From Communities to Cult Brands

The modern consumer is no longer willing to sit in “listen only” mode. Instead they desire to participate in a way that allows them to connect, collaborate, and feel a sense of ownership in brands they trust. Going forward, brands that have the ability to leverage physical and digital space simultaneously to create connections amongst their consumer base will have a competitive advantage. We're on a journey to explore this new landscape for music by building Phlote into a first-of-its-kind music brand that offers the millions of musicians who are on the outside looking in, the ability to participate in the music industry in a brand new way.

But how did we arrive at this point? Let's take a step back to see how we got here:

In the past, brands held a significant advantage. With limited distribution channels, they could easily capture the audience's attention through advertising. The communication path was one-way → from the brand to the consumer. This model worked for years, allowing consumer brands the ability to relentlessly serve us with ads until brand recognition was seared into our conscious.

Then, the arrival of the internet changed the game. Attention was now decentralized, making it more difficult and expensive for brands to reach their audiences. To adapt, many brands deployed targeted ads and began to espouse metrics like customer acquisition costs (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV) to benchmark their effectiveness.

The emergence of social media marked the next phase. Forward thinking brands recognized the value of engaging in conversation with their audience, transforming communication into a two-way street. Social media platforms facilitated this transition, giving consumers a new voice to communicate with and steer the conversation.

Today, the most progressive brands are leaning into the trend started on social by focusing their efforts on building communities. No longer is it just about talking to the consumer; it's about enabling consumers to talk to and connect with each another with brands playing a central role in fostering these connections. This model has been successfully employed by private clubs like SoHo House, but few others in the grand scheme. The benefit to the consumer is the comfort that comes from knowing that their among like-minded peers.

It’s possible that the next phase in this evolution could be a brand that not only brings people together, but brings them together to collaborate. The focus shifts from, "I'm here to meet you," to, "Now that we're here, what are we creating together?"

The best brands will provide a digital platform for their global audience to come together, connect, AND collaborate, using the internet to connect people across geography and reinforcing those “digital” connections with physical experiences. To date, we have not seen a brand execute this playbook, but we will.

The goal is to create opportunities for members to meet, collaborate, and create together. Experiences are designed to be memorialized through the creation of physical or digital products, allowing the consumer to participate in new ways and leading brands to become more bottoms-up and emergent.

In our case, we do this through recording sessions, a natural way for our community of musicians to come together, connect, and collaborate. Our digital home, Phlote.xyz, allows our global network to grow and participate. Our product becomes a generative art practice that sets the stage for serendipity to happen.

With this model is place, our focus is on providing our community with the tools and resources they need to create at the highest level. The question is how do we help members of Team Phlote become better artists?

As we look at the landscape today, the most exciting brands are those that are building communities digitally, reinforcing those bonds through collaborative events, and transforming members of their community in the process.

Interested in joining a next generation music brand?

Apply to join us on Team Phlote.