Tout Part en Live (It’s all Kicking off)

Even if that revolutionary vision has not come into full fruition, what stands today is the power of individuality. The control the internet has provided for millions and millions of awkward teenagers, goths, emos, befreckled, bespectacled, rotund, androgynous and other hitherto uncelebrated individuals, has led to a paradigm-shift in popular culture on a staggering scale and changed the definition of ‘aspiration’ itself for good: there is no definition. This mammoth shift has not just transformed IRL culture, but also many of the multi-billion worldwide industries in terms of inclusion and marketing models. This leaves us with a pertinent question: How should brands continue to speak to the ever-growing cultures of new digital audiences, in a meaningful way?

In the densely populated domain of brand strategy, ‘authenticity’ has become a thoroughly hackneyed term. The ubiquitous drive for it means that brands often fall into the trap of broadcasting out through a metaphorical megaphone, with no sensitivity to the nuances of their various audiences' receptivity. An equal and opposite bad habit is that of holding up mirrors to their target customers. The thinking seems to be: if we look like them and dress like them and talk like them, then they will somehow all get drawn in by our Pied-Piperesque siren songs. Magical thinking? Both approaches are a bit yawnsville and certainly wouldn’t cut it with the new generation of creators and entrepreneurs.

If, instead, a brand focuses on creating a language around the relationship (between them and their audiences) – with relationship defined here as two entities plus the space in between those two entities – there is more possibility of a dialogue rather than a monologue. And richer creative possibilities.  

In comes Twitch. An incubator of creativity within the incubator. More than just a ‘live’-stream gaming platform, it’s a raw and real space for the newly defined audience of hobbyist creators. These are progressive and passionate entrepreneurs making a living out of what they love to do.

“There is equally a space for you, aspiring-creator, to get an unrivalled, unrestricted window directly into these creators’ lives and in turn get charged up. Raw energy, ricocheting outwards.”  

Shout outs to the campaigns’ ‘creators’ (the likes of fantasy gamer Maghla, eSports organiser Kamet0 and ZeratoR, entertainers Domingo and mistermv, and artistic book worm Bulledop – all with followers in the 100s of Ks) subtly echo the nature of this relationship between the brand and its audience (a gentle whisper: ‘we support you, we champion you’). And then the verbal sledgehammer – ‘Tout Part en Live’ (It’s All Kicking Off ) – frames the unrestricted sense of possibility.

Twitch embodies a space where everyone’s welcome and where everyone can start to craft their own personal brand. There are no fixed rules, no single target markets, no sure-fire marketing tools and tactics – it’s the wild West of social engagement. The embodiment of the power of individualism. And a space where the relationship itself between the brand, the creators and the creators-to-be can become a self-generating hub of creativity.