MØRNING.

🎮 Yusuf Ntahilaja and Alisha Brocklebank just got back from being on the ground at Gamescom 2024, where they interviewed 30 gamers over 3 days and uncovered some deliciously uncomfortable truths about where gaming is heading: 👁️🗨️ The era of hype is dying. Players are quietly turning their backs on mainstream marketing in favour of authentic discoveries. 👁️🗨️ AAA studios are becoming victims of their own success - while indies are taking the risks that players actually crave. 👁️🗨️ Story is devouring software. The future belongs to those who can make players feel, not just see pretty graphics. We created a mini report from our Shadow Committee findings - Comment or DM us if you want a peep 👁️ 👁️ . Warning: Some insights might make gaming executives uncomfortable. 🖤 #Gaming #GameDev #FutureOfGaming

VØTE FOR US TO GO TO SXSW Want to hear our predictions for the next iteration of social? Want to understand how to win big on what is now our primary driver of culture? Vote to hear MØRNING co-founder LYDIA PANG host The Future of Social at SXSW 2025! https://lnkd.in/ekyV5Cm5

The State of Social: Rewilding The Web - OPEN CALL The world wide web is not delivering on its decentralised promises. The Metaverse hasn’t come to fruition. NFTs are a dirty term. Platforms proliferate daily. Niche gets nicher. Digital culture is the primary driver of culture. Screen fatigue is on the rise. Social media causes issues for mind, body and soul. We are in a state of chaos, where if virality is piercing enough, a new creator, content, or platform emerges like a lone puzzle piece. Telling us something, and nothing, all at once. How did a space once viewed as counter culture in itself become a littered mess of cores, advertisements, echo-chambers and algorithms? In this new report, we analyse the current state of social, and to look into its murky future. Picking apart the deep and utter randomness the internet rewards, but so few understand, and uncovering how we’ll rewild its rotten roots. It's time for a re-re-education. We’re putting out an open call for thoughts, essays, visual explorations, and video essays to help us build the report. We invite you to respond to a collection of themes we will cover in our report. Please submit a pitch with either visual [images, video etc, must be high resolution, 150DPI minimum] or written [500 words max] responses to the following: - D̶i̶g̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ Culture - The death of the bespoke socials era i.e. platform domination, faux branded authenticity - Feed fatigue - Randomness rewarded - Vibes marketing - Metrics Reimagined - Emergent web behaviours Winning pitches will be paid. Please email all submissions to sos@morning.fyi, deadline: 20th August. Good luck!

The State of Social: Rewilding The Web - OPEN CALL The world wide web is not delivering on its decentralised promises. The Metaverse hasn’t come to fruition. NFTs are a dirty term. Platforms proliferate daily. Niche gets nicher. Digital culture is the primary driver of culture. Screen fatigue is on the rise. Social media causes issues for mind, body and soul. We are in a state of chaos, where if virality is piercing enough, a new creator, content, or platform emerges like a lone puzzle piece. Telling us something, and nothing, all at once. How did a space once viewed as counter culture in itself become a littered mess of cores, advertisements, echo-chambers and algorithms? In this new report, we analyse the current state of social, and to look into its murky future. Picking apart the deep and utter randomness the internet rewards, but so few understand, and uncovering how we’ll rewild its rotten roots. It's time for a re-re-education. We’re putting out an open call for thoughts, essays, visual explorations, and video essays to help us build the report. We invite you to respond to a collection of themes we will cover in our report. Please submit a pitch with either visual [images, video etc, must be high resolution, 150DPI minimum] or written [500 words max] responses to the following: - D̶i̶g̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ Culture - The death of the bespoke socials era i.e. platform domination, faux branded authenticity - Feed fatigue - Randomness rewarded - Vibes marketing - Metrics Reimagined - Emergent web behaviours Winning pitches will be paid. Please email all submissions to sos@morning.fyi, deadline: 20th August. Good luck!

Welcome to 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕬𝖌𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕽𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖛𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 ⚔️ Ever feel as though you’re in limbo— chasing youth yet deeply nostalgic all at once? Digital voyeurs of ourselves and others, we craft our own identities, while delving into the lore of the celebrities and pop culture. From Ayo Edibiri’s faux-Irishness to Kamala Harris remixes, the truth of relevance is lost, and legacy is ours to decide. Celebrity is no longer only a sum of personality and achievements, but instead a multiverse where you can attach your personal fantasy. For our latest trend report, we investigated how brands are relentlessly pouring resources into capturing the ever-elusive Gen Z. Yet in an ironic twist, today's youth chase the past as they forage through a nostalgia loop.⁠ We found that the cosigning of cross-generational collaborations increased the casting of mature talent in youth magazines. The borrowing of credibility from one generation to another signals a new era of intergenerational influence, where wisdom and youth merge to redefine relevance and reshape cultural narratives. So, who really owns relevance today? Is longevity a myth? And in this era of performance, is it the digital big mouths that reap all the rewards? ⁠ Join us for ‘The Age of Relevance’ trend report live webinar. Link to sign up here: https://bit.ly/4fcDcrG

“With celebrity and relevance, it's a rotational gravity that pulls attention into orbit. You could also see it as a scaffold upon which all kinds of media, games and activities can persist like gossip, debate, fandom or controversy. It's an iterative machine... controversy, even cancellations can just keep a flywheel going for decades, right? Social media is hundreds of millions of people testing content against each other. Relevance can arise anywhere there's a strong enough resonance with the collective unconscious. Eventually, something's going to hit and vibrate something larger.” That’s just one of the nuggets of genius LIL INTERNET dropped in his conversation with MØRNING’s Strategy Lead Shadeh Kavousian. What followed was a riotous discussion spanning Azealia Banks and Milton Friedman, sincere LARPing and the attention economy, underscoring his unique perspective on our shared fascination with the digital landscape. Read the full piece over at https://lnkd.in/ejKjf-7t

Alter egos have been used since the dawn of pop culture, by everyone from MF Doom to HorsegiirL. But now, as the internet provides us with the tools to transcend the limits of self presentation, and the trend cycle has made cosplay a casual pursuit, it feels like character building is reaching fever pitch. From NPC aliases to avatars, masks to cryptic social media handles, we’re using digital alter egos to explore our deepest fantasies (good, bad and ugly). Meanwhile, a generation of young artists and creatives are using expansive characters to build (and escape to) other worlds, taking their fans along with them. ⁠ But we can’t forget about the trickier side of building yourself online. Parasocial relationships have reached their peak, and the internet threatens even the most unsuspecting of us with sixty seconds of fame (viral at best, doxxed or cancelled at worst). And so the idea of anonymity and alter egos feels all the more enticing. Does creating a character for yourself feel like a necessary protection against the jury of social media? As we collectively wrestle with these changing identity codes, search for new meaning in our human world, or look to escape it all together, the abundant realities that alter egos create for us are the perfect antidote… Read the full piece on Burn After Reading: https://lnkd.in/gRMScXwG

"I continue to wear clothes today that I've had for 20 years" "These pieces stick around for a while. They have to be made well, and they have to be considered." - #PhoebePhilo In her first interview in over a decade, Phoebe Philo shared with Vanessa Friedman of The New York Times that she is an advocate for personal style and items that "stick around for a while". Looks like Molly Rooyakkers' prediction that 2024 will be the year of ‘personal style’ holds true, as both the algorithm and industry leaders are advocating for this approach to fashion. Read Molly's article for #MØRNING here: https://lnkd.in/eF3dqweH #personalstyle #fashiontheory #newyorktimes #vanessafriedman #sustainablefashion

MØRNING, are you a #Boomer, #GenZ, #GenAlpha or *pause* #Millennial? Maybe a sucker for #nostalgia or is ageing always on your mind? 🔥 Then we want to hear from YØU 🔥 As the lines between #generations blur and pixelate, we're eager to learn more about how each generation views themselves and each other 👶 👉 👈 👵 Share your mind in our #survey and get early access to our next trend report if you do: https://lnkd.in/eqSMmHJK #research #trendreport #future

"It seems that in order to survive, the study of internet culture is a module all luxury brands must take. Signing up may not be necessary, but dropping a move or two comes highly recommended." Delivering a luxury position on #socialmedia is no easy feat, but it can be done. Øur øwn Sui Sien Donovan and Emily Chappell (Chapps) share how JACQUEMUS, Marc Jacobs, Bottega Veneta, Loewe, and Louis Vuitton keep their social presence chic. Read here: https://lnkd.in/es5dXEbG #tiktok #luxury #casestudies #socialmediamarketing