They're not posting daily, hanging out in comment sections or jumping on this week's trendiest audio. They just drop a product drop without warning, archive their Insta grid on a whim, and force the audience to actually seek them out. In a feed that rewards volume and punishes silence, a quiet countermovement is gaining serious traction. So let's look into it today - why are the most forward-thinking brands pulling back, and why might absence be the most powerful marketing tool left?

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

TechCrunch reports that from August 24, YouTube will count a view the moment a video starts playing, bringing it in line with TikTok and Instagram. Previously, at least 30 seconds of consistent watch time was needed to register a single view. YouTube is keeping this old metric, now renamed "Engaged Views." It's available in Analytics for creators who want to track actual retention.

Because of this change, public view counts will inflate significantly, making them far less useful as a gauge of how compelling a video actually is. For advertisers and creators trying to evaluate performance, view metrics are about to hold a lot less value than they used to.

Meanwhile, on a happier note, Fugazi and Vans just did something pretty rad. Complex reports that Fugazi (the streetwear brand, not the DC hardcore band) sold its entire pulled nine-piece Vans collaboration for $5 cash only at pop-ups in LA and NYC. This was a direct nod to the band of the same name, who famously capped their concert tickets at $5 throughout their career as an anti-consumerist statement.

Vans VP Steve Van Doren had previously issued a public apology after the original collab announcement sparked massive backlash from fans who assumed the legendary band had broken its no-merch policy. Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty called it "a corporate f*cking mule f*ck", but the $5 pop-ups have seemingly put all the confusion to bed.

And finally, OpenAI has launched a safer ChatGPT experience for teenagers - several years after teenagers started using it anyway. TechCrunch reports that ChatGPT for Teens includes a new Study Mode that guides students through problems with questions and step-by-step support, homework reminders that appear when a teen looks to be cheating, parental controls, quiet hours, and age-appropriate content filters by default.

OpenAI's timing is pointed, given the product's launch amid numerous lawsuits over ChatGPT's lack of safety measures for young users, including cases linked to teen suicides. So the question remains of how difficult it will be for teens to work around these systems. Because let's be real - has parental oversight ever stopped you for long?

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

Behaving like a textbook needy partner, constantly screaming for your attention, jumping on every single viral audio trend, posting five times a day, and practically begging for a double-tap in the comment sections.

The underlying assumption driving this strategy is that constant visibility is the yellow brick road to success. 

But as the timeline hits absolute saturation with this loud, frankly obnoxious behaviour, the law of diminishing returns has kicked in with a vengeance.

And by contrast, the most forward-thinking brands are currently cutting through the noise by leaning into a subculture of strategic unavailability.

Basically, they’re acting like your situationship and playing hard to get.

Instead of using the internet to beg for an audience, they are using it to cultivate authority. They drop products without warning. They archive their entire Instagram grids whenever they feel like it. And they refuse to participate in the mindless, copy-paste trend cycles of the week.

Because they know a fundamental truth that the rest of the market is completely missing: we aren't chasing vanity metrics for success anymore, babes. We are trying to be remembered.

When a business builds its entire customer acquisition strategy on the assumption that an interest-based algorithm will continue to push its content to strangers for free, it is building a house on shifting dunes.

The second the platform tweaks its guidelines or a black-box pixel shifts its priorities, your distribution can be cut in half overnight, leaving your business paralysed.

Your brand stands up entirely on its own two feet outside the screen. Because it's anchored by raw product desirability rather than ephemeral platform favour.

But transitioning your business from an aggressive clout-chaser to a sovereign, unavailable icon requires a complete re-wiring of your creative brief and developing the confidence to edit your output, lower your volume, and understand that silence is often the loudest pattern-interrupter on a feed that is constantly screaming for compliance.

If you want to stop playing the rigged optimisation game (you do) and start building a legacy that sticks in the consumer's brain long after they close the app, you need a structural blueprint.

And who would I be if I didn’t give that to you?

First, you must kill the content quota immediately.

Stop forcing your creative teams to post for the sake of an arbitrary schedule. Only speak when your brand has an undeniable, high-utility truth or a groundbreaking visual asset to deliver to the market. If you want an example of this, look at Death To Stock.

Second, embrace the intentional blind spot.

Take your products off the open web, require an email sign-up just to view a collection, or lock your premium content behind private digital gates. Forcing the consumer to take a conscious, high-intent action to find you instantly drives up your perceived luxury value.

Stop optimising your marketing campaigns for broad, shallow impressions. Start investing your capital into heavy, tactile real-world touchpoints like beautiful physical print, underground events, and packaging that demands to be kept rather than thrown in the bin.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but consumers have developed an immunity to the loud, automated performance of digital marketing.

If you want to surpass this, hold your tongue, value your craft, and let your absence do the talking.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The sound comes from a young Minecraft fan at Minecon 2015, who got the chance to ask his idol, YouTuber DanTDM, a question from the audience. Overcome with joy, excitement and perhaps anxiety, what came out of the kid's mouth was this:

"Uh... do you... uh... Dan do you like to come to my house?"

Creators are lipsyncing to the audio for any moment they tried to ask someone something simple and were immediately betrayed by their own nervous system.

Some of my favourite examples:

Film yourself lipsyncing to the sound and add whatever you completely fell apart trying to ask as your on-screen text.

A few ideas to get you started:

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

Hey Anika!

Ah yes, this is a tough one! Totally get that it feels scary to put yourself out there on social media. I wish there was an easy answer to this, but if you have goals for building your brand, you kinda just have to do it even though you're scared. Yeah, people you know might see it. And yeah, maybe they will think it's cringe. But the alternative is letting what they might think stop you from doing the activities that are going to make you successful.

Posting online does require a level of vulnerability. But once you start posting regularly, it really will get easier. Because you'll realise most people are too worried about themselves to worry that much about what you're doing! I would also encourage you to seek out other people who are building a brand like you (if you haven't already). This will help you feel not so alone!

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.