The Culture of Subcultures
What are consumers interested in and why?
1. The flattening of culture.
People are catching onto the intrusive influence of algorithmic recommendations, questioning whether they can even form independent interests today. New Yorker writer Kyle Chayka’s latest book, Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture, sums it up perfectly, examining a world ruled by algorithms where culture is homogenized, and interests are cloned to the benefit of efficiency-optimized consumerism.
What does this mean for the future brand-consumer dynamic?
Traditional demographics like age, gender, geography, race, and ethnicity will evade marketers trying to anticipate interests and relevance for consumer segments. Adopting a fluid approach to mindset and mood-mapping is key.
Personal taste, from fashion to food and music, has been erased, but consumers are aware of the manipulative cycle and will make a concerted effort to take back free will in the face of Big Tech determinism.
Brands that prioritize shareability over true innovation and creativity will eventually fall out of favor with consumers who appreciate diversity of taste and experience.
2. The fading of subcultures.
This flattening effect is particularly dominant amongst teenagers and teenage subcultures, as their desire to fit in makes them more vulnerable to algorithmic mind control. Instead of a real, pulsing subculture scene, they have only images and visuals. Take Olivia Rodrigo’s tween cult-fandom as case-in-point. Tweens are appropriating the 21-year-old pop-star’s grunge aesthetic, but they can’t participate in the actual activities of grunge culture like drinking and partying. On its surface, this is great for fashion retailers as they can easily sell to aesthetic subcultures of the moment. However, this will eventually be seen as disingenuous. Future opportunity lies in propping up real-life experiences and knowledge around subcultures that truly align with a brand’s ethos.
3. The return of the band.
Coming off an era of house and electronic music dominating culture, the good old fashioned rock band comes back into consumers’ crosshairs, scratching an itch for traditional analog activity.
How we got here & where it’s going:
House music saturation led to other subgenres of EDM with a wider range of tempo. Sounds of drum kits replaced that of the all-powerful pulsing house beat, blurring the lines of EDM and rock.
Now, genre-bending artists like Kenya Grace are making electronic music you could imagine a live band performing. At the same time, smaller ensemble bands like The Thing are growing cult followings harkening back to golden-age rock of the 70s, musically and aesthetically.
Rock will continue to find new appeal with young men as they seek emotional outlets for mental health benefits. Instrumental rock music gets positioned as something cathartic and tactile, off-screens, while maintaining an air of masculinity—a tale as old as time boosted by today’s mental health context.
This is your cue to lean into hometown-hero band partnerships, rock-n-roll aesthetics, and small-scale music-centric meetups.
4. Anime goes mainstream.
Once hanging on the fringes of culture, Anime earns cool-kid status with a robust following of consumers emboldened to geek out on niche interests amid a Japanese culture renaissance in the West. First came high fashion iterations—Loewe’s Spirited Away collection and Anime hairstyles at Paris Fashion Week. Now come mainstream initiatives—McDonald’s partnership with Anime Studio Pierrot and Megan Thee Stallion’s collaboration with Anime streaming service Crunchyroll. Expect this to gain more traction and become comparable to evergreen licenses like Peanuts or Marvel.
5. Comedy as the voice of reason.   Â
YouTube, podcasts, and TikTok democratized standup comedy. Now elevated to super-celebrity status, comedians become voices of reason as consumers question traditional authority figures. A new generation of aspiring comics forms, from Matt Rife and Jaqueline Novak to Liz Kingsman and Jake Shane. They’re looking to tell the truth and push back on years of censorship with a healthy dose of fun, influencing a bolder, more outlandish late-night cable comedy scene—even the most established comedians as Jon Stewart are loosening up. Expect this new age of comedy to gain clout and influence culture like music did for fashion.
