By Dani Thomson, Creative Director at GH05T
When you create a product, you start with the consumer (or at the very least, a consumer need).
Social content should be no different.
When brands start with the product, they’re thinking like advertisers. When they start with the consumer – their needs, motivations, emotions, or even pain points – they’re thinking like storytellers, like community builders, like a brand that means something to me.
Too often, brands lead with a vanity-driven “Here’s our product, you should like it” message on social and wonder why it falls flat.
The real challenge is shifting from vanity to value – from self-promotion to serving real human needs. When you start with those needs, the product naturally becomes the answer, not the headline. It transforms from something to be sold into something that solves.
And that shift, from product-first, to people first, is where most briefs struggle.
The problem with product-first thinking
What brands think their audiences want and what people actually need are rarely the same thing. The gap between the two is where most creative falls flat.
Reframing briefs around emotion, behaviour, and cultural context unlocks work that lands, especially on social. People don’t open Instagram or TikTok to be sold to; they open them to connect, to laugh, to discover something new. Commerce happens, but it’s a by-product of relevance, not the reason they’re there.
When brands lead with product features, they interrupt the scroll instead of joining the conversation. Attention on social isn’t taken, it’s earned through empathy and insight.
It’s easy to default to product. It feels safe, measurable, justifiable. But audiences seldom care. You don’t earn connection by shouting louder about your product. You earn it by making it matter.
The best campaigns know when to step back. They take the product out of the spotlight just long enough to show how it fits into real life, creating space for emotion, relevance, and cultural truth.
Because the truth is: demand creates products. Not the other way around.
How to Flip the Brief
Every product exists to solve a need. But somewhere between research, strategy and rollout, that need often gets lost.
Start with a simple question: What problem are people really trying to solve and what emotion sits underneath it? If you can answer that, you’ll find a place naturally. You won’t have to sell it; it will simply make sense.
Take HSBC’s Global Money social campaign. It didn’t start with exchange rates or transfer fees, it started with the feeling of being on holiday. Within that emotion, the product earned relevance. And whilst I can’t divulge the exact data, I’m telling you now we increased consideration in a way impossible with product-first ads.
And this thinking isn’t limited to social. The same principle applies wherever people meet your brand.
Take IKEA’s Brighton launch: a drawer unit covered in bird poo. Funny, local, and instantly relatable. The product was there, but the story – belonging to a community – came first.
Tesco’s recent Back to School campaign does this beautifully. It taps into the emotion of parenting – showing how their products evolve alongside the moments that shape family life. It’s not about what they sell, but what they see: the joy, the nostalgia and tenderness in everyday growth.
The sharpest briefs don’t start with what we’re selling, they start with what people feel. If your brief can articulate the human need before the product benefit, you’re already halfway to meaning.
The idea is simple. The execution isn’t.
So what can we do?
Start saying no, to vanity, to product-first thinking and briefs with no heart.
Tell your product team you’ll take it from here.
Look your stakeholder straight in the eye and tell them they’re wrong – because you know the audience better. That’s not arrogance, that’s creative leadership and what putting people first really means.
And yes, it’s hard. You’ll get pushback. You’ll have to pick your battles. But it’s worth it. Because meaning endures long after the metrics fade.
That’s what consumer-first creativity is really about.
