The $38 billion case for fan culture - Jodie Fullagar

Thank you, Joe.

Um, we're using new technology, so I'm just gonna check that you can still see my screen.

And obviously, Joe, jump in if, um, what I'm talking about doesn't correspond [laughs] with the slide.

[laughs] No worries.

Um, but assuming it's all working fine, um, I will kick off.

So yeah, firstly, just want to say thank you to Joe and Joe for inviting me to speak today, um, about something I'm so passionate about, um, and that is the power of fandom.

Um, and more importantly, the business we're all in, uh, the opportunity for brands to unlock that fandom.

So, um, my provocation today is for all of us to stop thinking and talking to audiences and stop thinking about our consumers as audiences and start thinking about them as fans and how we can talk to them as fans.

And hopefully by the end of this presentation, I'll convince you as a marketeer, um, to reevaluate your approach to audiences.

Um, I don't feel like I need to do that now 'cause I've had a really amazing introduction from Joe.

So yeah, this is me.

Um, I think the only thing to add to what, uh, Joe said is that I'm, uh, a fan myself, of course.

So, um, massive fan of cinema.

Um, and when I say cinema, I mean going to the cinema like, um, I hope e- everyone, uh, does and will continue to do, um, so that it stays alive.

Uh, reading, live music, and, uh, podcasts generally, but particularly politics podcasts.

So I always think it's nice to just put a bit of, like, a human touch, especially as I'm about to talk about fandom.

Um, and I think actually, um, always good for you all to think about, you know, what you're fans of as well, because it might sort of trigger some questions towards the, the Q&A, um, and get you in sort of the right frame of mind for, uh, what we're about to talk about.

So very quickly, at Run Deep, this is what we do.

So I'm not gonna talk about Run Deep.

I'm gonna talk about, you know, a point of view on fandom that I'm really passionate about.

But I do think it's important to kind of give you a sense of, like, the legitimacy that I have, um, on this subject because, you know, it's very much at the, at the core of what we do at Run Deep.

So we, we promise to take brands to the heart of fan culture.

And the reason we do this is because we believe in sort of three fundamental things, um, which really boil down to the fact that brands need to be relevant to survive.

Um, I imagine that's inarguable for most people, uh, on this call.

But our perspective is that being relevant means being culturally relevant.