[SIC] DAY THREE HUNDRED FOURTEEN

Vol 3. No. 33. Tuesday post on Wednesday (so I unlocked it).

[SIC] DAY THREE HUNDRED FOURTEEN

An observation about things happening these days:

Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, is promoting his newest album, SABLE, fABLE, with in-person basketball tourneys. On Saturday (April 13), the Terasaki Budokan in Los Angeles will host Live Inside This State Fair, a gathering of fun diversions that includes a basketball tournament featuring "Justin Vernon and friends." And, as The Fader continues,

If you don't live in Los Angeles, this Wednesday (April 9) fans worldwide will be able to congregate and hear a preview of the album together in-person for what's being dubbed "fABLE sPACES." The album will be played on loop between 4PM-7PM, and you can find a list of participating locations here.

Elsewhere, the just-launched tennis apparel brand Spence launched with a trunkshow and pizza party at the Charleston Open that was light on serves and volleys but went heavy on slices and vibes.

More: last Saturday cheeky retrograde sunscreen slingers Vacation debuted their Walk Club in Miami, a winning riff on Run Club fever that’s just about showing up and … walking. In the sunshine. With people.

And last night mentalwellnesscore brand Madhappy brought together “friends for a night of rides, games, prizes & food on Thursday, may 8th. [From which] all proceeds will benefit the jed foundation, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to young adult mental health, supporting los angeles schools and districts in need.”

madhappy

A post shared by @madhappy

Examples go on: What does modern basket making look like? Basketclub is a gesture to explore, as It’s Nice That notes.

This phenomenon, newly re-cast as ‘experiential community building’ by the marketing world, has existed forever. What’s new about these moments is they are beginning to decouple from a product-transaction-driven reason for being (what we buy), and are now centering themselves around reasons why we gather (to play, to talk, to observe each other). I am too old and too jaded to relate this to ‘touching grass’ or whatever the mental health imperative of Gen Z is, but it’s related for sure, and also a signal of the return of the marketing pendulum swing toward ‘brand,’ away from ‘performance.’

Even What the Closet Sale Craze Says About Shopping builds the case. As BoF contends, “The grassroots trend is indicative of consumer cravings for more curation, uniqueness and personality when it comes to buying clothes.” But it’s also about standing in line, looking cute with other cute people looking cute.

How to Be Fashionable or Consume Like Me, in other words. Andy Enright FTW.

Or, seen another way, an innate desire for Fourth Spaces as defined in the Protein post linked, to congregate “Where the boundaries of home, work, online and community meet and dissolve.”

We talked a bunch about this on HIP REPLACEMENT Ep5: Nico Cevallos, where Nico pointed Kyle and me to the idea of Fourth Spaces (whose definition was inspired by an an Eventbrite report which outlines how 84% of Gen Y and Zers are forming friendships through interest-based events).

And, ironically, to the announcement of Apple Invites, which looks like Cupertino’s attempt at a Partiful / Eventbrite-killer, disguised as a community builder.

It’s just business, after all.

[SIC] DAY THREE HUNDRED FOURTEEN