hey yall,
chaotic combo of thoughts today but you’ll live :)
Great read in Vulture about the frustration associated with ‘the new media circuit’ - a wild west combination of TikTok creators, youtube video franchises, long-form podcast conversations and traditional journalists. Made me think of this commentary from Elijah about how (within the context of music publicity) that everyone needs to ‘embrace kayfabe’ and use press as a way to build or deepen narratives around the art or the artist.
its possibly a useful way to think about press and earned media in general - you do not need to hit the same talking points over and over again, but use each placement to extend a story in a way that suits that space and that voice. It’s more work of course, which is why an anon source in the vulture article bemoaned that they missed the good all days when “You could be lazy! Now you actually have to figure out what you’re trying to do.”
A few people sent me this article but it took me a second to read it. Now i’m sharing it with you all:
You’ve probably noticed it already. More and more influencers are moving to platforms like LinkedIn, they’re swapping fast fashion for tailoring, small talk for strategic commentary, and curated visuals for content that unpacks industry trends. They’re speaking in business frameworks, offering analysis, and positioning themselves as trusted sources.
And no, it’s not a coincidence…in this industry, very little is.
Behind the scenes, management teams have been paying attention. They’ve started pushing their talent towards credibility-building content because they’ve recognised what some of us spotted a while ago, when everything else shifts, expertise is one of the few things that truly holds its value.
This feels true to me. Even in my own fashion content consumption, I’ve personally been spending less time following the usual ‘fit’-based influencers and have gravitated towards niche voices who have a depth of knowledge - e.g rian phin. for example, here is 44 MINUTES OF PHINSIGHTS ON PRADA.
I see this type of thing popping up more and more - as the article says, “We’re moving from an attention economy, where clicks ruled, to an influence economy, where credibility, clarity, and contextual insight are the new levers of growth.”
To me there’s a big clue in this for brands in who/how to activate as a core amplifier for your product launches and it isn’t just the people with the biggest platform.
however - as much as i’ve noticed the zeitgeist towards big brain commentary, i’ve equally noticed the ‘Everything feels like LinkedIn’ ripple of resentment flooding through non-work related platforms where (likely elder millennials) are going for smooth-brain fodder - not to think. Wdyt?
Polka dots.
Emily keegin has been talking lately about lo-fi video capture that makes things feel ‘real’ alongside highly-produced still photography that doesn’t feel real- this mienne vid was an interesting expression of that:
the widespread move to wearing vintage means we are losing ‘the look of the time’. i didn’t have anywhere else to put this but it was worth sharing/pondering. I actually do think we have a look of the last (or next) decade but thats the sort of thing i get paid to do so i wont be sharing it here.
Nor Black Nor White first came onto my radar in 2019. They have an amazing brand identity and an actual narrative. Uncharacteristically cool choice from Nike. this feels like a smaller-scale play than some of their other brand collabs/partners which to me is a good thing.
what if reebok is actually good now?
stop sleeping on HOKA please!
‘Quitting my full-time job cracked me open’- i have spoken to a plethora of people in the past 6 months who badly want to leave their full-time jobs. I haven’t really seen anyone write about the process and logistics (including finances!) involved in leaving an ‘easy’ full-time gig (in favor of something more theoretically ‘unstable’) until i saw this read from Miriam Tinberg. Sharing in case it is helpful for any of you!
thorough write up on AI and institutional collapse from kyla scanlon. We are at Phase 1, “trust erosion”.
AI Companies operate as modern day empires:
Anthopic CEO talks his book by warning of a ‘white collar bloodbath’. Elsewhere we are reminded this is just tech execs marketing their products.
Still, real people are losing their jobs to AI. So what now?
I’m sure according to the real heads i am not a true ‘ball knower’ so by all means skip over this section if you’re that type of guy [gender-inclusive]. but there’s something weird and stagnant going on with NBA that i would like to discuss, purely through the lens of scaling the NBA for worldwide fandom in 2025 and beyond.
For those who may just be more casual observers of the b-ball world: the past couple of years have seen a real renaissance / resurgence moment for the New York Knicks. After an interminable dry spell devoid of meaningful wins, the team has had new momentum bolstered by ‘the nova knicks’ and a couple of other additions over the past season. The teams popularity has been re-invigorated and re-energized. Of course there’s a huge amount of love for the prototypical underdog Jalen Brunson (height unknown but if you ask NBA Threads, 5’11 lol) who took a massive salary cut just to ensure the team could maximize leftover budget for their roster expansion, but the love is really real for the team- not just a single star player, but the team.
Throughout the season, i wondered when either the NBA itself or big brands would get behind the incredible ground swell for the team.. and was left waiting. Although sports fandoms in general are deeply engaged and lively, there are few with the level of cultural volume and creativity that knicks fans embody. within seconds of plays, there are meme accounts and fans ready to message the moment or a reaction in any given format:
i am talking about real creativity yall:
and what if i said the meme accounts concept copy lines are better than the real brand ones? which feel extremely phoned-in?
concept:
the real deal:
not to mention the absolute INSANITY that is the MSG after a win:
and the clout that comes from the knicks courtside guests (and their fits):
It’s an incredibly fun community to either observe or participate in and for the most part, no one really activated it meaningfully. I guess where i’m also going with this is that it feels like for awhile, both the league and the bigger brands that support it (ahem) have been focused on a ‘superstar’ hero strategy that singles out specific players… at the expense of appreciating the value that comes with leveraging a teams’ brand and fandom writ large (a la the largely overlooked and undervalued NY Knicks fandom).
In fact, so many of the more notable and interesting players over the past year also don’t even wear signature product from pinnacle brands - Jokic wears the relatively unknown 361 Degrees, Julius Randle, Joel Embiid, and OG Anunoby all wear Sketchers, Jaylen Brown wears what he wants but makes sure to remove the swoosh. In the WNBA, we’ve seen players take unorthodox deals away from the ‘big’ brands, and it generally looks like we’re entering an era where some players just know they don’t need a big footwear endorsement anymore - they’re no longer reliant on the revenue as other brand sponsors show up and overall salaries increase. We see the league repeatedly pushing certain talent (which i won’t name), while insiders flag other personalities that people love as ‘unmarketable’ (as a marketer, i almost never agree with this assessment when it is prescribed, lol.) There’s a weird kind of hyper-awareness among both players and fans of the league pushing a ‘face of the league’ - to the extend that athletes now literally joke about it and industry commentators have extended discourse on the topic.
(one time for my beloved hoopsforhotties who could imagine a ‘face of the league’ narrative for Knicks’ Jalen Brunson that his own sponsors/league havent yet seized upon:)
imo - both the league and the brands surrounding it seem worse than ever at actually identifying the raw talent and personalities that people really want more from (adidas / ant edwards efforts aside). The guys in the boardroom at Nike Inc who thought to pair Shai with Converse to re-energize and legitimize the brand as a basketball option instead of punting him over to Nike or Jordan were definitely checking a bunch of boxes that fit the Gen Z formula - but this guy is constantly getting accused of ‘aura farming’ and does he actually have a strong enough story or persona to carry a deep, lasting fandom? beyond just cool IG captions? I genuinely don’t know so please check me here.
To me, the Knicks fanbase is the closest thing i’ve seen in USA to replicating a Premier-League-like cult of community/fandom that commands the type of global loyalty and engagement that transcends talent, has zero dependence on big celebrity assets, and invites people in from all ages/backgrounds1. This might be exactly what the league needs if its going to last either within USA (with declining viewership) or overseas. With the NBA focused on growth and more specifically, international expansion, is the old ‘superstar’-first formula from Michael Jordan era (solidified since by the Lebron James League era of NBA) actually a scalable approach? To me, sports at its best solves a lot of the challenges of our present cultural moment- people looking for community, belonging, macro cultural events that unify people who may not otherwise be rooting for the same team2. To miss the cultural moment to bring people the product they actually want, instead of an old and dated formula they aren’t asking for anymore, seems like a shame.
But alas, i am not a real ball-knower. ;)
Less knicks talk next time.
Thanks for reading yall!
GG x
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