Click this link to access the full Track Record report, including demographic breakdowns (age, region, gender), exclusive media consumption insights and analysis.

Welcome to Track Record: a yearly wrap up of the biggest and best brand and pop culture moments to sweep our global shores. Like it suggests in the name, we’ve surveyed over 20,000 consumers from all over the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand to memorialize the year that has been, tracking it through what resonated with people, what didn’t, and getting our heads around what this all means for marketing, brand, and the world at large.

If you disagree with these results or have a personal favourite you’d like to get on your LinkedIn soapbox about, we’ve made it super easy to share with this handy-dandy meme generator.

The biggest brand moment of 2024 is… The Olympics.

The brand moment that has taken the crown this year has had a long, long time to grow awareness. A version of it has been around since 776BC, after all.

37% of consumers surveyed globally chose The Olympics when asked about the brand or consumer event they’d heard of the most in 2024.

That makes sense. After all, the Paris 2024 Olympics became a bloodbath for the world of brands, with marketers entering the arena armed with celebrity ambassadors, slick video campaigns, experiential activations and sponsorship placements.

It became a microcosm of culture, producing viral moments that meant even the smallest of brands could capitalize on the conversation. Sure, it had the budget of a small nation’s annual GDP (hyperbole) and incredible global reach, but it also had organic cultural gems boosted even louder by the power of social media.

Think RaygunOpens in new tab, the Olympic Village muffinsOpens in new tab, Simone Biles and Jordan Chile bowing down to Rebecca AndradeOpens in new tab, the male USA gymnastOpens in new tab slash sleeper agent, a pole jumper’s too-big packageOpens in new tab, and Yusuf Dikec, that Turkish sport shooterOpens in new tab who looked like he could have been in a James Bond film. Just relive that in a visual flashback, please.

What was different about this year?

2024 saw an unprecedented access to the Olympic village and our athletes, with participants able to post on their personal social media accountsOpens in new tab from within the Olympic village, training and practice areas, and opening and closing ceremonies.

It was the first year they’d fully relaxed these rules, allowing consumers to create direct relationships with the athletes. This humanization was extremely valuable to foster emotional connection, made the whole thing a whole lot more fun – and got in front of a lot of eyeballs. For example, Henrik Christansen, aka the Muffin ManOpens in new tab, had one of his videos receive over 20 million views on TikTok.

Apart from The Olympics, it was the year of Ozempic

It was a two-horse race between The Olympics and Ozempic this year. Globally, Ozempic was chosen as the top brand moment by 23% of consumers (this was higher in the US, as seen above).

Interestingly – but perhaps not surprisingly, considering the prohibitive cost – Ozempic had the lowest reach with Gen Z, with only 13%, compared to 27% of baby boomers (age 60+).

According to Tracksuit's data, Ozempic has the highest awareness of any weight-loss drug in the US, enjoying 65% awareness (over triple the competitor average of 21%).

As expanded on below, Ozempic has managed to cut-through all the noise due to many reasons, including its popularity amongst celebrities, some of whom have been transparent about being on Ozempic (including Kelly Clarkson and Oprah), and is reflective of a wider cultural shift and anxieties about aging.

The biggest pop culture moment of 2024 is… Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

It’s hard to argue with the Taylor Swift effect. The loved-up relationship between Taylor Swift and golden retriever BF (and football star) Travis Kelce was amped up this year, especially as Kelce had a star turn in the SuperBowl final with his team the Kansas City Chiefs.

43% of people chose Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce as their top pick, and, globally, no other pop culture moment even came close.

This follows a theme from last year, where Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour took the second spot in our brand moments list (only pipped by Barbie). Without a Barbie-esque campaign in the books this year, she didn’t have any competition.

Tracksuit data shows Taylor Swift has 90% awareness across all demographics in the US, which is pretty hard to argue with.

Of course Gen Zs are built a little differently – they were more into the Kendrick vs Drake beef.

Funnily enough, though, when you drill down into the data, you can see that Kendrick vs Drake came out on top with Gen Zs. The rappers’ feud, which spanned many, many songs, lit social media on fire and spawned one of the biggest songs of the year (Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’).

28% of Gen Zs chose the Kendrick vs Drake beef as their top pop culture moment (this is a significant difference – only 4% of Gen X chose this moment), with 16% choosing Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Interestingly, 16% also chose ‘Very demure, very mindful’, which very obviously shows what we all know: Gen Z culture is chronically online.

What are the key takeouts?

Don’t be fooled by your echo chamber

• At Tracksuit, in our chronically online Gen Z and millennial bubble, we all thought brat was going to claim the top spot. It wasn’t even close. Although the brat album release was noticeably more popular with Gen Zs (10% average amongst Gen Zs vs 2%), it still didn’t move the needle.
  
• Another bit of self awareness: Tracksuit also noticeably over-indexes on people who love marketing, but it turns out that the marketing moments we thought made a splash (like the Liquid Death x ELF campaign, or the Airbnb x Polly Pocket campaign) barely made a ripple in the general population. Both of these fell under 2%.

Look at what lies underneath the brand and pop culture moments

• The melting pot of cultural and viral moments of this Olympics is testament to both authentic, transparent storytelling (via the athletes) and the value of user-generated content (the virality of key moments, like Raygun and Muffin Man, all enjoyed long tails due to social media).
  
• The fact Ozempic has resonated so strongly, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere markets, is indicative of a cultural shift underpinned by society’s obsession with anti-aging, alongside a noticeable decrease in body positivity rhetoric. In the age of #wellness, getting Botox in your 20s, and supplements galore, the pressure that women still feel to conform is a clear emerging theme of 2024.
  
• ‘Very demure, very mindful’ echoing so well with Gen Zs could be seen as a continuation of the ‘girlhood’ movement, with this trend playing on expectations of femininity. The trend leans into girlhood – think bows, lace, coquettishness – as well as poking fun at what we are made to endure in society (e.g. the push and pull contradiction between wearing too much make-up and not enough make-up).

You have to know the demographic makeup of your audience to know how to join in the cultural conversation – something we give you insight into at Tracksuit.

• Knowing the demographic makeup of your category ensures your brand's marketing and media strategy aligns with the right audience. There are significant differences in these results regionally and between age groups, so knowing your target audience is super important. For example, the Oasis reunion came out on top in pop culture moments by a landslide in the UK – 29% – whereas only 1% of people in the USA chose it as their top pop culture moment.
  
• 16% of Gen Zs chose ‘Very demure, very mindful’ as their top pop culture moment (on par with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce), whereas a whopping 0% of baby boomers picked ‘Very demure’. That stat speaks for itself, really. If your marketing strategy is focused on tying in pop culture (like jumping on this trend) but Gen Z doesn’t make up a significant proportion of your category, you could be missing the mark and not reaching other consumer groups effectively.

It’s important not to overlook older consumers when developing media strategies.

• A mixed-media approach that balances visibility across the different generational groups ensures you effectively reach the full spectrum of the category you are playing in and maintains broad reach for your brand, which grows future demand. If you only go after certain channels where certain demographics hang out and specific conversations are taking place (like TikTok!) you're not capturing the biggest slice of growth for your brand.

Click this link to access the full Track Record report, including demographic breakdowns (age, region, gender), exclusive media consumption insights and analysis.