INKED IN & ICONIC : A weekly what’s up
From Drumsheds to Tyson : Is Netflix now king of live moments, too?
Netflix is no longer what you thought it was.
In a twisted celebration of Squid Game, Netflix is turning Drumsheds into a one-night rave with Peggy Gou this December. That's right, Netflix are putting on a rave.
So forget the Netflix you think you know. The platform that once streamed your favorite shows has morphed into something different; a cultural powerhouse that’s rewriting what it means to be an entertainment brand.
By taking over London’s Drumsheds it is flexing its muscles in live event culture. The former Tottenham Ikea site ran by Broadwick Live is credible and cool across dance culture, and has seen the likes of Defected, Honey Dijon, Ewan Mcvicar and more play out.
And this isn’t a one-off.
From north London raves to the fight of the year in Arlington, Texas. Netflix is gearing up this very weekend to stream the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, too.
From raves and fight nights to the recent Billie Eilish gig or even downloading the new edition of the Football Manager franchise, Netflix is signaling loud and clear they’re not just a passive screen for binge-watching. They’re a dynamic, shape-shifting cultural Rubik’s Cube at the core of all our most talked-about live moments.
No longer just the place for the series binge on the sofa; it’s aiming to be the heartbeat of collective experiences that blur the lines between streaming, sports, music, and live cultural moments.
It isn't what you want to watch now — it’s about what you want to experience.
What happens when all our content is just 'brainrot'?
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Eugene’s TikTok rant on the link below on how we’re hurtling toward a content apocalypse. A time when your TikTok feels more like a hyperactive Twitch chat on steroids.
The Substack dives deeper still, pointing out the rise of chaotic, ultra-low-context content designed to grab, not hold, your attention; It's the dopamine arms race.
When every second is a flicker of disjointed edits, frantic captions, and blaring sound bites, we lose the narrative.
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Brands risk becoming indistinguishable noise, caught in a whirlwind of content that’s all vibe, no substance. What’s left is a landscape where depth and storytelling are suffocated by a ceaseless demand for stimulation.
So brands need to resist the urge to lean into the chaos. Instead of adding to the cacophony, they should focus on creating moments of clarity.
A calm in the storm.
In the sea of brainrot, the brands that can find focus, tell stories, and offer meaning will be the ones that actually get remembered.
Learnings from New Orleans
I loved speaking at SET in New Orleans this week, a pleasure mixing and meeting with people in complimentary industries across travel, hospitality, tourism, and beyond.
But once again, it wasn’t the main stage but the sidelines that delivered the most valuable lessons. Getting out of the office and into a new city is good for the soul. You get a pulse check on a different place, absorbing the feelings, the perspectives, the frustrations of people thousands of miles away from your own bubble. And New Orleans is a petri dish for cultural crosscurrents.
One local I met was a born-and-bred New Orleanian and staunch Trump supporter. He ended up showing me his WhatsApp feed; a wild ride packed with memes, viral videos, and political barbs. What struck me wasn’t just the content, but the sheer velocity of it.
As I scrolled, I landed on a clip of Kemi Badenoch’s comments from a recent Prime Minister’s Questions. It had been sent to him with a caption implying the British government was trashing Trump. He had no idea who Badenoch was or what PMQs even stood for, but that didn’t matter. Opinion formed at the speed of a meme.
It’s a visceral reminder of how culture happens now. Here was a guy educating me on the New Orleans Saints one moment and venting about British politics the next, all because of a meme. The power of content traveling through these untrackable, private channels is staggering. It’s a complete reorientation of where people find their news. About how information flows outside of traditional channels through the private backroads of WhatsApp, Telegram, and Instagram DMs.
The fight for attention is no longer just happening on the public stage but in the quiet corners of social and messaging networks where content, true or not, moves quicker than ever.