Has fragmentation gone too far?
We used to live in a monoculture, but now marketers and content creators are expected to aim for more granular audiences, catering to the individual rather than the masses. Eleyna Michael, strategy manager at Equality Media + Marketing, wonders if it’s all gone too far.
If you’ve read or listened to marketing discourse over the last six months, it’s likely you’ve seen conversations of fragmentation aplenty, how we’ve moved from a monoculture, to microculture, and now we’ve tiptoed one step further into the era of atomisation.
The thinking suggests that because culture is no longer shared at scale, our marketing and advertising should splinter accordingly. One message for one audience no longer cuts it. Instead, we’re told we need infinite versions, tailored to every niche, every feed, every moment.
From a cultural perspective, this might be true. But should the same be true for brand? Is marketing more effective because it’s hyper-targeted, or just more complicated?
