Decoding Community

A new in-depth exploration of the latest boardroom buzzword.

We’ve all gone cuckoo for ‘community’.

It’s the latest lingo circling the conference room; with a lot of people evangelising its importance, but very few actually understanding what it is.

And that’s because, just like the ‘M’ word which came before it, it’s a catch-all term - a way of trying to encapsulate the myriad of shifting trends, economic contexts, business realities, cultural tides and societal behaviours that are actually relatively complex (and interesting), into a succinct and seriously oversimplified term.

Be honest, when someone says ‘we need to build a community’ or ‘brands need to tap into communities’ - do you actually know what that means or where to start?

Not many do, because we’re talking about a BIG concept in a very reductive way.

And that’s not helpful to anyone.

So I’ve decided to pull together an in-depth overview.

I’ve explored the big shifts that are driving us towards more of a community mindset.

I’ve defined what a community is and the variety of ways in which it can manifest.

And I’ve compiled 45 different case studies to bring it all to life.

It’s the culmination of weeks of work, a shit tonne of research and lots of sleepless nights. With this mammoth undertaking and a four month old baby, I am one absolutely exhausted individual, but I’m also really proud of what I’ve produced.

It feels like it’s been a long time coming, because I’ve been knee deep in following these developments as they’ve unfolded over the last few years - firstly with my work in the world of fandoms, and subsequently with big projects I’ve undertaken for Axe, Oatly, Pepsico, the NBA, Netflix and others.

I’ve been examining component parts and diving deep into certain areas, but I’ve been wanting to pull it all together into a big picture thesis for some time so that you can see what I see and hopefully get excited about it too.

I’m releasing half of the deck for open public sharing, which you can find here.

But if you want to unlock the full deck in its entirety, then you can find it here (the PDF and the video version).

I really hope you enjoy it.

Now, I’m off for nap.