Your audience isn’t ignoring you. They’re just paying attention to someone else.
In today’s crowded digital world, brands aren’t just fighting for attention, they’re fighting for relevance. Many respond by creating more content, pushing more campaigns, and spending more on media. But if the work isn’t grounded in a clear, current understanding of your audience, it’s not going to land. That’s why the most effective marketing strategies don’t start with a clever creative idea, or a media buy. They start with insight. Real, human insight.
Why alignment matters more than noise
Getting someone’s attention is only the start. Turning it into trust, engagement, and action depends on alignment between your message, your campaign tactics, and your audience’s lived reality. That means knowing:
- What drives their decisions and what gets in the way
- The barriers they face; financial, social, cultural, educational, etc
- How and where they consume information, on which devices, and in what mindset
- Who they trust enough to listen to and act on
Where many brands even today seem to lean towards guesswork, the focus should be on building a picture that is detailed, dynamic, and applied directly to their marketing decisions.
When brands choose novelty over understanding
A recent example from Jaguar shows what happens when a brand chases a bold new direction without first securing audience alignment. As I'm sure we all know, in 2024, Jaguar launched its “Copy Nothing” campaign as part of a major rebrand. The ad was visually striking, and completely absent of any cars. The intent was to signal a break from convention as the company moved towards an electric future.
But the result was a public backlash. Long-time customers, who had valued Jaguar’s heritage of craftsmanship and performance, felt alienated. Social media lit up with questions like “Do you sell cars?” from high-profile critics, and sales in Europe fell sharply. Within months, the company’s CEO stepped down and Jaguar began rethinking its agency relationship.
The creative was different for the sake of being different. But without grounding that difference in the motivations and expectations of their core audience, or building a bridge to a new one, the campaign generated noise without connection.
Research isn’t a one-off exercise
When research is used at the start of the strategy process, a strong foundation is set. But, too many teams treat audience research as a "one and done" single box to tick during the discovery phase of a project without acknowledging that people’s priorities, habits, and motivations shift.
Economic pressures change spending behaviours. New platforms change media habits. Cultural trends change what feels relevant. If you’re working from insights gathered last year, or even six months ago, your strategy could already be out of date. Audience understanding needs to be revisited, refined, and reapplied as conditions change.
Trust comes from the right voices
With research in hand and an understanding of the importance of revisiting it at regular intervals, an equal level of importance needs to be paid to how the message is delivered. Influence has evolved. Audiences are sceptical of overly polished ad campaigns and celebrity endorsements and more inclined to listen to voices that feel close to their own experience and can therefore relate to.
When brands have maximised the use of their voice on the owned channels (website, email, organic social etc.), the role of trusted voices comes in. That’s why many brands are moving towards partnerships with mid-tier and micro-influencers. Their smaller but more engaged communities often deliver stronger, longer-lasting connections.
Influencer marketing isn’t about the size of the following; it’s about the depth of trust between the messenger and their audience.
What this means for your next plan
If your marketing isn’t built on current, applied audience understanding, you’re working with guesswork. And in a competitive market, guesswork is expensive.
At Project50, we call our approach Consulting+; strategy you can act on, shaped by insight, and delivered by people who’ve done it before. Because in a noisy world, clarity is the real competitive advantage, and clarity starts with knowing exactly who you’re trying to reach and understanding how to reach them.
Whether it's knowing when your brand's voice should take centre stage, or when to bring in a new voice that already has your audience's ear, we know the right questions to ask you and your audiences from the very start.
Piqued your interest on audience targeting? Here’s our blog on niche audiences.
