Turning coverage into conversation: The case for talkability
Opinion
Brands that plan for conversation alongside coverage will be better positioned to convert visibility into relevance, writes SuperAwesome’s Sam Clough.
Reach remains the foundation of effective media planning. Without scale, there’s no opportunity to successfully interact or engage with audiences, and for brands targeting Gen Alpha and Gen Z, that visibility is still essential. However, what’s changing is how impact unfolds after that initial exposure.
In SuperAwesome’s recent study ‘From Discovery to Devotion: The Evolution of Gen Alpha & Z Fandoms’, we surveyed more than 1,800 young people aged four to 18 in the UK & US to explore how modern fandoms are formed, sustained, and, at times, left behind.
The data shows that among Gen Alpha and Gen Z, impact is socially mediated, and what matters is often what happens after kids and teens see something – and whether it’s talked about, shared, interpreted, or built on. In youth culture, conversation is the mechanism that turns awareness into engagement.
Discovery beyond platforms
The way fandoms form is inherently social. In the UK, 49% of kids and teens first discover a fandom through their friends or family. In the US, that rises to 56%. While platforms such as YouTube play a significant role in initial engagement, discovery is frequently reinforced through peer endorsement.
This pattern continues after first exposure. In the US, 46% of young people go on to talk about their newly discovered fandoms with friends. In the UK, 53% of four-18-year-olds actively discuss them IRL.
Sharing and creating content is also an embedded behaviour, with 22% of UK kids and teens posting or sharing content related to their fandom, and 17% creating their own.
These behaviours highlight something important for marketers: reach may introduce a brand or IP into a young person’s world, but conversation determines whether it embeds itself there.
Participation sustains fandom
Fandoms last when audiences continue to participate, and creators are central to sustaining that engagement. In the UK, 48% of under-18s agree that content creators help them stay engaged with their fandoms, with even stronger influence in categories such as gaming, fashion, and beauty. In the US, 42% agree, with that number rising higher among teens.
YouTube is the primary platform for this engagement among under-18s, serving as a space for passive viewing as well as commentary and interpretation.
We define talkability as the extent to which a brand, IP, or campaign is discussed, shared, memed, or co-created. It doesn’t replace reach, but it signals that exposure has translated into cultural traction, and when audiences feel compelled to discuss or reinterpret something, it shows that it’s moved beyond passive consumption.
We see this dynamic repeatedly in brand culture. Jet2holidays saw its “Nothing beats a Jet2holiday” audio become a viral TikTok meme, initially attached to chaotic scenes of holidays gone wrong. Instead of resisting the narrative, the brand leaned in, launching a challenge and offering a £1,000 holiday voucher, thereby transforming it into an opportunity for amplification.
Elsewhere, Dr Pepper turned a fan-created TikTok jingle into an official advert after it went viral.
While Stanley became a cultural talking point when a creator posted that her travel mug survived a car fire intact, ice included. The CEO of Stanley made a promise publicly to replace her car, and that response travelled further than paid media alone could achieve.
Even sustained participation at scale demonstrates this principle. Coca-Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ initiative generated more than 500,000 user-shared photos under its hashtag, translating personalisation into measurable sales impact. The act of sharing actively sustained visibility.
These examples underscore a simple truth for brands: talkability is rarely engineered in isolation. It emerges when audiences actively reinterpret and redistribute what brands create.
The fragility of youth relevance
Sustained conversation matters because youth relevance is fragile.
In the UK, one in three young people report leaving a fandom at some stage. In the US, it is closer to 40%. The top reasons given are boredom, ageing out, a lack of new content, and friends moving on, and each of these points to the same underlying dynamic – when the conversation slows, interest fades.
Re-entry is possible, often triggered by new releases, cultural moments, or meme resurgences. However, nostalgia alone rarely guarantees sustained renewed attachment, and young audiences respond to fresh energy and shared excitement.
For marketers, this means campaign success can’t be defined solely by launch metrics. Cultural relevance among younger audiences is more iterative. It depends on whether a brand continues to provide material for discussion and participation beyond the initial media burst.
Planning for conversation alongside coverage
Creative ideation for campaigns, therefore, needs to make appropriate space for audience and creator contributions. Whether through fan art, remixable assets, interactive challenges, or community-led discussions, participation deepens attachment.
Even a relatively small proportion of highly engaged fans can have a disproportionate influence in driving broader conversations. Likewise, creators should be seen as cultural collaborators rather than simply amplification channels. Their ability to interpret, respond to, and contextualise brand moments often determines whether a campaign remains within its paid placement or enters wider youth conversation.
As younger audiences continue to build culture in real time across YouTube, TikTok, Roblox, Discord, and beyond, brands that plan for conversation alongside coverage will be better positioned to convert visibility into relevance.
For a generation that treats content as something to engage with rather than simply watch, the question is no longer only how many saw it, but what they did with it next.
Sam Clough is the global head of youth trends and insight at SuperAwesome