Welcome to The Yellow Summarin - collecting the most interesting ideas, topics, and tweets from the past week at the intersection of tech, media, and commerce.
In today's edition (19.2.22):
Hype and hype trains - the forces that moves culture
Digital real estate
Cultural trends according to Meta
Read and listen :
Hype Train
By Marin Gerov
Hype Train is a slang term used to describe the high level of anticipation surrounding an upcoming release of a popular media franchise or an announcement of a new project, especially for video games, movies and TV series. In the video gaming community, the term may be used in a positive light to express one's excitement, or conversely, to convey disappointment at a product that fails to meet high expectations. (Know Your Meme)
We are living in a meme culture. Ideas on politics, finance, science - the ones that are successful, are disseminated through memes which grow exponentially through the power of the internet. In the middle of a perfect storm, when a meme gets in front of the eyes of a critical mass, hype builds up among the community and it becomes its own organism - hard to control and with huge implications. The companies that manage to leverage this hype end up with iconic status. This status is not something that is static though. It requires to be constantly fed new memes to ensure more hype.
All of us netizens (digital citizens) are the receptacles for these ideas that spark our imagination and excitement. It is those ideas that are largely responsible for society’s state of mind today. Culture is moved by hype - powerful swings which can turn the tide of events. Whether we realize it or not we are all passengers on a hype train.
Those who are methodical about this have the power to build strong communities around a brand or an idea. Given enough strength those ideas turn into self-reinforcing movements that can consume the imagination of the masses. If we are not paying attention, we end up in the middle of that storm, a first-class ticket to the hype train in hand.
Unreal Estate (No Mercy / No Malice)
Probably the biggest hype right now revolves around the crypto world. Web3, NFTs, cryptocurrencies and the metaverse are some of the most popular and trendy topics one can write and read about today. In a piece that serves both as a primer and a cautionary tale about the advent of virtual real estate in the metaverse, a not so talked about crypto subject yet, Scott Galloway paints a picture that serves an explanation for the boom of “unreal” estate. One of the biggest reason for the rise in popularity - Brand. Second, the current economic climate making it impossible for a younger generation (those in their 30s and younger) to afford assets in the real world. This one is worth your time and will give you a nice perspective to ponder in your understanding of a side in the crypto sphere that is not yet heavily covered in the mainstream narrative. Read more
Entertainment x Shopping (The Sociology of Business)
A deep look at a brand strategy that turns the traditional approach to community engagement upside-down. One of the hardest things to get right is the balance between product, community and entertainment in a strategy. Numerous companies are trying to go into entertainment but ultimately fail due to the lack of proper resource allocation and misalignment with the brand’s mission. TELFAR is an interesting case-study that has successfully managed to combine commerce and culture to build the foundations of a thriving community. Read more
How Tesla keeps advertising for $0 (MKBHD)
In this 10-minute essay, Marques Brownlee deconstructs a strategy that has been adopted by Tesla and other notable tech companies over the years and has been responsible for generating levels of hype that are the envy of the industry by spending nothing. The nature of leaks, whether intentional or not, is that they spark the imagination of fans who are quick to jump on a Hype Train that compounds the excitement about new products. This approach does not necessarily work for all companies. Apple, for example, is notorious for its secrecy and that blanket of mystery serves the brand well in their strategy to generating hype. The takeaway is clear though - if it fits the brand story, let the fans tell it. Watch video
Culture Rising: 2022 Trends Report (Meta)
Meta published their trends report looking at the major cultural shifts that have dominated our (digital) world over the past year or so. Going deep on the movements that have started to shape society, the report tries to paint a picture of where we are and where we might be going. The deep pool of data Meta has access to thanks to its popular services helps the company understand our virtual selves better than we ever could. The report looks at 20 trends across culture, commerce and community - how we interact with technology and how technology reshapes our understanding of the world. There’s an executive summary you can download, if you don’t have the time for the full thing. Check it out here. For the full report - click here
In another example of a successful hype-generating strategy, Garza, a DTC olive oils brand, demonstrated the value of the people over product approach. By looking holistically at the market and who their potential customers are, the brand found unorthodox, uncrowded placements where they can easily stand out. Read more
Tweets
That’s all for this week. Have a good one!
Marin