Why the Brands That Win Adopt New Formats Early

The brands that win on social are usually the ones that adopt new formats early, while everyone else is still turning their noses up. Every emerging format looks silly or unproven at first, so most brands wait until it is obvious, by which point the early movers own it. Getting in early, and putting up with the awkward figuring-out phase, is a genuine competitive edge.

Remember when memes looked silly

Think back to when memes first became a thing. Plenty of brands, including ones with big followings, decided they were beneath them and sat it out. A handful jumped in, looked a bit daft for a while as they worked out how to do it, and kept going.

Fast forward and the picture is stark. The biggest brands on social use memes constantly, and the ones that dismissed them have largely been forgotten. The format that looked like a fad became a core part of how brands talk to people, and the early adopters had a head start nobody could buy back.

Why waiting costs you

The reason waiting is so expensive is that new formats have a learning curve. When something is fresh, nobody knows the best way to use it yet, so the early days look unimpressive. That is exactly the phase most brands use as an excuse to stay out.

But that awkward phase is where the advantage is built. The brands putting in the reps while a format is young are the ones who understand it by the time it goes mainstream. By the time it obviously works, the spots at the top are taken, and you are competing against people who have been practising for a year.

How to spot the next one

You do not need to chase every shiny new feature, but you should be watching. When a platform starts heavily pushing a new format, and rivals start building the same thing, that is your signal to start experimenting rather than waiting for proof.

Treat early experiments as cheap practice, not make-or-break campaigns. Most will be scrappy, and that is fine. You are buying understanding while it is still cheap, so that when the format matters, you already know how to use it and everyone else is starting from zero.

Meet Brian

Jumping on new formats early and working out how to make them genuinely funny is exactly what Brian is for. He is our AI-powered comedy marketing machine, built to help you stay ahead of the feed.

Take Brian for a spin and get in early.