Designing 2050: “Brands Should Be Thinking About Community Building”

Matt> My greatest wish is to bring community back and have the world think more about people in a positive way. What we're doing in advertising is targeting people and selling to them but I think brands should be thinking about community building as well. We’ve completely lost it in my opinion. We’ve built micro towns outside of regular towns and villages. Social media has killed community - where the word ‘social’ comes into it I don’t know. You need to get people to start caring about each other again. I really think advertisers, brands and agencies should be thinking about how they can solve local problems.

Matt> I've got an idea that I think could change everything. To me, it’s all about community - and seasonally-based food. At the moment we tend to shop in supermarkets buying products that are artificially made to last longer so they don’t taste as good. So I’ve got an idea: thatsyourlot.co

I live in a great village in Essex with a fantastic community where there’s lots of land that can be used. There’s an old lady that lives in the village by herself with a huge house and no one around her. So what about if she started using her garden and many others as microfarms to produce food for the local community? Proper seasonal food, locally built and sold back to the community. Community is all about getting together and eating so this idea makes great use out of our land and gives back to people. The old lady will no longer be on her own anymore either as she will be regularly chatting to locals.

Micro-farming has already proven to be way cleaner than traditional farming in America. You can farm a smaller piece of land with less people and less machinery. You keep food local, farming local and selling local so there’s no fuel used in deliveries.

Matt> I think humans will become more important than ever. We’re all freaking out about tech all the time - there’s always something. The year before it was the metaverse, now it’s AI. They will definitely find their place but it won’t replace us. It can do clever things over time and do things smarter but it can’t ever replace human interaction. What we need to do is to work out how to best use it and that’s the biggest challenge we’ve got. We’ve got no idea at the moment really. It seems to me that the world is obsessed by tech, especially within our industry. Advertisers and marketers love thinking about new stuff instead of what they should be doing which is thinking about people first. 

The industry always seems to have a new thing to stress about and make a lot of noise about every year. When really what we should be worrying about is how to make great advertising. We’re about selling product and we’ve lost that in our worry about tech and the next new thing.

Matt> Again, it comes down to getting people talking to each other and making the right choices. We need brands to also really get on board and be honest about what they’re selling and how things are made. Governments and brands need to take the lead on pushing the right stuff. It can’t just be about making money - we’re too far into a mess for that.

We’re making a lot of noise in the western world about things like South Americans cutting down forests. But why are they doing it? Because we’re asking them to so we can create lithium farms for mobile phones. It's ridiculous. We all need to be more honest and stop making rash decisions without thinking about long-term consequences.

We need to create businesses with purpose. That’s always been my view. We need to think harder about people, what we’re producing and what your company stands for - why does it exist? I’m not anti-capitalist, we just need to think about why and how we make our money rather than just focusing on your bottom line.

During covid there was a huge trend for businesses getting rid of their office spaces for example, so people could work from home as a positive. But I don’t think there’s anything positive about that. In the end, that’s not good for people and it removes community and human interaction. It isolates people.

Matt> I think there will always be space for independent local shops which people will want to go and visit in person and spend their money on. There will always be Amazons and easy places for people to buy what they need but that will be for standard items.

If we’re looking for a cleaner future, the idea of driving miles to a supermarket doesn’t fit. So it’ll all be about local independents within walking distance. I do think cash will disappear though.

Matt> I’d love to see older and younger generations interacting more. I think there’s a weird divide where younger people don’t feel that the older people know what’s relevant and the older people don’t think the younger people have any idea. We need to discuss more. Listen to diverse opinions. Listen to people. Hear more ideas.

Matt> Totally. We’re living in a hard place at the moment with climate change and wars but I’ve got to go back to community again. We need to get people talking more. I’m optimistic about the new generation. As humans, we’re beginning to accept people more and that’s only going to lead to better communication and better ideas. It will help us all think in a slightly less limited way. So I’m always optimistic but we need to think about the way we form businesses and we need to talk more.