Two weeks ago we ran a 90-minute workshop teaching the exact system we’ve used to build our audience of 1.4M followers (and get 1.2 billion views in the last year). The people who showed up had some serious breakthroughs, so we’ve decided to run another one next Thursday. Whether you’re overwhelmed trying to do all the things on socials, or you’ve got analysis paralysis and don’t know where to start, this is going to completely change how you see your socials.

26 March | 11am NZDT | 9am AEDT | $79 NZD

Particularly the ones where I was doing a whole lot of gardening 🍁💨 hehe

It makes me kind of sad that the new generations just don’t accept him like we did. However, I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see that Scott has launched a Twitch channel. Super unexpected, but also makes sense when you think about where music culture is headed. And Twitch is a great place to hang out with fans, play music, and create a more intimate, interactive experience than traditional social media allows.

Twitch has become the platform for parasocial relationships that feel less curated and more real-time. And musicians are realising that livestreaming is a better way to connect with audiences than posting polished content on Instagram. It's also a revenue stream that doesn't rely on streaming platforms or label deals, which gives artists more control. Cudi's launch is part of a much larger trend of musicians treating Twitch like a digital venue. And it's working because, fans being fans, always want more access, not just more content.

Speaking of content, the Major League Soccer (I know, it’s football ok, give me a break, Brits) is going alllll out on theirs for the World Cup marketing, using the 2026 tournament as a launchpad to grow the sport in the U.S.

The league is positioning itself as the pipeline for American soccer talent and trying to capitalise on the attention the World Cup will bring. Which to me is a smart play, but also a risky as hell: MLS has tried and tried again to break into mainstream American sports culture for literal decades.

The difference this time is that soccer fandom is actually growing among younger audiences. And the World Cup being hosted in the U.S. gives the league a massive platform. Whether that translates into long-term growth or just a temporary spike in interest depends on whether MLS can convert casual viewers into loyal fans, and take over the US. Which is much harder than running a good ad campaign.

The takeover we should all be concerned about however, is the plant-based product industry, which seems to have dominated retail shelves as of late, in just about every category. Diapers, bioplastics (whatever that means), vegan leather, you name it, they’re making it. Which sounds eco-friendly… until you look at what these products are actually made of and how they're disposed of.

A lot of "plant-based" alternatives aren't fully biodegradable. They still rely on synthetic components, and the environmental benefit is marginal at best. The appeal is emotional. People want to feel like they're making better choices. And companies are happy to sell them products that sound sustainable without actually being better for the planet.

Classic greenwashing. Yawn. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

When Kim Kardashian said this in 2022, I was not expecting I would relate it back to the current zeitgeist of being a freaking poser.

I've been a creepy girl for decades. An expert at winged liner, an ambassador for Doc Martens, a representative for melancholia. Facial piercings, tattoos, you name it, I’ve got it. That’s been my whole vibe since before it was a vibe.

My culture is not your costume, damn.

Wednesday was just the beginning. The rejection of clean girl aesthetic led straight into indie sleaze - everyone raiding Tumblr, scene kid, Bring Me The Horizon, Paramore, Pete Wentz era aesthetics. My formative years became a trend. Celebrities started showing up with fake piercings, referencing subcultures they have zero actual ties to, borrowing the visual markers of alternative without any of the context or participation.

Alysia Liu just won gold at the Olympics with striped bleach hair. And I’m sure we’ll soon see the adoption of her style too. Except, everybody wants to look alternative. But nobody wants to actually be alternative.

Knowing the right bands before they broke. Having the right references. Wearing the style correctly because you were actually part of the community that created it.

These signals marked belonging. You couldn't fake being part of a scene because subcultural capital required participation: you had to be there, to know people. You had to earn your insider status through actual involvement in the subculture.

The gatekeeping was real, but it existed for a reason. Subcultures were spaces for people who didn't fit mainstream culture, the barriers to entry protected those spaces from becoming exactly what they were trying to escape.

You can borrow all the visual references without requiring any actual participation in the subculture. Want to look indie sleaze? There's a Pinterest board for that. Want Wednesday Addams vibes? TikTok will teach you the eyeliner technique and the outfit guidelines.

The aesthetics are accessible, music is streamable, the style is shoppable. But the actual culture; the community, the shared experience, the reason these aesthetics existed in the first place, gets stripped away.

Alternative becomes an identity marker you can try on for funsies without any of the social cost that used to come with actually being alternative. You get the edgy aesthetic, I got the relentless bullying through all of school. You get the visual interest without the alienation, the coolness without the consequences.

This isn't new. Punk got commodified, grunge got commercialised, hip-hop aesthetics have forever been appropriated. Every alternative movement eventually gets absorbed and sold back as a sanitised version of itself.

But the speed has accelerated. It used to take years for subcultural aesthetics to make it to the mainstream. Now it happens in months, sometimes weeks. TikTok identifies a trend. Brands capitalise immediately. Celebrities adopt it. And suddenly what was underground last season is fkn everywhere.

The media keeps chasing alternative because alternative signals authenticity in an increasingly manufactured world. Being a weirdo genuinely feels impossible when conformity is algorithmically enforced.

So people and brands reach for alternative aesthetics as a shortcut to seeming authentic, and interesting and soooo not like other girls/boys. All without realising that mass adoption of alternative literally defeats the entire purpose.

I didn’t “choose alternative” because it was cool. I liked it because I didn't fit anywhere else. Because the music spoke to something the mainstream couldn't touch. And through it I found my people, in spaces that weren't designed for mass consumption.

And now those aesthetics are everywhere, worn by people who have never experienced any of the context that created them.

Because these subcultures aren’t actually really about how you look. They’re about finding community when mainstream culture rejects you. Creating spaces where being different was okay, where your weirdness was celebrated instead of punished.

When alternative becomes just another aesthetic to cycle through, that community aspect disappears. You get the surface-level signifiers without any of the deeper connection or shared experience that made those subcultures matter.

Sarah Thornton's subcultural capital required participation. You had to be part of the scene to earn the credibility. Now you just need a Pinterest board and a Depop account.

That's how mainstream culture works.

But for those of us who were actually there, who lived these subcultures before they became hashtags, there's something exhausting about watching your identity become content. About seeing the aesthetics you got bullied for become cool once the context is stripped away.

Everybody wants to be alternative until it's time to actually be alternative. Until it costs something. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Today's trend is for those surprising moments where things unexpectedly go your way. The sound comes from "Boom Clap" by Charli XCX, specifically the section that goes, "You are the light and I will follow. You let me lose my shadow." Creators are using the sound to describe times where they thought they were out of luck but were pleasantly surprised. For example:

Start with the trending sound. Over the first part of the sound, put up OST describing something you don't think anyone will agree with or pay attention to. Then, for the second part of the sound, show their unexpected response. You can either film both parts yourself or have the person who's reacting do the second part.

A few examples to get you started:

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: I would never stop talking about this
❤How wholesome: This is a work of art
😊Soooo satisfying: Play Doh popping
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Quick Stir Fry

Hey Marcus,

It's a totally fair question and one we get a lot. The honest answer is that the social media isn't designed to directly convert people into customers. Its only job is brand awareness, so getting people to know you exist in the first place.

Most small businesses are completely unknown to 99% of their potential customers. But once people know who you are, everything else you do works better. Your ads, your emails, your word of mouth referrals all convert better when someone's already heard of you. So don't try to get social to do every job in your business. Its job is to get you more eyeballs so your sales get easier as you build that brand.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.