Tony Kayouka, Head of Social & Content, TBWARAADLooking back at the past few weeks, when geopolitical tensions escalated across the Middle East, something unexpected happened in the social media ecosystem. The systems that brands and agencies had spent years optimising: recommendation algorithms, ad-buying logic, content calendars, influencer partnerships, suddenly didn’t work anymore.
Not because they broke. But because they were never designed for moments like these. Their infrastructure was built for normal conditions. They are designed to maintain momentum, reward consistency, and optimise for engagement. They assume a level of stability in the world and in people’s attention.
But reality does not always cooperate. When the context shifted abruptly in the region, the system did not adapt. It continued to operate exactly as it was designed to do: content went out, campaigns launched, and scheduled posts were published. Not because brands and agencies were unaware of what was happening, but because the infrastructure they rely on does not account for disruption of this kind.
In many cases, what we saw was not insensitivity, but inertia.
The first decision was to stop social
Our initial response was not complex, but it was deliberate.
We paused. Campaigns were halted, content calendars were frozen, and anything that was not essential, anything that could feel disconnected from the moment was held back. This was not driven by a formal playbook, but by something simpler: a shared understanding that in certain moments, the most important decision is not what to say, but whether to say anything at all.
That decision does not come from a dashboard or a performance report. It comes from judgment, from cultural awareness, and from a willingness to step outside the system and ask: does this still make sense?
What happens after the pause is less obvious?
Pausing is immediate. Resuming is not.
As days pass, businesses continue to operate, communication becomes necessary again, and the question inevitably returns, often without a clear answer: how do we show up again without getting it wrong?
What we learned is that returning to normal is not a viable option. The context has changed, and with it, the audience expectations around how brands behave.
The transition is not from silence to full activity. It is from silence to something much more deliberate.
Reintroducing social content requires discipline
When activity resumed, it did not happen all at once.
Only content that was necessary was published. The tone remained neutral. Anything that could be perceived as celebratory, promotional, or excessive was postponed. Not forever, but until the context allowed it.
What became clear is that most social systems are built to scale output, not to filter it. In periods of stability, that works in the brand’s favor. In periods of uncertainty, it becomes a risk.
The responsibility then shifts back to people.
Being human in the loop
There is a tendency to talk about disruption in social media in terms of formats, platforms, and trends. In reality, the most critical form of disruption today is far more fundamental.
It is the ability to intervene.
To step in between the algorithm and the output, and ask: does this still make sense? Does this reflect the current reality, or the one that existed when we planned it? Can we hold this back?
This requires cultural intelligence, but also editorial courage. It requires accepting that consistency is not always the goal, and that sometimes the right decision is to hold back.
Silence, when chosen strategically is not absence
One of the more important lessons from this period is that silence is often misunderstood in marketing.
In our industry, visibility is usually treated as a measure of relevance. But in moments of uncertainty, restraint often carries more meaning than constant presence.
Choosing not to publish is not a failure to act. It is a deliberate and culturally-informed response.
Looking ahead: what needs to change in social strategies
If there is one takeaway, it is this: social media systems are optimised for continuity, while the real world is not.
Bridging that gap requires more than better content. It requires better judgment. It requires a fundamental shift in how agencies and brands think about their responsibility to the moment.
This means:
- Building editorial oversight into social strategy as a core function.
- Designing for flexibility, not just scale, systems that can adapt when context changes.
- Measuring impact beyond engagement: asking whether a brand’s absence is sometimes more meaningful than its presence.
- Centering cultural intelligence, especially in regions where context, history, and nuance are inseparable from meaning.
The real test of creative leadership
Creative leadership is often defined by what you put into the world. But in moments like these, it is equally defined by what you choose not to.
Brands that are able to recognise when to pause, how to return, and what deserves to be communicated in between will be the ones that remain aligned with their audiences.
Because ultimately, the challenge is not to keep up with the feed.
It is to stay in sync with reality.
By Tony Kayouka, Head of Social & Content, TBWA\RAAD
