5 Unexpected Things 2025 Taught Us About Brand Building

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The Lessons of 2025

Some years confirm the rules of brand building. Other years flip them on their heads.

2025? It did a little of both. While the fundamentals of brand still matter—clarity, consistency, emotional resonance—this was the year a few curveballs rewrote the playbook for startup founders. Between shifting consumer behaviors, platform shakeups, and surprise hits, the lessons came fast and often from unexpected places.

Here are five of the biggest brand-building lessons from 2025 worth carrying into the new year.

1. Quiet Brands Can Win Loud Markets

What to know:
In 2025, attention was abundant but trust was scarce. As feeds filled with stunts, pivots, and perpetual rebrands, the startups that performed best resisted the urge to shout. Clear positioning, thoughtful design, and consistent delivery did more for retention and lifetime value than chasing short-term visibility.

Brand example: Mill
Mill, the food waste startup, grew without relying on viral moments. Its brand led with restraint: a clean visual system, plainspoken messaging, and a product that demonstrated real environmental impact in everyday use. By letting the outcome speak louder than the campaign, Mill built credibility in a crowded climate tech space.

Try this:
Look at your core brand surfaces: homepage, product onboarding, and primary sales deck. If each one is trying to impress in a different way, simplify. Remove one loud claim or visual. Replace it with a clearer explanation of the value you reliably deliver. Quiet confidence often converts better than noise.

2. Your Product Onboarding Is Your Brand

What to know:
Startups often obsess over landing pages, then neglect what happens next. But in 2025, users judged brands by what they found inside the product. Smooth onboarding isn’t just important. It’s brand storytelling in action.

Brand example: Notion
Notion, the productivity platform, continues to nail this. Whether for a new or power user, their onboarding guides, tooltips, and templates reinforce a brand that’s thoughtful, empowering, and elegant. It’s why teams don’t just adopt Notion—they evangelize it.

Try this:
Sit with a new user as they onboard into your product. What’s the first brand impression you’re giving? What feeling do they walk away with? Inject warmth, usefulness, and your brand’s voice early.

3. TikTok Shop Turned Storytelling Into a Checkout Button

What to know:
Short-form commerce was the surprise medium of the year and TikTok Shop held the top spot. It collapsed discovery, education, and purchase into a single motion. The brands that won understood that conversion didn’t come from harder selling. It came from useful, human storytelling that made buying feel like the natural next step.

Brand example: Rhode
Hailey Bieber's DTC skincare brand Rhode leaned into TikTok Shop by treating it like an extension of its content strategy, not a sales channel. Product routines, creator demos, and behind-the-scenes clips did more than move units. They reinforced the brand’s credibility and aesthetic while quietly driving volume among Gen Z and millennial buyers.

Try this:
Create one TikTok Shop video this month that teaches, demos, or entertains (not just sells). Start with your highest-volume SKU and pair it with a creator who knows your audience.

4. Founders Became the Face (and Voice) of the Brand

What to know:
The “founder as distribution channel” strategy became even more important. When users want to trust a product, they look for the human behind it, and 2025 rewarded founders who leaned into public presence—not performatively, but authentically.

Brand example: Morning Brew
Alex Lieberman, co-founder of newsletter-based media company Morning Brew, became a case study in using personal brand to boost business ventures. Through LinkedIn, YouTube, and podcasts, he extended Morning Brew’s ethos and drove awareness for every project he touched.

Try this:
Choose one platform where your target customer hangs out. Commit to posting weekly in your brand voice, but from your founder POV. Use stories, lessons, or takes to earn attention and build authority.

5. Facts Replaced Hype as the Growth Lever

By 2025, customers had seen enough bold promises to know when something felt inflated. The brands that kept growing were the ones that stopped trying to impress and started trying to reassure.

What to know:
Credibility scaled better than excitement. Startups that communicated clearly, showed the provable benefits of their work, and set realistic expectations earned stronger retention and long-term loyalty than those chasing attention with big, boastful language.

Brand example: Mercury
Instead of leaning into aspirational fintech hype, startup-focused digital banking platform Mercury focused on operational clarity, transparent pricing, and plainspoken explanations of specific features. In a category crowded with bold promises and flashy positioning, that restraint made the brand feel dependable and safe.

Try this:
Look at your homepage and sales materials and identify one claim that sounds impressive but vague. Replace it with a specific, verifiable statement or concrete outcome. Precision doesn’t just build trust. It reduces friction in the buying decision.

Final Thought

2025 reminded us that branding isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about interpreting shifts…and making deliberate decisions that build equity over time.

As you step into 2026, ask yourself:

• What signals are you sending at every touchpoint?

• Are you treating channels as brand stages, or just distribution tools?

• Are you building for real fans—or just followers?

Because the startups that turn attention into affinity? They’re the ones who win next year.

Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year!

Best,

Edwin