idle gaze 031: selling future aspiration.
Hype became a dirty word, and longevity increasingly feels like a myth.
Virality got conflated with relevance, while relevance comes with the curse of becoming imminently passé. Whist new gen brands like Corteiz are propped up by persistent presence, institutions such as Apple resist exploring their own hype, choosing omnipresence instead.
This beg
Media, and arguably most of culture, is oriented around the new. (Dad-voice: "That's why it's called 'the news!'") The VC dollars swirl like dust devils. Social media platforms rise and fall. Magazines are founded and folded. While I, the wizened crone of the newsletter world, remain happily focused on my next step.
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what would it mean for brands to stop pointing to culture, and to start being it? To do so, they would have to go far beyond marketing, to offer meaningful modes of participation. Is it even possible for companies to be in service of something greater than themselves?
Toby • Life After Lifestyle
