Match Made in Clapham.

Well, this is awkward. This reminds me of that time I turned up to a party in the exact same outfit as someone. But how was I supposed to know the bride was also planning on wearing a white dress?

Entirely independently of one another, WWF (nature, not wrestlers) and Parkrun both released campaigns this week featuring ‘prescriptions’ to get outdoors, highlighting the health benefits of taking a break from entropic decay to move one’s putrescent corporeal vessel in the natural world.

This instance of parallel thinking raises questions about the ontological genesis of ideas and whether they arise from within or come careening into consciousness from some unknowable external source. And if it is indeed the latter, does this not undermine the very concept of free will? Are we the fisherman, the fish or the river? This is the type of conversation best conducted in a stranger’s kitchen at 4am, so we’ll park it there for now. But before we do, take this as your reminder that intellectual Darwinism dictates that if an intuitive solution exists, it will likely already have been reached by someone else. Liberate yourself from the tyranny of logic. Be irrational. Stay unreasonable.

Driven Mad.

Ezekiel 18:19-23: “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” Why are we quoting biblical passages? To urge you not to allow your opinion of the new Tesla Robotaxi to be influenced by any feelings you might have about its creator’s decision to fund Donald Trump’s campaign to the tune of half a billion dollars.

Taking a break from jumping up and down on a stage in Pennsylvania and calling Kamala Harris a communist, Elon Musk unveiled a fleet of fully-autonomous prototype cars at the We, Robot event in Los Angeles this week.

The Robotaxi will now enter production and is due for release by 2026… for just $30,000, somehow. Don’t ask too many questions. Just take your soma and climb into your surprisingly-affordable self-driving car like a good little patriot. We’re right behind you… But you should definitely go first.

Sinking Feeling.

Under-promising and over-delivering is normally a good strategy for avoiding disappointment in life. Pride goeth before a fall, and all that (we’ll stop quoting the bible now). However, it isn’t a great strategy in advertising. Apple’s latest release suffers from no such bashfulness, promising to “change the future of filmmaking forever”.

Apple’s first scripted immersive short film arrived on the Vision Pro this week. Written and directed by Oscar winner Edward Berger, Submerged takes place inside a WWII submarine under attack. That sounds fairly anxiety-inducing even if you’re just watching it, let alone if you’re actually in it. At least there haven’t been any high-profile submarine disasters in the last couple years or anything.

As impressive as all this is, the jury’s still out on whether this mode of cinema can become anything more than a fleeting novelty. I suppose it comes down to how much you enjoy the company of the person/people you typically watch films with. If you want to avoid someone asking “who are they?” every couple minutes, extricating yourself from the real world and being supplanted into the isolating solace of a $3500 headset might sound rather appealing. Although it’ll make Netflix and Chilling pretty awkward.

Love Me Tender.

An army of misfits, maniacs and malcontents, all dressed in red, charging off to defend their liberty at the behest of a charismatic yet morally bankrupt demagogue. With the US election just a few weeks away, this KFC ad feels a little too uncomfortably close to reality.

It makes perfect sense, though. Insurrection works up one hell of an appetite. If you’re a freedom fighter determined to wrest your country back from the clutches of adrenochrome-harvesting globalist lizard people, of course you’re going to want to chow down on some fried chicken while you do so. That’s enough Reddit for today.

This ad’s actually quite a good allegory for how conflicts emerge, evolve and transmogrify until nobody’s sure who started it, what exactly they’re fighting for, and who the goodies/baddies are (if such a heavy-handedly Manichean conceptual bifurcation can even be applied, which it probably can’t). At least we think that’s what they were going for. That, and ‘mmm, chicken’.

Holy Rollers.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Just look at the rise and fall of the adidas Samba over the last few years. Like Caesar on the banks of the Rubicon, Beigel Bake may be about to cross over from cult classic Cisapline Gaul to establish imperium in the Roman Province of hackneyed ubiquity. Alea Iacta est.

It was announced this week that The Hoxton will be partnering with the infamous Shoreditch bagel joint to launch an after-hours food delivery service. So now if you get a hankering for smoked salmon or salt beef in the middle of the night but don’t feel like walking the mere 965.8 metres down the road, you can use an in-room NFC to get it delivered right to your bed.

So, smart marketing or deplorable decadence? Does a brand lose some of its appeal when it loses its epistemic exclusivity? Has Beigel Bake insouciantly strolled into the Samba-sphere? Are we overthinking this? You decide.

The one next door’s better anyway. No queue, fresher bagels and the staff don’t act like you just ran over their dog if you hesitate for half a second while ordering.

Just Did It.

You can always tell when someone’s recently completed a marathon – partly because they might be walking a little gingerly, but mainly because they’ll definitely f*cking tell you.

Nike used the aforementioned weary legs rather than loose lips as the jumping-off point – or hobbling-off point – for their new running campaign. And it’s a masterclass in how to use a strong, relatable insight to target certain consumers at the deliberate expense of others.

It might not be for everyone, but it’s not supposed to be. The type of hyper high-achieving, health-conscious masochists psychologically inclined to run a marathon in the first place don’t perceive temporary discomfort as an unpleasantness to be avoided, but as an aspirational by-product of achievement to be earned. By understanding the relativity of values and embracing a kind of Dionysian pessimism, Nike take the ostensibly negative and flip it into a positive. A life without suffering is indeed a life without. As we make the world easier what becomes lacking is lack itself. The pursuit of happiness is passe, the pursuit of pain is empowering. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to put on my hair shirt and pop into an ice bath.

The Next Agenda: Fandoms, Communities & Participation.

How does casual interest develop into a full-on fixation? How do niche trends explode into mainstream sensations? In the latest volume of our cultural programme, The Next Agenda, we’re diving deep into the cultural trends redefining how brands and audiences connect. 

Ready to thrive in the new cultural economy? Download the report now.