The Affinity Economy, Typewriter Art and Post-Social Media

👋🏼 Hello!

🔔 Last week’s poll about B2B content barriers had ‘I need to find the budget to get started’ as the top choice, closely followed by ‘I need to get buy-in from colleagues/contributors’. The latter makes complete sense, but my question to those who chose the first option above is…..well, actually, let’s make that the poll for today - see below!

💻 Last week I went to a roundtable held by WP Engine and B2B Marketing about the impact of AI on marketing strategies. The discussion was under Chatham House rules, but you can read a summary of the event here. Clearly B2B marketers have started implementing AI in different ways into their work, but everyone is at different levels and the creativity vs. compliance issue is always somewhere in their minds.

We’d love suggestions from you for next week’s question - if you want to suggest one, drop me an email!

📕 The Short Story

The Microdrama Production Gold Rush Is Here (7-min read)

People Still Blame Me For Their Perforated Eardrums: How We Made The Tango Ads (6-min read)

The Affinity Economy: A Masterclass (50-min video and podcast episode)

The Quester’s Guide For Exploring Your World (Magic Issue) (Book, Cards and Virtual Platform)

Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Supreme Rollout Is Getting Meta (3-min read and 18-min video)

Typewriter Art Of New York’s Central Park (Threads post and 15-second video)

Am I Boring You? Good. (5-min read)

Post-Social Media: Time To Rethink What The Feed Is For (9-min read)

Busy Simulator (Addictive sound player)

📣 OK Brain!: The Science Behind Where Ideas Come From, For Creative Leaders (New newsletter) 📣

📚 The Long Story

The Microdrama Production Gold Rush Is Here (7-min read)
I’ve known microdramas are huge in India and China for a while, but they’re making inroads into Hollywood too - follow the money, essentially: “The ambition for Hollywood players, essentially, is to build the Netflix for vertical video and the race is on to see who will get there first. But many open questions remain, like whether established stars and filmmaking talent will be eager to jump in.”

People Still Blame Me For Their Perforated Eardrums: How We Made The Tango Ads (6-min read)
Oral histories are a great format, and this account from Trevor Robinson, art director, and Hugh Dennis, who played the voice actor on the Tango ads, is lovely. I didn’t know that Gil Scott-Heron did the closing voiceover of that iconic ad, did you?! Thanks to Darren at Storythings for sharing this one.

The Affinity Economy: A Masterclass (50-min video)
Also an episode of his Media Odyssey podcast with Marion Ranchet, in this video ‘media cartographer’ Evan Shapiro breaks down “the shift from the gatekeeper era of top-down media control to the new user-centric era, where audiences, not executives, dictate what succeeds.” Definitely worth a watch for those of you interested in attention and media like us, as he describes how generational shifts are transforming media consumption using data and current examples.

The Quester’s Guide For Exploring Your World (Magic Issue) (Book, Cards and Virtual Platform)
A lovely holiday gift idea for those of you who are still wondering what to get the people in your life who are curious and creative. Produced by the Creative Quests community, the Quester’s Guide for Exploring Your World is ‘a multimedia debut release, inviting you to uncover new ways of experiencing your world and exploring your creative potential’. Looks very interesting!

Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Supreme Rollout Is Getting Meta (3-min read and 18-min video)
There’s been a real buzz about this video, which is truly meta, as the headline says, and a bit genius, maybe?!! As a PR stunt for his new movie, Timothèe Chalamet had a spoof Zoom call with production company A24’s employees to pitch ideas to promo the film. You should watch it, it’s really hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing for at least a minute - it’s schwap, even (IYKYK). Also, one of the ideas he pitches in the video, a blimp - is real!

Typewriter Art Of New York’s Central Park (Threads post and 15-second video)
Another lovely share by Darren, our ace creative head: typewriter art by James Cook. So neat. Highly recommend a browse around James’ website; this is also another great idea for holiday gifts, as you can buy his work.

Am I Boring You? Good. (5-min read)
Economist and author Tim Harford wrote this insightful piece earlier this year, which Hugh shared with us. It is brilliant in its simplicity, something that is at the heart of the best ideas: “The boring things in life will shut down your electricity grid, identify paedophiles in the priesthood and crash your computer — or maybe even your aeroplane. Might we attempt a grand unified theory of boring things? Perhaps. Here it is: smooth, successful operations are uninteresting, and uninteresting matters tend to be neglected. Eventually they stop working well, at which point they become interesting again.”

Post-Social Media: Time To Rethink What The Feed Is For (9-min read)
The modern conundrum of ‘how do I get my followers to see my posts’ is discussed in detail by Rachel Karten. It discusses three approaches to the feed: the ‘more shots on goal approach’, the ‘focused approach’ and ‘the wave approach’. At the end of the day, “While the surfaces for scale will require one strategy, so will the surfaces for social. Actual social. The social that’s been left behind. It will become more important than ever to create spaces—especially offline spaces—to connect with the people who love your brand.”

Busy Simulator (Sound player)
Via the For Starters newsletter, this site plays the sounds of all the modern work apps at the click of a button - which might be triggering for some people! Don’t say we didn’t warn you…

📣 OK Brain!: The Science Behind Where Ideas Come From, For Creative Leaders (New newsletter) 📣
There are lots of inspiration newsletters for creative leaders but OK BRAIN! is a little different. It’s about balancing the many paradoxical challenges across the entire creative process. It has stories, frameworks for thinking, creative manifestos and a bunch of links to go deep on subjects. From our very own Hugh Garry - give it a read!

💌 Humans of LinkedIn

This week we noted something said by the VP Global Branding, Marketing and External Comms at Wolters Kluwer, Marcelo Amstalden Möller:

Speaking about B2B brands, he said at the IAA Summit: “The work you see around you is similar. How do you really stand out? I think B2B brands are trying to make their advertising and marketing more personal. They are talking to ‘you’.”

This is exactly what Storythings echo with our ‘zombie’ guide for B2B brands!

READ THE FULL POST HERE →

Drop us a line if you have anything you’d like us to share in a future edition of this newsletter, or of course if you have any comments or suggestions for us!

Have a great weekend!

Matt, Anjali, Hugh, and the team