First, I think a little housekeeping is due. I last wrote in August of 2022. Unfortunate. A lot has happened since then. For one, I now live in San Francisco. (I miss NY dearly)
But with the move, I’ve felt myself fall into a rut this new year. So, I wanted to get back into routines that gave me something to look forward to – something to tinker with. Now, I’m back with Austin’s World. Content will be similar, format will vary.
You’ll get thoughts on trends, books, random things, with me also sharing a little bit else about what I’m following, watching, listening to. That sort of stuff. It’ll evolve, but this is a starting point.
Marketing The Friend Group
Recently, if you work in marketing or follow some odd social media circles on your timelines, you may have come across Clancy’s Auto Body.
Come on a little journey with me while I connect a few different points here, and explain why this caught my attention.
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In the Twitter breakdown below by Tommy Clark, he listed a few reasons on why he thought this worked, and how it could be repeated by other brands and marketers.
#2 hit home for me.
Giving space for people to feel “in the know”, and to connect with characters is huge when it comes to developing interest and loyalty. Having favorites, learning inside jokes, covering the progression.
While DM’ing my friend, the great and powerful Serena (who you all should follow, she’ll be so annoyed) I said it was like marketing a friend group. It’s what makes those college friend groups so fun, you can pop in and see what shenanigans the recurring cast of characters are getting into.
To go a step further, it made me think of That 70’s Show. We loved the characters. We loved the crew. We had favorites, subplots, character arcs, but collectively we were invested in the adventures of the crew.
This is, in part, what makes some of these new-era brands so alluring for consumers like me. When Mr. Beast was coming up, he had a recurring cast of characters in his friends to take part in the challenges, win money, and help out. People got invested in the group.
Andrew Schulz has Akaash, Mark, Alex, the Rogan halo. You get the point.
Yes, both of those are entertainment first, with platforms meant for you to spend time and get acquainted, eventually spinning out additional products whether it’s Deez Nuts bars, or Infamous YouTube specials. But Clancy’s is taking a page out of their book.
Not every brand needs to be a content brand and not every brand needs to be an entertainment platform, but every brand needs content and every brand needs to entertain. In their own way.
In a world where we read article after article about being lonelier than ever, this type of content gives people something to attach to. This larger point is less about Clancy’s and more about why I think that style of content resonates. Most of us are trying to find our niche. The world seems so big, we’re trying to find the small corners of the internet where we can be part of a community. Be in on the jokes, and part of the movement.
Now, bare with me for the classic crypto pivot. I’ll keep it light. As I thought through this, it made me think of Alex Danco and Packy McCormick’s Not Boring where they discussed fitting in, while standing out.
To give you a sense of what’s possible, I want to get back to the idea of NFTs as tokens on the internet for representing social achievements and social contracts. NFTs are a more important achievement than you might think, because we’ve managed to package this atomic unit of culture and community - fitting in, and standing out - and capture it, almost like in a file format, that both people and computers can interpret and understand.
Now, pulling out of the weeds for a second. Let’s tie this together with my That 70’s Show reference earlier. Maybe you were the oddball who’s house all the friends hung out at. Maybe you were the stoner with authority issues. Whatever your character, you fit into the crew, but stood out with the character you resonated most with.
This might be the same instinct that some people are feeling when they start collecting NFTs. There might be some angle that the project is trying to cover, and you might relate to it. Then, within that, there are certain attributes or styles that might be more “you.”
There’s something in here about Jordan’s, styles, colorways, etc.
Fitting in to the larger umbrella, standing out with my dedicated preferences within.
I’m gonna leave it there. Enough mental gymnastics for the day.
I THINK THIS IS COOL
This section is pretty straightforward. I’m gonna share something new that I think is cool.
Today’s pick: the Instagram account @indiesleaze.
Why do I like it? Well, the bio does a good job of explaining it:
Documenting the decadence of the mid-late aughts and the indie sleaze party scene that died in 2012.
This account is full of old digital photos from DJ’s and partygoers way back in the prehistoric pre-iPhone days of the 2000’s. Vibes. No phones, just vibes.
This relates to the loneliness part earlier. We’re always sharing, while confining our view of life to these silly little black mirrors. The wont for those carefree 70’s style cocktail parties in conversation pits or just unfettered sweaty recklessness of the 2000’s comes through. That’s what makes this account fun.
That’s all folks. Thank you for reading!