Trend-Chasing Identity Is Still A Shortcut To Sameness
Why this matters to Wen: if Studio Wensday is going to expand across formats, it needs a set of non-negotiables underneath the experimentation, otherwise every new channel will start diluting the point.
Evidence: Marketing Brew frames Red Antler co-founder Emily Heyward's Cannes Lions view around building timeless brands and avoiding copycat identity moves.
The Story
Marketing Brew's short Cannes interview with Emily Heyward lands because it names a problem creative people keep walking into: brands mistake trend alignment for strategy. In the rush to appear current, a lot of identity work starts sounding visually interchangeable, as if every company has been moodboarding from the same reference folder.
The risk is bigger for small brands than large ones. A global company can survive a vague trend cycle because scale props it up. A personal brand or young studio often cannot. If the audience cannot tell what is structurally yours versus temporarily fashionable, then every new format makes the identity feel less certain.
That does not mean freezing in place. It means being able to say which parts of the brand are stable enough to carry experimentation. Tone can flex. Layout can evolve. Platform-specific execution can change. But a few deeper truths should remain visibly intact.
Studio Wensday Angle
Write a Studio Wensday non-negotiables list with five lines only: what the work should always feel like, what it should never feel like, what kinds of evidence belong, what kinds of fluff do not, and what the audience should consistently leave with.