CTO and Co-Founder
Obviously
1) Maturing by the moment, Gen Z is even more native to social media than Millennials. This generation is quickly growing into their full purchasing power and influence as trendsetters. For advertisers, traditional marketing may not be as effective with this rapidly rising base of Gen Z consumers. Now more than ever, content truly is king, and a strong content strategy is essential to robust marketing. Speaking as a CTO, it also means brands need to think like all of us engineers and computer scientists on the tech side, and build digitally native pathways to brand experiences for long-term brand affinity. In order to thrive, brands must quickly identify and adopt the latest digital products and trends; think TikTok and in-app purchases. Adaptation is the only way modern brands will survive in the ever- evolving, fast-paced online ecosystem.
4) Though gazing into the crystal ball is a tricky proposition, we nonetheless ask you for any forecast you have relative to content creation and/or the creative and/or business climate for the second half of 2019 and beyond.
We don’t need a crystal ball for this one. TikTok is exploding! Content creators are focusing on video now more than ever. Other platforms are too; we’re starting to see a shift from static to dynamic content across social. With more short-form videos online, content once again feels more “raw,” even if it’s deliberately so. The polished aesthetic that is a hallmark of Millennials resonates less with Gen Z users. TikTok trends may be fast and fleeting, but we’re certainly excited to see that unbridled creativity continue in the months ahead.
6) Women are driving advertising today, especially with digital and influencer content. Across industries, they’re the creators, the taste makers, the innovators. At Obviously, women are leading our team and engineering our technology. Our staff is incredibly diverse, representing numerous identities, genders, and speaking a number of languages. So for us, diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our success. It is truly in our DNA. We nurture and defend these tenets, and believe others must too in order to succeed in the modern professional world. As influencer marketers, young talent is our life blood. Age is irrelevant in our business. Creativity, passion and exploration are hallmarks of the influencer industry, and native to our company.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More