For years, marketers could assume that the best campaigns were the ones with the longest runway: months of research, strategy decks, consumer testing and approval cycles before a single ad reached the public. Alison Broad Marketing & Communications (ABMC) often entered the final round of a brand pitch with an idea that we believed perfectly captured the brief and could quickly propel a product into the zeitgeist, only to be told that the client wanted months of strategy and planning behind the concept before they could activate it.
Speed was often treated as the enemy of rigor, though we were never sure why they equated time—and endlessly revised decks—with success. Today, cultural moments come and go by the hour. Brands waiting for the perfect plan often arrive after the conversation is already underway. This change has fundamentally changed the mechanics of modern virality. When we think of those leaders now, one line comes to mind, courtesy Julia Roberts on Rodeo Drive at The Beautiful Woman: “Big, big mistake.”
Earlier this year, ABMC was featured in the Observer’s 2026 PR Powers List and was appointed one of the Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in PR and brand strategy. These recognitions reflected something we’ve believed for years: profit isn’t just about speed. The strategy still needs to live in the system beforehand, not be built after the fact. But the track is gone. Brands sometimes have hours, not months, to decide whether to jump in, and those willing to move so quickly are the ones who get the cultural credit — and often the sales.
The shift goes deeper than a reduction in attention span. Media now moves across interconnected platforms, where a single authentic moment can blossom across TikTok, Instagram, television, newspapers and podcasts within hours, reaching audiences that traditional advertising often struggles to buy. In that environment, cultural relevance depends on understanding how fast those moments travel and being ready to act before they pass.
Culture does not wait
Consider Brooks Naderthe period of With Wimbledon now under way, it’s worth going back to 2025, when disaster during the court period of a Sports Illustrated cover model and reality star went viral. ABMC moved: us its partner with U from Kotex before the ESPYs and put it back on the red carpet in white, this time armed and confident. The result was $12 million in earned media, unpaid placements, and the hits that are the holy grail of PR. It worked because it was true. Viewers said the content made them feel seen and that originality didn’t just sell the product; was destroyed in stigma. This is 15-minute celebrity in action: moving at the speed of culture and feeling good doing it.
@brooksnader Of course 🎾 #wimbledon
Not every viral moment deserves a brand partnership. Most disappear as quickly as they arrive. The challenge is distinguishing between attention and cultural resonance. Brooks’ moment was imminent, and millions of women immediately saw themselves in her, while millions more realized that she refused to be embarrassed by something completely ordinary. This emotional connection existed before any brand entered the conversation. The most memorable campaigns grow from authentic moments already in motion.
The formula isn’t just to jump on the personality du jour before the window closes and throw money at him. It’s finding a way to make the audience for your collaboration feel seen — that “stars are just like us” authenticity, plus a certain persona with an appeal that keeps us connected to reality TV and our sources. You don’t want the stunt to deflate like champagne bubbles. You want the flavor to last.
Preparing for the unplanned
The timeline itself changed in Super Bowl 2013. Moments after the stadium blackout, Oreo tweeted“You can still plunge into darkness.” That single line became one of the defining case studies in modern marketing—a beloved brand simply by being smart and fast. Budgets also shifted and open money was pulled from traditional media buys as long-term planning slowed down.
We encouraged brand clients to set aside a “wet fund” to jump on viral moments, last-minute celebrity partnerships or buzz event sponsorships that could pop up with little warning. Today, many brands deliberately reserve a portion of their marketing budgets—often 15 to 20 percent—for precisely those kinds of opportunistic activations rather than allocating every dollar months in advance. Planning happens long before the moment arrives, so the response can seem easy and spontaneous when it happens.
The Super Bowl is a perfect example. Brands know it will generate huge cultural attention, even if they can’t predict exactly where that attention will land. Coors Light is already famous The “Case of Mondays” campaign. it started with a misspelled pre-Super Bowl billboard, continued with limited-edition Monday Light beer, and expanded into collaborations, including ABMC’s beauty-inspired facial roller designed to be chilled with a Coors Light. The campaign felt spontaneous because it responded to the conversation in real time, but the infrastructure to move so quickly was already in place. You can’t really plan for an authentic viral moment, but it’s easier than ever to get close if you can prepare your organization to recognize one—and be ready when it arrives.
When joint attention becomes opportunity
When the Knicks reached the NBA Finals for the first time in a generation, ABMC had nearly two activations. Herman Miller was launching its iconic Aeron chair in a new midnight blue color, so we signed up Spike Lee— whose courtside chair is as much a part of Knicks lore as the game itself debuted it on the Brooklyn Bridge. And as Madison Square Garden roared, Frida, the brand known for rethinking the realities of new parenthood, turned the spotlight on the home of a full-page New York Post ad coronation Ali Brunson AND Shannon Hartthe wives of Jalen Brunson AND Josh Hartwho had spent the season chasing the Cubs while their husbands chased a championship, the Queens of New York.
The common thread was focused attention. When millions of people are focused on the same cultural moment, brands that authentically fit into the conversation can reach audiences with a level of engagement that traditional media buying often struggles to duplicate.
We often say that if you can’t go big or bold during an attention-grabbing moment, go big—or just save your budget for a less crowded moment and make a bigger splash. Agencies are measured against clear KPIs, and as brands shift more dollars toward earned media, PR and marketing firms are beginning to command budgets that once flowed almost exclusively to traditional advertising. Done well—with a little luck—earned media can outperform even the largest traditional paid campaigns.
Working with the right developing personality can be just as effective. When Love Island fan favorite TJ Palma went viral, ABMC did it as Garnier’s fictional social media managerwho hilariously misunderstood the brief and built a campaign around an actual loc instead of hairspray. Within 24 hours, Garnier’s mousse climbed from tenth to sixth in Amazon’s product rankings. The campaign joined the cultural conversations audiences were already having, rather than trying to interrupt them.
@tjpalmaa first project at @GARNIER they asked me to direct the new Moose campaign… I think I nailed it?? #GarnierEmployee
We have seen this game in all categories that share nothing but time. When a BYU basketball star turned out to be descended from family that founded Ore-Ida and we gave the world a good thing, we flew to Denver, where he was playing, to capture the moment, because it was the kind of opportunity that cooled in minutes, not weeks. Traditional campaign calendars rarely feature stories like these, yet they often outperform carefully crafted marketing precisely because they emerge organically from the culture.
As long as it’s tasteful, there’s almost no cultural moment or personality a brand can’t cleverly use, and that’s part of the fun. But winning the game is about finding a way for a campaign to connect with the way people think, feel or live. This is also the reason why not every trending moment is worth following. For example, every brand has an April 1st post. The real challenge is to rise above the noise and create something more memorable than just another Instagram post.
Brands are also beginning to create their own cultural moments through unofficial holidays and recurring social rituals. National Pickle Day, for example, has become an opportunity for food and beverage brands to experiment with collaborations that audiences now expect and actively seek. Even manufactured moments, however, need to feel surprising to gain attention.
And because ABMC is trained to spot talent — some of us are Tulane alumni — when the Green Wave made its improbable run to the Cotton Bowl and a green eye the superfan went viral because anxiously but elegantly, biting her nails in the last few minutes, we sent her a care package with Essie nail polish and a note that read, “Call us when you graduate.” We are proud to say that #TulaneGirl is one of us today.
The next competitive advantage
The future of marketing, PR and brand strategy requires leaders who are trained to spot cultural moments and move ahead of everyone else. Many agencies describe this environment as a “jump ball”: multiple firms receive the same brief, knowing that the strongest idea wins. Success depends less on controlling every aspect of a campaign than on recognizing an opportunity before competitors do and executing it well. Increasingly, agencies also reinforce each other’s work, creating campaigns that build on shared cultural momentum.
The lesson is not that brands should follow every headline. If anything, they should become more selective. But when a moment matches a brand’s identity and resonates with its audience, speed matters. Cultural conversations move quickly, and the opportunity to meaningfully participate rarely waits for a lengthy approval process. Competitive advantage lies less in predicting virality than in being prepared when authentic opportunities arise.
