“My vision is for strangers to become acquaintances, acquaintances to become friends, and friends to become family.” Those were the words branding and marketing icon Gary Vaynerchuk spoke in front of thousands of attendees in Los Angeles during his closing remarks at Veecon 2024.
Many of us spend more time staring at our screens – our phones, laptops, flat screens – than at each other these days. A shift is happening almost without us noticing: The information we get from technology is becoming more artificial, but people are trying to balance it with a desire for more authenticity and connection.
We are moving from an online creator economy to a relationship economy. This is the next wave. Over a billion people have phones that can take photos, videos, and record songs, and anyone can call themselves a photographer, musician, influencer, or celebrity. The vast majority of people have never heard of them. So how do we break through the noise of this online noise?
Music artist Amanda Palmer is an early example of this shift. Her 2012 Kickstarter campaign was hailed as the first by a musician to raise more than $1 million. Her subsequent book and TED talk, “The Power of Asking,” showcase her knack for relationship economics: She preferred to be with her fans (at the time) rather than rent hotel rooms while on tour.
Another example of the relationship economy is physical rather than digital. Spago, the hip restaurant brand created by legendary chef Wolfgang Puck and his business partner and ex-wife Barbara Lazaroff, has locations all over the world. I visited their Beverly Hills location and was amazed to see Puck himself going from table to table, talking to customers. It made me feel like I was meeting a celebrity, a celebrity who made me, a complete stranger, feel like I was dining at home rather than in public.
Barbara Lazaroff also introduced herself and even gave me her contact details when I said I would come again. When I came back to celebrate my birthday, she asked the waiter to surprise me with a cake, sat me down and sang happy birthday to me. Who would do that? I’m a complete stranger, but I feel like I’ve made a new friend.
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The post-COVID film and television industry is also experiencing major changes. While blockbuster series attract many people, an equal number of great script ideas remain untapped. To fill that gap, startups like Legion M are using a new model of crowdfunding. Movie fans can invest in the company and become shareholders. “By giving fans ownership of the company and a say in the process, we are cultivating an audience that is financially and emotionally invested in the success of our projects. Such an audience can generate the real grassroots buzz that studios desperately crave but money can’t buy,” the company states on its website. (I have no affiliation with them other than having bought tickets to Legion M movies.)
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for influencers, innovators and creators. Am I eligible to join?
It can feel overwhelming for creatives of all genres as they are pushed out of the creative world and forced to become self-promoters and self-marketers to grab attention. It’s more than our brains can handle. Throw in artificial intelligence and it’s no wonder we want to tuck ourselves in bed and hide under the covers, rather than pen that next inspirational song, paint a new painting, write a book, or start a new company that will shock the universe.
We form communities based on commonalities: religion, sports, music, festivals, bands. Now, with the freedom to click, we can dive into the online multiverse. In the summer of 2024, thousands of fans from around the world traveled to Europe to see Taylor Swift in concert. The cost and effort of flights, hotels, meals, and concert tickets is a relationship — not just to the megastar herself, but to fellow Swift fans as well.
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So what’s the lesson for you? What steps can you, our readers, take to embrace this cultural shift? The answer is, if you can’t join others, make one. A photographer friend of mine recently started a community for other photographers. They host meetups in Brooklyn, where they share their work and connections happen organically.
You can also get involved with charities in your field. The people you work with could be your next business partner, investor, or lucky break. My personal way of building relationships is to host a salon-like dinner party once a month in my apartment in Los Angeles. I invite my usual friends, but also acquaintances I’d like to develop into friends.
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Back at Veecon 2024, instead of being in an air-conditioned waiting room behind security with famous guest speakers like Will.i.am, Nick Cannon, and Arianna Huffington, Vee was outside in the blazing sun, shaking hands with so-called regular people for hours every day. Attendees who came from far and wide paid to come to Veecon, now in its third year. His mother, father, and fiancé were there too, but he had to share his time and attention with the thousands of people who were registered as his global “soul” family. Most people waited all day just to shake his hand and take a selfie with him. This person-to-person connection forms a bond that no ClickFunnel, online course, or book can create.
The clicks and likes aren’t what will be engraved on our gravestones when we die. It’s the people, the relationships we’ve built, the experiences we’ve shared that will be engraved on our gravestones at the end of our lives. That’s the gold at the end of the rainbow.
