Episode 9

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Published on:

20th Feb 2025

The Society of Spectacle

The culture of hype (streetwear, cronuts, Gone Girl, Hamilton...) got replaced by the society of spectacle (fashion shows, Olympics, SuperBowl, Barbieheimer). Everything is a spectacle if you lead with celebrities, promote it wildly, and spend enough money on it. Spectacles grab our attention and fizzle in one summer or shorter. In this episode, Rei and Ana talk about SuperBowl's half show, why sports is the only thing that unifies us these days, and whether can hype make a comeback.

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Transcript
Rei:

Well, Ana, good to see you.

Rei:

How are you?

Rei:

Oh, by the way, happy Valentine's day.

Ana:

Oh, happy Valentine's day to all of you.

Ana:

That's true.

Rei:

After this is done in the afternoon, I'm going to have to, go get some flowers for my wifey.

Ana:

Oh, that's nice.

Rei:

You know,

Ana:

Brian is in Miami, which is like in our signature fashion of Europe.

Rei:

of

Ana:

are spending, we don't care about, I

Rei:

of course,

Rei:

welcome to hitmakers how brands influence culture where every other week we explore cultural influence and how brands create it.

Ana:

I'm Ana Andjelic.

Ana:

I'm author of Hitmakers and the Business of Aspiration and a brand executive.

Rei:

And I'm Rei Inamoto.

Rei:

I'm a creative entrepreneur and a founding partner of a global innovation firm based in New York, Tokyo and Singapore called I&CO.

Ana:

First of all, if you like what we are talking about, make sure that you like us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and YouTube and pass it on to whoever you think you may like.

Ana:

And big shout out to Vanja Arsenov, our great producer, who makes sure that we sound amazing.

Rei:

right, let's get to it.

Rei:

So that the topic that we are talking about, and, it's a timely topic, especially in light of the Superbowl that just happened about five days ago.

Rei:

So by the time, It's about 10 days, after the Superbowl and we're not necessarily talking about the event, but the role of, Ana, what you call spectacles and specifically spectacle or hype.

Rei:

So do you want to talk about, uh, just in, in general, what spectacles spectacles are and the role that they play, especially as they relate to brands?

Ana:

Absolutely.

Ana:

And I think that what's, what's really important here is to distinguish spectacle and hype in relation to culture.

Ana:

And I feel that in the past 20 years, maybe since the 90s, the culture was built through hype, which means something that starts in a Supreme drops.

Ana:

Virgil's, Virgil Blocks Off White, and other sort of, 3 percent interventions, streetwear brands, food trends, and so on.

Ana:

So that was kind of something that started very small, and then slowly over time was, built into something that the mainstream was hyped up about.

Ana:

But the step is to first be very niche, very small, very analog, very offline, and very specific to a subculture or a community.

Ana:

Number one.

Ana:

Spectacles start in mainstream.

Ana:

They're made to maximum number of people, and maximum attention for a very short period of time.

Ana:

So you have the spectacle of the Olympic Games, last summer.

Ana:

You have spectacle of Super Bowl, which is traditional annual.

Ana:

spectacle.

Ana:

And then, then you have minor spectacles.

Ana:

There may be World Cup that's coming up.

Ana:

And, like mostly these are sporting events, but there were also luxury fashion events in the form of the fashion shows, especially at LVMH and

Ana:

especially with collaborations with like RihAna on there or Pharrell's joining menswear and what he did.

Ana:

for his inaugural show.

Ana:

So I think the two formats that are very fitting to do different moments in culture.

Ana:

How do you think about it,

Rei:

couple of things.

Rei:

One is, and this is more of a series of questions just to unpack what we mean by hype versus spectacle and making sure that we are talking about the same thing.

Rei:

So hype could be a trend, whereas a spectacle.

Rei:

Do you associate spectacle with an event?

Rei:

Does it always have to be an event?

Ana:

It doesn't have to be an event, but what is important about spectacle is that it involves advertising, PR, celebrity, and media.

Ana:

Hype usually involves a product, a behavior, mood, taste.

Ana:

Spectacle is completely manufactured by advertising media PR machinery.

Rei:

right.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

So it's done with some kind of either motive or an intention by somebody or some organization to, to create attention.

Ana:

It has to be staged.

Ana:

It

Rei:

Yeah.

Ana:

to be

Rei:

Yeah.

Ana:

So, Olympic Games are staged.

Ana:

Pharrell Fashion Show was staged a couple of years ago.

Ana:

Super Bowl is staged.

Ana:

So, and, and it's covered by mass media and all sorts of media involve the celebrity, yes.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

So you said add,

Ana:

doesn't actually happen like hype does

Rei:

Yeah, hype, hype could could happen organically.

Rei:

It could also happen accidentally,

Ana:

always exactly.

Ana:

You very rarely can engineer hype.

Ana:

You absolutely can, but then you're nearing the spectacle because

Rei:

Right, right,

Ana:

PR and marketing media, then it becomes something that has more to do with, how should I say?

Ana:

It's like, it's more like advertising,

Rei:

yeah, yeah.

Ana:

something that is very organically cultural.

Rei:

Do you think, this is an old example, but do you think something like the Barbie movie a couple years ago, was that a hype or was that a spectacle?

Ana:

Oh, that is spectacle.

Rei:

That's a spectacle.

Ana:

all the memes around that.

Ana:

It's anything that captures mass attention at one point of time.

Rei:

Yeah, yeah.

Rei:

But in

Ana:

never

Ana:

catches attention of the mainstream until it's over.

Rei:

right, right, right, right.

Rei:

But like in the case of say Barbie as a franchise and a Barbie as a movie, what ignited that spectacle was not a

Rei:

physical event like the Olympics or the Superbowl, but it was a piece of, IP or piece of content, i. e. the movie that was

Ana:

I also think it was a lot of, like, red carpet, it was a

Rei:

oh, right, right, right, right.

Ana:

advertising, it was the entire marketing around it, so it doesn't need to, it has to be staged, and everything about Barbie movie was staged.

Rei:

And created creative or to you, to use it was manufactured.

Ana:

push that cost inordinate amount of money.

Rei:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rei:

So, just at the beginning, you know, as I mentioned, we, we had the Super Bowl, last weekend.

Rei:

It was a, definitely a spectacle.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

There was some hype around it, before, but definitely after, especially the hype around the halftime and the feud between, you know, Kendrick, Lamar and, Drake and things like that.

Rei:

And just to talk about the Superbowl a little bit, and I'm not a huge football fan and I don't even watch the Superbowl.

Rei:

I could, I mean, I, do I care?

Rei:

Not really, to be honest, not really.

Rei:

I could like, if, you know, if it, if it wasn't in my life, I wouldn't necessarily miss it, but it's.

Rei:

One of the very, very few mass media, spectacles or mass media events that brands do tap into.

Rei:

and I might be biased, but this year, at least the.

Rei:

Talk or the chatter after the fact, and then at least what I'm catching and what I'm hearing.

Rei:

I feel like 90 percent of the conversation this year is about the halftime show

Rei:

and Kendrick Lamar, you know, there was Taylor Swift last year was, was, she was kind of like the, the

Rei:

girl, you know, she was, the topic of the talk, but this year she, you know, she even got booed, I guess.

Rei:

And it's the, the, the spectacle that was the, the halftime and then maybe a little bit about different brands and, you know,

Rei:

the, the commercials that, that air, that air during the, the event throughout, but the, the main topic is not even the game.

Rei:

That happened between the two teams, but really only like 10, 15 minutes of the, the four hour ordeal that is catching all of the air.

Rei:

I feel like,

Ana:

Yeah, but that's always the case because the game itself, it's like it's artificially made to last that long because of that's what everything that happens in between all the ads and so on.

Ana:

So when the game is good, of course, the game is going to be talked about this time.

Ana:

The game was not good in a sense that he cleaned the house.

Ana:

So, you know, it was not like, I think it's like.

Ana:

If the game is, like, it's unfair to say, oh, but I do think that, what made that half time so impactful was the mood was right for that, this

Rei:

Yeah.

Ana:

kind of like mood set.

Ana:

the few that you are referring to the the the nature of that song and how controversial that

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah.

Ana:

and then Kendrick Lamar himself who is very outspoken and then those Celine bell bottoms that he was wearing and And then also Serena Williams,

Ana:

who did that dance a few years back and was really like, oh, immature and professional, but now that was kind of the

Rei:

Right.

Rei:

Right.

Rei:

Right.

Ana:

I think it was like a mix of a lot of different things that kind of made it like the most talked about thing.

Ana:

It's very, very, a lot of entry points into

Rei:

And, and I thought what, what, what I found interesting again, like I could, I don't care too much about the Superbowl and I don't pay dumb.

Rei:

I mean, I pay some attention to the TV commercials and I pay some attention to the halftime show, but I feel like this year just the depth

Rei:

and the complexity of the halftime show and what was embedded into that performance and, culture around it.

Rei:

I found, I found it actually quite interesting from a cultural perspective and sort of the state, not just the event as a spectacle, but the ripple effect,

Rei:

both in terms of, you know, hype as well as like the historical context of it was it made me think more than the previous Super Bowl games or the halftime shows.

Rei:

And it, it really is.

Rei:

I was trying to think, I was thinking to myself, like, oh, when was the last time that an event, a national and or sometimes international event like the Olympics, let's say, a manufactured event.

Rei:

Made me think not just the event and the superficial, like, like the, the few between the two celebrities, I could care less, but like the cultural context or

Rei:

even the, the, the historical context and either subtle or explicit statements that, the artist, you know, the, you know, the, the, the, the musician, or even the

Rei:

producers around it around the event was making, I, I found it interesting and I found myself like Googling things and trying to, you Find the layers of meaning.

Rei:

And then again, like I can't remember when the last time that I came across what, what is a piece of entertainment, but actually making me think the larger context around it.

Ana:

I think it's also the, the, of what kind of culture you pay attention to just in your life, because like, you know, there are a lot of subcultures where you can get like, Draw into like that.

Ana:

You, you, I know you said you don't care about feud among celebrities and so on, of obviously, but I think that Kendrick Lamar in itself is a figure that is not worthy of attention just in general.

Ana:

And I think that now he, himself, So I think that is something that you are reacting to as probably a lot of others like you who were not necessarily that steeped in the music,

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah.

Ana:

you know, so that's, but again, that's like also by product of that spectacle.

Ana:

The other thing that I think it's important to unpack here is basically, Like, and this is not new, like last year, year before, and so on.

Ana:

We've been talking about how sports is the last spectacle, mass spectacle that actually unites people in

Ana:

a sense that you don't have arts or design or even entertainment, even the big movies anymore.

Ana:

It's kind of like, well, this is one thing that we can all agree on.

Rei:

Right.

Rei:

Right.

Ana:

that globally and, and, and individually we can say, Hey.

Ana:

We appreciate this.

Ana:

performance and striving and, sort of the drive and the entire emotion around sports.

Ana:

It's like so human.

Ana:

It's indisputably universal.

Ana:

I think we had like events before that, like Grammys or even Oscars, not in past 20 years, but you know, there

Ana:

were events that were Film festivals, music festivals, they, they play that role, but I don't think that's, like,

Ana:

that's not the case anymore.

Rei:

Were you, were you in the U. S. during the Olympics last summer or were you in Europe?

Ana:

Uh, Here.

Rei:

You were here.

Ana:

I was in Paris before Olympics, and then after, but not during.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

So I was in Japan last summer.

Rei:

Between July and the first week of August.

Rei:

So when the Olympics were happening and, it is a spectacle, but it's kind of a different spectacle the way that, the Olympic games are broadcast.

Rei:

In Japan is very different from the way it's broadcast in the U. S. In the U.

Rei:

S. You know the network.

Rei:

It's a It's an advertising event, right?

Rei:

So like every five minutes is a commercial break, and I find Olympics unwatchable in the U. S.

Rei:

Because like every three minutes, the commentators in the announcers, making a big deal about whatever.

Rei:

And Whereas in Japan, it's broadcast through the National Television Network, which is like BBC of Japan, called NHK, and there are no commercials.

Rei:

So you can actually watch the sports.

Rei:

You can actually watch the games.

Rei:

So I was like staying up, you know, past midnight every day to watch the Olympics because you can actually watch it.

Rei:

Whereas, you know, four years ago, five years ago when I was in the U S. I mean, he was just unbearable.

Rei:

And, you know, no wonder young people aren't watching the Olympics on TV, but like the TV stations are having to hire influencers to, distribute the content.

Rei:

But like when in the U S did you, did you, Notice that the Olympics, were as a spectacle.

Rei:

Did you feel that you was, he had a cultural impact or was it just, you know what, like he was kind of in the background and people sort of forgot about it.

Ana:

No, it had immense cultural impact, but no one watches TV.

Ana:

No one watches,

Ana:

you know, like, Olympics on TV, and very few people were actually there.

Ana:

I mean People who are like in Europe, they, they were, but I think that's not the point that you watch Olympics on TV and it's a spectacle.

Ana:

No, that's the whole thing.

Ana:

It's like an event that is happening, but there, because the nature of social media is such that we communicate through memes, through snippets of visual content.

Ana:

That's what made it really global is how those moments, like French, pole jumper or

Rei:

I do remember that.

Rei:

Oh man.

Ana:

Exactly that that were widely shared And

Ana:

those were the ones that actually got so many people into it because they were so human.

Ana:

And I think that's the point.

Ana:

Oh, I can watch uninterrupted, you know, for, for an hour and enjoy, you know, like synchronized swimming.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

But I guess what I'm saying is that like, like the poll voter or the memes.

Rei:

are sort of like the snippets, you know, just a tiny sliver of a, a much, much bigger event.

Rei:

Right.

Rei:

And those are, yeah, definitely like enjoyable, memable moments.

Rei:

Personally, like if I wanted to enjoy the game, I find it impossible, but I'm talking about the Olympics specifically.

Rei:

I find it really difficult to do it.

Rei:

Even, you know, if you're not sitting in front of a TV, even on, on mobile, they make it difficult to watch the, the purity of the games.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

And then like Superbowl is kind of the same thing.

Rei:

Like the, you know, football, he said the game itself is almost a. The, the side dish,

Ana:

It definitely

Rei:

main dish

Ana:

background.

Ana:

So I do think that was a similar thing with the Olympics, with the opening ceremony being, but then also like, I think very few people are going

Ana:

to be like, you have soccer fans, for example, they're going to watch tennis fans, or you have synchronized swimming fans, you know, and they're

Ana:

going to watch, they're going to find the content they want to watch in its entirety and uninterruptedly and so on.

Ana:

But there are very few and far in between.

Ana:

And when you think about that, then you say, hey, There is again that fragmentation of who is interested in what.

Ana:

I think like people are interested because that's what everyone else was talking about.

Ana:

So memes,

Ana:

they're those social objects that connected people.

Ana:

And I do think that was the whole idea.

Ana:

We are now, something is happening now that entire world is paying attention to and how we know it's paying attention to because we are sharing those snippets of content.

Ana:

So, again, almost like.

Ana:

The games, like you never send, like NBA never sends the best players, even like soccer, they never send their best

Ana:

players because you know, it's the summer, they're resting, like you don't want them to get injured in something like that.

Ana:

So the value is symbolic, because the value is symbolic, you don't go there to see the actual record breaking XYZ.

Ana:

No, you go there to see who are the heroes, when you see like what, like, Who are like athletes sponsored by Aidas, by Nike, by own running, and so on.

Ana:

That's what almost most like you create new celebrities, you create new personalities that you root for.

Rei:

one thing that you mentioned earlier, sports, is the last thing that we can agree on.

Rei:

I would also say I agree with that point.

Rei:

I would also, I would also say that you don't have to, you don't have to agree on things.

Rei:

but you can share the love for the same thing.

Rei:

So, you know, let's say politically people have completely different views, but say the team that they root for is the shared,

Ana:

Well, right.

Ana:

That's what I meant.

Ana:

Like we agreed that in a sense that this is worthwhile pursuit and you know something

Rei:

So you can kind of transcend the differences.

Ana:

divisive about humans striving and, and pushing the boundaries.

Ana:

I didn't mean there is nothing to agree on when you're watching two, you

Rei:

Yeah, yeah,

Ana:

teams or when you're watching someone breaking a record in running or something.

Ana:

It's kind of like the, like agree is wrong word, you're right.

Ana:

It's like unifies us.

Rei:

it definitelyifies.

Rei:

So other than sports, I mean, we talked about, we talked about something like Barbie as a spectacle, but were there or are there any other spectacles?

Rei:

Well, you know, fashion show like the fashion week, for instance, that's a spectacle that also may be changing in terms of, you know, The way it's

Rei:

being presented these days, but what are other types of spectacles that, that you pay attention to?

Ana:

Well, there is entertainment spectacles.

Ana:

There used to be red carpet, awards shows, and again, the same thing.

Ana:

People don't, people want moments.

Ana:

They want human moments that are happening throughout the ceremony.

Ana:

Who won, who lost, how did they react to it?

Ana:

They want red carpet, what did, you know.

Ana:

They don't, you know.

Ana:

So that's kind of like Oscars used to be a big spectacle.

Ana:

But again, I'm talking like a different generation.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Like 10, 20

Ana:

point.

Ana:

And then you have art fairs as spectacles.

Ana:

Then you have, like, feats of, like, oh, the guy who walked between two Twin Towers, when Twin Towers were still there,

Rei:

Oh yeah.

Ana:

kind of like the moments that, that everyone pays attention, or the Red Bull before,

Ana:

before Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, when Red Bull sent a rocket in space or someone.

Ana:

You know, so they were like, kind of those moments when you kind of put a lot of money in it.

Ana:

Like, I think Formula One is becoming an insane spectacle in the United

Rei:

Yeah, it is.

Ana:

You know, because

Ana:

they have like now amazing sponsors and

Rei:

Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm

Ana:

part of it.

Ana:

And, there are synergies there, but then the amount of money spent on it, like Las Vegas and then Miami.

Ana:

That is becoming sort of a spectacle,

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

What about hype?

Rei:

Hype?

Rei:

You said they happen.

Rei:

Hype happens.

Rei:

More organically and somehow even accidentally, but can you manufacture a hype?

Ana:

obviously, but then that's like a PR and marketing thing.

Ana:

You can manufacture if you put a lot of money behind it, that's it.

Ana:

It's going to last as long as you're putting the money in it.

Ana:

I would love to, if I can remember any hype that was sort of engineered in a sense and actually took off.

Ana:

You know, like a lot of brands today are trying to create hype because they're, they're paying, Oh, who are the right content creators?

Ana:

Who are the right influencers?

Ana:

What are the right seeding context?

Ana:

That's all hype because 99 percent of brands don't have money for a spectacle.

Rei:

right, right, right.

Rei:

Yeah, yeah.

Rei:

So in terms of engineering a hype, would you say something like the presidential campaign a hype?

Rei:

I mean, there's a lot of money, you know,

Ana:

again, like I would, I would not, I would not confuse the hype with the marketing campaign and PR push because you can hype certain things up.

Ana:

And yes, I think there was a hype around Kamala's nomination for a minute,

Rei:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ana:

that died down, you

Ana:

know, like if you have a hype around new sneaker releases, you have a hype around new.

Ana:

movie, you know, you can have a hype around the book, you can have a hype around the person, but it's not a hype if it lasts only a month.

Rei:

Well, what's a recent hype that you think was successful, whether it was engineered or not?

Rei:

Is there a hype

Ana:

I do

Ana:

think there is a lot of hype around On running in a really best possible way.

Ana:

Or like around their shoes, but that's like overnight success 15 years in the making

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah.

Ana:

and I do think that there is a hype around their new they're like, oh, they're roger federer They're elmo campaign.

Ana:

So I think they're one of those rare breaths that people are rooting for

Rei:

Sure.

Rei:

Sure.

Rei:

Sure.

Ana:

Again, that doesn't happen unless they had the product.

Ana:

What do you think?

Rei:

Do you, so on that point though, do you differentiate between hype and mark?

Rei:

Like where, where's the line between where this marketing end and where does hype begin?

Ana:

when people organically?

Ana:

authentically uncalled for recommend each other a product

Ana:

when they profess love without being paid to do that.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah.

Ana:

When they say, oh my God, I love Elmo or oh my God, I love like cloud too.

Ana:

You know, when they're telling each other that

Rei:

Sure.

Rei:

Sure.

Rei:

Sure.

Rei:

Sure.

Ana:

but especially I think hype is going to become even more important now that we have analog offline.

Ana:

members only secret things.

Ana:

Mainstream is for spectacles, for marketing.

Ana:

And then hype is like, oh, you heard from someone about this restaurant that has amazing food,

Rei:

yeah,

Ana:

is no hit list, there is no, you can't make a reservation.

Ana:

That's where the hype is.

Rei:

yeah.

Rei:

This, this one's a little bit.

Rei:

So when you, when you asked me a hype, an example of a hype, it's a little bit, a couple of years old, but when Uniqlo, Uniqlo is a mini bag,

Rei:

the round, yeah, that they didn't put a lot of marketing behind it.

Rei:

They didn't spend didn't spend any money on marketing.

Rei:

And it was one or two different TikTokers Not planned, but they sort of quote unquote hyped up the product and it became those videos.

Rei:

Two videos became around the same time unrelated to each other, massively viral and the sales took off like.

Rei:

Like you wouldn't believe it's the, it's the most successful product.

Rei:

I think that Uniqlo has ever had, and this was in 2022

Rei:

or 2021.

Rei:

And yeah, the hype is not quite at the same level, but it's still selling like crazy for them.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

And they didn't put any money behind it.

Rei:

And what's, and by the way, this is a, an accidental hype, not an engineered hype.

Rei:

What's, what's peculiar or what's interesting is that it was two years after the product was released.

Rei:

So the product was available in nine, 2019, 19 or 2020, and it took about two years for a couple of girls to discover, Oh, this is, you know, source looks small, but you can put so much stuff in it.

Rei:

And then it erupted this hype and it's lasted for quite a while for about two years or so Yeah, maybe it's not being

Rei:

talked about at the same level, but still it's one of the best selling products on their on their site, you know,

Rei:

so That's

Ana:

a great example.

Ana:

Yeah.

Rei:

Yeah, so I think just to wrap up

Rei:

What's, what's, what's interesting about this conversation, Spectacle versus Hype, skeptical, skeptical.

Rei:

I'm skeptical about Spectacle.

Rei:

No, no, no.

Rei:

Spectacle is manufactured and it usually centers around ad, PR, media.

Rei:

Events and those are engineered, sort of top down approach.

Rei:

Whereas hype tends to be more organic, starting with subculture, people sharing the memes, the little things, and then bottom up ground swelling.

Rei:

And then maybe when the hype is over, that's when media starts to notice, Oh, this thing was cool.

Rei:

And then, you know, by that point people have moved on to, to another hype.

Rei:

But yeah, I think this juxtaposition of spectacle being.

Rei:

An engineered top down approach versus hype being a ground up, underground approach that that's organic.

Rei:

And I think that the key is how do you engineer hype?

Rei:

That's probably the, the secret, that

Rei:

a lot of people are trying to,

Ana:

because I think the most important thing about hype is that it comes from a genuine love for a product, idea, trend, aesthetics, look, personality.

Ana:

So it's a genuine idea that a lot of people share.

Ana:

And then media comes and amplifies it.

Ana:

Spectacle is like, it's telling you what to pay attention to.

Ana:

It's telling you what to like.

Ana:

So it's grabbing your attention.

Ana:

One is like, You pay attention because you identify with that.

Ana:

And the other is you grab attention because you can't escape it.

Rei:

All right.

Rei:

Shall we go to the head list?

Ana:

Yes,

Ana:

Should I go first?

Ana:

sure.

Ana:

Amazing.

Rei:

right.

Rei:

So my hit list is related to the topic, the very topic we just talked about.

Rei:

Do you know who, Hamish Hamilton is?

Rei:

So I, I, I didn't know who he was.

Rei:

And I looked up, so he was the director of the halftime show for the Super Bowl.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

And like I said earlier, I did find this year's halftime show more interesting, intellectually and academically than I ever have been interested in, you know,

Rei:

halftime show ever, because it just had more layers to it than any of the previous shows that at least I can recall.

Rei:

And so I looked up, you know, who produced the halftime show for Super Bowl and the two names that came up.

Rei:

One was Hamilton, who's a director of like real events.

Rei:

And he's been directing, halftime shows, Oscars, those spectacles.

Rei:

And then, he's often paired with Jesse Collins, who's a super producer, entertainment producer, who's also a long time event producer, who's produced.

Rei:

Halftime shows of the last few Super Bowls as well as other, other shows.

Rei:

So again, they're not necessarily household names.

Rei:

Obviously I had to look them up and I was very intrigued by the creative production aspect of the halftime show

Rei:

more so than I ever have been in the previous, you know, 20 years that, that I paid attention to Super Bowl.

Rei:

So that's my hit

Ana:

And for me again, related is that a lot of people were praising that Nike ad and the sense it does make a comeback for Nike, at least.

Ana:

In terms of putting athletes at the center, letting them be the heroes,

Ana:

and sort of positioning Nike as someone who is facilitating that.

Ana:

But like, let the heroes speak for themselves.

Ana:

And it was, while it was not terribly new in terms of format, Or storytelling, it really resonated emotionally, which is something that Nike has not done in a really long time.

Ana:

And I just think it's noteworthy, speaking of the ads, because Super Bowl ads, you have on Running Head, Elmo, and Federer.

Ana:

And that was very cute.

Ana:

But then Nike was like, hey guys, we're back.

Ana:

It's taking the ground, you

Rei:

yeah, I, I didn't watch all of the ads.

Rei:

I watched a couple of them.

Rei:

The Nike one, I totally agree with you that it's not necessarily new in terms of the way they've done these types of commercials in the past.

Rei:

It's, it's actually a very, and I'm, I say this with respect because I know a lot of people who, work at White n at Nike, but.

Rei:

It's somewhat based on a formula that's worked for them before.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

But I don't mind, I didn't mind it at all.

Rei:

The ad was so, so I thought it was, it was so powerful.

Rei:

I watched it so many times.

Rei:

I posted on LinkedIn and it's interesting that some people, not a lot, but few people, and I don't mean to make this about male versus female kind of thing, but a few women.

Rei:

Said that it didn't do it for them, and some of them even said that they found it condescending, which I, I

Ana:

That's so strange.

Ana:

I didn't.

Ana:

I found it.

Ana:

I found it like right at the heart of the matter.

Rei:

I

Ana:

You know, leads, owns, words.

Ana:

And so I just think it really like when you take the format out of it, it's almost like you can be more innovative if you repeat the format.

Ana:

But if you don't worry about like, you know, format innovation, so it just felt like very true to who those.

Ana:

those women are as athletes and people.

Rei:

It, yeah.

Rei:

So It's

Ana:

modern in a sense, you know, it felt like something that they would do on a TikTok video, you know, they just did it in this ad format.

Rei:

Yeah.

Rei:

I mean, it, it had been 27 years since the last time that Nike aired the Super Bowl.

Rei:

Back in like 1998,

Ana:

Wow.

Rei:

and

Ana:

that was successful at it.

Ana:

At least it seems to have been successful comeback after 27 years in terms of, of reaction.

Rei:

yeah, I, I'd be curious to see if this, hype would last or, or become a hype,

Ana:

That's a great

Rei:

yeah, three months, six, six months from now,

Rei:

you know, where, where's Nike in terms of their business.

Rei:

So we can revisit that

Ana:

We can revisit that, but that's a great point and a fantastic way to to wrap this conversation up.

Ana:

Thanks for everyone who's been listening.

Ana:

Again, thanks to Vanja, our producer.

Ana:

If you like the show, like and share it.

Ana:

We are on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Ana:

Thank you so much, Ray.

Rei:

only, only five stars, only five stars.

Ana:

Five stars only, guys.

Ana:

Five stars

Rei:

That's right.

Rei:

All right.

Rei:

Thank you.

Rei:

See you in two weeks.

Ana:

Until next time.

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About the Podcast

Hitmakers: How Brands Influence Culture
How Brands Influence Culture
Hitmakers is an exploration of cultural influence and how brands create it. Every two weeks, Ana Andjelic, a brand executive, and Rei Inamoto, a creative entrepreneur, talk about brands that made a dent in culture - through their product, aesthetics, content, business model, or technology - and unpack how they did it.

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Rei Inamoto