Predictability is outperforming personality!

I’ve been thinking a lot about predictability, and how uncool that word has become in branding. But somehow, as the world burns and big powers slip slowly into authoritarianism, it’s seeming more and more appealing to me… and to consumers.

We tend to treat it as a problem, as something that suggests a lack of ambition or imagination. But when I look at the brands that seem to be doing well right now, especially here in the UK, many of them are succeeding precisely because they are predictable.

They’re easy to understand. They behave in ways people recognise. They don’t keep changing how they show up. That hasn’t always been the goal. For a long time, brands were rewarded for being new, surprising, entertaining. But after years of economic pressure and cultural noise, novelty can start to feel cringey. Keeping up becomes impossible work. Familiarity starts to feel like relief, for the brand and the consumer.

Fashion makes this very obvious. Brands like COS haven’t moved very far from where they started. The clothes are restrained. The colours stay within a narrow range. The tone never really alters. Sometimes that makes people impatient, especially when trends swing wildly elsewhere. But it also makes COS easy to return to. You don’t have to relearn it every season. You know what you’re going to get.

You can see this clearly with a brand like The White Company. It isn’t trying to reinvent itself or chase novelty across home, fashion or lifestyle. The palette remains calm. The product decisions feel familiar. The tone stays steady. That consistency has become a strength rather than a limitation. People know what they’re getting, and that matters more than ever when choice feels overwhelming. We see this through our work with the brand. Growth doesn’t always come from saying something new. Often it comes from repeating the right things with confidence and restraint.

When uncertainty drags on, people seem to gravitate towards brands that remove friction rather than add it. Brands that don’t ask you to decode them. Brands that feel steady. I don’t think this means creativity has disappeared. I think it’s just being used differently. Less on constant reinvention, more on judgement. On knowing what to leave alone.

I know that inside businesses, predictability can feel uncomfortable. I’ve been in the meetings…I’ve heard the rhetoric. Teams worry they’re standing still. That things look the same, or that they’re not doing enough. So language gets refreshed, visuals get updated. It creates movement, but not always clarity.

What I’m seeing is that the brands doing better are making fewer visible changes and more structural ones. Tightening ranges, simplifying decisions, improving delivery. Committing to a position and sticking with it long enough for people to actually recognise it.

Predictability, when it’s intentional, makes a brand easier to trust. You know what you’re dealing with and you don’t have to second guess it. A lot of the work we’re doing at the moment is about helping brands resist unnecessary change. Getting clear on what already works, and backing it with more confidence instead of constantly searching for the next adjustment.

It might not look exciting from the outside. But right now, it seems to be working.