Forget everything you know about marketing — the days of perfectly polished content and overly curated ads are over.
For brands looking to capture the fleeting attention of today’s audiences, being cringey is a winning strategy, and one that a growing number of founders are embracing to scale their companies, per Inc.
- Fiber supplements brand BelliWelli took a risk with its cringey TikToks, including deeply uncomfortable celebrity interactions, and it paid off. The approach netted the brand 1B+ views and grew revenue 405% between 2023 and 2024.
- Food brand Natural Heaven promoted the launch of its products at NYC’s Fairway Markets by sending two employees dressed as boxes of pasta and rice prancing down the store’s aisles.
- Blueland — a sustainable cleaning company whose CEO regularly films herself pulling stunts like cleaning toilets at Costco (one of the brand’s retailers) — did $200m+ in sales last year, up 40% year over year.
Why it works
Audiences, particularly younger ones, are over perfection and tired of ads that read as ads, which can be boring or easily drowned out. Cringiness, in contrast, can be relatable, interesting, and can humanize a brand.
“What makes cringe work is that it feels authentic, self-aware and low-stakes… It doesn’t take itself too seriously,” according to communications expert Leeron Walter via Forbes. “In an online landscape flooded with sales pitches, the honest awkwardness is disarming.”
Plus:
- Gen Z’s aversion to vulnerability and fear of embarrassment makes cringe content a captivating spectacle on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
- With digital advertising costs rising, the lo-fi strategy offers a budget-friendly solution that any business can take advantage of, so long as they do it right.
How to do it
There’s no formula for crafting cringey viral success (which would make for more boring ads), but Walter suggests a few key things to keep in mind:
- Be authentic: Adapt the form to fit your brand.
- Be intentional: Cringe content often features elements like rough cuts and awkward timing to feel raw and unfiltered, but they’re still staged marketing stunts.
Lastly, know your audience, keep your message clear — and test small, or you might actually humiliate yourself.
Marketing