your brand's survival now depends on EQ and PQ

we need to go deeper than cultural fluency in 2025

2025 will be remembered as the year we watched brand playbooks get completely torched.

no one is safe.

and every piece of content now feels like it’s one draft away from a green screen screenshot deep dive or a trending boycott.

brands aiming for “cultural fluency” risk facing backlash in a world where politics has infiltrated every algorithm.

so what’s actually going on right now?

is it safe to market a brand?

is it worth getting loud? or is it better to stay quiet?

over the last six months I’ve noticed that surviving in this new era requires a fundamental step change beyond just chasing trends.

and in my opinion, it’s the most critical conversation marketers need to be having right now.

---

---

the new mandate: defining brand EQ and PQ

brands don’t need more tactics - instead, they need a new framework to survive the next decade.

I’m calling it the EQ/PQ axis. in 2025 and beyond, brands must learn how to operate with a high EQ (emotional quotient) and PQ (political quotient).

let’s start with EQ. broadly speaking, it’s the ability to intuitively understand and manage the emotional landscape of an audience - moving beyond demo data to dig deeper and uncover feelings, anxieties, and aspirations.

on its own, it’s not a radical concept, as smart marketers have championed empathy for years. but what’s different in 2025 is that PQ has raised the stakes of EQ to a life or death level.

a brand with high EQ isn’t just going to launch a fitness app - it’s going to understand users’ need for control amidst the swirl of news around GLP1s. it’s going to get to the root of users’ feelings to forge a real connection. right now, that connection is a brand’s only defense when an emotional misstep can instantly become a political incident.

and that brings us to the variable that has torched the old playbooks - what I’m calling PQ, or political quotient.

PQ is the ability to navigate the polarized world where every action is interpreted thru a values-based lens. and I want to be clear here - this isn’t a “pick a side” partisan decision that brands need to make. rather it’s about understanding the core belief systems a brand’s customers use to see the world, so that the brand can act with consistency and integrity.

a brand with high PQ understands that launching a “Made in America” product line isn’t ONLY a supply chain decision - it’s a literal statement about specific economic and cultural values that need to be reflected across the entire organization.

where cultural fluency fails

if you’re a brand, then you recognize the importance of tapping into modern culture.

yet “cultural fluency” right now is predicated on what’s happening in the moment. in some ways, it’s reactive. but it’s always about keeping up with the world around us.

EQ and PQ are proactive - they provide deep rooted wisdom and strategic thinking that cultural fluency glazes over.

think about it this way:

cultural fluency asks “what’s the trend?”

but EQ and PQ together ask “what’s the trend - AND what deep human emotion is it tapping into? what are its political undertones, and does engaging with this trend align with our core values?”

cultural fluency without this filter will be the root of most modern brand disasters, as we’ve already witnessed from major brands this year.

so the financial stakes for getting PQ and EQ right (or wrong) are astronomical.

and the decisions that brands make in this realm should reflect the values that only they themselves know to be true with their brand and audience.

take Gap’s latest campaign with Katseye. Gap’s entire team, from its leadership to its brand management, collectively embodied high EQ by understanding the need to deliver a campaign that spoke to the emotional landscape of Gen Z, a generation that views culture, music, and identity thru a global lens.

partnering with Katseye, a globally represented musical group, demonstrates the brand’s grasp of this mindset and meets their audience where they are.

on the flip side, Disney’s current debacle with Jimmy Kimmel represents a classic low PQ move, where business logic directly contradicts how customers view the brand.

the move to take Jimmy Kimmel off air signaled that a politically motivated deal was more important than the constitutional right of free speech, thus “picking” a side. this decision ended up clashing with the values of a significant portion of their customer base, resulting in a mass boycott against Disney.

at the end of the day, brands are run by people. so nailing the organizational makeup is a crucial piece of the puzzle.

the new team: how the future of hiring will evolve

truly understanding and embodying EQ and PQ as a brand is only possible with the right team.

in order for a brand to possess EQ and PQ, the PEOPLE who work for the brand must also possess these qualities.

and I’m not talking about people who just operate at the campaign level - I believe top to bottom, these are organizational capabilities that must be hired for and cultivated.

we’ve all heard about hiring for a “culture fit”, but that’s insufficient and quite frankly exclusionary at this point.

the new mandate will be to hire for values alignment and contextual intelligence.

this is NOT about creating a team of likeminded clones who all adopt the same opinion or political ideology. diverse thinkers should bring their unique strengths and opinions to the table, and then use a shared framework of EQ and PQ to channel that debate into a single brand expression.

it’s almost like a symphony, in a way - you need different instruments to create harmony, but they all need to play complementary keys and notes for it all to flow.

this means that a brand’s team must be composed of individuals who can act as stewards of the brand’s character.

hiring thru an EQ/PQ lens also requires evolved interview questions:

• “can you anticipate how this message will be interpreted by three different values-aligned groups?” (PQ check)

• “can you respond to an emotionally charged complaint in a way that de-escalates and builds trust?” (EQ check)

• “describe a time you advised AGAINST a popular trend because it was misaligned with a brand’s core identity.” (EQ/PQ check)

the irony is that for over a decade social media teams have been on the front lines of this battle. now, the rest of the org must learn their fluency.

we can also look to individual creators for the blueprint. they’re typically teams of one who don’t have any kind of corporate playbook. their EQ and PQ are tested daily. for creators, brand and identity are inseparable.

the human advantage and why AI can’t solve for this (yet)

I recognize the challenge EQ and PQ might represent in a world where teams are faced with and old school c-suite who are used to doing marketing by the book, or an outdated playbook that is keeping the brand on life support (somehow).

unfortunately, despite billions in market cap, hungry shareholders, and close billionaire connections on the elite brand side…

if ANY brand fails to understand, embody, and practice PQ and EQ, they will destroy any semblance of a relationship with their customers.

after all - if there’s one thing that capitalism and boycotts have taught us in the 2025, it’s that gen pop wallets talk - and collectively, that voice is louder than the wealthy elite at the top.

EQ and PQ are not nice to haves. they will soon be the lifeblood of every brand.

the change for brands and marketers will have to start from within. this requires compassionate leadership, and a real desire to build a strong brand that aligns with customers - not one that just satisfies shareholders or those at the top.

given the importance of EQ and PQ, I’d imagine some brands would want to cut corners with AI.

there’s no question that algorithms will continue to advance, and it’s challenging to anticipate what could even happen a few months from now.

but if there’s one dilemma with AI platforms, it’s that they cannot fully understand cultural fluency because they cannot access, in such real time, what’s happening. literally - ChatGPT does not have access to the latest conversations on TikTok.

this is an exciting time, because it shows the real inherent value of humanness in marketing.

you can’t out-creative or out-buy your way to more sales now.

instead, brands have to do something arguably much more difficult - they have to turn inward to understand how they themselves identify with the outer world, and current/future customers.

so the playbook is gone. there are only two paths left. brands can be a victim of the cultural crossfire - constantly reacting, apologizing, and trying to please everyone until they stand for nothing…

or they can be an architect, doing the difficult inward work to build a brand with a character so strong and authentic it can withstand the heat.

the choice is no longer optional, though. it’s really the only one that matters.

---