Kate O’Loughlin: ‘Brat’ is the ultimate lesson in distinctive media devices

Obsessed’ is a monthly deep dive into social and cultural trends that can help marketers inform the way they think. Led by Kate O’Loughlin, Initiative strategist and self-confessed obsessive, ‘Obsessed’ will be a magic school bus to expand marketing mindsets and help brands remain relevant amongst an ever-changing cultural landscape.

This month I’ve been obsessed with… the brat album release campaign from Charli XCX.

The album release was the perfect example of the power of a distinctive media device in delivering disproportionate word of mouth for any brand.

If you haven’t been bombarded by the Apple dance on TikTok or have somehow missed the slew of female internet baddies in the ‘360’ video clip, then let me catch you up.

Charli, known for iconic 2010s pop song I Love It and Boys, had been out of the top ten charts for the last decade until her feature on the Barbie movie soundtrack with Speed Drive. While XCX had pop-star level fame early in her career, since 2012 she had only had fleeting moments of true mainstream success and was better known as a loud, grungy, tech-forward artist with a cult following.

But on the 7th of June 2024, Charli XCX dropped her latest, acid-green coloured rave-centered album and life has simply not been the same since. The album debuted at number three in the United States and has earned her highest opening-week sales in the United Kingdom. Sales aside, brat has solidified itself in culture through the trending terminology that it is now officially a Brat Summer… or winter, in the case of the southern hemisphere.

Continue reading on Mediaweek.