What the Gran Tomatina Festival Can Teach Us About Cutting Through the Noise
We couldn’t help ourselves.
We stumbled on this article about Colombia’s Gran Tomatina Festival celebrating thousands of people in a town square flinging tomatoes at each other, and immediately thought, “This is exactly what content marketing needs more of.”
Yes, we’re a little tomato-obsessed here at ReadTomato. But also because this wild, squishy celebration in Sutamarchán offers a better metaphor for brand strategy than most think-pieces ever will.
Thousands of Tomatoes. One Wild Message.
Every year, the Gran Tomatina Festival turns Sutamarchán into chaos. Red pulp flies, strangers laugh, no one walks away clean—and that’s the point.
Somehow, in a sea of global events, everyone remembers the one where people hurl tomatoes at each other.
So what does that teach us about content marketing?
The World Isn’t Quiet. Your Brand Shouldn’t Be Either.
Your competitors are publishing. Your prospects are scrolling. Your content is elbowing for space in an overcrowded arena
Safe messaging? Skipped.
Nice, neutral, inoffensive? Buried.
If you want to get noticed, you need to make a mess worth remembering.
This doesn’t mean to be outrageous for the sake of it. It means understanding what makes your brand sticky, loud, bold, then owning it without apology.
Tomatina doesn’t apologize for being weird. It leans in. You should too.
People Remember What They Feel
No one walks away from a tomato fight talking about the rules. They talk about the chaos. The laughter. The moment someone got blasted in the face and kept smiling.
Same with your brand.
Nobody follows your brand because it checked all the boxes. They remember the story, the voice, the part that made them laugh, learn, pause, think, or nod.
Emotion cuts through noise. Use it.
Loud Doesn’t Mean Thoughtless
One tomato doesn’t make a festival. It’s the scale that does it.
That’s the trick.
You can’t just post once, say something mildly interesting, and expect to own space in someone’s brain. You have to show up fully, over and over. Loud isn’t enough. You need to be loud on purpose. And if that is too much to ask, we can help.
That means:
- A brand voice people can spot without the logo
Stories that punch, not just skim
Consistency that builds recognition over time
Your Takeaway (and Our CTA, Sorta)
If your content feels a little too tidy, a little too templated, maybe it’s time to go full Tomatina.
Here at ReadTomato, we help brands create content that splatters, on purpose. Voice. Strategy. Design. SEO. All dialed in to help you cut through the noise, not contribute to it.
We believe your brand should leave a mark. Preferably a bright red one.
