There are a lot of freelancers out there who are working in a very archaic way - exclusively committing themselves to projects for a duration of time & charging a day rate

But that's not how you make money

Working in this way is akin to a salaried agency position & it's boring Instead, what you should be thinking about is layering your offering via a portfolio of services/products.

Expert talks
1 hr 'brain picking' sessions
3 day sprints
Defined projects (of which you can do 3-5 at a time if you work smarter, not harder)
Day rates
Paid decks
+ more

1/

In the last few days we've seen two examples of execs asleep in their offices, which are touted as the type of behaviour that shows 'commitment' & 'ambition'

One is Sam Bankman Fried.
The other is Esther Crawford at Twitter.

Both are fucking ridiculous. 2/

SBF apparently used to encourage his staff to show guests in, while he was napping, in the belief that it made him seem more dedicated, driven and determined to achieve the best results, at any cost.

We now all know how that turned out...

I adore this book and have bought a gorgeous copy for my soon-to-arrive daughter, so this piece was incredibly timely.

vulture.com/2022/11/velvet… And this quote from the author is 💫

“Reality and unreality interpenetrate, but this is confusing only to those who feel that unreality — or that which takes place in the imagination — should be kept always in a properly labeled compartment.”

The next few years are going to be rough, but it's my hope that the talent let go from the big tech world will start to build for themselves - they'll form the foundations of what's next, inspire us in ways we never even imagined & set the agenda for innovation for the decade

💫

https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1589974682245435397

11,000 people.

about.fb.com/news/2022/11/m…

Reading up on 'matrescence' today, which is a term I hadn't come across until an old work colleague got in touch to tell me about it.

Essentially it's the process of becoming a new mother & all the changes that entails. It describes how motherhood is a holistic change in multiple domains of your life. You're going to feel it bodily, psychologically, with your peer groups, at your job & in terms of the big philosophical questions

& it's far from utopian, instead it can be overwhelming & lonely

1/

I've seen a lot of people dunking on Gucci Vault for its claims of being focused on metaverse exploration, because 'isn't it just a website for resale?'

But it's so much more than that- it’s a lab, a place for experimentation & something well worth paying attention to... 2/

Gucci launched ‘Vault’ in Sept 2021 as part of the celebration of the house’s centennial year.

Alessandro Michele describes it as his virtual playroom – a home for all of his favourite things.

'World building is the latest evolution in the ubiquitous pursuit of branding.'

'The future of the internet, as some have theorized, might consist of micro-communities, enclosed worlds with fewer but more engaged members.'

dirt.substack.com/p/dirt-worldbu… I've been pushing this approach for a while...

https://twitter.com/zoescaman/status/1319338159285600256?s=20&t=5aybuWx5Sa089m8ES560vA

💫💫💫 @chris_eyerman for being the best creative mind I've ever worked with & for tirelessly pushing to make everything better. His energy, insane brain & commitment is second to none.

I was talking to a friend (super senior mother in agency-land) about this over lunch yesterday and the same sentiment is everywhere.

The working practices, expectations & demands are just not set up for parents who actually want to spend time with their families (shocker).

https://twitter.com/sarahspoon/status/1585196053191852033

Unless you're willing to work all hours, be somewhere at the drop of a hat, prioritise pitches over bedtimes and pay extortionate amounts for childcare because you simple can't miss a meeting, then you have no choice but to go.

It's ridiculous.

1/ When it comes to Web3 we need to disentangle ‘ownership’ from ‘money’. The two are not the same.

Right now, one of the biggest issues with perception is that it’s a Ponzi scheme based on cash grabs. From the outside, that’s kind of fair. 2/ But the true promise of Web3 is ownership, which is in a totally different realm than speculation & flipping.

Ownership means having a stake, controlling your own assets, deciding your worth, contributing on your terms, determining what you want to give your time & effort to

Nation states are a relatively modern concept & there's no reason to think they should last forever. Just as the printing press disrupted societal structures from 'divine rulers' to democracies, so too will the next iteration of the internet & blockchain.

readthegeneralist.com/briefing/the-d… 'The most influential civilization-scale entities will exist entirely online, a consequence of digital lives becoming more valuable than physical ones. “Decentralized countries” will coordinate and govern our virtual terrain.'

"Many of the ideas on how to organize human society have been around forever, but technologies make them feasible and infeasible by turns."

sotonye.substack.com/p/if-einstein-… "Today, it is not just God that is dead. It is the State that is dying. Because in the early innings of the 21st century, faith in the State is plummeting. Faith in God has crashed too It is the Network that is the next Leviathan"

Every brand should read this:

-How an NFT looks matters very little
-A successful NFT project starts with community
-NFT projects reward specificity
-They need an evolving roadmap
-Not all brands need an NFT
-Most agencies don’t understand the space

coindesk.com/policy/2021/12… "Companies should ask any agency pitching about an NFT project to explain their favorite NFT project and what attributes their favorite projects share. Ask to see their OpenSea wallet to see how many NFTs they own and to describe their favorites..."

1/

Can we please get past the brand world view that NFTs are just 'stuff' that anyone in crypto land will buy or trivial PR stunts?

So far we've seen Pepsi, Applebees, McDonalds, Dominos & Marriott Hotels (to name a few) drop NFT projects that I will generously describe as crap 2/

Web3 may be rife with speculation, over hyped jpegs & pump & dumps, but that's only a small portion of what's happening here.

Yet the brands (on the whole) who have jumped in have simply replicated the worst practices & case studies.

Why?!

1/

The term ‘metaverse’ originated in a dark, dystopian novel & when we think of it, we often think of dark & dystopian ends because that’s what we’ve been fed through entertainment - Ready Player One, Bladerunner, Logan’s Run.

So it’s no wonder that so many are worrying. 2/

But technology is a tool, not a predetermined outcome. It’s neutral, but it’s what we do with it that charts it’s course.

If we feed ourselves fear-based narratives, looking at everything through a lens of impending doom, how is that helpful?

I’ve figured out a way to stop the Twitter DM bad behaviour

From now on, if you send me an unsolicited dick pic or a shitty message, I’m going to turn it into an NFT, etching it onto the blockchain with your name attached as the artist

You want it gone? You’ll have to pay me 😉 Update: nftthedp.com is now mine.

Watch this space 👀🍆🔥

This interview with Alex Zhu, (now VP of Product at ByteDance/TikTok) back in 2016, when he was at Music.ly is SO interesting & gives an insight into where the inspo for TikTok came from & what they're building towards.

A few key points...

blakeir.com/Alex-Zhu-TikTo… 1/ If you want to build a new user-generated content platform or social network then the content has to be extremely light. The content creation AND consumption need to happen within seconds, not minutes.

1/16

No surprise at all.

Alessandro Michele is a genius, not only as a creative, but as a brand thinker. He has reinvented Gucci for a new era, unafraid to challenge the very nature of what constitutes a luxury brand, who they market to, where they show up, how they behave...

https://twitter.com/HYPEBEAST/status/1321542250724208640

2/16

Their recent partnership with 3D Avatar company, Geenie allows customers to create their own virtual self, via which they can try on new clothes and styles.

Right now, I’m lucky enough to be working with a superstar athlete in the NBA to build his brand, kickstart his fandom and to explore how a basketball team can evolve into a multifaceted entertainment franchise.

I am learning a lot and having SO much fun in the process. But this isn’t something that only this particular NBA player should be spending time and energy on, it’s of critical importance for all athletes (and celebrities).

In a recent study, it was revealed that just 53% of Gen Zers identify as sports fans.

morningconsult.com/2020/09/28/gen…

🚨NEW PODCAST CHAT🚨

I sat down with @apierno for his ‘The Strategy Inside Everything’ podcast to talk about fandoms, the new dynamics of creative control and how brands can tap into these shifting behaviours and expectations.

zoescaman.substack.com/p/fandom-and-t… On CPG brands and fandom dynamics...

When it comes to the concept of 'community', most brands and marketers see it purely as building a following who they can then broadcast out to on a regular basis, without having to shell out more and more ad-cash to reach them.

But they're missing an important point... True communities are not passive recipients of communications, they are peer-to-peer, participative players, with whom you can create insanely valuable feedback loops, which help to drive the brand and business forwards.

They are GENERATIVE.