Strands of Genius: Friendship, Japandi Style, Serena Williams and Owning Your Narrative
plus, our thoughts on: fandoms
WRITING AHEAD FROM | Los Angeles, CA (Ashley)
WORKING ON | procurement for upcoming client engagements
LOOKING AHEAD | Ashley
Aug 29 - 30 | Chicago, IL
Aug 31 - Sept 8 | New York, NY
Sept 9 - Sept 12 | Atlanta, GA
Sept 13 - Sept 15 | Los Angeles, CA
Sept 15 - Sept 18 | Boise, ID
Sept 18 - Oct 1 | Los Angeles, CA
Oct 1 - Oct 9 | Honolulu, HI
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
With some travel this past weekend from Scottsdale, AZ to Chicago, IL to NYC today, I’m writing this email a few days ahead. I might already be wiped from the nonstop in the last 4-5 days, but in my pre-Covid days, I’d be very excited about the movement, so I’m hoping that’s where I’m at currently. My mom’s birthday was last week, and my birthday is this coming weekend, so we’ve just landed in New York to go to the US Open (tennis) to celebrate the both of us. We used to come every year, but Covid put a pin in that plan the last couple of years. With this likely being Serena Williams’ last play on the big stage, we’re especially grateful to have purchased our tickets prior to the announcement and to be surrounded by what is sure to be an amazing atmosphere as we honor the woman who has made an incredible impact in tennis and beyond!
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Eva’s Bachelorette, my fellow bridesmaids, Scottsdale hospitality, painting the town pink, Southwest Airlines and free checked luggage, traveling for work, Farrah (and seeing each other for the first time in person since January 2020), Chicago food, Debbie and birthday celebrations, and YOU!
:: THE LINKS ::
FRIENDSHIP
In this issue of The Highlight from Vox, they explore friendship — specifically the state of American friendship, its radical power, and advice for small talk and making your social battery work for you, even if you’re an introvert. Friendship has been on the wane for the past 30 years, and the American Perspectives Survey last year reported that 12% of Americans now say they have no close friendships compared with 3% in 1990. “The reasons for this are myriad. Americans are more mobile, moving often for careers, as well as working more hours. Parenting has changed dramatically, requiring more of adults’ time and resources. Covid-19, with its lockdowns and social distancing, has further fractured relationships: Nearly 50 percent of Americans reported losing touch with friends during the enduring pandemic.” So if Americans are shifting away from friendship, could it threaten society? (Vox)
JAPANDI STYLE
Looking for some design inspiration? Look no further than the emerging design trend of Japandi Design which is described as “a portmanteau of Japan and Scandi, the cooler aesthetic cousin of Nordic minimalism.” It takes Scandanavian mid-century aesthetics and mixes it with elements of pared-down Japanese design. (Vice)
SERENA WILLIAMS AND OWNING YOUR NARRATIVE
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, you’ve heard of Serena Williams. She recently announced that the upcoming US Open will mark her evolving away from tennis, and that she will instead be focusing her efforts on other business ventures. This article from Adweek dissects her announcement and what marketers can learn from her about controlling your brand’s narrative. Some of the key learnings: finding the right partner to share your news, embracing different language, and not holding back. (Adweek)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: FANDOMS ::
In reading the various elements of the friendship article mentioned above, I can’t help but think about fandoms and how fandoms usually lead to friendships. And maybe friendships are just looking a little different than they have in the past. I mean we’re all hearing these stories now of online friends meeting in person for the first time after playing a game together or interacting somewhere somehow on social media. Some of these people have said these “long distance” relationships (which stem from being fans of a thing most often) have been more meaningful than those with people they see every day. I recently linked up in person with someone who also has hearing loss. We’ve taken virtual ASL classes together; we’ve interviewed each other for articles, and first connected via Instagram. And when we got together, it was like we’d known each other forever.
But I digress, slightly. Fandoms. Don’t hate, but I kind of love this definition from Wikipedia which says:
A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest.
Or how about this one from a recent ESPN article:
Fandom is a badge of identity, a collective faith that brings a disparate community together.
Fandoms essentially dictate popularity of everything around us - brands, sports teams, foods, places to travel, music, tv shows and film, etc. And within fandoms, there are subsections as I’m calling them. Take sports, for instance, just because it’s an area near and dear to my heart and one I talk about a lot with guys and girls alike. I’ve observed you have those who are more player fans and those who are more team fans, and along with that, you have those who are more stats driven and equally those who are more story driven. I’m the latter, usually. I’m drawn to players who have a story - maybe they’re really fucking good at what they do, but they have a background that maybe doesn’t necessarily meet the traditional standards of those of his/her/their teammates.
I guarantee you all have something that instantly comes to mind when you think of fandoms or a thing you’re a fan of - there’s some emotional connection, a memory (sometimes good, sometimes bad), or some sort of connotation to a specific thing within.
I’m particularly intrigued when fandoms intersect. The movie, Dunkirk, for example brought together One Direction / Harry Styles fans and action film / Christopher Nolan fans. If you placed those two separate fandoms side by side, I’m quite certain they would look nearly complete opposites in terms of demographics. But because there’s a loyalty to each of these fandoms, when an element from each fandom is intertwined, you get a whole new audience.
That said, I’m especially curious to see how the fairly recent acquisition of Wrexham A.F.C., the oldest football (soccer) club in Wales and the third oldest professional association football team in the world, by two Hollywood powerhouses, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, plays out. It’s no secret the club has been suffering over the last few years, but will the big names bring in a new group of fans to intermix with the longstanding, loyal fans of the team? Will they mix well? Or maybe not? A docuseries documenting the acquisition recently premiered on FX / Hulu and is sure to entice several fandoms - perhaps soccer/football fans, documentary fans, Wrexham fans, Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans, Deadpool fans, Ryan Reynolds fans, who knows!?
Ultimately, when we research and understand various fandoms, we better understand consumers and even have an opportunity to change a narrative — like countering toxic masculinity in sports and sports fandom.
What are your thoughts on fandoms? Is there an element to that world that excites or intrigues you?
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faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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