ISSUE 001
IN SITU is a platform dedicated to the intersection between culture, brand strategy and music. Sometimes the focus will be on one strand more than another, but always sitting in that sweet spot.
ISSUE 001
LONG READ Cultural observation opinion piece: Hyper-agile discourse pays a long-term price
VERBATIM Quote from cultural tastemaker: Junior Adesanya, music artist & founder of cremate
SHORT READ Belief relating to strategy and/or insight: Core belief #1: Strategists are misunderstood
MUSIC CORNER Album recommendation: Fabiana Palladino
LONG READ
HYPER-AGILE DISCOURSE PAYS A LONG-TERM PRICE
My first thought on hearing about Justin Timberlake’s DWI arrest was, ‘The memes will be here soon.’ And they were. For days it wasn’t the arrest itself that stuck in the news, but the mugshot memes that derived from it. But as with the Kendrick/Drake beef, or festival highlights, the same images are recycled and repackaged until they are unrecognisable, and something new replaces it.
There has long been a high value attached to agility. Whether it’s in marketing, fashion or music, being able to react in a timely manner to market movements is something we historically applaud. However, not only can this sometimes go awry (see below), it isn’t always necessary.
We’ve entered an age of ‘hyper-agility’, where comments and statements are made minutes and hours after an event, not days or weeks. This shifts the expectation of responsiveness from ‘soon’ to ‘right now’.
Sure, some commentary is amusing, even clever, and occasionally share-worthy. But most of the time it’s just noise. When you zoom out and look at the bigger picture of social media landfill, what does it all amount to? It feels like the quicker we respond to a cultural moment, the less we absorb the moment itself. The conversation overpowers the issue and it gets chucked into yesterday’s brain matter, with the cycle restarting daily.
The effect of this response timeline is that we’re losing the original source in the sauce. We’re sifting through a lot of short-term ‘gratification’ (at best) for net minus in the long-term. When we talk about everything, it amounts to roughly nothing.
We’ve got so caught up in the now that we’ve lost sight of what it’s all for, why we’re talking about it in the first place, and who it benefits. This infinite thirst for cultural discourse has a negative ROI on our overall perspective.
There is no catch-all solution of course, this is a completely unmanageable situation. But just like recycling and reusing packaging, we can all do our bit. For instance, even as a music fan & journalist I steered well clear of the Kendrick/Drake conversation, unless asked my opinion privately. Even with an actual body of work at the centre of it all (often not the case) it felt like any engagement was adding fuel to an extremely out of control fire.
It’s a simple supply and demand curve really. The more we like/share/comment, the more content fills up our feeds. If we focus on the things that actually excite us and add something tangible to culture, then we might land somewhere less superficial.
This is all the more surprising when we take our pandemic bargaining into account. The ‘I’ll never take venues for granted’, or, ‘I’ll always go to the party’ statements have not just disappeared, but have been buried beneath this online mass. There was somewhat of an IRL rebound initially, and a few community-centric spaces have opened in London since, such as Dijonss and BeauBeaus, which host regular social events and pop-ups. However, many music venues have shut down and there is a distinct lack of third spaces, especially for younger people.
To course correct the effects of hyper-agility, our centre of cultural gravity must exist in smaller, more meaningful interactions. Whether it’s private conversations, physical events or public forums, “less is more” should be our guiding principle.
VERBATIM
HOW DO YOU APPROACH HYPER-AGILITY?
Junior Adesanya, Music Artist & Founder of cremate:
“Hyper agility seems to be a sickness and cure all rolled into one. It’s a blessing that we are at a place where we can be so quick to receive and react to information, but at the same time this speed and memefication of said ‘info’ dulls the senses to the point of the information in the first place.
With this in mind I tend to take socials with more than a pinch of salt and make sure I keep a clear line between my own thoughts, ideals and what I consume.”
SHORT READ
CORE BELIEF #1: STRATEGISTS ARE MISUNDERSTOOD
As strategists, we are often held at arm’s length for fear of change. But external experts with the necessary tools will cover the blind spots missed by the inevitable tunnel vision of internal leaders.
When required by a creative team to add some structure and strategic guidance, the initial response can be wary: ‘What do they know about design, or our creative process?’ It usually takes some handholding and a successful first collaboration to prove value to the team.
When the brief is to support a CEO or founder, it can be a bit trickier to navigate. Clearly someone has had the foresight to contract external consultancy, but the circumstances of this decision can be unclear at best. In this scenario, it’s all about leadership and confidence. You are not there to trample ideas or egos, you are there to solve a problem. The stakeholders need to see your role not as an admittance of failure, but as a show of strength.
MUSIC CORNER
Fabiana Palladino - Fabiana Palladino
Produced by the elusive Jai Paul, this is a gem worth adding to your collection.
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