Everything we thought we knew about building brands is changing.

We started by hosting several focus groups with some of our favorite collaborators to identify trends and patterns we were seeing within our own work. Internally, we called this stage “creating a friction report.”

To enlarge our small sample size, we also consulted published articles like Danielle Pender's “Client Red Flags” and AdWeek's “The future of creativity: Do brands and agencies have the same vision.”

With all the data we collected, we wanted to create a resource that would validate anyone else with similar questions.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we discovered everyone was being asked to move fast, break things, and figure it out later. It was the exception, not the rule, to have adequate time to sort through the digital chaos, so it’s no wonder brands were skittish to try anything too different.

Brand builders were trapped in cycles of delivering against simple performance metrics, creating an ecosystem where short-term thinking smothers long-term vision. When quick wins become the primary measure of success, it was too easy to lose sight of the deeper impact we’re meant to create.
What happens when sales matter more than loyalty? Likes more than resonance? Craft becomes difficult to justify. Why invest in something distinctive when brand building is a collective rush toward the newest shiny object?

These comparisons became central to our thinking. If the industry was fixated on immediate metrics, what framework might help us articulate the value of lasting impression? We found our answer in an unexpected place.

What if we talked about brand equity the way different protocols prove their value? In decentralized finance, "Total Value Locked" (TVL) is a metric that measures the cumulative value of assets staked in a protocol. It's proof that an experiment is working—people are literally investing in it. We saw a parallel for brand building.
To quote the report, “Total Vibes Locked works similarly. When people invest their attention into a brand through experiences, they vibe with the brand. If the experience is memorable enough to become part of the community’s lore or—even broader—part of an ecosystem narrative, then we call it a locked vibe. That experience is part of collective memory and will not fade away. These lasting memories can be counted towards brand equity.
Increasing TVL (the measurement of brand equity) necessarily affects the way several interrelated marketing priorities are set. It makes sense to look at all marketing activities holistically, from creating a brand identity that resonates with an audience, to creating vibrant campaigns that signal continuous cultural alignment, to building virtual spaces for experience & interaction. We are considering how all experiences work together to create a lasting impression.”

As any degen will tell you, daily price fluctuations aren’t worth losing sleep over compared to the big picture, but it takes both to build a successful portfolio. Similarly, growth marketing is here to stay, but it works best when it serves a bigger purpose.
As a result of this report, I went on to launch several grassroots events on my own, Collective Inquiry and Cursed Visuals. I’ve been collecting data on both, and look forward to a second report that will (hopefully) offer a repeatable playbook for how I think brand builders can use their skills to lock a vibe.