Most people think they know when they are being marketed to.
A commercial comes on. That''s marketing.
An Instagram ad appears. Marketing.
A salesperson calls. Obviously marketing.
But the most powerful marketing rarely feels like marketing at all.
It feels like information.
It feels like culture.
Sometimes, it simply feels like reality.
And that distinction matters, because long before we decide what to buy, marketing can influence what we notice, what we talk about, what we consider desirable, and even what we believe to be true.
Two completely unrelated stories from this week demonstrate just how powerful that can be.
One is about food.
The other is about an NFL quarterback and a pop star.
Stay with us.
Who Decided Something Was a "Superfood"?
A recent 2 News story asked a deceptively simple question: Are superfoods actually real, or is "superfood" primarily a marketing strategy? The segment brought in a registered dietitian to examine the idea.
Here is where things get interesting.
Harvard''s Nutrition Source notes that there is no scientifically based or regulated definition of "superfood." Foods that receive the label generally contain desirable nutrients or are associated with potential health benefits, but "superfood" itself isn''t a formal scientific category.
Think about that for a second.
Millions of people recognize the word.
Grocery stores use it.
Restaurants use it.
Influencers use it.
Consumers search for it.
Entire products can be positioned around it.
Yet the category itself was largely built through language, repetition and marketing.
Blueberries didn''t suddenly become nutritious because somebody called them a superfood. The food existed first.
What changed was the story surrounding the food.
And once the story became widely accepted, it began affecting behavior.
That''s marketing at its most powerful.
Not "Buy this."
But: This is what healthy people eat.
That is a completely different level of influence.
Now Let''s Talk About Justin Herbert and Madison Beer
At first glance, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert''s relationship with pop star Madison Beer has absolutely nothing to do with blueberries.
From a marketing perspective, however, they''re surprisingly connected.
Herbert and Beer announced their engagement in July, and footage of the newly engaged couple together at Chargers training camp later went viral. Coverage of the moment quickly expanded beyond their relationship and into a larger discussion about how the NFL uses players'' personal lives, families and relationships to connect with audiences outside traditional football fandom.
The NFL''s senior vice president of social and influencer marketing told reporters that the league and its clubs have engaged players'' families and loved ones for years.
Whether you love that strategy, hate it, or think people are reading too much into it isn''t really the point.
The marketing lesson is bigger.
Someone who couldn''t tell you the difference between Cover 2 and Cover 3 might know exactly who Travis Kelce is dating.
Someone who has never watched an entire Chargers game might suddenly know Justin Herbert because they follow Madison Beer.
Football hasn''t changed.
The doorway into football has.
That is marketing.
Marketing Doesn''t Just Change What You Buy
This is where businesses often underestimate marketing.
They think its purpose is:
Advertisement → Customer → Sale
Sometimes it is.
But marketing can operate much earlier in the process.
It can influence what you consider important before you''re even thinking about purchasing anything.
Consider how many ideas feel completely normal today:
- Organic
- Luxury
- Premium
- Clean beauty
- Influencer
- Creator
- Superfood
- Must-have
- Exclusive
- Wellness
None of these ideas entered our consciousness fully formed.
They gained meaning through stories, branding, media, repetition, social proof and culture.
Marketing helps create the mental categories we eventually use to make decisions.
So when someone says, "Advertising doesn''t work on me," they are usually thinking only about direct-response advertising.
They may be completely ignoring the thousands of impressions that helped determine what brands they recognize, what styles they consider attractive, what restaurants seem popular, what neighborhoods feel prestigious, what products seem trustworthy and what behaviors seem normal.
That''s the deeper layer.
Reality Is Competing for Attention
There are thousands of things happening around you right now.
You cannot possibly pay attention to all of them.
Something has to win.
Brands understand this.
Media companies understand it.
Sports leagues understand it.
Influencers understand it.
Algorithms understand it.
The first battle in modern marketing isn''t necessarily getting someone to purchase.
It''s getting someone to notice.
Then remember.
Then care.
Then talk.
Then search.
And eventually, perhaps, buy.
The "superfood" example shows how positioning can turn nutritional characteristics into an entire consumer category.
The Herbert and Beer story shows how a sports product can enter entertainment and pop culture conversations through people and relationships rather than scores and statistics.
Different industries.
Same principle.
Change the frame, and you can change the audience''s perception of what matters.
This Is Why Small Businesses Need to Think Differently About Marketing
You probably aren''t the NFL.
You don''t have Madison Beer walking through your office.
And your plumbing company probably isn''t going viral because your owner got engaged.
That''s okay.
The principle scales.
A roofer can sell a roof.
Or sell peace of mind when the next storm hits.
A dentist can sell cleanings.
Or sell confidence when you smile in a picture.
A gym can sell access to equipment.
Or sell the version of yourself you want to become.
A restaurant can sell food.
Or sell the place your family goes every Sunday.
A real estate agent can sell houses.
Or sell the feeling of finally being home.
The product matters.
But people rarely experience products as specifications alone.
They experience them through meaning.
Great marketing builds that meaning.
There''s Also a Responsibility Here
Understanding marketing''s power shouldn''t make us cynical.
It should make us smarter.
Businesses shouldn''t ask, "How can we trick people into believing something?"
That strategy eventually collapses.
A better question is:
What is genuinely valuable about what we do, and how do we frame it so people actually notice and understand it?
The strongest marketing doesn''t manufacture value out of nothing.
It identifies something real and makes that reality easier to see.
That''s the difference between marketing that creates a brand and marketing that creates a gimmick.
You Were Probably Marketed to Today Without Realizing It
Maybe it was the coffee shop everyone suddenly seems to visit.
Maybe it was the neighborhood everyone says is "up and coming."
Maybe it was the sneaker everyone suddenly wants.
Maybe it was a food you''re convinced is healthier.
Maybe it was a celebrity story that somehow made you interested in a football team you never cared about before.
Marketing is everywhere because human beings don''t experience the world as raw data.
We experience it through stories.
And increasingly, the companies that understand how those stories form will have an enormous advantage over the companies that simply keep shouting:
BUY NOW.
At KLIXO, we believe the future of marketing is about understanding those signals before everyone else does. We use AI-powered market intelligence to identify what audiences are searching for, talking about and responding to, then combine it with human creativity to turn that information into strategy.
Because the question isn''t simply:
How do we advertise your business?
It''s:
How do we make your business part of the way your customer sees the world?
KLIXO | AI-Powered. Human-Led.