Cultivating community: How brands can nurture a different growth model

Simon Harwood

Community can be a rich lever for brands from across the spectrum to explore, from startups pioneering new models for growth to long-established brands collaborating with communities in ways that are transformative for both.

The super-fragmentation of audiences and media accelerated by the creator economy, the demise of cookie-based targeting and the shift away from linear viewing all pose challenges to communications planning. 

There will always be room on the plan for big set-pieces, those Super Bowl moments of costly signalling which will become increasingly valuable through scarcity. But there’s more than one way to build reach, desire and trust. If you have a strong sense of what you’re about, the core brand idea can be interpreted across diverse communities of interest and many different forms of creator expression without losing shared...

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