#24 Gifs are dead, deal with it.
W/C 19 Sept 2022.
Hello and welcome to #24. I have been fighting a cold this week, which felt quite new considering the last 3 years. I’ve had COVID three times but a regular cold just hits that bit different, I feel fine-ish but just a little slower in all aspects and a little bunged up, it all feels quite nostalgic. I’ve rested most of the long weekend and feel okish.
It’s a bumper edition this week, a lot seems to be going on and I have a bit of time with the long weekend here in the UK. Let me know what you like.
Now, on to the #content.
1. ‘Gifs are cringe’: how Giphy’s multimillion-dollar business fell out of fashion
Giphy is in all sorts of trouble - it’s a hell of a read. Also, the quote from the piece I’ve pasted below made me lol. First, they came for the full stop, then the emoji now the GIF. Such is life. Also, is the GIF I added to the title of this email the most famous GIF ever? I don’t see it used as much these days, I guess that proves a point. 👇
2. Life after the lifestyle brand.
This is dense. I mean really dense, like 10,000 words dense. Like I haven’t finished it but there’s something here, or maybe not, dense. Like it took 6 years to write dense.
I recommend this shortened wrap up. Intrigued if anyone finishes it before me, what you think? I think there’s *something* there? I mean it took 6 years to write so I hope so from an intellectual pov, but 6 years in digital brand is like 25 years previously IMO. I want to share with the caveat of I haven’t analysed my own view of it yet.
3. 60% of memes in 2022 are from Twitter or Tik Tok.
Always good, Garbage day, on memes.
4. Dealing with unsolicited social ideas from bosses and coworkers.
This is a buzzy piece in social circles. It’s nice. I usually don’t share stuff like this because I find the social industry and some of the commentary around it a bit twee and a bit infantilising, which I think we should move away from. Like, yeah I get it, but hey, stop meme-ing and let’s elevate it though. But I digress. Social marketing (not social media please) does get this a lot, but so does most creative depts.
Two quick web3 thing.
Odds and ends, basic links. Little commentary, just pure linkage, in wine terms, low intervention links.
Matthew Ball’s first essay in a year on China, Marvel and the future of Blockbusters. The Avatar mentions are mad. Always worth reading him.
The Creator economy is so buzzy right now it’s going to be in agency decks in 2023 like nothing you've seen since, well, Creator Economy in 2022. Some interesting thinking here on Tokens and community. The language of Web3 is so bad tho.
How New Balance became dominant. I collect New Bs so I kinda feel like I need to say that before sharing and also feel proud (why?). Wish I’d kept a 2002 pair I had tho…
A lot of value still to be unlocked in the Creator Economy (DRINK!)
Inside the Documentary cash grab. I tried to get a doc commissioned once, was hard, didn’t happen.
Bit on brands and purpose in the wake of Patagonia’s amazing announcement.
$100m bet on finding the new Mr Beast. Creator Economy (DRINK)
IG trail YouTube and Tik Tok for Creator offering, says IG boss. He’s right and I’m unsure big creators are just going to come back, but money talks I guess. Maybe not this time tho. (DRINK)
YouTube shorts going after Tik Tok (again) with better deals. Creator fees going only one way right now… 🚀 (DRINK)
A tweet. Mobile huh.👇
Adieu.
I like to read about coaching and the like. This newsletter is a nice little nudge every day. Sunday thoughts are my fav. Little thing I took this week 👇
Bonus.
I watched The Rehearsal, on Sky Comedy. It could well be genre-defining? Is it real? (No) Reddit kinda thinks maybe. Is it just pure comedy? I’m not sure, it certainly wasn’t what I expected and I’m told 30mins of the final episode are some of the most unsettling in recent memory. It has made me laugh out loud multiple times. I dunno what that means yet but we’ll see. Give it a go, if you like odd. It gets really, really odd.
All the spelling and grammatical mistakes in this Substack are on purpose to test you, actually. Well done. You got them all. No, I don’t need to know about then, you have that kudos.
That Matthew Ball piece is ace.
"An entire generation has taught itself how to shoot, edit, graphically augment, and develop an audience for their content" - fascinating to see how quickly this becomes a thing. I've been spending (probably too much) time watching stuff produced by Corridor on YouTube; slightly different take, but as an example of the quality of work that can be done with essential off the shelf plug-ins, it's impressive.