By Carla Fascetti, Account Director, NSB Agency

I open LinkedIn.
I read three posts from brands.
I can't tell which is which.

The industry repeats over and over that being different sells. And yet, in practice the result is the opposite: brands that say the same thing, sound the same and use the same tones, words and visual devices.

Why does it happen?

Because when everyone tries to sound different but looks at the same benchmark, they end up looking alike.
Because when what gets rewarded is polish, not courage, the formula wins.
Because when algorithms dictate what works, creativity becomes predictable.
And because, let's be honest: there's fear. Fear of not being liked. Of going to the extremes. Of getting it wrong.

What does the data say?

Only 43% of consumers feel that brands speak to them in a personalized way.
(And that's even though brands swear they do.) Source: Deloitte, 2023.

According to Havas's Meaningful Brands study, 71% of people wouldn't care if 75% of brands disappeared tomorrow.
Is it because they don't communicate? No.
Is it because they don't run campaigns? Not that either.
It's because they don't create real connection. Because they're forgettable.

Differentiation isn't an aesthetic whim: it's a competitive advantage.
Campaigns with a defined tone and personality drive more recall, more emotional connection and more sales. Just ask System1, AMA, Kantar, Nielsen, NSB :). Pick whichever source you like.

So why do we keep doing the same thing?

Because we confuse consistency with rigidity.
Because internal processes so often kill the soul of the idea.
Because corporate language has swallowed human language and its creativity.
And because now we also ask AI to write like us… but we end up sounding like everyone else.

​​AI can be brilliant for researching, analyzing content, writing variations.
But if no one challenges its patterns, if no one dares to go beyond what's already been done, everything becomes predictable.
And when brands just repeat what AI suggests, the result is exactly that: a feed full of voices with no identity.

A brand that doesn't dare to speak differently ends up saying nothing.
And faced with that, the audience scrolls on, the message dissolves, the effort is wasted. And so is the budget.

The irony is that the tools to break out of this are more available than ever.
But to use them with purpose, one prior decision is needed: daring to think differently.

At NSB we love it when a brand takes a chance, when it isn't afraid to make people a little uncomfortable.

Want to find that voice no one else has?
Let's talk. We can help you build a brand that doesn't get lost in the scroll.