How brands win attention by riding cultural moments

Executive overview

Most brands post congratulations and get ignored. The brands that break through find the moment everyone is already watching and push themselves into that spotlight.

Nike's one-line post after Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship — referencing his year-old arrest — generated coverage in Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, People, and Golf Digest at zero cost. Skechers had an equivalent moment and let it pass.

The brands that win attention don't create moments — they recognize them and move fast.

The Nike vs. Skechers contrast

• Nike sponsors Scheffler; when he won, they posted "The verdict is in — world number one" — a direct callback to his arrest
• The post was lightly provocative, rewarded those who knew the backstory, and felt earned rather than corporate
• Skechers had a Knicks player dunk over the Celtics in their shoes — a perfect brand moment
• Skechers posted generic copy; the opportunity was gone within hours
• The right move: license the image immediately, sign the player, make the dunk the brand story

Finding and mining cultural moments

• Ask weekly: what are the top things our target audience is paying attention to right now?
• Use AI to surface the top 10 topics for your specific demographic
• Identify the cultural angst — what is the audience frustrated about? — and position into it
• Attention is a jet stream: temporary, shifting; your job is to fly into it, not create it
• Example: car brands running "pre-tariff pricing" ads tapped directly into purchase anxiety
• Pope Leo being from Chicago gave the White Sox a ready-made moment; "Does God root for the White Sox?" costs nothing to post

What makes a moment land vs. fall flat

• Requires just enough context to add a twist — no expertise needed, just enough to be clever
• Generic "congratulations" posts are skipped; a winking callback earns shares and press
• One in ten will really take off; some will disappoint — that's expected
• Pushback is not bad: it is attention; only avoid pushback on product quality
• Picking a stated enemy works: Dave Ramsey made credit card companies his villain and built a $300M business on it

The attention-mining system

• Run a regular Monday meeting dedicated to scanning what's getting cultural attention
• Ask one question: is there any way our brand can fly into that jet stream this week?
• Look for moments where your product is the natural answer to the cultural frustration
• Brands of any size can play — this is not a Nike-only strategy

Mark Scibilia: the attention-riding playbook for creators

• Talented songwriter, mid-career, largely ignored despite genuine artistry
• Built a studio setup and began posting covers of famous songs performed in the style of other famous artists (e.g., U2 sung as The Beatles)
• Combined two existing high-attention brands into one piece of content — the audience was already there
• Grew to one million followers; now selling out a 40-city European tour
• The lesson: get famous inside existing attention, then introduce yourself