Dear Creators of Contents and Things and Services:
I write to you at a moment of inflection.
Through events not entirely of any one person's making, we have arrived at moment of unparalleled opportunity.
First, due to events out there in the real world, there has been a sea change shift in direction that is manifesting itself now even as I write. Based on reactions (even within the last week), there is a great retraction of policies and practices that have been in place for the last 6 to 8 years (or even a little longer). This is not my opinion: companies of all kinds are walking back what had been the overt practices of the past years. For the first time in perhaps a decade, "having an opinion" that is not what was mainstream is now both okay - and in vogue.
Second, the existing intellectual properties and platforms that have filled the entertainment arenas and leisure times have either burned themselves to the ground or are in the process of doing so. Of the franchises and lines of my own youth, none of them exist as the powerhouses they were. They remain crumbling edifices, empires in a race to withdraw to their core before they are extinguished.
Thirdly, we are entering what could only be construed as a time of economic turmoil. Even with the best of outcomes, we have a long painful haul before we reach actual economic prosperity, not just a pretend prosperity largely fueled by money that we do not have being spent on corporations that return little to the land of their purchasers.
Now, more than ever, we need you.
We need your new ideas. We need your new worlds, be they in film or streaming or written word or games or photographs or art. We need your things, be they grown food or handmade goods or services.
We need the things done by you.
A meteor of sorts hit the established world in the recent past, a meteor whose impact continues to ripple out in real time. The large corporations and firms and "establishments" are the dinosaurs of this time, ponderously working to adapt to the times. The small creator, the small maker, can be responsive in a way the large organization cannot. They are far more adaptable and far more responsive - partially, yes, because of their size, but also partially because of the fact that they have a connection with their customer or fan base, not just a webpage or media presences where inputs only go one way.
There is no barrier to entry by any of the usual metrics. And one might think I am arguing for "one side" to create. Not at all; I encourage all those metrics to create - with the understanding that in a way that has been forgotten in a generation, the market - the customers, the fans, the clientele - will determined your success or failure, not far away investment firms or overbearing activists who offer no financial support but only conditions for acceptance.
The world is open in a way it was not even a year ago. Go Ye forth, and be creative.
Your Obedient Servant, Toirdhealbheach Beucail
The great social experiment failed.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, it seems as if it had. The sad part to me is that a great many people who were not directly part of it will be directly impacted by it. And a great many people who were directly part of it have a very steep learning curve.
DeleteI do not think the economic issues would have been undone no matter who was victorious in the recent election. But a lot of the hidden-ness of it all - the "borrowing and credit" economy - is about to come to a screeching halt.
Ah......changes to things, those providing services and creating content......remember that old slogan.....:Adapt or die"? Like that last sentence of yours TB..."but only conditions of acceptance", more like DEMANDS shouted endlessly.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, one of the more interesting things I heard in the last 10 years or so was the revisiting of the idea that "the customer is always right". In point of fact the customer pays the bills, so at worst that makes them worth listening to. Too many companies seem to have forgotten that.
DeletePerhaps I'm misinterpreting things but isn't the way things have always been? Throughout time, hasn't there always been those quick and nimble companies that connect with the people that have eventually grown big and rigid and became obsolete? I'm thinking about Polaroid, Blockbuster, Blackberry, PanAm, Radio Shack, etc.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought that is why people like Elon Musk are so successful in that they continually start up these quick and nimble companies and then hire others to run them on a day to day basis when they are slow rigid behemoths so he can focus on the next start up enterprise, perhaps our own government by the looks of things these days.
Ed, I have probably made my point awkwardly (as I often seem to do).
DeleteIn point of fact small companies are usually quick and nimble, and to your point they grow to the point of rigidity (Ah Blackberry. One of the technologies that grew and perished without ever having owned one). What seems different to me in the last four years or so is that large companies have not been responsive to their customer base yet seemingly have continued to double down on their offerings. Telling people what they want or should enjoy is a terrible marketing strategy, at least in the past - yet in my example of media and entertainment companies, they have suffered significant underperformance issues with their offerings yet blame their customer base for not understanding that that "this" is what they want (The same issue is present in things like automobiles, for example: hybrids make sense and internal combustion is not going away, yet companies have doubled and tripled down on electric only vehicles. Layoffs are happening in that industry and will continue do so; on the bright side, the used car market will be healthy). Things have been made for audiences and markets that do no exist yet rather than respond to the poor performance, money has been made available because they checked the right boxes. That money is now running out and the customer base has walked away. Were I a shareholder in these companies, I would be pursuing fiduciary irresponsibility cases.
I think your assessment of Musk is correct, although his companies seem much less rigid that the sorts of corporations that I would traditionally think of in that way. To his credit, he realizes what he is good at and what he is not good at and moves on - that said, he seems to keep pretty close tabs on his various enterprises.
TB, this is a most excellent description of what has happened - IMO. I'm completely confused by it - feeling as if we're all suddenly living in some parallel universe to the one we were living in two weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your challenge for creators of all stripes to create. While, I, personally don't see myself writing about social or political issues, or anything terribly controversial (mostly because I don't want to invest myself emotionally in that kind of work), I DO want to read what all kinds of people have to say. I feel like an opportunity (that I don't understand) suddenly opened up, and I pray that people will use it responsibly - writing and talking with clear heads how they see the world, and how they see the solutions - with less anger and over wrought emotion. I don't think this is going to come easy or quickly, but I suddenly feel a hope that younger generations might actually solve some problems they have successfully, if awkwardly (to put it nicely) brought to light. Maybe a back and forth can actually happen between powers that be, where solutions can start to manifest.
Becki - I think time will tell, but I suspect this is what a revolutionary moment looks like - not in the sense of "The Revolution", but in the way that the world functions. It literally can change in a day.
DeleteI, too, am hopeful that people will start doing all the things - writing, telling stories by video and movies and games, etc. I do like your caveat of "responsibly". That matters a great deal. It is easy to, to use your phrase in reverse, react with more anger and overwrought emotions. It is much more difficult to do so calmly, clearly, and with thought to all the audience, not just the audience you prefer.
If polls suggest anything, it is that a great many people are looking at the world a different way. May that lead to conversation and renewal.