This short documentary, written and directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, explores the ways in which trends and creativity become contagious in music, fashion and entertainment. I highly recommend that you grab a coffee triple gin and tonic (sod it – it’s Friday) and take 15 minutes out to watch it.
I think the take-out for brands is summed up perfectly by Jon Cohen at 08:20:
Brands are established through consistency, by doing great things [...] You can’t fake it. You can’t create this movement overnight. It’s about brands really embracing culture in a scene and empowering it and creating a true partnership.
Creating this ‘true partnership’ with people isn’t easy, especially if they’re influencers. Why? Because they’re are rightly suspicious of brands who try too hard. It’s desperate, embarrassing and uncool. It’s everything that influencers are not.
It seems the brands that people get most excited about, the brands which influencers adopt to complement their lifestyles, are effortlessly cool.
But for a brand, appearing effortless is tough. It takes time. It takes creativity. And it takes consistency.
Luckily, we have a whole host of amazing people who have exhibited these traits in the past that we can look to for inspiration.
If we allow ourselves to be influenced by them, we’ll have a much better chance of influencing consumers who influence others.
