Look around you: most content strategies are still built on the same logic — educate, inform, demonstrate expertise. Articles, LinkedIn posts, newsletters. Serious, useful, well-crafted content. And yet less and less engaging.
It's not a question of quality. It's a mismatch between what audiences are looking for when they open their apps and what we're giving them.
Today, people know exactly what to expect when they go on social platforms. Our brains have been conditioned by today's content, and access to "constructive" information has never been easier. But then…how do you stand out and break through the noise?
By entertaining your clients through Brand Entertainment.
What is brand entertainment, exactly?
It's not about producing viral videos or recruiting local influencers. It's something deeper: a brand's ability to create content, experiences and moments that its audience actively chooses to consume and share — not because they stumbled upon it, but because they wanted it.
Brands that practise brand entertainment no longer communicate in the traditional sense. They think like production companies. And the results speak for themselves: among the top 30 brands in the Entertainment Index, 83% recorded revenue growth. The link between entertainment and commercial performance is now documented and measurable.
On Running: the example from our own backyard
We love citing On Running right now — and not just because it's a Swiss brand, but because its trajectory is hard to argue with.
In the space of a year, the brand climbed 30 places in the Entertainment Index to reach 11th place worldwide. A small brand launched in Switzerland that very quickly managed to position itself among the strongest brands globally. Its revenue growth over the same period: around 30%.
Those numbers aren't explained by the product alone. On Running built a narrative universe around aspiration and performance, brought to life through collaborations with Roger Federer and Zendaya that go far beyond a simple partnership. These two personalities co-build a brand story with their own values and their own audience. It's not advertising, it's identity. Every campaign becomes entertaining content you actually want to watch.
Two other brands worth studying for their marketing: wiz.io and Liquid Death. Take a look at what they do and you'll understand the full power of entertainment.
The GAP signal
In 2024, GAP (the well-known clothing brand) hired Pam Kaufman, former executive at Paramount, as Chief Entertainment Officer. That role had never existed in this sector before.
The fact that a company like GAP went looking for someone from the film industry to become a strategic executive is a strong signal. Brand entertainment is no longer a topic for creative teams. It's a boardroom topic. And the companies that have understood this now are building a lead that will be very hard to catch up with.
What we learned by doing it ourselves
At DARE, we never sat down and said "let's do brand entertainment." Honestly, it wasn't a plan. But looking back, it's exactly what we've been doing for years.
We launched the DAREx: events that bring together our clients, our team and unexpected experiences. A dinner with Top Chef candidates, a group bungee jump. Moments that have nothing to do with branding on paper but say everything about who we are. We created DARE Connect, networking dinners where we focus on the quality of the people around the table rather than the number. We drop clothing collections designed as real brand objects, each with its own message and art direction.
Since the beginning, our goal has been for our audience to think "it's great following them, I like what they do." None of these initiatives came from a content strategy. They came from our desire to do things that look like us and to genuinely entertain our clients and our audience.
And that's precisely the key point: brand entertainment isn't a strategy you decide to implement. It's the consequence of a clear Brand Character (read our article on Brand Character here). Without knowing exactly who you are, what you dare to do and what you refuse, you can't entertain your audience in a consistent and lasting way.
So, does your brand have something to say?
Not to sell. Not to show. Not to prove. To say.
Does your audience actively choose to follow you, or does it scroll past you in its feed? Is there something your brand would naturally do that your competitors would never do? If you had to create an experience that goes beyond your product but says everything about your identity, would you know what to do?
The brands that will win the attention war in the coming years won't necessarily be the most creative. They'll be the most consistent with who they are, and the most courageous in living it out. To get there, defining your positioning and Brand Character is essential: we cover it in this article.
