State of Content: Community Relevance is the new Cultural Relevance
Hakeem Ducksworth at Wilson Park in Compton, CA for the LA Galaxy
Businesses these days are obsessed with cultural relevance. That’s their goal. And to get there, they hire influencers, spend millions on endorsement contracts, and give money to publishers to borrow audiences. I've been a part of enough of these campaigns to know that there are short term gains and spikes, but they’re short lived. There is no long term impact. And we’re entering a time where impact is what consumers care about the most.
Now more than ever, consumers are understanding the power that they wield and are being more selective in who they choose to support with their attention, follows, and hard earned money. According to PR Daily, 65% of consumers are more likely to support a brand that cares about the same social issues they do, and more than half of consumers are wanting brands to stand up for social issues. In other words, consumers are more concerned with brands that are relevant to them and the causes that they support.
As a creative director in advertising, my career success has been found in creating stories around things and communities that I'm passionate about. I started my career in the world of Hip-Hop and streetwear. I became skilled in creating content for brands that were relevant to these niche communities. This kind of work has often led me to be recruited by agencies as the "culturally relevant" guy. But the more work I did at the agency level, the more I realized that agencies and their clients didn’t know the difference between earning cultural relevance and chasing short term attention. If my experience has taught me one thing, it’s this– to get the results they were looking for, they needed to forget about cultural relevance, and focus on community relevance.
So when I say community, this can be the audience that you serve with your product or the physical/online community that you build around shared passions. Finding ways to serve these communities is the secret to gaining true relevance.
With this mindset I've created documentaries for brands that portray Black and Brown communities with dignity, pitched and built brand sponsored spaces that elevate and empower undiscovered artists, and designed ambassador programs for sports teams that push them to engage the communities in their own backyard.
When you find and serve your community authentically and consistently, you create an army of influencers, endorsers, and publishers that care passionately about your brand and because they do, they will make you relevant.
Here are some practical ways that we can move from chasing cultural relevance to serving for community relevance:
Build a community. Whether that be online, IRL
Add value. How can you use your product or platform to build bridges, overcome obstacles for your community?
Behave selflessly. The bottom line shouldn’t always be sales.
Put your money where your mouth is. It shows communities that you’re not there to exploit, but to invest.
So if you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, or agent of change in your organization or community, remember that there is no shortcut to relevance. Relevance is earned over time through an entrenched stance and dedication to the community you serve.
