The days of tightly controlled brand narratives are over. Once, brands dictated their image through glossy magazine spreads, prime-time TV spots, and meticulously curated Instagram feeds. Now, they exist in fragments - glimpsed between a cat video and a gardening tutorial, reposted, cut, or switched before being reshaped by algorithms outside their control.
Today’s brand experience is no longer linear. Customers don’t absorb a brand from start to finish; they piece it together in moments - seconds of attention captured across platforms, channels, and formats. This shift forces challenger brands to think differently: instead of crafting a single, unified story, they must design for discovery.
Exploring fragmented attention across design, build, and growth
This shift impacts every part of a brand’s presence - from visual identity to technical execution and marketing strategy. Here’s how brands can adapt across Tribe’s core pillars:
Design - Brands as a living mosaic
Brand identity is no longer about rigid consistency - it’s about adaptability. The most effective brands today behave like living mood boards, evolving across platforms while maintaining a recognisable essence.
Instead of relying on static logos and polished campaign imagery, brands now build identity through experience and emotions - such as joy. Take an activewear brand: it’s not just a logo on a shoe but the feeling of adventure - the crunch of gravel underfoot, the rhythm of movement, the personal challenge, and the connection to a wider community.
For challenger brands, this means designing assets that are flexible yet cohesive. Every touchpoint - whether it’s packaging, a TikTok clip, or an influencer post - should stand alone while still forming part of a bigger picture. The challenge isn’t just to be seen, but to be felt and remembered in an ever-shifting landscape.
Build - The Role of Code in a Fragmented Landscape
In a world where brand touchpoints are constantly shifting, development isn’t just about building a website - it’s about creating adaptable systems that keep pace with evolving design and growth needs.
Think of your brand’s digital infrastructure like an operating system. The core framework - your ecommerce platform, CMS, and data tracking - anchors everything, while modular components act as the sections or third party integrations, allow the brand to flex and respond to different user journeys. Shopify’s section-based architecture plays a key role here, enabling brands to iterate quickly, test new formats, and tailor experiences without a full redesign.
Beyond flexibility, data attribution tools like Triple Whale and Littledata are crucial for stitching together fragmented user journeys. With consumers discovering brands across multiple platforms before converting, the ability to track and interpret these pathways can unlock major performance gains.
The goal isn’t just to build - it’s to build for change. Brands that design their digital infrastructure to evolve dynamically will be best positioned to scale in this fragmented landscape.
Growth - From Top-Down to Bottom-Up Creative
Advertising has felt the biggest impact of this shift. Gone are the days of a single hero ad cascading down into shorter cuts. Now, creative is built from the ground up, distributed across multiple formats and narratives:
- Educational content - positioning the brand as an authority.
- Benefit-led ads - making the product’s value instantly clear.
- UGC and creator content - leveraging authentic voices to add credibility.
- Founder stories - humanising the brand for deeper connection.
- Shoppable ad formats - driving direct conversion with frictionless purchase paths.
Each of these creative formats links to landing pages specifically designed for that ad type, ensuring a seamless transition from ad engagement to purchase.
Modern brands are no longer built through singular, controlled narratives but through adaptive, multi-faceted storytelling. Those that embrace fragmented attention - by designing, building, and growing with agility - will not only capture more moments of attention but turn them into lasting brand equity.