Unserious is working. Is it branding or just vibes?

There’s a National Park flirting with you on Instagram.

There’s a museum’s TikTok calling you “bestie.”

There’s a mattress brand stitching a thirst trap to promote a sale.

And weirdly? It works.

Gen Z creators are running wild in the best way. They’ve broken every rule of what “on-brand” used to mean — and built something infinitely more engaging in its place: personality-driven content powered by instinct, humour, and straight-up vibes.

It’s the era of brand unseriousness. And it's kind of brilliant.

So what’s the problem?

The content is good. The engagement is real. But here’s the quiet risk: vibes aren't a strategy.

When brands hand over their voice to whatever’s trending this week, they start drifting — not intentionally, but slowly, post by post. And before long, the brand voice sounds more like “intern with a ring light” than anything grounded in values, purpose, or longevity.

Which begs the question: Is this just what modern branding looks like now? Or are we about to see a course correction?

The real tradeoff

It works because it feels human — and Gen Z trusts people over brands. This kind of content is fast, funny, and built for algorithms. It opens the door for real creative range: humour, weirdness, immediacy, surprise. And it resonates because it’s not just a platform trend — it’s a cultural one. We’re living in a time where everything feels a little unserious: our politics, our headlines, our institutions. The line between satire and reality blurs daily. So when brands lean into absurdity, it doesn’t feel off — it feels like part of the moment.

But that’s where it gets tricky. When brands go all-in on vibes, the voice can drift. Consistency gets traded for clicks. And today’s relatable moment can quickly become tomorrow’s cringe.

Some brands have nailed that balance:

Duolingo leans fully unserious, but it works because their whole product is built around nudging and play — the owl threatening to fight you if you skip your Spanish lesson? Weirdly on-brand. Ryanair’s snarky, low-effort memes reflect their no-frills, budget model perfectly. Slim Jim turned chaotic meme culture into a full-blown strategy — and because their brand was never trying to be polished or serious, it landed. Scrub Daddy and Pop-Tarts show that unserious can work when the brand already feels irreverent, playful, or a little weird by default.

But not everyone should try it.

When a legacy finance company jumps on a thirst-trap trend or a heritage nonprofit suddenly starts acting like a meme page, it gets confusing fast. The more serious, technical, or mission-driven your brand is, the more thoughtful you need to be. Not every moment needs to be maximized for engagement. And not every brand should go full chaos.

How to tell if your brand can be unserious

• Does this tone still reflect who we actually are — or are we just chasing engagement?

• If this went viral, would it attract the right kind of attention — or the wrong kind of followers?

• Would we stand by this content in six months?

If not, no stress — not every brand needs to post like a raccoon with admin access to be interesting.