"Blanding" describes how early DTC brands converged on the same pastel colours, serif type and elevated-mission tone because machine learning rewarded that formula.

WarningBrand & Creativity

"Blanding" describes how early DTC brands converged on the same pastel colours, serif type and elevated-mission tone because machine learning rewarded that formula.

'Blanding' is the digital-native failure mode: early DTC brands converged on pastel colours, serif type and humanly elevated missions because machine learning rewarded those ideas. Bloomberg's definition is claiming simultaneously to be unique in product, groundbreaking in purpose and singular in delivery while slavishly obeying an identikit formula of business model, look and feel and tone of voice.

Source

The WARC Guide to brand assets in a hybrid world (2022)

WARC (eds. David Tiltman, Lena Roland, Catherine Driscoll); contributors incl. Jenni Romaniuk & Brooke Klement (Ehrenberg-Bass), Nick Liddell (Baron Sauvage), Adrienne Little (And Rising), David Taylor (the brandgym), David Courtier-Dutton (SoundOut), Panos Dimitropoulos (Kantar), Rachel Barton (Design Bridge), Morten Grubak (Virtue), Elisa Harca (Red Ant Asia)

p. 22; Adrienne Little, And Rising, and Bloomberg

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