I’m a sucker for movement ads. Animal Flow, Wall Pilates, Budokon—I want to do them all. I love the science of stretching and finding new ways to engage my body. So when ads for MovesMethod started crossing my IG feed, I was intrigued. The movement was beautiful, the images polished, and the whole presentation was a 10/10.
Seven days later, my infatuation fizzled. The product was just a Skool community of videos—most of which were basic, everyday YouTube content. The “flows” were disjointed mishmashes of exercises. Support was a ghost town, and oy vey, the upsell emails.
That’s the thing about cultural disconnect: when internal culture doesn’t reflect external brand promises, it always shows up eventually. And when it does, it costs more than just an unhappy customer.
Here’s why it matters:
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You lose customers. Some leave quietly. Some leave loudly. Either way, they leave. (Ask Wells Fargo how those “trusted partner” ads look now that their sales culture was exposed for creating fake accounts.)
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The megaphone is deafening. Social media has become the customer’s town square. United Airlines learned this the hard way after promising “Friendly Skies” while dragging a passenger off a plane. There are fewer and fewer places to hide when your actions don’t match your messaging.
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Even those who stay aren’t fooled. We all know what genuine care feels like. We know when we’re part of a community and when we’re part of a sales funnel. At the very least, you’ve lost your biggest competitive edge: organic word of mouth.
It’s never been easier to polish your external message. With Canva, AI, and a half-decent copywriter, you can look like a Fortune 500 brand overnight. But if the inside doesn’t match the outside, the credibility gap will swallow you whole.
The fix isn’t more polish. It’s congruence. A culture that actually delivers on the promises you’re making out front.
If you want to dig into this, Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign is a masterclass in cultural alignment (story here).
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s an entire subreddit dedicated to exposing dark patterns—a reminder that customers are paying attention, and they’re not staying quiet.
At the end of the day, every brand tells two stories: the one you script and the one your customers actually live. The distance between them is where trust erodes. You can buy better copy, prettier design, and slicker campaigns. But no amount of polish will cover the gap if your culture doesn’t match your promises. The companies that win aren’t the loudest; they’re the ones whose insides and outsides tell the same truth.
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If this strikes a nerve, you might like a past issue I wrote on the expensive lie of “underpromise, overdeliver” and another on why “because it works” isn’t good enough.
And if you suspect your own brand is losing customers, that’s exactly what I help companies solve. Reach out if you’re ready to stop patching holes and start building loyalty.
