#10 30-year Crisis, Political card games & that Peloton ad
It’s the tenth edition of this newsletter, and also the last one of this year. Next week I’m going home for the holidays, so will be enjoying family, friends and food for a three-week summer break. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it so far, and see you in 2020.
⚡️Fast culture (something popular/trendy this week)
The Irishman is now available on Netflix, and people are coming up with viewing strategies to enjoy the three-and-a-half-hour long movie. Streaming it on a phone via spotty wifi at McDonalds, or turning it into 2,090 vines, nothing is sacred on the internet. Scorsese seems to be annoyed by it, but the internet has always been about adapting, remixing, meme-ing. If the content is worth the watch, people will find a way to access it (The Mandalorian is the most pirated show of the year).
This happens in marketing as well, especially to planners, when we give too much structure to ads/content and imagine specific contexts, or mindsets, or “user journeys”.
The lesson: trying to establish rules and regulations for content is not understanding the medium. Embracing the chaos and understanding that content travels everywhere, will free you (and give you peace of mind).
🌎Slow culture (change in behaviours or values in society)
When I read this article on The Cut (which is from two years ago) I thought someone had hacked into my Whatsapp groups.
Why are the well-employed, ambitious 30-year-olds of my acquaintance feeling so adrift? The myth of female empowerment has always been on a collision course with reality, but until relatively recently working females took this understanding for granted. Women enter workplaces filled with ambition and optimism and then, by 30 or so, become wise to the ways in which they are stuck. What does it mean to grow up listening to “Roar” when female achievement has flatlined?
I can testify this feeling is pretty normal within my circle of talented, smart, funny, kick-ass, just turned 30, female friends.
How is this useful: turning 30 doesn’t automatically put women in the “busy millennial mom” segment. This is an excellent article to get some insights on this audience with high spending looking to reignite their passion.
🖌Unusual pattern (two unrelated things coming together)
Everyone wants to escape politics since they’ve become entertainment. The Associated Press ran an article recommending people hosting family over during the holidays to “make sure that in your arsenal as a host you have some family-building activity to get everybody out of politics”. Then Seth Mayers includes a Skip Politics button on his Netflix special, to spare you a whole section of his stand-up. Now Mattel brings us the Non-partisan UNO, so no one can “take sides” with the Democrats or Republicans, or Labour or Tory while playing it.
Even though this idea might be seen as “tools for consensus”, they are actually about keeping our filter bubble intact. Just ignore your racist long relative, and enjoy dinner.
🎯Cultural insight (the insight from culture behind an advert)
The Peloton ad - you’ve all seen it by now (and its effect on the company’s stock)
Here are some cultural shifts that Paleton could have leveraged, instead of doing that:
Rediscovering the importance of community: there is a surge of community activities everywhere, as the focus shifts from the individual. Peloton is built on the premise of community, I’m not sure why they haven’t incorporated that.
Body neutrality: the movement replacing body positivity. Thinking of fitness as weight loss is very outdated (and the mum is already super fit and hot at the beginning of the ad), but talking about its impact on mental health is as relevant as ever.
Reengaging millennial women: no one can believe that the mom featured in that ad is real, but the anxieties and concerns of high-earning professional women mentioned in the article from The Cut are. If Peloton doesn’t understand their core customer base, do they understand how to create the best product for them?
🕶 Bonus track
TikTok of the week: this decade has given us plenty of viral memes, like the mannequin challenge, Gagnam Style, the blue/gold dress, and more. Here is a recap of some internet trends from the past ten years.
Extra links, 2020 thematic:
The brilliant Ana Andjelic doing a narrative analysis of this decade at the Why is this Interesting? newsletter
Trendwatching webinar on the 5 trends for 2020
The most iconic British TV moments of the decade
Thanks so much for reading. I’ll be back in January with more. All the best,
Florencia
Cultural Patterns is a newsletter by Florencia Lujani about cultural insight, creativity and strategy. If you’ve enjoyed it, consider subscribing :)