LSN : Daily Signals : Substack could become a next-gen book publisher

Reddit pays tribute to its eclectic subcultures

Maybe Together We'll by Reddit

UK – In a bid to bolster interest from users and advertisers, the social media platform is celebrating the uniqueness of its communities through its first UK brand marketing campaign. The Maybe Together We’ll campaign spotlights the vast range of groups – or sub-reddits – that populate the diverse platform. Created by advertising agency R/GA, the ad shows numerous sub-reddits, from dog adoption to skincare tips and pandemic gardening.

With the campaign, Reddit is capturing the myriad ways that people can present themselves and find their tribes in online spaces. According to Roxy Young, chief marketing officer at Reddit, the campaign does this by leaning into its core brand traits. ‘These are brilliantly absurd, candid, eclectic and self-aware,’ she explains. ‘We always try to ensure that our marketing feels uniquely Reddit by leaning into our brand traits.’

The positive campaigns reminds audiences that social media can be a powerful tool for exploring the nuances of our identity and the ways we find belonging – an idea we’ve been tracking since our 2014 macrotrend The Sharded Self.

Strategic opporunity

Social media platforms should focus on the sense of togetherness that can be found in digital spaces. Consider creating campaigns or in-person events that celebrate the unique traits of particular consumer groups

Christy Dawn incentivises customers to invest in agriculture

Christy Dawn, Los Angeles

US – The fashion label is encouraging its customers to individually support regenerative farming practices through the launch of The Land Stewardship programme. On signing up to the programme, customers pay £151 ($205, €177) to cover the cost of a farmer transitioning 3,485 square feet of land in India from conventional to regenerative practices. As an incentive, customers then receive store credit equal to the value of the cotton that was harvested each season.

Through the initiative, Christy Dawn aims to connect customers to the cotton their clothes are made from, while giving them the chance to support farmers as they change to more sustainable farming methods. Therefore, the fashion brand is actively inviting its audience to support its environmental initiatives and advance the process of farm-to-closet fashion. ‘It’s not a donation. It’s an investment in process,’ says Christy Dawn CEO Aras Baskauskas. ‘You could think of it as a CSA [community-supported agriculture] model for dresses.’

Such initiatives showcase positive developments in an industry that has previously shown a lack of transparency about its suppliers. As Hana Kajimura, head of sustainability at Allbirds, notes, apparel retailers must embrace regenerative agriculture to future-proof the fashion industry.

Strategic opportunity

Across sectors, brands and organisations should encourage their consumers to be a part their eco-conscious efforts. Familiar incentives like receiving store credit will lead to mass market adoption

Substack could become a next-gen book publisher

US – Chuck Palahniuk, the author of novel Fight Club, is releasing his latest book in a serial format using newsletter platform Substack. Palahniuk’s 16th novel, Greener Pastures, is set to be published in regular installments at a subscription price of £4.40 ($6, €5.20) a month or £29.50 ($40, €34.50) a year. The first three chapters of the book will also be made available for free.

Each of the installments are interspersed with exclusive content, including short stories from the author and students from his writing workshop, as well as lessons on writing craft and navigating the publishing industry.

By expanding into publishing in this unconventional way, Substack can boost its readership to include fiction-lovers while also allowing writers such as Palahniuk to gain greater editorial independence. He comments: ‘That’s really attractive, the idea that you don’t have somebody editing the content of your work.’

By offering long-form content in a newsletter format, this project also appeals to the changing mindsets on reading – especially at a time when broader audiences are increasingly attracted to the medium.

Alexander

Strategic opportunity

Apps, text services and social media platforms can take inspiration from this initiative and similarly publish long-form content in non-traditional formats. As above, this can benefit authors as well as attracting new audiences

Stat: Luxury shoppers splash out on premium homeware

Loewe Home Scents

Luxury e-tailer 1stDibs has identified a significant rise in active shoppers in the past year, resulting in its strongest sales year to date. The results showcase a larger shift among consumers to online premium furniture shopping, driven in part by the pandemic, as people place renewed value on their homes.

In its Luxury E-Commerce Report, the brand reveals that it recorded 58,000 active shoppers in 2020, an increase of 27% from the 46,000 in 2019. It also shows that, in 2020, sales exceeded £254.4m ($342.6m, €295.7m), a 23% rise on the £207m ($279m, €240.8m) turnover in 2019. In terms of individual items, desks topped the list of the 10 most searched for items – followed by mirrors, sofas, benches, consoles and bar stools. The report also suggests that people are mostly seeking rare and timeless items.

With many people placing new-found importance on their homes since the pandemic, there is an opportunity to court luxury consumers through premium homewares.

Strategic opportunity

Luxury brands can partner with vintage suppliers to create unique interior homeware ranges. Consider also creating immersive online showrooms to elevate the experience of shopping for furnishings online