One Year On from Brat Summer: How Charli XCX Became the Internet’s Favourite Reference
In an era where cultural moments move fast, the rise of Brat offers a masterclass in internet-native branding.
Over the past year, “Brat” has been everywhere. Maybe you saw the “Apple” dance on your feed. Maybe you noticed your favourite brand suddenly obsessed with the colour green. Or maybe your comments were full of “you’re so Julia.” Whatever your entry point, one thing’s clear: Brat wasn’t just an album, it was a full-blown cultural takeover
A neon-green rebrand manifesto, Charli XCX gave brands an in with pop culture, and reminded digital teams everywhere that cool can't be bought, but it can be built.
Twelve months on from what could be called the album drop of the decade, here are the five lessons every creative, social strategist and brand marketer should take from the success of Brat Summer.
1. Create a World Your Audience Can Live In
Brat became a phenomenon because it wasn’t just an album. It was a fully realised universe. From the slightly pixelated Arial font to the slime-green aesthetic, everything Charli XCX put out was recognisably, relentlessly Brat. It was loud, low-fi and completely cohesive from the off.
But it wasn’t just about visual consistency. Charli's creative world was specific enough to be recognised and flexible enough to be personalised. Fans could easily replicate the aesthetic, whether that was painting their nails brat green, creating knock-off merch or designing memes with the Brat Generator. Participation was crucial: the branding wasn't just seen, it was used.
Brands often obsess over being “on brand” to the point of rigidity but Brat shows that recognisability + remixability = scalability.
Lesson: A consistent creative world makes your message instantly recognisable and deeply shareable. If your aesthetic isn’t replicable by fans you’re not building a world, you’re simply running a promotion.
2. Make Your Audience the Movement
“Brat Summer” wasn’t label-invented, it was fan-declared. And Charli didn’t hoard control over the aesthetic either. Just as audiences could live in the world, they could also capitalise on it.
The “Apple” dance wasn’t label-led either, it was cooked up organically by TikTok creator Kelley Heyer and went viral after brands, celebrities and Charli herself joined in. Nearly 2M videos later, Apple had become the sound of Brat Summer, showing how fan-born trends can eclipse even the biggest of marketing budgets. It sparked a wave of fan loyalty, organic visibility and cultural momentum no ad budget could match.
Lesson: Don’t just launch a product, turn it into something your audience can co-own. When audiences feel like co-creators, not consumers, that’s when you earn cultural relevance. Give people the tools, the tone and the freedom to run with your brand - and they’ll turn your moment into their moment.
3. Understand Internet Language
Or, as Charli XCX herself said, “talk to me in your own made up language”.
Brat’s viral moments didn’t come from gimmicks. When marketing Brat, Charli wasn’t mimicking the internet, she was speaking its native tongue.
Case in point: “kamala IS brat”. This tweet clocked over 64 million views, sparked global headlines and even inspired Kamala Harris’s team to jump on the brat-wagon. While most pop stars endorse candidates with drawn out statements, Charli did it with humour, timing and the flair of someone who truly understands digital culture, all while keeping her brand front and centre.
Lesson: Sometimes, being “chronically online” can be an asset. If your brand wants to land with online audiences, trust the people who actually talk the talk. Not every post needs to be strategy-approved. Sometimes you just need someone who is well-versed in the language of social media.
4. Know When to Join the Party (and When to Leave)
By August 2024, every brand and organisation seemed to be doing something Brat-related in their marketing. Notable entries include this video from the London Wildlife Trust (490K views), this tweet from the UK Green Party (1.3M views) and this OOH billboard from vegan brand Field Roast. Although there were many, many more.
However, while some brands got it right, Brat quickly became over-saturated. Some earned their place but many didn’t. NATO, for instance, tried to join the party and only proved how out of place (or un-Brat) an organisation can feel when it doesn’t read the room.
NATO, so confusing.
By the end of summer, the sheer volume of brands posting about Brat had nearly killed the joke. The internet moved on, not because the moment ended, but because brands had overstayed their welcome.
Lesson: Don’t jump into a trend just because it’s hot. Join only if you have something to add, and know when your presence is going to kill the joke, not enhance it. Trend fluency includes knowing when not to post and when to leave a meme alone.
5. Make Audiences Feel Like Insiders
Charli successfully used exclusivity and spontaneity to build hype around every aspect of Brat. She held secret, surprise Boiler Room sets where she debuted new music, and used the now iconic but mysterious live-streamed Brooklyn graffiti wall.
This became an evolving physical touchpoint for fans. A blank green wall one week, a lyric tease the next, then suddenly an announcement for remixes or extended plays. Each repaint turned into a real-time event, generating frenzied speculation and community hype across social media.
If you saw it happening in real time you felt that you were part of something fleeting, yet exciting. It was proof that you were paying attention. And, in a digital world flooded with fleeting content, the wall became a rare, tangible moment of collective excitement for audiences.
Lesson: The most valuable currency sometimes isn’t money or media spend, it’s simply audience engagement. The next era of audience participation in your brand won’t just be about who can afford something, but who’s paying enough attention to be part of it.
Final Takeaway
What Brat proved is that cultural relevance isn’t earned through virality alone. Charli gave fans content, a club to join, a language to speak and a season to reminisce on.
Digital teams and brand marketers, take note: audiences don’t owe anything. However, if you give people something worth belonging to, they’ll carry your brand further than any media plan ever could.
As for Brat Summer 2.0? Charli’s already said she’s “interested in the tension of staying too long,” hinting that Brat isn’t over — just evolving. Whether it’s a sequel, spin-off, or soft reboot, one thing’s clear: she’s still our favourite reference, baby.
