By Jase Harley
Today, most of the content creators I come across believe they should copy another winning players formula. The idea for many is, for example, by copying Beyoncé’s surprise album releases, or duplicating Carly Bybel’s YouTube playlist, or modeling Vice media’s immersive journalism style, they’ll achieve a level of similar success. They come into my studio excited and anxious to begin carrying out this supposed award-winning strategy that to them is an obvious “no brainer.” I see them working and posting online, diligent and loyal to their marketing strategy. However, about a month or two into the process I start to see things slow down and they’re no longer posting as much, their YouTube views aren’t growing fast enough and their website isn’t getting hits. They speak to me again, months later; their optimism and idealism have been replaced with an overwhelming cynicism and pessimism. What went wrong?
Most up and coming brands tend to judge their success or failure around our generations obsession with overnight celebrity. This causes them to set unrealistic goals of achievement for themselves based on this idea of instant fame. Our culture is less worried about originality because in our minds the end justifies the means. Copying someone else’s brand, ideas, or style is no longer off limits as long as it…
