What will be the impact of lateral communication? Is influencer culture dead as we know it? What does brand empathy mean to people? In this part of the 2023 Expert Outlook, we speak to three experts about how the search for control and connection is shaping the Communications sector.
Dr. Francesca Sobande is the author of The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain, Consuming Crisis: Commodifying Care and COVID-19, and Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture. She is a senior lecturer in digital media studies, and her areas of expertise include popular and meme culture, Black media and visual culture, feminism and consumer culture, and brand responses to injustices and crises. Dr. Sobande’s research has been published in international journals, including Cultural Studies, Marketing Theory, Journal of Consumer Research, and European Journal of Marketing.
Matt Klein is a cultural theorist, cyberpsychologist, and marketing strategist, analysing social shifts and the psychosocial implications of our technology. Working alongside brands, TV producers, non-profits, and government agencies, Klein is a trusted source in identifying cultural change and developing future-proofed business strategies. As an award-winning writer and frequent commenter, his observations have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Forbes, WARC, The Verge, CNBC, and Adweek.
With 52 million likes and 2.4 million followers on TikTok, Grace Wells posts commercial-style videos of random objects. She has gone on to have her own Amazon page selling film equipment, a one-to-one course on product videoing, and a successful YouTube channel.
Makua Adimora is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8. After completing a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, she shifted her focus to culture journalism. With a keen interest in music and culture, she has written for the likes of Vogue, Dazed, The Washington Post, and Al Jazeera, among others. In her spare time, she can be found overspending at Superdrug or writing about the new-school hip hop scene in Nigeria.
With an increasing desire for community engagement, people are turning to discussion-based platforms that cater to their individual interests. Letterboxd’s online platform has become a haven for cinephiles, showcasing how brands can appeal to passionate users with the right approach.
Digital scrapbooking in the vein of Tumblr is back, with OG platforms like Pinterest and newcomers including Landing giving Gen Zers space to build moodboards for style inspiration. What does this curatorial instinct among this generation signal about their creative values and sense of community?
BeReal is a social media app that hinges on the principle of scarcity. By limiting posts to one a day, it encourages users to share a snapshot of their daily lives in real-time rather than curating an idealized feed – a reflection of how demands for authenticity may reshape online communications.
As the first digitally native generation, Gen Zers are used to social media being a vital part of the way they communicate. While increasing online behaviors can have their pitfalls, Locket is one app helping to foster more meaningful offline connections that take place outside of social media.