Take something old

Goodmorning!

It's December, and instead of buying party clothes, I'm investing in comfy homewear. I'm not sure what's happening, but many people are switching their in-person meetings to online ones. I'm not complaining—it's nice to avoid all the traffic and enjoy a cosy fire, a Christmas tree, and a dog on my lap.
So, if we have a meeting soon and you're wondering if I'm in my pajamas?
Yes. I am.
How are you doing?

➡️ Branding: Take something old and make it new!

Are you on TikTok yet? If you’re a marketer and you’re not, shame on you. TikTok isn’t just a trend—it’s power. So powerful that a brand managed to make something as boring as cottage cheese go viral and turn it into a must-have product. No joke.

When I was a kid, my mom sometimes gave me cottage cheese. As dessert with fruit jam—yuck. Or on a sandwich. I never liked it, and I never missed it. I think most people felt the same way. 🤷‍♀️

But then Good Culture came along (only in USA btw). And that’s a good story:
The founder, a smart marketer -of course-, didn’t try to invent something new. Instead, she chose an old product no one had thought about in years: Cottage cheese.
Cottage cheese might have been boring, but it had potential: it’s high in protein, low in sugar, and that’s everything GenZ wants.

So, Good Culture turned cottage cheese into something cool. They didn’t just follow TikTok trends—they made them. Their secret? Letting customers create and share their own recipes. And people went wild experimenting.
Soon, the hashtag #cottagecheese had over a billion views (!!)

Good Culture made sure their product stood out, too. Their packaging looked fresh and modern, and their message was clear: this isn’t your grandma’s cottage cheese. It’s healthy, fun, and exciting.

@good_culture

Get the cottage cheese everyone’s talking about. We're obsessed.

And it worked! Cottage cheese sales grew by 16% in just one year!! What was once forgotten on store shelves is now a favorite for GenZ (and millennials) who want a healthy, creative way to add more protein to their meals.
(Want to read more about this case?)

Now, what’s the lesson here? You don’t always need to create something new to make a big impact. Sometimes, it’s enough to take something old and give it a new story. Even the simplest product can shine with the right strategy: involve your audience, let them be creative, and meet them where they already are.

PS. You need to position your product or service and you need some help? Hellooo👋👋

➡️ Knowing your story is gold…

… but having a team that knows your story is diamond!

Look at this clip from VRT News (that I’ve found in the short version on this LinkedIn profile). After a firebomb was found in a Colruyt store, an employee responds with: “That’s pretty remarkable in a store with the lowest prices.”

Haha, completely off-topic, this man casually repeats one of the company’s values and key messages! it’s clear that these have been drilled into him😅

➡️ 2025 is all about you 100% mastering psychology skills.

I had a call with my sister, and we agreed: our dad, now 80, would absolutely not thrive in this era. When I think about my friends, I can divide them into two groups: the 0011011001 people—logical, data-driven, and deeply analytical—and the communication-skilled people—emotionally intelligent, natural connectors. The key difference? Even my data-driven friends, as logical as they are, still have empathy and people skills.

My dad? He’s pure 0011011001. Brilliant in logic, strategy, and systems, but with no real human empathy skills.🙊

He would never survive GenZ. 😆

In this era of human renaissance, soft skills are more important than ever. They’re now sometimes called power skills because they’re essential for surviving, leading, and managing in today’s world. Emotional intelligence, adaptability, and communication aren’t optional anymore—they’re critical.

Especially if you work in marketing.

Yes, we have more and more data to process, but it’s the human touch that makes the real difference.

This is my era, daddy. Moewhahaha!

PS. You are one of those 001111001-people? You don’t know how to sell your story? Helllooo 👋👋

➡️ Brandlove: Wool, Not Waste

I love to travel, but I don’t do fast fashion. The pajamas I just replaced? They were over 10 years old!

Fast fashion is the worst. It’s one of the biggest polluters out there—using crazy amounts of water, creating tons of waste, and pumping out carbon emissions like there’s no tomorrow.

That’s why I loved seeing The Woolmark Company’s new campaign (october 2024), Wear Wool, Not Waste. Because honestly, Is this the best fashion ad ever?!!

➡️ GenZ gets married

I was invited to the GenZ conference by House of Weddings, and I didn’t go. And I regret it. Afterwards, I got sent the presentations, and they were amazing. Herman Konings, Hanan Challouki, Jasper Dockx… there were some great speakers with powerful stories. But one presentation stuck with me even more: it was from a young company I hadn’t heard of before: ChooChoo—a collective of young creatives.

On their website, they say:
"Today's youth experience communication and creativity differently than the generations before them. That’s why we only make communication for a target group in co-creation with that target group."

Mèh! Love it.
And I just wanted to share this with you.

➡️ To read?

Or not to read.
Ok, this calls for a story. Because that Christmas tree and those pajamas have got me back into my books lately. This week, I had one of those perfect days. The sun was shining, I’d gotten lots of work done, and my son came home from school. Together, we put up the Christmas tree—music playing, the fireplace on… and finally, a good book. (This was a random Tuesday, by the way. Jealous? I know!)

I picked up one that had been sitting at the top of my pile for a while: Nexus by Harari. A friend had invited me to an evening event with Harari a few weeks ago, but then… he forgot he’d invited me. To make up for it (and, I suspect, to save our friendship), he sent me the book instead—haha! Proof that everyone lives in chaos, which, oddly enough, is comforting to know.

Long story short: I read one chapter, and now I’m depressed. The world is doomed. Maybe it’s time to grab a Lucinda Riley book or something lighter. Just to breathe again? Keep you posted on that one.

Btw. I realize that I’ve talked about both my father and my mother in the same newsletter, which means I need to stop writing now.

See you next week!

X Ingrid