Stand Against Bland: Why Brands Must Delight or Disappear

By Sue-Anne Lim, CEO of Universal McCann Malaysia

Every brand wants to be seen. But let’s be honest, being seen is no longer enough.

Some research says we’re exposed to anywhere between 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day. Think about that. Every poster blurs past when you’re driving. Every article you read is punctuated with an ad. Even the shows and films you stream are peppered with subtle placements you barely notice.

So yes, media and marketing have done a great job getting products in front of us. But here’s the catch: sales in many categories are flatlining, sluggish at best. Why? What’s happening?

For years, marketers have leaned on awareness and reach as the yardstick of brand strength. Visibility has been the holy grail. But Visibility only tells you whether consumers know you exist. It doesn’t tell you if they care.

At UM, through our global Brand Patterns research, we track the 3Vs: Visibility, Variability, and Vibrancy. And the truth is clear: brands that aren’t vibrant won’t survive the memory mark.

Because Vibrancy has become the real differentiator.

It’s about delighting and surprising people, sparking not just attention, but affection. It’s the energy that makes consumers talk, share, and lean in. Buzz, not mere awareness, is today’s sharper indicator of purchase intention.

In a world drowning in sameness, people reward the brands that move them whether through joy, wit, or even provocations that are unexpectedly delightful.

But here’s the thing: Vibrancy doesn’t work in isolation.

• Visibility gives you the stage, but without Vibrancy, you’re just another name in the crowd.
• Variability makes you distinct, but unless it’s anchored to the right culture codes, you risk being different in ways that don’t matter.
• Vibrancy is the multiplier. It amplifies Visibility and Variability. And for the first time, UM has made it measurable.

This is a milestone. For years, we could “sense” when a campaign was buzzing or when a brand “felt alive.” But now, Vibrancy can be quantified, not just observed.

It sets a new benchmark for brand impact, rooted not only in psychology but also sociology: the two-way exchange between brands and people. Vibrancy has already become a critical measured metric in BrandSync360, UM’s next-generation brand health tracker.

So, does Vibrancy guarantee loyalty? Not quite, but it does set the stage for it. Think of it this way: pre-purchase Vibrancy is about excitement, post-purchase Vibrancy is about seamless delight.

That’s when first-party data comes into play – using it not just to know your customer, but to surprise them, to engage in ways that feel personal, and to silently remove frictions they may not even realise they have.

Here’s what Vibrancy looks like for our clients:

1. Consider how we turned something as dry as financial education into culture. We tapped into De Fam’s hit song Alamak and reimagined it on TikTok, transforming lessons in fintech into something joyful, viral, and worth sharing. The payoff was clear: +13.8% ad recall, 132% more branded mission submissions than the norm, and a 146% surge in user growth.

2. And when it came to rethinking health through an insurance campaign, we made the mission itself the message. By inviting people to connect their own choices to better health outcomes, we unlocked a 63% increase in positive mentions and an 88% uplift in linking healthier lifestyles back to our client’s brand.

Today, campaigns aren’t just a battle for attention, they’re a battle for affection. And the winners aren’t the ones shouting the loudest or looking the quirkiest. They’re the ones who consistently delight, surprise, and embed themselves in culture.

Brands need to remember that the road to sales today, is never a straight line. Brands that don’t stand out, don’t stand a chance to connect meaningfully.

But can Vibrancy stand-alone without Visibility and Variability? Not quite, as its impact weakens and potency fades. The brand either risks becoming its own best-kept secret, or worse, a serial trend-jacker with no lasting impact.

That’s why UM is proud to have launched our global Stand Against Bland Day on 25^th September, an important moment culturally for our network and our people, as we cemented our differentiated proposition through localised Stand Against Bland activations and intelligence.

By rejecting black-and-white heuristics like ‘the funnel’ and ‘best practice,’ and embracing the truth that brands interact with the world as complex, beautiful patterns, UM helps brands outmanoeuvre AI’s normative nature and resist the ‘bland.’

Because blandness is the silent killer of brands, and a consumer’s vote of sales belongs to those who are vibrant.

So, here’s my advice: don’t be bland. Be vibrant!