Dripped Digest #22: Everyday fandom

Have you watched Dune yet? ??

Sometimes days are sticky. I have a lot of work to do, and the tasks don't seem to end.

Everything feels this sticky right until I started writing this digest. It's my joy.?

On the agenda is the favorite We Are Social 's Think Forward report.?

Today's topic is:

Everyday fandom.?

Good old fashioned worship. Noticed for myself. Have you?

Let's think about Barbie.?

I wrote a post about this on the hype thread by the way:?

In short this post was a kind of fandom in itself.?

And it's more about methods and strategies, not why.

How did Barbie become popular??? They wanted to create an altar of worship and they created it.

They created all the conditions for people to become children again and worship the doll. ??

How did it do so – besides a bold script, an engaged director, and a banging soundtrack, of course?

hand By temporarily harnessing fan culture – turning a box office gamble into a monocultural touchstone.

This Barbie effect has prevailed, and now brands have begun co-opting fan behaviours.?

Even where they have no existing fan communities to tap into,? no kidding.,

What for: To build engagement and excitement with audiences and drive commercial success. And before it was a freak, extreme behaviour. ??

Fandom experts like Allegra Rosenberg have called it out:?

Why now??

We are Social finds the same old answers; rising cost of living and long isolation drive people to leave the most of their lives. In their loves and extremes too.?

Hard to argue.

I'd rather look at it a little differently; yes, we've stayed at home on the internet a lot, but we've learned to be more sincere and vivid.?

?? But also how to find our tribe, just like I told you in this issue:?

And it turns out being a freak and a non-freak for that matter is totally fine.

What’s driving it:

1/ Loss of the monoculture.

Avengers and Game of Throne are long gone, and we are in the era of more niche jokes and things, and what separates us, actually force us to act on fan behaviours, that creates communities. ?

Solid point. You don't have to agree with it fully though.

2/ Niche platforms supremacy.

This is big! More private digital platforms, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Discord, are flourishing as fandoms congregate and bond around the things they love.

The behavioral change?

In recent times, post-irony, parody, and nihilism have long characterised online activity. However, there has been a noticeable shift in youth culture towards a more wholesome tone, and a preference for content and creators that facilitate large-scale connections by being both welcoming and easily comprehensible.

How can you use it

Of course, no one will give you a one-size-fits-all solution. It's all about creativity.

We are the ones who come up with the boundaries.??

1/ No one expected anime optics from Ikea, but here it is. It would be interesting to see the company's results.

2/ Apple TV partnered with Jeni Splendid Ice Creams to turn a small scoop of Ted Lasso into reality, creating an ice cream flavour inspired by Ted’s buttery biscuits.