhinged as time goes on? Or will we shortly begin to see the end of this era? Because as Radioshack has proved, going too extreme has the potential to damage your brand.

As with anything on social media, only time will tell if unhinged is here to stay or if a new approach will take its place…

If you’ve found this newsletter useful, drop me a follow so you don’t miss the next one.

I’d also love your thoughts on unhinged brands. Let me know what you think by reaching out on the social platforms linked below.

Speak next time,

Sam

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