Republished from Vernacular Nicely Said #42 —
Hello. I’m back. I know, you missed me. About as much as I missed you. And that’s OK, because we can be friends for the next few minutes, forget about each other again, and next time pick up where we left off. That’s the sign of a healthy relationship.
The gaps between each edition of Nicely Said are getting longer. That’s because I’m getting older and slower. In any case, who isn’t a fan of long bursts of silence. Balm for the soul.
I’m back in the office chair (actually, it’s a saddle) after a long stint at the beach (Whiritoa). It’s a great place to fish, the tourist blurb says. All I caught was underaged snapper. Figure that makes me the Jeffrey Epstein of fishing. Euww.
Probably should have posted this idea to LinkedIn, including a selfie of me looking wistful on a beach backdrop with a few paragraphs ‘reflecting’ on holiday lessons for the workplace.
“As I hauled in yet another underaged snapper I reflected on my talent for attracting age-inappropriate bounty and that making a J. Epstein parallel was probably best left unsaid. Hire me now!”
Cancel me now.
Pro tip: Immediately fire employees who publish holiday reflections on LinkedIn. And on their way out, force them to crawl through a guard of honour comprising the Board of Directors, each armed with a selfie stick and angry enough to bring it down on the unshirted backs of the deluded wretches squirming at their feet. It will improve your workplace culture no end. Seriously. And what great photos! Though, just for the staff intranet, mind.
I also spent plenty of time 10-minutes up the road at the Whangamata mountain bike park, a superbly built and maintained network of forested trails.
Guess I should ask you about your holiday. Great, I’m glad it worked out. Enough about you.
Down to business: what’s my pick for 2025?
Like all futurists, I’m going to inelegantly tweak something ripped off from someone much smarter than I am. Here we go (hat-tip Ed Elson, Prof. Scott Galloway’s 25-year-old co-host on Prof G Markets)
2025: The year of the person. Is our love affair with brands cracking?
Possibly. Here’s what’s happening: Fancy logos are losing their power of attraction — these days we’re falling for people. Blame the epidemic of loneliness. Quick (US) stats that’ll blow your mind:
- Gen Z spends a whopping 109 days per year glued to screens
- 12% of Americans have zero close friends (up from 3% in 1990)
- They’re seeing 208 ads per hour (10x more than our parents did)
- They spend 70% less time with friends than a decade ago
Translation: We’re all lonely AF, and it’s changing how we consume… everything.
Phones have replaced friends and yet our cravings for real human interaction have never been stronger. But screen addiction wins. Perhaps that’s why TikTok is an endless stream of people – not landscapes.
So, what do we do? We find friends online. This could explain the explosion of online influencers. Research shows Gen Z views their favourite influencers in the same way they view their friends. They know what clothes they wear, what food they eat, and what brands they buy. This is why 40% of US Gen-Zers consult an influencer before they click buy.
The term for this phenomenon is “parasocial relationship”: a relationship a person imagines having with another person whom they do not actually know.
Here are examples demonstrating how this phenomenon is changing established models:
- MrBeast > Netflix: This guy got more viewing hours than any Netflix show last year
- Joe Rogan > CNN: His podcast gets 3x more downloads than CNN and MSNBC’s primetime viewership combined
- YouTube > Disney: YouTube is now worth $455B (2x Disney’s value)
- Trump > Harris: The new US president is the ultimate people-over-brand strategy, dissociating with the Republican brand and flooding the zone with personal thoughts vis-a-vis the Harris strategy of board-approved speeches and manicured interviews. Harris was the Democratic Party brand, not a person = fail.
- Meta: Zuck traded his robot vibe for UFC fights and Taylor Swift concerts. Result? 73% favourability boost among young adults
- Tesla: Spent $4 on ads per vehicle (not a typo) but has Elon’s 200m Twitter followers
- Spotify & Shopify: CEOs are ditching press releases for TikTok updates
I’m a fan of brands and often engaged by brand owners to help define their expression. Still, it’s clear the pulling power of a brand-only strategy is on the wane. Now, more than ever, businesses must show their personal side – the people behind the brand. It’s time to peg back board-approved press releases and polished statements.
Show your friendly faces. Try this: Make better use of YouTube. Start a channel and get your execs discussing the stuff that matters – your financial results, outlook, victories, flops, tips, points of view, frustrations, excitement…
Make it real. I don’t mean lose all control. Do your homework and preparation. Hire someone who can ask good questions. And give your audience the (mostly) unvarnished truth.
Don’t expect huge viewership. Approach this exercise with the aim of creating a catalogue of humanness to ensure people can put a face to your brand.
Read Nicely Said #42