Culture is the new brand currency

How brand culture shapes behavior, builds trust, and scales identity. Inside and out.

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Culture isn’t defined by posters or perks — it’s shaped by everyday actions.
It lives in how teams speak, decide, and collaborate. When culture is intentional, it becomes a brand’s most powerful internal system — guiding identity, creativity, and connection from within.

In the sixth episode of Rebranding Redefined, we explored how brand culture fuels alignment, empowers teams, and shapes every touchpoint — from onboarding to campaigns.

Hosted by Frontify’s Hugo Timm, the session featured transformational Chief Brand Officer Ana Andjelic (Banana Republic NSP) and Barr Balamuth, founder of creative consultancy Parallel Play. Together, they shared how modern brands turn internal values into clarity — for employees and everyone who interacts with the brand.

From cultural code to competitive edge

Brand culture isn’t about posters in the break room. It’s how your brand behaves, decides, and shows up in the world. As Parallel Play’s Barr Balamuth put it, “Cultural currency is the ability to influence what people talk about, how they behave, and what they come to see as valuable.” In a world oversaturated with branding, cultural relevance is what earns attention — and loyalty.

To build that kind of resonance, brands need more than rules. They need systems that encode their values into everything from design language to internal rituals. And they need friction — the good kind.

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Find your tension, not your template

Cultural impact doesn’t come from fitting in. It comes from friction — the tension between what’s expected and what your brand uniquely stands for. Ana Andjelic, CBO at Banana Republic NSP, warns against confusing tradition with authenticity: “The moment something becomes formulaic, it’s no longer culture. It’s a template.”

Friction doesn’t mean being provocative for the sake of it. It means finding the honest contradiction between your brand and category conventions — and turning it into a cultural signal. Claude, for example, breaks with AI’s high-tech norm by embracing slow, analog aesthetics. The Row rejects the fashion industry’s obsession with visibility by making scarcity a core brand behavior. Duolingo subverts social media safety by doubling down on chaotic, meme-driven humor.

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Use friction as a strategic system

Cultural relevance isn’t a one-off campaign. It’s a system of behaviors that show up consistently across time and touchpoints.

Barr introduced a framework for earning cultural currency:‍

1. Capture the moment – Ground your brand in what’s driving desire now, not just in your industry but in the broader culture.‍

2. Find your friction – Identify the tension where your values meet category norms — like AG1 bringing scientific legitimacy to wellness.‍

3. Build a program – Make that friction repeatable through rituals, language, or drops. Think of it as cultural infrastructure.

It’s how modern brands stay relevant — not by chasing every trend, but by showing up with purpose, again and again.

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Scale culture through systems

As Hugo Timm from Frontify pointed out, design systems are key to scaling culture. The Friction Matrix is one tool to do this: first, audit the invisible "truths" in your category. Then, flip them — and validate what feels honestly yours. That’s your strategic edge.

From Claude’s human-centric AI to AG1’s science-backed simplicity, brands that invest in systems of differentiation build deeper connections — and stand out where it counts.

Ready to build a brand system that makes culture tangible, not just aspirational? → Watch the full episode to see the cultural currency framework in action.