Every November 5th, thousands of people gather around bonfires to watch the sky explode with colour. Bonfire Night commemorates a failed plot from 1605, over four centuries ago, but these days many of us would struggle to recall the details. That doesn’t curtail the fireworks though. Why? Because it’s become a ritual.

Rituals matter to us. And they should matter to brands too. Because, in a world of infinite choice, ritual is the difference between being selected and being needed.

Ritual is one of humanity’s oldest practices, woven into our psychology across millennia to help us make sense of time and change, and to imbue emotional potency into otherwise insignificant routines. They anchor us, strengthen connection to others and offer a sense of control. In short, they’re emotional infrastructure.

Bonfire Night marks the arrival of winter, giving us reason to embrace the darkness. The collective joy as bobble hatted spectators stare up at the night sky injects November 5^th with greater meaning, making it worthy of excitement. Seasonal rituals like this one inject anticipation and carve out mini-seasons within seasons.

Sometimes rituals are inherited. Writing your name with a sparkler because that’s what your dad taught you to do. Risking your teeth on a toffee apple because it takes you back to childhood. Inherited rituals reach beyond the present, building continuity over time and connecting us to the people who matter most.

The most powerful rituals are the ones which happen week-in week-out. Lighting a candle to mark the shift from busy day to evening wind down is smaller scale than Bonfire Night but shares similar sensorial markers – the flicker of the flame, the smell of the smoke – and offers a palpable change in pace. It’s a personal micro-moment far greater than the sum of its parts. When brands tap into ritual, they stop being products and become part of our lives. This is ritual’s real power: the ability to shift from transactional to irreplaceable.

The best brand rituals don’t feel like marketing. They feel like meaningful personal practices that happen to involve a product. They work because they’re giving structure and meaning to moments we’re already living or helping us create new moments worth repeating.

Consider pushing a lime slice into a bottle of Corona, the theatre of a Nespresso pod’s click-hiss-pour or the famous Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte capturing the flavour of autumn. All extend the experience beyond simple consumption to build anticipation and symbolic significance. Likewise, Lush’s bath bombs transform washing into an event, and ITV’s Harry Potter marathon signals ‘pre-Christmas’. In retail, IKEA’s Swedish meatballs have transformed Sunday browsing from functional furniture shopping to an almost rite of passage.

So what?

1. Design for repetition, not just purchase

The strongest brand rituals aren’t about the first experience; they’re about the fiftieth. Evocative sensory cues, repetitive sequences, and small moments of theatre reward repetition and deepen with familiarity.

2. Find the moment, not just the market

Don’t ask “who buys this?” Ask “when does this matter?” The most powerful rituals slot into existing rhythms of life. Be this Bonfire Night or lighting a scented candle, the opportunity isn’t to create demand; it’s to become indispensable in moments that already exist.

3. Ritual trumps relevance

Chasing cultural relevance is time consuming. Building ritual is enduring. When you’re genuinely woven into someone’s daily or seasonal practice, you become a part of their personal emotional infrastructure that’s almost impossible to disrupt.

Natasha