Investing in a better future

If the 2010s was a decade of obfuscation, the 20s must be the era of truth. COVID-19 has sharpened our focus on who and what really matters, and drained our tolerance levels for lying politicians, desperate influencers, profit over people and tone-deaf brands.

The emerging generations know all the mistakes that were made by those who came before them, and they are angry. But they are also willing to help – we need to listen to them and acknowledge what they want, before they get angry with you.

Instead of assuming that planned obsolescence is necessary for stimulating consumption, planned durability recognizes that technology and product design that is purposefully engineered to last longer is better for the environment and translates into fewer disruptions, fewer failures and ultimately drives down costs over the long term.

Mindless consumerism, or shopping as a hobby, has increasingly cursed energy. For a brand to survive in a post-pandemic landscape it needs to offer more meaning to people’s lives than just transactions. Everybody is thinking about what they own, what to sell, where to live. These aren’t questions of simply buying and selling, they’re reflective of societies on the precipice of seismic change.

Relevance will only be achieved if you can add realness to their lives. Then, stay true to them whilst knowing you can’t please the entire universe. Not everyone needs your brand, and you don’t need every person.

The culmination of the pandemic and BLM, has forced us to reevaluate our role models, and value the work of those who selflessly cut through the noise with real acts of heroism. With an increasing distrust in leadership, today’s audiences crave plausible icons who put social and common good first.

Growth is good if it is controlled. If wild and unhinged, it becomes cancerous. For a long time we absorbed the idea that scale meant success, but current events have pulled back the curtain. What was being built for a healthy society while big business flourished? Not a lot. Culture will be left out of government recovery plans, and brands have an essential role to play in helping it survive and thrive. But it will take more than money.

Our wild-eyed embrace of Monomass and subsumption into it means that, in theory, we are more informed and more aware of culture than ever. But, as we stand on the brink of a radically different society world, we find ourselves at a fork in the road.

We are not only hopeful of a better future, we are shaping it. That's why we are teaming up with visionary leaders we believe have a real shot at changing our trajectory and we help them deliver on their mission by making the impossible, possible.