5: The Emerging Languages and Symbols of Social Media

01/16/20 • 73 min

We’re leaving the current age of social media and entering a new one where our symbols and our languages are changing. Any time a new age is born, the rules get harder, the audience becomes more discerning, and all of us - people, brands, identities - are separated into those that move ahead and those that are left behind.

The question now is, what is this new age that we’re walking into?

In this episode we speak with two experts on opposite sides of the spectrum in order to answer this question.

Erin Weinger is the Vice President, Social Editorial, at Sony Pictures Television who has also worked with some of the biggest influencers and publishers in the game. Her vision of the new age of social media is a stark departure from where we are now.

We also speak with Dr. Therese Mascardo, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of the wellness community Exploring Therapy. Dr. Mascardo is in a unique position to talk about the cultural shifts happening in social because she’s both in the practice of mental health, where much of social media can be more clearly understood, and in the practice of building a social media brand... as an influencer herself.

Links to interesting things mentioned in this episode:

Learn more about Dr. Therese Mascardo and Exploring Therapy here.

Check out our website for more brand strategy thinking, and come connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

The question now is, what is this new age that we’re walking into?

In this episode we speak with two experts on opposite sides of the spectrum in order to answer this question.

Links to interesting things mentioned in this episode:

Learn more about Dr. Therese Mascardo and Exploring Therapy here.

Check out our website for more brand strategy thinking, and come connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Previous Episode

4: Look To The Future To Understand The Present

We’re used to looking at history in order to understand the present, but what happens when we look to the future? In this house episode we conduct ‘100 Year Thought Experiments’ - a simple mental device for brand strategists - to better understand the current cultural mechanics of health, careers, environmentalism and food.

“When the definition of something changes, the stigma around it changes, too.“

In all of these areas, definitions are starting to change. Our words and language, our perceptions and beliefs are shifting in exciting new ways that are more readily revealed when we look to the future first.

Links to interesting things mentioned in this episode:

Playing With FIRE Documentary
Why “natural” food has become a secular stand-in for goodness and purity (Vox)
How American Masculinity Creates Lonely Men (NPR/ Hidden Brain)
The History and Nature of Man Friendships (The Art of Manliness)

Check out our website for more brand strategy thinking, and come connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Next Episode

6: Burnout Brands and the Burden of Potential

The undercurrent of burnout in American society and has opened the doors to a whole new breed of D2C branding that promises to heal us from the ills of the modern world. From analyses to antidotes, our obsession with burnout is changing the way we consider products and consider ourselves.

In this episode, we speak with Emmett Shine, cofounder of Pattern Brands, and previous cofounder of the lauded branding agency Gin Lane. Emmett and his team have created some of the most powerful D2C brands of the past decade including Harry’s, Hims, Recess, Everlane and Warby Parker, and now his own sub-brands Equal Parts and Open Spaces... all, in some way or another, speaking to the larger burnout narrative.

We also speak with psychotherapist Abby Krom who has researched an emerging form of burnout among millennials called The Burden of Potential. She sees an even deeper shift in millennials and Gen Z who are negotiating the tension between wanting to achieve, and not wanting to be vulnerable. Her work explores how these conflicting needs are exhausting us emotionally and physically.

Links to interesting things mentioned in this episode:

Check out our website for more brand strategy thinking, and come connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.