What can brands learn from Squid Game’s finale? Despite massive buzz, its Brand Health Index dropped. Discover why measuring Brand Health is essential for long-term strategy.

When Netflix launched the final season of Squid Game in 2025, it wasn’t just a TV event, it was a cultural moment. The series, already a global phenomenon since its first season, returned to massive anticipation, breaking through into millions of conversations worldwide.

But while the buzz was undeniable, the real story wasn’t only about how many people were talking. It was about what those conversations revealed about the brand’s health.

This is where the concept of Brand Health becomes essential for businesses. It’s not enough to measure mentions, views, or even media value. What really matters is how people perceive your brand the trust, relevance, and emotional connection that determine long-term strength.

Let’s take a closer look at the data behind Squid Game’s finale and explore why every business should take Brand Health seriously.

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The Cultural Impact of Squid Game’s Finale

Between June and August 2025, Squid Game dominated cultural conversations. According to data from All Ears, the series generated:

• 84,000 mentions
• 7.1 billion in reach
• $468 million in media value

On the surface, these numbers look like an undisputed win. Few brands or shows ever achieve this level of global impact. From social media memes to mainstream press coverage, Squid Game was everywhere.

However, this is only one side of the story. Buzz shows scale, but it doesn’t always reflect strength.

The Hidden Story & Brand Health Index

Despite the extraordinary reach, the Brand Health Index dropped to 6.43 during this period.

Why does this matter? Because Brand Health goes beyond visibility. It measures how people actually feel about your brand: their trust, emotional connection, and willingness to support it again.

Mentions and reach are like the volume on a speaker. Loud, yes. But what matters is whether people are singing along or turning the volume down.

The drop in Brand Health revealed that audiences were divided, sentiment was mixed, and reputation was more fragile than the massive buzz suggested.

Why mentions and reach are not enough

Many companies still track only quantitative metrics: number of impressions, mentions, or engagement. While useful, these don’t explain why consumers choose one brand over another.

Brand Health exposes the underlying perception, the invisible driver of preference and loyalty.

Why Brand Health Matters for Businesses

So what exactly is Brand Health?

In simple terms, it’s the combination of:

• Reputation – what people believe about your brand.
• Trust – whether they believe you will deliver on your promise.
• Relevance – if you matter in their current cultural and market context.
• Emotional connection – how strongly they identify with you beyond product features.

Let’s look at a few scenarios:

• A brand with high awareness but low trust is remembered, but not chosen.
• A brand with cultural relevance retains loyalty even when competitors offer nearly identical products.
• A brand with weak differentiation can spend millions on campaigns, but still struggle to grow.

This is why measuring Brand Health is not a “nice-to-have.” It’s a strategic necessity.

Lessons for Brands: What to Do Next

The Squid Game case isn’t just about entertainment. It’s a warning for businesses in every industry.

Here are four lessons companies should take:

1. Monitor sentiment, not just volume.
   Reach tells you how loud the conversation is. Sentiment tells you if it’s positive or negative.
2. Track Brand Health alongside performance metrics.
   Sales and market share show short-term results, but Brand Health shows whether those results are sustainable.
3. Use social intelligence to anticipate risks.
   Early signals in conversations can reveal risks to reputation or opportunities to connect, long before they hit the headlines.
4. Look beyond your brand.
   Competitors, industry trends, and cultural shifts also influence how your brand is perceived. Brand Health analysis should integrate this broader context.

In other words, businesses need to shift from simply measuring visibility to truly understanding perception.

Conclusion

The finale of Squid Game was a global spectacle. With billions of impressions and millions of mentions, it looked like an overwhelming success. But when we dig deeper, the Brand Health Index tells a more complex story: attention does not always equal strength.

For companies, this is a critical lesson. Brand Health is the pulse of your business in culture and in the market. It reveals whether your brand is simply surviving the moment or building resilience for the future.

So the question is: are you only tracking visibility, or are you measuring the true health of your brand?

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