How Food Brands Create Cultural Moments That People Join

Food is one of the last truly shared cultures left. Not "content." Not "community." Culture.

The brands that win don't just advertise into it. They design moments people want to participate in—rituals, behaviours, and signals that spread faster than media dollars ever could.

The 6-Step Framework for Cultural Moments: To turn a functional product into a cultural moment, brands must follow this process:

1. Define the moment: Identify a specific behavior or occasion, not just a brand message.
2. Find the tension: Pinpoint a conflict in the consumer's life that your product resolves.
3. Design the ritual: Create a repeatable, shareable action associated with consumption.
4. Activate creators: Use influencers to model the behavior, not just promote the product.
5. Scale with repetition: Synchronize social cues with retail signals to build a habit.
6. Measure participation: Track saves, remakes, and conversation rather than just impressions.

1. Define the moment (not the message)

A cultural moment isn't a slogan. It's a behaviour that feels like identity. To define it, you must look beyond the product's features and identify the specific context in which it lives.

Start by observing how people actually eat, share, or talk about your product when no one is watching. Is it a late-night treat? A post-workout reward? A family Sunday tradition? If your idea can't be done, posted, repeated, or retold—it's not a moment. It's just a line.

• Example: Think of how Gatorade owns the "dunk" on the winning coach. That is a defined moment of celebration that transcends the liquid in the bottle.

2. Find the tension in food culture

The best moments come from tension people already feel but haven't articulated. Your job is to name what's true—then build a moment that resolves it.

Common tensions in food culture include:

• "I want indulgence, but I want permission."
• "I want convenience, but I want meaning."
• "I want comfort, but I want status."
• Example: Liquid Death resolved the tension between wanting to drink water (healthy) but wanting to look cool (rebellious). By packaging water like an energy drink or beer, they resolved the social tension of "looking boring" while staying hydrated.

3. Design the ritual

Ritual is the engine. It makes a product repeatable, shareable, and ownable. A ritual gives people a script to follow, transforming passive consumption into active participation.

Ask yourself:

• What's the "move"? (e.g., The specific way to open, pour, or eat it)
• What's the cue? (e.g., A specific time of day, occasion, or mood)
• What's the proof? (e.g., The visual artifact they can share on social media)
• Example: The Oreo "Twist, Lick, Dunk" is the gold standard. It turns a simple cookie into a multi-step activity that requires focus and participation, making it distinct from every other sandwich cookie.

4. Activate creators as cultural carriers

Creators don't "amplify." They model behaviour. If the ritual doesn't look good in a creator's hands, you don't have a moment. You have a claim.

Don't just pay for product placement. Pay for behaviour modelling. Ask creators to perform the ritual, not just hold the box. When people see a creator genuinely enjoying a specific process, they are more likely to adopt it themselves.

• Example: The viral "Salmon Rice Bowl" on TikTok didn't spread because of a traditional ad campaign. It spread because creators modelled the process of making it (mashing the salmon, adding the ice cube), creating a wave of participation where users wanted to try the "hack" themselves.

5. Scale it with retail + social + repetition

Social creates the spark. Retail creates the signal. Repetition creates the habit.

To scale a moment, you must synchronize your channels. The behaviour seen on TikTok should be reinforced by the packaging on the shelf. If a consumer sees the ritual online but sees a generic box in-store, the connection breaks.

6. Measure behaviour, not applause

The scorecard isn't impressions. It is participation. You need to measure how many people are doing the thing, not just seeing it.

Focus on these metrics:

• Saves, remakes, and repeat purchases: Are people saving the idea for later?
• Store behaviour and add-ons: Are they buying the specific combination of products?
• UGC volume and velocity: How fast are people creating their own versions?
• Share of conversation: Are people talking about the ritual itself?

Category Takeaway

Cultural moments are built on purpose.

The brands that build them don't just win attention. They win memory. By moving from passive messaging to active rituals, you turn consumers into participants and products into icons.