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8ball - Gonzo Culture

Gonzo culture
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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
463 views47 pages

8ball - Gonzo Culture

Gonzo culture
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GONZO

GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

GONZO

CULTURE

A REPORT ON CONTROL

PART 1

© 2020 8BALL 001


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

A Note

The internet has broken our brains. This report


answers why. We feel exhausted, confused, even
frightened by changes in our world. But if one thing
is certain, it’s that the genie’s out of the bottle and
it’s not going back in. Therefore, we face a choice.
Accept reality will only get weirder and we will only
get more confused. Or develop a new model for
how the post-social media world works. To forecast
the future, we have to analyze the present at a
higher resolution.

Gonzo Culture is the inaugural issue of 8Ball, a Los


Angeles-based trend consultancy founded by Sean
Monahan (formerly of K-HOLE). It was completed
over the course of 2019 and 2020 in Los Angeles,
Upstate New York, and New York City.

This section is Part 1 of 2. It covers how brands and


the internet intersect, the new vocabulary we need
to explain digital phenomena, and strategies we can
use to thrive in this new media ecosystem. Part 2
includes case studies, microtrends, and profiles of
digital consumer tribes.

© 2020 8BALL 002


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

STANS AT

THE GATES

NOO1.1:
N 2019062701
AUDIENCE

© 2020 8BALL 003


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

FOR 48 HOURS IN OCTOBER


Jovan was back. The Twitter troll had been perma-banned by
the platform after a high-profile flame war with beauty
influencer, James Charles. Stans flooded the replies, legal
threats were exchanged ("Let's do it baby, I know the law!),
and Twitter's Safety Team decided enough was enough.

Jovan and his Witnesses (as he branded his fans) had other
plans however. The suspension instigated an indefinite game
of Whack-a-mole. Each episode following a familiar
trajectory: Jovan creates a new account, his followers return
in droves (deca-thousands each day the handle remains
active), before it's inevitably reported.

To say Jovan was canceled is to miss what's interesting


about the dynamic. His profiles (there have been nine so far)
are incidental to his audience. Streams can move to Twitch,
DMs to Instagram, and the micropayments his most ardent
supporters send supplying him with UberEats and weed, well
his Venmo @ remains the same. The ban if anything only adds
to his mythic arc: Tumblr teen turned Twitter gay turned
uncancellable icon. He has seen platforms rise and fall.

This too shall pass.

© 2020 8BALL 004


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

In an era where brands think they're tribes—this is the sort of


charisma they wish they had. After all, what is a tribe if not a
group of people organized around a charismatic leader?
MAGA Country has Donald Trump, the Democratic Socialists
have Bernie, the Resistance has the Squad. When culture is
fragmenting, the logic of find your people and hold them tight
makes sense.

But brands aren't tribes. Individuals, not institutions hold


magnetic appeal. No one cares that the Democrats
rebranded, threw a Franklin Gothic D in a sky blue circle.
Nobody has ever slapped that on a dadhat and proudly worn
it to work. Meanwhile, our obsession with the iconography of
challenger candidates persists. Yang Gang's vaporwave-pink
nylon snapback predates the official campaign's MATH
merch. And Balenciaga's Bernie Sanders logohack remains
ubiquitous on caps and tees.

© 2020 8BALL 005


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

BRANDS = TRIBES

© 2020 8BALL 006


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

Tribe is a defensive group formation. In politics, they crop up


ready to do battle with the Establishment. (If all politics seem
tribal in 2020, that's because everyone thinks the other side
has the upper hand.) In culture, they coalesce whenever any
aesthetic tries to circumvent the dreaded normie conformity
of the Mainstream.

Like so much confusion in branding, the culprit here is Nike.


When they launched their Believe in Something campaign
featuring Colin Kaepernick in the fall of 2018, a firestorm of
criticism rained down. Conservatives hosted sneaker
barbecues. Boycotts were threatened. And progressives,
sympathetic to Kaepernick's Black Lives Matter protest and
still annoyed at the NFL for blacklisting him, flocked to
stores, eager to defend him (and by proxy Nike).

But don't get it twisted. The sales were inspired by


Kaepernick, not Nike. Like Jovan and Jesus, we stan a
resurrected king. This is what culture powered by personality
looks like—

© 2020 8BALL 007


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

THIS REPORT ANSWERS:


What is the difference between a
personality and a personal brand?


How do brands fit into a new culture
powered by personalities?


Why are consumer tribes forming

today?

☞ Are tribes personalities scaled?

© 2020 8BALL 008


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

SPEAKING IN

BRANDS

NOO1.2:
N 2019062701
PARTNERS

© 2020 8BALL 009


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

COLLABORATIONX

So where do brands fit if audiences are more interested in


personalities than products? The most obvious answer is as
a partner. As some of the last institutions still fetishized by
the public, brands can act as arbiters. Hashtag ad validates
regardless of if you have a blue check. But who really wins in
the transaction is unclear.

Are brands speaking through personalities?

Or are personalities speaking in brands?

© 2020 8BALL 010


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

Brand partnerships are how personalities transubstantiate,


rendering themselves as products, content, or simply social
reality. When Kanye West evangelizes with his Jesus is King
merch or Ed Sheeran creates Edchup through his Heinz deal,
they invite their stans to prove their devotion.

Bear in mind though, the Sheerios aren't buying limited


edition condiments because they plan to consume them. In
the same way that a sneakerhead shrink-wraps neon beige
Yeezys, utilitarian consumption is deferred in favor of product
fetishization. The primary value is informational and therefore
on a long enough timeline financial. (Think collectibles.)

The figure who has perfected speaking in brands is Virgil


Abloh. He's the first—but certainly not the last—exemplar of
truly informational fashion, where design is mostly a media
signature. Quotation marks, Arial font, zip ties, industrial
neon: alone, the detritus of the factory, the port, the
container ship. Together, the unmistakable mark: “Virgil was
here.”

Brands he founded (Off-White), directs (Louis Vuitton), and


collaborates with (Nike, IKEA, Rimowa, et al.) serve as alibis
that shore up Abloh’s own clout. His own personal brand
remains fluid, applicable to any opportunity. As he claims, to
make any brand yours, just tweak it 3%…

© 2020 8BALL 011


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

TO BECOME

RELIGION…

TO BECOME

KETCHUP…

© 2020 8BALL 012


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

If speaking in brands seems odd, it’s because we’ve been


trained to think of brands as being able to speak for
themselves. A brand is a hive mind assembled from market
forces, demographic research, conference culture quips,
and that ever elusive spark of life, creativity. Brandvoice is
our flimsy attempt to transform the flotsam of corporate
operations into culture.

And yet when brandvoice manifests in reality, something is


off. Should Colonel Sanders be DJing Ultra? Did anyone ask
for Chester Cheetah to design a collection for New York
Fashion Week? These initiatives have the same uncanny
valley problems faced by influencers whose posts read like
corporate press releases.

When something tries to be human, yet imperceptibly misses


the mark, it gives us the heebie jeebies. Brands becoming
people will always face Pod People problems and inspire the
same reaction as sex dolls, military drones, and companion
robots for the elderly.

The true issue brands face is that while people can


be brands, brands cannot be people.

© 2020 8BALL 013


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

WELCOME TO

THE CLOUTHOUSE

NOO1.3:
N 2019062701
CLOUT

© 2020 8BALL 014


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

The original Clout House is a $12.5M property in the


Hollywood Hills. At four stories and 12,500 square feet; it
boasts 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, a pool, a waterfall, and a
fire pit. The property is a monument to mall minimalism, made
of glass, metal, and monochrome (excluding the inevitable
LED lights). Its occupants are the Clout Gang, a social media
collective made up of YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and
other Internet personalities founded by gamer, FaZe Banks.

Somewhere between a fraternity, a production company, and


a set from The Real World, the Clout House is optimized for a
world where all the most relevant content is being created in
bedrooms. Following this logic to its extreme, the house puts
all those bedrooms in the same house. The term itself is in
the process of genericiding: becoming a generic catch-all for
predecessors like the Team 10 mansion as well as the
inevitable copycats. (Collab house is to facial tissue as
clouthouse is to kleenex.)

Clouthouses are emergent institutions that understand the


biggest issue influencers face isn't access to equipment, but
social proximity to talented and well-branded peers. Being
everything is difficult when you operate independently. Who
can be a friend, lover, producer, director, manager, agent,
and marketer all at the same time? Why not delegate?

© 2020 8BALL 015


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

In many ways, the enterprise works like tweetdecking: the


now-banned practice of popular Twitter accounts forming
cartels. Before Twitter outlawed the strategy—the Safety
Team claimed it was “inauthentic” behavior—a deck would
coordinate retweets to promote member content or sell
engagement for hire. Tweetdeckers understood virality was a
commodity and when multiple handles with high follower
counts joined forces, they could almost guarantee trending
content for their clients. Collaboration isn’t magic, it’s an
alliance. Fame can be co-ordinated in the groupchat.

Clouthouses similarly perform double duty as both talent


agents and studios. But unlike tweetdecks, transactions are
all above board. Housemates sign multi-year contracts
promising a percentage of future social media earnings to
clouthouse investors in exchange for membership. Living in
the house is just a perk. The real angle is mutual promotion,
both of their roomies and paying sponsors.

Jake Paul calls Team 10 an 'incubator' for personal brands,


though what it really incubates is relationships between
them. As his business’ name suggests, brandcraft is a team-
building exercise. Clout is promiscuous. In contemporary
verbiage, we’d say poly. You can demonstrate desirability by
taking as many partners as you please.

Clouthouses bring the partnership model so popular with


brands to creators. Brand x brand, brand x personality,
brand x event, brand x tribe, and perhaps most importantly,
brand x consumer. Why not apply the same logic to internet
personalities? The X factor was never about someone being
special, it's was always about being connected with others.
What better way to prove you have It, than by having friends?

No personal brand is an island.

© 2020 8BALL 016


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BALL 017


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

If we accept there's such a thing as a personal brand, then


implicitly everyone has one. Some are just better executed
than others. Being well-branded is like being well-bred. It's
the "She speaks French" of the 21st century, implying a
sophisticated understanding of both commerce and culture
and the ability to navigate both effortlessly. Like all things in a
meritocracy though personal brand, and the power that
comes with it, is unevenly distributed. We call this uneven
distribution clout.

Clout has always existed. It just used to be more discreet.


We called it tastemaking and understood it’s function in
relationship to an institution. Graydon Carter had clout: a
large network, trusted taste, proven influence, and a
platform to demonstrate all of this called Vanity Fair. But
tastemakers no longer need institutions to fulfill their cultural
role.

When everyone has a platform, the institution is you.

© 2020 8BALL 018


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

Clout explains how the runway


supermodel became the
INSTAGRAM MODEL (i.e. a
streetwear icon who lends her
credibility to the runway, not
the other way around.)

Clout explains how the record


label pop star became the
SOUNDCLOUD RAPPER (i.e.
a memelord who can achieve
virality greater than the label's
paid distribution network.)

Clout explains how the staff


reporter became the
PATREON PODCASTER (i.e.
a journalist whose personal
brand explodes the gravitas of
a traditional media outlet.)

Clout explains how the studio


pornstar became the
ONLYFANS THOT (i.e. a
platform agnostic performer
who understands the media is
the marketing.)

Clout explains how the


Fortune 500 CEO became the
SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR
(i.e. a business culture where
creative leadership defines
access to capital.)

Clout explains how the


franchise fandoms became
STAN TWITTER (i.e. an
information ecosystem where
content created by fans is at
least as important as the
canon.)

© 2020 8BALL 019


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

IN THE BEGINNING

THERE WAS MEDIA

NOO1.4:
N 2019062701
BRAND

© 2020 8BALL 020


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

MASS, PERSONAL, & SCENE

In an August 2019 white paper, To Brand or Not to Brand,


Ogilvy’s Antonis Kocheilas argued brands have shifted from
being symbols to stories to systems. This parallels the logic
of our increasingly deconstructed media landscape, moving
from print to broadcast to network culture within a lifetime.
Brand is the expressive material of everyday life. Individuals
are the primary medium through which they are conveyed.

In a post-gatekeeper culture, productive feedback loops are


the most prized interactions. (Download our app! Join our
network! Give me your data!) But while brand managers fret
about delegating control to consumers, they ignore the fact
that they never really had control in the first place and lose
sight of a larger and more pressing cultural shift.

Broadcast culture prioritized two numbers: the one and the


many. Audience was relatively unified, performers relatively
rare. But in a culture where everyone has an audience and
every audience is an overlapping fragment of the whole, we
need to think in multiple scales.

Brand exists simultaneously at three levels: 1.) the legacy


mass brand, known by virtually all; 2.) the de facto personal
brand, our media signature, generated whether we like it or
not by our online activity; and 3.) the scene brands, tribally
oriented and culturally relevant. It’s from the scene brands,
the productive middle, where the most innovative ideas are
being imagined today.

© 2020 8BALL 021


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

Take Pattern. The “consumer goods brand family” grew out


of the creative agency Gin Lane, best know for their work
with DTC darlings like Hims, Sweetgreen, and Everlane. Their
stated intention is to tackle burnout and inspire Millennials to
live better lives. Their first brand (they plan to release one
each year) was Equal Parts. Launched last September and
positioned as the anti-Seamless, it aspires not only to sell
cookware, but also to teach their customers how to love
cooking. After their first purchase, new customers are texted
by a guide who helps them redefine their relationship to the
kitchen. Pots and pans come with a life coach.

Located in the New York nook pejoratively called Dimes


Square, after the trendy Chinatown restaurant decorated like
a Memphis Group showroom, Pattern is clearly inspired as
an antidote to the alienated app-enabled lifestyle Silicon
Valley has subsidized throughout the 2010s. The SCENE of
skaters, artists, and designers (Equal Parts employees and
target audience) yearn for a life less marketed, inspiring the
now viral Buzzfeed article that made burnout a MEME.

The piece touched a cord with the broader TRIBE of young


urban professionals that have struggled to feel like fully-
fledged adults and despite their ambivalent feelings towards
technophilic Instagram brands, still see themselves as taste-
ful, design-forward consumers. The color blocked, sans
serif, pastel AESTHETIC of Pattern reassures them that
adulthood doesn’t need to be Boomer beige.

© 2020 8BALL 022


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BALL 023


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BALL 024


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BLL 025


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

THE HYPE CYCLE

NOO1.5:
N 2019062701
HYPE

© 202O 8BALL 026


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

LAST SUMMER IN LAS VEGAS


YouTubers Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul got married. The
nuptials were filmed by MTV (Mongeau had a reality TV web
series with the network) and live-streamed (for $50) by the
couple. In attendance were friends, family, other YouTubers
and even an Oprah impersonator. Vows were exchanged at
the Graffiti Mansion, a clouthouse frequently transformed by
luxury brand activations and select street art crews and run
by fellow vlogger, Armani Izadi. He officiated the ceremony.
The reception was sponsored by the Sugar Factory and held
at their Fashion Show Mall location on the Strip. Buzzfeed
reported they left their party before 11PM in separate cars.

Rumors quickly circulated that the wedding was a hoax. The


couple had only been dating for two months. Was this young
love or a business partnership? It was the YouTube edition of
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ media blitz marriage in
2011. Would Paul and Mongeau outlast Kim’s 72 day run with
Kris? Best man Logan Paul seemed doubtful. After the
ceremony, he told the press: “I give them a month or a month
and a half.”

When the MTV’s Tana Turns 21 aired on YouTube, skeptics of


the marriage were vindicated. Paul and Mongeau talk about
the wedding as a media object. They’re doing it for the clout.
No government recognizes the union. But as Tana’s manager
Jordan Worona says, it’s legal under “YouTube law.” Together
Jana (Paul + Tana) have more than 25 million subscribers. Far
more than MTV’s six. What everyone witnessed, was the
hype cycle in action.

© 202O 8BALL 027


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BALL 028


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

Content ➔ Stans ➔ Charisma ➔


Personal Brand

Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul began their careers on social


media platforms, YouTube and Vine respectively. Their posts
(CONTENT) attracted large, dedicated followings (STANS)
that shared and promoted their work, becoming personally
involved in Tana and Jake’s success (CHARISMA), and
establishing Tana as a relatable bad girl and Jake as a bro-ey

prankster (PERSONAL BRAND).

Memes ➔ Tribes ➔ Aesthetic ➔


Scene Brands

As their popularity grew, their content became increasingly


viral (MEMES). Jake Paul’s antics in particular inspired a
generation of clout-hungry bros (TRIBE) who emulated both
his style—streetwear accessories with normcore basics—and
his genre of content—prank videos (AESTHETIC). This lead
Paul to capitalize on his success by founding Team 10, an
influencer incubator in Calabasas (SCENE BRAND).

Partners ➔ Audience ➔ Clout ➔


Mass Brands

The Jana Wedding was a co-branded media spectacle


(PARTNERS) that leveraged Jake, Tana, and MTV’s huge
cross-platform following to attract significant mainstream
media attention (AUDIENCE). The partnership proved that
Jake and Tana were celebrities in their own right (CLOUT)
and that MTV understood the unique entertainment
ecosystem of YouTube (MASS BRAND).

© 2020 8BALL 029


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W



Mass
Scene
+

Person
al
Partners

Content
Memes

BRAND


PLATFORM Charisma

Aesthetic

Clout
Audience

Tribes

Stans

© 2020 8BALL 030


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

In Tana Turns 21, Mongeau complains no one understands


her non-traditional (i.e. fake) wedding, though to her it makes
perfect sense. If your best friend is your manager, why not
marry a brand partner? “Our lives are also our businesses,”
Tana insists. “We’re doing it for fun and for content.”

The social media story was supposed to be bottom-up clout


defeating top-down fame, real life proving itself to be more
interesting than the entertainment industrial complex. But the
realest thing about the wedding was the trolling.

This leaves us to wonder: if it’s a prank when you trick your


friend, a scam when you trick your audience, and a hoax
when you trick the world, what do we call it when everyone
is already in on the joke?

Recently, YouTube connoisseurs started complaining that the


platform had changed, serving more branded content than in
the past. In effect that reality TV was colonizing social media.
But when we look up from our laptop screens, it’s clear that
social isn’t the only thing that’s become more exaggerated,
subjective, and spectacular. The world has, too.

Social media didn’t become more like reality TV.

Everyday life became more like reality TV.

© 202O 8BALL 031


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

GONE GONZO

NOO1.6:
N 2019062701
TREND

© 2020 8BALL 032


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

It used to be possible to think of media as an escape from


everyday life. Movie magic. Coffee with the morning paper.
Snapshots in a shoe box. It’s been so long since media was
tactile and discrete that the memory is tinged with sepia and
tastes like Werther’s Original.

Media breaks down into three components: the creator, the


content, and the audience. Between each, gatekeeping
institutions guarded the necessary resources (money,
access and time) to produce and distribute content. Or in
layman’s terms, connect creator to audience. Despite
everything that’s happened since the Golden Age of Athens,
this model has changed very little—until now that is.

The fourth wall has fallen. What was once metaphor is now
fact: “All the world’s a stage.” And we have become both the
players and the audience. Social media has collapsed the
distinction between life and art, commerce and creativity.

The world has gone gonzo.

© 2020 8BALL 033


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

GONZO WORLD

NOO2.2:
N 2019062701
TREND

© 2020 8BALL 035


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

The ghost of Hunter S. Thompson is haunting America. Not


BECAUSE we had another crook in the White House or
BECAUSE activist countercultures are fashionable again or
BECAUSE he’d probably get cancelled if he was alive… But
BECAUSE the movement he founded has improbably
become the source code for culture at large.

Gonzo began as a post-hippie perspective on journalism.


Prioritize subjective truth over objective facts. Replace God's
eye third-person with acid trip first-person. And above all
participate. It understood the individual as a media object
before the world was ready for it.

It's fitting that a journalist pioneered the code to today's


culture. After all, the feed is the five o'clock news. Every
post, every story, aggregating into a picture of the world
today. It's important to note: this isn't an accident.

The you-are-the-product business model relies on converting


daily life into media. It can only thrive if users believe in the
power of self-expression to create change. Thus, social
was designed with gonzo conceits in mind.

© 2020 8BALL 034


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

SOCIAL VALUES
GONZO
SUBJECTIVE

The individual is the creator

EXAGGERATED

Our profiles are amplifications of ourselves

FICTIONALIZED

The internet is weirding reality

© 2020 8BALL 036


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BALL 037


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

ACID TRIP

FIRST PERSON

NN
OO 2019062701
1.7: PERSONALITY

© 2020 8BALL 038


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

In the past, we had genius and celebrity. Were you toiling in


the dark or posing for the flashbulbs? Were you writing
songs or singing them? These concepts weren’t mutually
exclusive. An artist could be one, both, neither, or transition
between the two. Thriller Michael Jackson—the King of Pop—
was a celebrity. Neverland Ranch Michael Jackson was a
genius…

Today we live in a culture of personality: subjective,


exaggerated, and—arguably—fictionalized. It’s not so much a
question of whether you make media or perform media, so
much as you become media. Personality isn’t incompatible
with genius and/or celebrity. Personality is their apotheosis.

The most advanced personalities live their lives like movie


characters. Think Beyoncé filming every single second of her
day. She understands the value of action. Her motivations are
relatable, yet not so over-determined as to have lost all ability
to surprise. Remember Lemonade?

Old school genius and celebrity still exist. Mary Kate Olsen
designs the Row from her horse farm in France. Kristen
Stewart still refuses to use Instagram. Withholding is chic,
but only available to the mega-famous.

© 2020 8BALL 039


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BALL 040


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

Celebrity: Aspiration as Content

Usually if people complain about everyone being obsessed


with them, it means they have a personality disorder. With
celebrities, the complaint isn’t a delusion. It’s just reality. The
Famous for X formulation that Paris Hilton demolished was
always a bit of a lie. Personifications of beauty, wealth, talent,
admiration, and lifestyle, celebrities have always been
famous for precisely one thing: having stuff we want.

Genius: Innovation as Content

Newness doesn’t come easy, which is why we give geniuses


so much slack. They aren’t admired for who they are so
much as for the things they make, and have a reputation for
being difficult, demanding or just plain crazy. Lucky for us,
genius doesn’t need a stage. It just needs a distribution
network. This lets us ignore personal failings and focus on 🔥
products.

Personality: Existence as Content

Personality is a muscle. To develop it, you have to use it. It’s


not as simple as establishing a brand or acting with purpose.
It requires self-awareness and a sense of timing, activated
by audience. If a comedian tells a joke in the woods, does
anybody laugh? Only if he tweets it. Hence why social media
has been such a boon to personality-based cultural
production. Audience is anywhere with wifi.

© 2020 8BALL 041


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

© 2020 8BALL 042


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

For Gonzo Culture Pt. 2,


click here.

© 2002 8BALL 043


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

8Ball is a trend forecasting


consultancy founded by
Sean Monahan, formerly of
K-HOLE

LOS ANGELES,

NEW YORK, UPSTATE

NOVEMBER 2020

8BALL.BIZ

© 2020 8BALL 044


GONZO CULTURE REPORT N O 120190628—34.0522° N, 118.2437° W

PHOTO SOURCES: 000 ELECTRON EMISSION, PHYSICS TODAY, 003 AREA 51, TWITTER, 004 RIP EPSTEIN, TWITTER, 005 ASAP
ROCKY ‘BABUSKA BOI,’ TWITTER, 005 MATH HAT, YANG 2020, 006 SS2020, BALENCIAGA, 007 LEBRON MAO MEME,
KNOWYOURMEME, 007 MAO, WIKIPEDIA, 008 INTERNATIONAL REBELLION, EXTINCTION REBELLION, 009 KANYE WEST’S
COACHELLA SUNDAY SERVICE, TWITTER, 010 RIMOWA X OFF-WHITE, BUYMA, 010 VITRA VIRGIL ABLOH, DEZEEN, 010 OFF-
WHITE X SUNGLASS HUT, SUNGLASS HUT, OFF-WHITE X JIMMY CHOO, FARFETCH, 010 LOUIS VUITTON, SHOPSTYLE, 010 OFF-
WHITE X LEVIS, READ01, 010 OFF-WHITE X AIR JORDAN 1, CORNERKICKZ, 010 OFF-WHITE X IKEA, PINTEREST, 010 KITH X
OFF-WHITE, STOCKX, 010 OFF-WHITE CONVERSE CHUCK TAYLOR, YEEZY DIRECT, 010 OFF-WHITE X HERON PRESTON, THE
WEBSTER, 010 TAKASHI MURAKAMI X VIRGIL ABLOH, PINTEREST, 010 OFF-WHITE X CHAMPION, SHAPE, 010 OFF-WHITE X
MONCLER, HYPEBEAST, 010 OFF-WHITE X TIMBERLAND, REALREAL, 010 OFF-WHITE X BYREDO, WEIBO, 011 LIL NAS X,
TWITTER, 012 KANYE WEST’S COACHELLA SUNDAY SERVICE, TWITTER, 012 SUNDAY SERVICE MERCH, EBAY, 012 EDCHUP,
B&M, 012 ED SHEERAN, EUROPOSTERS, 013 SEX DOLL, UNIQUE DOLL, 013 FILET LONDON, INSTAGRAM, 014 PAVEMENT,
ARE.NA, 015 AMINA MUADDI SHOES, PINTEREST, 015 TINY NOKIA, PINTEREST, 016 POPEYE’S SANDWICH, TWITTER, 017 SHIRT,
ARE.NA, 018 DISPLAY, TUMBLR, 019 KANYE WEST AND LIL PUMP ‘I LOVE IT’ ON SNL, YOUTUBE, 020 UFO, PINTEREST, 021
SUPREME X NEW YORK POST, TWITTER, 022 POT, EQUAL PARTS, 022 STAR WARS X LE CREUSET DUTCH OVEN, TWITTER, 023
DIMES, YUDI ELA, 023 SWEETGREEN MERCH, GRIMY GOODS, 023 EQUAL PARTS LAUNCH, BUZZFEED, 024 THE HANDMAID’S
TALE, TWITTER, 024 PLANNED PARENTHOOD PROTEST, TWITTER, 024 HANDMAID COSTUME, TWITTER, 024 KYLIE JENNER
HANDMAID PARTY, MYNET, 025 SYSTEM MAGAZINE, HIGHSNOBIETY, 025 IKEA X VIRGIL ABLOH LAUNCH, FLIPBOARD, 025 IKEA
X VIRGIL ABLOH, BUYMA, 025 VIRGIL ABLOH, IKEA TODAY, 026 GRAFFITI HOUSE, YOUTUBE, 028 WEDDING COLLAGE, 027 JEFF
KOONS X LOUIS VUITTON, BUKOWSKIS, 031 KIM KARDASHIAN AT THE WHITE HOUSE, PINTEREST, 031 ELON MUSK ON JOE
ROGAN, TWITTER, 032 JUSTIN BIEBER, TWITTER, 033 FLAMINGO HOTEL, CAESARS LAS VEGAS, 034 KENDALL JENNER,
PINTEREST, 035 RETRO ROOM, INSTAGRAM, 036 FEAR AND LOATHING, PINTEREST, 037 ORVILLE PECK, TWITTER, 038 DYE JOB,
PINTEREST, 039 SPENCER PRATT, PINTEREST, 040 ROWING BLAZERS SWEATER, PINTEREST, 041 POLAROID, PINTEREST, 042
KANYE WEST, TWITTER, 043 PADDLE BOARDING, TWITTER

TEXT BY: SEAN MONAHAN

RESEARCH BY: SEAN MONAHAN AND BLAIR CHAPMAN

SPECIAL THANKS: KEATON VENTURA, MICHAEL SPRETER, JORDAN RICHMAN, SOPHIE SECAF

© 2002 8BALL 045

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