What can Claudia Winkleman’s castle teach your brand about content strategy? Quite a lot, actually. Bea Widdup unpacks The Celebrity Traitors as a case study in suspense, storytelling, and surviving the social media round table.
Britain’s back in the castle – and no one’s leaving until Claudia says so.
The Traitors has us gripped again – and this time it’s celebrities under the knife. The cloaks, the candlelight, the suspicious side-eyes over breakfast doesn’t just make for addictive TV, either. It’s a live experiment in attention, trust, and timing – and in the business of brand, it has many lessons we can take from it.
What the show nails – suspense, speculation, loyalty – are the same levers smart brands pull online.
From teasing reveals to managing internet witch-hunts, it is a masterclass in how to hold an audience that could leave at any moment. So let’s translate castle strategy into brand strategy (no spoilers, promise).
Every episode ends with a perfectly timed cliffhanger. That’s the kind of loyalty brands dream of.
So how do you build your own cliffhangers? Tease the next drop, the next post, the next reveal. Think episode energy, not info dump. A product teaser on Tuesday, a reveal on Wednesday, the behind the scenes on Friday.
But remember, a cliffhanger only works if the payoff is worth the wait. Promise a fireworks finale and deliver sparklers, and your audience will vanish faster than a banished Faithful.
Suspense is strategy. Payoff is brand safety.
The cast matters. Alan Carr’s one-liners, Tom Daley’s diplomacy, Cat Burns’ calm. It’s personality alchemy, each role amplifying the others.
Brands also need to define their cast list. Who’s your Alan? The comic relief on social? Your Tom? The steady hand? Your Claudia? The ringmaster? From founders to customers to collaborators, people need characters to root for.
Because in branding – as in The Traitors – flat characters don’t make great entertainment.
The internet and celebrity cast of The Traitors is buzzing with theories: “He blinked too much!” “She’s definitely a Traitor!” Fan detectives are building the show’s narrative in real time.
When it comes to brands, that’s a playbook you can adopt too. Give your audience something to solve. Polls, prediction stickers, what happens next posts. Encourage speculation, reward participation. Show them their engagement matters.
The trick is not to control the conversation – but to design it.
After all, when your followers start building theories, your brand has entered the chat.
The show runs on secrecy, but it’s structured secrecy. We’re kept guessing, not gaslit. We want to play along.
For brands, a little mystery works wonders too. Tease the new range with blurred shots or code names. Drop cryptic clues before launch day. Just make sure your secrecy has an expiry date, because trust is built on the big reveal, not the riddle.
Think of it as strategic suspense, not corporate cloak-and-dagger.
One wrong move in the famous Traitors castle and you’re out. Same for brands. One wrong move on social and… well, same energy, just fewer candles.
When the internet turns on someone connected to you – a partner misstep, a spokesperson moment – go full Faithful mode: clear-eyed, calm, and proactive.
Here’s the crisis choreography:
That’s how you survive a digital round table.
The Celebrity Traitors isn’t just entertainment. It’s brand strategy in sequins. Suspense, loyalty, speculation, trust – the same forces driving fandoms also drive customer communities.
The lesson? Think like a storyteller, act like a strategist. Create suspense, reward curiosity, manage reputation with honesty, and keep your mystery human.
Because whether you’re in a Scottish castle or an algorithmic feed, the faithful always find their way back.
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