Amplify presents worldbuilding | the evolution of brand building | Issue 1

Take a breath.

Think about a time when you were completely lost in something

When you were so transfixed that time seemed to stand still

Was it a page of a book, that blurred the edges of the real world you were standing in?

Was it a game that made you forget the job you didn’t want to go to that day?

Was it an experience that allowed you to feel like you were someone else?

When was the last time that you dove into someone else’s world?

Bexy Cameron, Director

‘worldbuilding | the evolution of brand building’ film series

Foreword

Jonathan Emmins

jonathan@weareamplify.com

Founder + Global CEO of Amplify

In our busy lives, we rarely have moments where we’re fully present and offer our complete time and attention.

For me, it’s when I listen to an album end-to-end, get lost in a mix or immerse myself in a performance at a gig, club or festival. For my partner, it’s the belonging, the camaraderie and the build-up when she trains for her next big sports challenge or a quick morning hit of competition with mates all over the world on Peloton –shout out @benspelotonarmy.

For my son, it’s as he effortlessly glides between magical worlds on and offline. Nothing pleases me more than hearing the joy in his voice as he excitedly tells me of the fantastic creatures he’s found on Pokémon Go, the expeditions he’s been on in Fortnite or, every now and then, as we laugh and bond as he thrashes me at FIFA. For my daughter, constantly creating, it’s when she draws and crafts things inspired by her favourite YouTubers or mirrors a new dance or gymnastics move from her favourite TikTokers.

Channels versus relationships

As consumers and fans in our own right, we know which brands we feel best represent us, our beliefs, passions and interests. We know which communities we want to belong to, who are our trusted sources of information and entertainment and above all, where we choose to spend our precious time and money. In the best cases, we actively use our brand choices to help define ourselves as individuals.

As marketers under increasing time and budget pressures, we often think in terms of channels or campaigns. In contrast, consumers tend to think in terms of affinity and relationships. Target audiences often only catch glimpses or moments of carefully considered integrated marketing campaigns that, in their eyes, often blur into one another. They instead take these fragments and moments as a composite and form their gut feel for a brand, good or bad.

The evolution of brand building

As creatives, to cut through we need to create work that is empathetic, collaborative, simple, effective and moving. The last few years have been some of the most challenging for marketers, but they’ve also been some of the most exciting as audiences. Circumstances and technology have made us think differently and for the better.

For audiences to engage and brands to cut through, we need a new type of creative approach and agency. The world is fast-moving and co-authored, yet so many brand guidelines are static, 2D and didactic. The pandemic challenged what brands could and couldn’t do, expediting much-needed change and, by necessity, breaking formats. Consumers were offered far more choices in how they engage with brands, and now we’ve gone forward, audiences won’t let us go back. Finally, advances in innovation and creative technology, including Web3 and AI, have opened new opportunities and challenges in considering the evolution of brand building.

Introducing worldbuilding

Working with some of the most innovative and progressive brands globally, we organically found ourselves thinking and talking about ‘building worlds’ that live beyond individual campaigns. We kick off by exploring the journey of worldbuilding to date, hearing from executive creative director, Alex Wilson, and why we think an old concept has never been more important when it comes to brand building.

We’ve then interviewed worldbuilding pioneers who are making a difference and doing it right. As with our work, for this project, we are drawing as much influence from culture and creative communities as we are from pioneering brands. Whether they are local or global, to be discovered or already iconic, we believe they lead the charge and can share valuable lessons for brands beginning or continuing their worldbuilding journeys.

Beyond this, look out for our worldbuilding launch film and ongoing film series featuring 24 futurethinking minds and sessions we’ll be running globally and locally, from SXSW to smaller, more intimate roundtables. To watch the films and find out more, check out www.weareamplify.com/worldbuilding/all

Please enjoy, and if you’re keen to chat do get in touch.

About Amplify

Airbnb / A night at... The Louvre

Amazon Prime / The Wheel of Time

Netflix / La Casa del Papel ‘The Biggest Fan’

Amplify is a global creative agency specialising in experience and culture. Headquartered in London but operating worldwide, we deliver campaigns from hubs in LA, Paris and Sydney.

Named both ‘Brand Experience Agency of the Decade’ and ‘Global Experience Agency of the Year’ , we work with some of the world’s most innovative and progressive brands – including Activision, Airbnb, Fortnite, Google, LEGO, Netflix, Pinterest, and PlayStation – creating campaigns and experiences that join the dots between people, brands and culture.

Amplify has always been at the forefront of the changing marketing and cultural landscape. Through a powerful mix of strategic thinking, creative bravery, cultural connection and executional excellence, we understand how to unearth creative and cultural opportunities on behalf of our clients. By joining the dots between people, brands and culture, we craft relevant work that captivates audiences.

But marketing campaigns are increasingly competing with culture and entertainment at large. So, brands need to do more than create communications for a brand channel or touchpoint; they need to place narrative design and storytelling at the heart of everything they do.

Our approach to crafting audience-first marketing campaigns means that we find the spaces where audiences and brands benefit each other and co-create, to empower ideas, community and conversation.

We solve problems.

At the heart of any problem is a person. A real person. What they think, believe, want or need. We help brands to connect with them and the things they love.

We break formats. From the different blends of talent that call Amplify home to the work we create - we’re continually reimagining how we engage, immerse and entertain audiences.

We build worlds.

We place narrative design and storytelling at the heart of everything we create, building content engines that captivate our audience with stories designed to be shared.

We create culture.

Inspired and influenced by the culturally-rich world that surrounds us, our ambition is to help our clients to contribute to it in a meaningful way with the work we create.

We firmly believe we need to place worldbuilding at the centre of any marketing playbook to turn audiences into fandoms.

See us in action: www.weareamplify.com/work

Nike / SNKRS Day

Contents

Building Brand Worlds

Words by Alex Wilson

Executive Creative Director, Amplify

A Legacy that Never Stops

Future Worlds

Words by Jeavon Smith

Chief Creative Officer, Amplify The Ones to Watch

Words by Yasmin Arrigo

Global Editorial Director & Seun Areoye

Trends Editor, Amplify

What Kind of Worldbuilder are You?

Words by Simon Richardson

Strategy Director, Amplify

Worldbuilding Definition:

Taking a brand, IP or product, putting your audience at the heart of it and building the world around them.

Building Brand Worlds

Our take on the history of worldbuilding from its sci-fi past to tech-infused present.

Words by Alex Wilson Executive Creative Director, Amplify

Middle Earth. Narnia. England.

From Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to stepping through the wardrobe with C.S. Lewis to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, fantasy authors have always created worlds to populate with their characters, beliefs and stories.

The freedom these worlds gave their creators allowed them to play with physics, laws and social constructs in ways that immersed audiences and invited them to step outside their known reality.

Worldbuilding in this context can be a top to bottom creation, a parallel reality or forward facing into one of many potential futures set in a familiar context – as per the aforementioned Brave New World. Familiar and relatable details anchor the audiences in the moment before being exposed to the creative and expansive thinking of the authors.

It didn’t take long for film to follow in the footsteps of literary greats.

In 1902, Georges Méliès created Le Voyage dans la Lune, a silent short film that told the story of a spacecraft launched into the moon. Largely considered to be the first sci-fi film, it drew heavy inspiration from Jules Verne’s 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon. Although not an example of worldbuilding in its own right, it opened creators’ eyes to the potential of the cinematic medium and catalysed the sci-fi cinema movement.

The world of Walt

Sci-fi didn’t have carte blanche over worldbuilding, however.

Arguably one of the most influential worldbuilders was a multi-hyphenate animator, producer, entrepreneur and pioneer of the American animation industry who followed a few decades later: Walt Disney.

As well as the cartoons, feature animations, live action films and theme parks, Disney came up with a concept for an entirely new type of city, EPCOT – Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow – though sadly it was never realised before his death in 1966.

At the heart of all these outputs was the audience. And it’s around the audience that The Walt Disney Company today still always builds the world, no matter the experience or IP. Regardless of theme, Disney Imagineers talk about the importance of focusing on the intangible ideas, lessons, values and concepts at the core of the story and how everything built within that world should support that story through experience and craft.

In 2012, after purchasing Pixar (2006) and Marvel (2009), The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm and, with it, the jewel in the crown: Star Wars. Pixar and Marvel have their own interconnected and hugely successful worldbuilding credentials, of course. But few examples of worldbuilding have the cultural impact of George Lucas’ sci-fi space opera.

Credit: Disney

Creating iconic IP

A huge part of Star Wars’ success over the years is the consistent experience fans have at every touch point within a world they love, understand and feel they own. From staying at the Star Wars hotel to visiting the theme park, buying the toys, watching the shows on Disney+ or attending a Secret Cinema collaboration, audiences know exactly what world they are stepping into.

Another factor that makes audiences love the world Lucas has built is the impression he has created that even if you didn’t see it, much more is happening outside the frame – and over and beyond the story originally experienced in the first release, Star Wars: Episode IVA New Hope. The very fact that it began with its fourth chapter showed the scale and scope of this world. After all, the film wasn’t called ‘Luke Skywalker’, it was about so much more than that.

A different path to worldbuilding is demonstrated by one of the most iconic entertainment IPs of the 1980s: Masters of the Universe. And the conception of musclebound protagonist He-Man and his world came about as a direct result of toy company Mattel missing out on the merchandising opportunity for the Star Wars toy line.

Stung by having turned down the (now) multi-billion dollar gift horse, which ended up in the lap of rival toy company Kenner, Mattel set out to recoup on the lost opportunity by creating He-Man and his arch nemesis Skeletor. It deliberately moulded its He-Man and Skeletor figures to be shorter than typical action hero toys at that time but bulkier than Star Wars figures. Then it pitched its creation to the top toy distributors in the US.

“From staying at the Star Wars hotel to visiting the theme parks, buying the toys, watching the shows on Disney+ or attending its Secret Cinema collaborations, audiences know exactly what world they are stepping into.”

Child World, at the time the country’s second largest toy distributor in the US, responded to Mattel’s initial pitch with a pointed challenge: “Star Wars has a movie kids know the characters from, what have you got?” Thinking on his feet, Mark Ellis, Director of Marketing at Mattel, told them a comic book series was in the works. And the Child World execs loved that. Trouble was, Mattel had no such plan.

So now Mattel had to create a comic book series.

When work began creating the comic, it soon became clear that to build a backstory for the toys a world beyond He-Man and friends was needed. So Mattel created Eternia, home of He-Man and a central location in the world of Masters of the Universe.

Armed with a cool toy line, a backstory, the world of Eternia, an overarching name and a new comic book series that came with each figurine and full of confidence, Mattel then met with the biggest toy distributor in the US, Toys R Us. But as the presentation ended, Ellis was met with another challenging response: “You say this is suitable for under five-year-olds ... they don’t read”.

Again thinking on his feet, he replied: “Oh, did I not mention the two one-hour specials we are going to release at the same time?”

So now Mattel had to create a TV show.

A series of one-hour specials evolved into a serialised cartoon that took He-Man from a successful toy line to an 80s cultural phenomenon. And there have been multiple reboots, reimaginings, spin offs and live action films over the years since. Most recently, the late iconic worldbuilder Virgil Abloh left his own stamp on the Masters of the Universe by creating monochromatic versions of the toys complete with a similarly monochromatic comic book – a nostalgic nod to the experience he had with the world of Masters of the Universe as a child.

Image top: Marlon at Unsplash

Bottom: Amy Sussman / Staff

Robots & Stardust

In 2001, a couple of robots appeared on the front cover of The Face magazine. Over the next two decades, these two musicians inspired and created a movement of producers and performers that hid their faces behind helmets, masks and wigs. Daft Punk built and committed to long-term robotic personas and aesthetics that would live through their music, anime music videos, live performance and cinematic scoring for Tron: Legacy. By creating a world where two robots came to life, they changed the course of the music industry.

Alternative personas and alter egos did not begin with these French electro pioneers, however. But it’s not always about doing it first – more important is doing it better than everyone else.

Enter David Bowie.

Style icon, musician, actor and visionary, Bowie constantly innovated in his world of creativity. Ziggy Stardust was just one of many alter egos he created, each bringing a new aesthetic and influences. This continued right up to his death, foretold by his final creation The Blind Prophet for his album Blackstar, released days before he passed. Bowie created a world that allowed him to bring his thoughts, beliefs and music to life through different characters and media as he saw it. He also saw the potential of the internet long before most people even knew what it was.

More recently, Yoann Lemoine (aka Woodkid) has combined his talents as a director, graphic designer and musician to create work that resonates with audiences on a visual level as much as audio. His stage performances reflect the worlds encapsulated by his videos, blending fashion with a sophisticated, layered musical sound accompanied by haunting vocals. As well as directing videos for Drake, Rihanna and Lana Del Rey, he has worked in the movie industry under Luc Besson and Sofia Coppola.

Best known for his 2012 hit Run Boy Run, a track that has found a second life through TikTok trends, Woodkid has constantly innovated and grown his world to celebrate his passion for multidisciplinary art forms throughout.

Image : Gaelle Marcel

Image: Francois Guillot / Contributor

Image: AFP / Stringer

Evolving Brand Worlds

The idea of ownership or collaboration with a world is truly special – and key to the evolution of a brand world.

Arguably one of the most famous brand worlds grew in 1940 from very humble beginnings... a 15-cent hamburger.

The McDonald brothers found success in drive-in restaurants having failed to make it in the movie business - a charming coincidence that underlines the impact film and entertainment has had on worldbuilding.

As the brand grew through the 1940s and 50s, the brothers ensured the architecture of their restaurants and hubs reflected the speed of their food service proposition: fast food. Real arches were part of the restaurant design and evolved into the iconic Golden Arches brand symbol.

And as the brand grew, so did its world.

Aside from the new product launches and global expansion, the brothers introduced Hamburger University in 1961 where students could graduate with a degree in ‘Hamburgerology’. And when a popular character called Bozo the Clown was rebranded as Ronald McDonald, a world was then built around himfrom comics, animation and films to videogames, park experiences and the Ronald McDonald House charity that works to improve the wellbeing of children.

Speaking of children, McDonald’s launched Happy Meals in the late 70s and fuelled the IP with further shows, partnerships and collaborations through toys and merchandise. These hubs and worldbuilding extensions continue today. Recently, McDonald’s even opened the first net zero-designed restaurant.

Whether it’s Star Wars, Pixar, or the work of its Imagineers, Disney never seems far from the subject of worldbuilding. Likewise Marvel which, under Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, has dominated the box office for the last decade with its well-planned out Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet it isn’t only giant brands and corporations that are active in this space – other purveyors of entertainment and IP are also making an impact.

“Arguably, one of the most famous brand worlds grew in 1940 from very humble beginnings... a 15-cent hamburger.”

Image: Cynthia Lu’s Cactus Plant Flea Market

In 2012, an independent entertainment company was born in New York City called A24. What began as a disruptive vision to pick and produce movies that go against a trend became a brand in its own right with its own aesthetic and its own universe.

None of the films are connected in a narrative sense, but as a portfolio of work there is a consistent vision and a singularity to their output. You might not know who released Titanic or Avatar, but an A24 film is a marker of quality and something that holds a unique currency for film fans. And it’s those film fans that A24 ensures receive most of the attention around the launch of its films.

Unlike most film distribution companies, A24 doesn’t spend the majority of its marketing budget on traditional advertising, either. Instead, it focuses mostly on online marketing with social executions – a fake Tinder profile for Ava, the lead cybernetic character in Ex Machina, for example. And it invests in worldbuilding around IP – such as an 80s style board game for The Green Knight. A24 also gives fans the chance to get closer to the IPs they love through billboard screenings, auctions, podcasts, online shops and a subscription service. It’s about living the A24 lifestyle.

This is an approach that Monocle magazine has implemented beautifully for years. Reading Monocle while listening to a Monocle podcast while sipping a cup of coffee in the Monocle coffee shop is a brand world experience its audience is happy to buy into. And audiences are especially happy when brands invite them in and hand over the keys to affect their own experience or storyline - something the Secret Cinema has done successfully for over a decade.

Secret Cinema builds worlds in a more literal sense, but it is only able to do so due to the power of the worldbuilding that came before. Whether it’s eating sushi under a transparent umbrella in the rain (indoors) at Blade Runner or being chased down the street by zombies at 28 Days Later, Secret Cinema brings audiences into worlds built from existing IP that can be co-created by that audience and their experiences. In the worlds it builds, participants live their own story based on their own decisions.

And that autonomy lives on as we move into the web3 era and the metaverse. How would Tolkien have crafted Middle Earth if his audience could don VR headsets and walk through Isengard? This is an opportunity for today’s worldbuilders to explore what the forebears of the craft could only dream of.

“In 2012, an independent entertainment company was born in New York City called A24. What began as a disruptive vision to pick and produce movies that go against a trend became a brand in its own right that has its own aesthetic and its own universe.”

Legacy Definition:

The creation of a world that lives on beyond a singular story or experiencesomething to be built upon, whether by the creator or their audience.

That Never A Legacy

Never Stops

Whether it’s blending the world of fashion with technology through a set of principles, or fighting for the rights of underprivileged groups to allow them access to more of a world they’ve been deprived of, these individuals left a legacy that lives on...

Words by Seun Areoye Trends Editor, Amplify

Abloh Virgil

With his passing shocking the wider world as his illness was kept pretty much a secret, it seems Virgil Abloh stepped on the accelerator after his fatal diagnosis. One of the very few people of colour in such a senior position, he worked tirelessly to leave the door open after kicking through it. A large part of his legacy is a self-serving, all-encompassing machine that works to demystify the fashion industry, whether that’s through his simplistic “DESIGN” elements, his endorsement of countless up-and-coming individuals, or his website “FREE GAME”.

Let’s not forget his numerous collaborations with sports stars, allowing them to explore their identities beyond their field of play. Famed for designing Serena Williams’ 2018 “QUEEN” Collection, which she wore in the US Open in the same year, his “TRACK & FIELD” show a year later brought together runway models like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner with professional athletes –most notably Dina Asher-Smith – to showcase his latest collection for Off-White.

Many sports stars moved into the world of fashion and editorial through his work. Spanish footballer Héctor Bellerin’s debut runway appearance came in Abloh’s first show for Louis Vuitton, for example, and the artist Bafic’s film Sub Eleven Seconds credited Abloh as its executive producer – two examples of his intent to continually break formats and boxes.

With a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in architecture, his collaboration with IKEA through his brand Off-White felt like a match made

in heaven, further making contemporary the structural world of furniture. Memorable pieces include a variety of rugs — most notably the “KEEP OFF” and “WET GRASS” concepts — that once again are iterations of his design language, just manifesting differently.

Then there is his impact within music. Not only was he a famed DJ, playing for the likes of Travis Scott and in famous events such as Circoloco at DC10, he also repurposed his architectural and design knowledge to design and creatively direct the design of album art. His client list included some of the biggest hitters from the world of hip-hop and rap, including A$AP Rocky, Kid Cudi, Lil Uzi Vert and Pop Smoke.

Announced nearly a year on from his passing, the RCA Virgil Abloh Scholarship feels like an aptly named celebration of everything Abloh was about, providing opportunities without boundaries and allowing anyone to walk the same path as the most esteemed creatives we know.

As the tributes poured out upon discovery of his passing, it was only after the best part of 15 months that his position at Louis Vuitton was filled. Whilst there’ll always be a Virgil-sized hole left not only within Louis Vuitton and Off-White but in the world as a whole, Louis Vuitton’s legacy is in safe hands following the appointment of Pharrell Williams as its new Men’s Creative Director.

Becoming a worldbuilder is not only about stepping into worlds that are seemingly inaccessible to those like yourself, it’s also about using your presence in that world to make others’ lives better as a result.

Not many people would be willing to continue to battle on as Ruth Bader Ginsburg did after decades and decades of adversity. Working her way up the legal ladder to the position of Supreme Court Judge at the time of her passing, her ascension is a story of its own.

But rather than focus on RBG’s personal achievements, we want to focus on just some of the monumental changes she was responsible for. Shaping the world to become a more positive place for so many marginalised groups made RBG a unique kind of worldbuilder, but a worldbuilder all the same.

Whether we begin with her endless work to preserve a woman’s right to choose through Roe v Wade or her continuous push towards demanding equal pay for women in the workplace, her passing raised serious concerns about laws she stood so strongly to protect.

Placing the needs of her nation over the wants – which would’ve certainly see her have an easier ride – we hope that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy continues to live out, giving freedom of the world to many more marginalised groups she fought so hard to empower.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Gloria

Watkins Jean

The inclusion of Gloria Jean Watkins (better known by her pen name bell hooks) in this piece warrants little debate. It’s hard to argue against any author being considered a worldbuilder as, through storytelling, they not only build a world but invite others to imagine it in different ways. But bell hooks’ presence here isn’t ‘all about love’ of her novels, it’s about inspiring in all of us ‘the will to change’. Watkins grew up during segregation and her work is informed by the intersectionality of love, race, class, gender, sexuality and feminism.

Through her books, her life’s works contribute to trying to dismantle the psychosocial gap between Black men and Black women, opening the grounds for a more positive interaction between the groups by allowing them to overcome tensions through empathy.

A strong feminist, her work never looked to wallow in self-sympathy. Instead, with its emphasis on the human, her output generated an urgency to improve.

The lessons Watkins wanted to teach us are lessons that humanity can continue to learn from. It comes as no surprise that her novels are still being read by – and are empowering – young Black women of today.

A perfect summary of bell hooks is via her stylistic decision to decapitalise her author name, which she borrowed from her grandmother, so as to “focus attention on her message rather than herself”.

A giving individual who never allowed the injustice of the world to dampen her hope, bell hooks left a legacy that continues to give us all hope – hope that the world we live in can continue to improve, making space for those who’ve been constantly cast aside.

Issey Miyake’s work runs deeper than fabric. An esteemed fashion designer, his collections disrupted the world of fashion as we know it. His work can simply be described as a portal - allowing more people to see themselves in fashionable clothes and, also, see themselves creating clothes and contributing to the fashion industry.

Steve Jobs, Grace Jones, Robin Williams, Joni Mitchell, Kim Kardashian are all names to have sported Issey Miyake, with some being very outspoken fans of the designer. It’s rumoured that Steve Jobs had over 100 of Issey Miyake’s turtlenecks, which became like his second skin – a staple look now forever associated with the tech entrepreneur. Just like the clothing itself, Issey Miyake constantly evaded definition, transcending across music, popular culture and art to pioneer a different way of thinking within the world of fashion.

Blending a plethora of inspirations, Miyake’s most successful venture – the designing and patenting of the micropleats – was seen as a move to democratise the world of fashion. With his ambition to create clothing that was as “universal as jeans and a t-shirt”, the pleats were a combination of his interest in technology and fashion. Made from polyester, they keep their shape and do not crease, allowing them to be a throw on item that will make you look great every time.

As a rich source of inspiration for principles of design, Miyake and other Japanese fashion designers – Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, to name a few – continue to define the direction of the world of fashion.

Issey Miyake

Jamal Edwards

The mustard tree does not exist without somebody planting the mustard seed.

When Jamal Edwards MBE got his first video camera aged 15, nobody would have predicted this small gift would become such a large empire. But the British music entrepreneur, philanthropist, mentor and founder of online R&B/hip-hop platform SB.TV who helped lay foundations in the careers of some of the UK’s biggest musicians created a legacy that keeps developing beyond his passing.

Whether it was Ed Sheeran way back in 2010, or Stormzy in the same year, Jamal Edwards MBE was the vehicle that moved the UK music scene towards becoming the self-serving machine that it is today, no longer reliant on its counterparts across the Atlantic to define its ‘success’ – for rappers, especially.

Before his passing, Edwards commented on meeting Alison Cope – mother of Joshua Ribera (aka Depzman, a rising star in the grime scene who was tragically murdered in 2013): “We have to do this because legacy is important.” He was then involved in the creative conception of a music video, Life Cut Short, released in October 2022 after his death. The video, which used deepfake technology to create a lifelike version of Depzman, continued the massive potential career the Birmingham-based artist had and raised awareness about the long-lasting effects of knife crime.

Many large UK-based artists now choose to post music videos onto their own channels, cutting out the middleman. And there’s no doubt that Jamal Edwards MBE was a catalyst for that change, gifting the UK the autonomy it needed to be more than the ‘little sibling’ of the US music scene.

His legacy is the greatest gift of all: independence. For that, he will never, ever be forgotten.

More information about The Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust can be found at jamaledwards.org

Image: Matt Monfredi 2018 YouTube ‘Music In Residence’ (Amplify)

Pioneer Definition:

A thought. A decision. A vision. Worlds come into existence for a multitude of reasons. They aren’t all masterplans, but a pioneer harnesses that inception and uses it to fuel, hone and share their intention.

Liv

Words by Fayola Douglas

Brand Editor, Amplify

Little Writer, President of gal-dem & Author

Images: Bexy Cameron

Little by name but with big ambitions, Liv Little has shown her talents to stretch far beyond the creative outlet that first set her on our radar.

Moving on from her role as gal-dem’s Founder and CEO to become President of the board, Little is now pursuing other creative endeavours. These include writing her first novel, Rosewater, which is scheduled for release in spring 2023.

Little’s talent lies in being able to identify a story and deciding on the best way to tell it. Her move into fiction and drama has allowed her the creative freedom to explore various themes, topics and wild ideas.

Slowing down to build worlds

During the pandemic, I went walking around Epping Forest, because walking was all we were allowed to really do, and I was listening to a horror soundscape. You’re looking at this normal environment but everything becomes creepy because of the sounds.

There are lots of places to seek inspiration – from discovering new places to seeing how people interact with each other, or viewing an environment through a new lens. Many characters I am working on are based on my observations of how different personalities move through life, through situations like grief or walking down the street. I find myself watching people and formulating little stories about who they are or what might be happening in their lives. You can find inspiration, ideas for storytelling, worldbuilding and character development anywhere.

Allowing yourself the time and space needed is important. In the past two years, I’ve slowed down my way of working and the way I show up, coming from

running a business to writing stories and building ideas out. And that’s been key to me being able to explore and experiment.

gal-dem beginnings

I started gal-dem when I was 21 and in my last year of uni. I really wanted to connect with people and didn’t know that it would be as popular as it became, or that so many people would want to be involved with it. There was an energy of just going out and doing things and trying things. It was very DIY to begin with, then evolved into a business. I ended up with less time to feed the creative parts of my brain as you’re having to feed the business. It was an honour, I’m super glad and fortunate that I had that experience.

But as you near 30, you realise you are a different person to how you were at 21. On a personal level, I have experienced the loss of my dad and stepdad, and those moments of deep grief and sadness are reminders of what’s important and the fact we should be unafraid and go after the things we want.

Images: Bexy Cameron

“ You can find inspiration, ideas for storytelling, worldbuilding and character development anywhere.”

An emotional experience

With my novel Rosewater, I want people to step into someone else’s world, someone else’s shoes, and to feel the journey and the process of the main character. I want them to find pieces of themselves in the story. I decided to write the type of book I would want to read. I see myself as a queer Black woman from south London. And in the story, there are places and moments I recognise. But alongside the specificity, there is also a universality in identifying with how we all have to show up and navigate through the world. I want people to connect with the characters either because they are frustrated with them – they are challenging, or because they see themselves in the characters and want to root for them. They are flawed but people are flawed.

During the time I was writing Rosewater, I was going through the process of losing a parent. I had low moments, and in the book there are emotional scenes and writing them I would be emotional. I was able to draw on my lived experiences and feel the emotions from my own life and translate some elements of that into the book. The book is not about me but, as artists, there are pieces of us in everything that we do.

South London lover

Specificity is really important. When a show is situated within a specific place and world, you can feel the humanity in the situation and you feel something towards the characters. Normal People was set in Ireland and you could recognise these two young people falling in love, and even though that wasn’t my life I could feel the love and intensity they shared and be moved by their experiences.

With my novel there is a real specificity: we are in south London. You could say I am obsessed with writing about it and don’t want to leave it, but it’s important to me. The specificity doesn’t need to hinder mass engagement, audience or reach. I feel people can connect with Rosewater because they know what it is to be figuring out where they fit into the world, or how we might have been impacted by the way we were shown love, in how we give love and show up.

The worlds that inspire me

There are lots of production companies, especially in the US, that I think are doing really amazing stuff. Lena Waithe’s company, Hillman Grad, is doing incredible stuff across books, film and TV. I think there’s an appetite

and a space over there for the stories that obviously exist here, too. But in the US, I think there is more of an appetite and economy for a wider breadth of diversity in storytelling, which I find incredibly inspiring.

There is so much great work that exists in lots of different spaces and I try and consume as much of it as possible. One of the authors I love is Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun, and reading that was the first time I’d seen myself reflected in some way. She is a queer Jamaican woman and when I read Here Comes the Sun it was something I hadn’t seen before. Reading one of the poems about a Guyanese dish made me cry as it captured the essence of what that stands for from a cultural perspective.

The main character in Rosewater is a poet so my friend Kai-Isaiah Jamal, who is an incredible poet, wrote poems for my book. When I was imagining the main character’s voice, in my mind I could hear Kai, their sensibility and the way they tell stories in a way that is so incredibly moving.

Future worlds

When I was younger and running gal-dem, I remember saying I wasn’t going to be doing this forever. It is designed to exist beyond me and my personal desires for that community. As much as I’m in a different phase now, with its new team it will continue to evolve. I think I always knew there were lots of things that I wanted to try. You have to lean into that part of life, accepting that things change. I am moving into this next chapter.

It is a treat to be able to write and have people read your work. I often joke that I have a fake job as I wonder: how is this real life? It is a huge privilege to share my writing and work with the world. I’m still learning and evolving as a writer but I want to progress and have that impact in my worldbuilding moving forward. Through every project, there can be an evolution or development. When I started gal-dem, all that energy and youthfulness helped to get that idea off the ground. But you can see the formats that I use to tell stories have changed, and I have moved away from the journalism space. It’s a process.

Explore Liv Little’s world:

Instagram: @livslittle @gal-dem

Online: gal-dem.com

Rosewater: The debut novel from Liv Little, published by Get Lifted Books

Available online and in all good bookshops

Donald Glover

When speaking about Donald Glover, where do we begin? Atlanta? Redbone? This is America? To ask who Donald Glover is poses a complex question and it’s potentially easier to ask who he isn’t.

Actor. Director. Musician. Comedian. Producer. Political figure. Donald Glover utilises his creativity to its fullest potential, accurately depicting the world both on stage and on set. With five Grammys and two Golden Globe awards under his belt, the future of Donald Glover is larger than himself, proving what is possible for a multi-hyphenate creative.

You know how the saying goes about being a Jack of all trades? Glover is proving that you can be the master of them all too. Instagram: @donaldglover

Game creator Will Wright established the blueprint for simulation games. The original SimCity, which he designed and was launched in 1989, focused on built environments. It was followed by The Sims series, which began in 2000.

The Sims franchise is a series of life simulation video games where there is no universal goal to achieve or prize to attain. And with no end point, Wright has been able to open up a Sim- sized world of opportunities for entertaining audiences with a world powered by each player’s creativity.

The future of Sims lies in the evolution of how Sims think and behave with a promise to not only tell stories but also enable collaboration between users’ creations and those from their friends. Instagram: @thesims

Will Wright

Video game designer.

For Rihanna, first came music, then came film, next came Fenty. The cosmetic side of her business sent waves across the beauty industry when she launched her foundation range with 40 shades, and she was celebrated for her commitment to inclusivity.

She brought the same disruptive and inclusive outlook to her lingerie and clothing brand, Savage X Fenty, by stocking XS through to 5XL. Savage X Fenty has since turned heads with its live shows and been recognised for its wide range of models, headline talent and precision performances.

By fusing her talents with her iconic Fenty makeup moment during her Super Bowl halftime show performance, Rihanna proves that she really can do it all, as she pushes her brands to deliver what consumers demand and challenges the status quo. Instagram: @badgalriri

aka Childish Gambino American actor, comedian, singer, rapper, writer, director and producer.

Rihanna

Singer, entrepreneur, actress and fashion designer.

When Hanifa, Anifa Mvuemba’s clothing brand, went viral during the pandemic, strong foundations were already in place.

Inspired by her mother’s love for fashion, Mvuemba created a brand that is truly dedicated to building a world within fashion where Black women like herself feel seen. With around 90% of her team being Black women and a focus on making the everyday woman feel confident in what they wear, it’s no surprise her dresses have been pictured on the likes of Beyoncé and Michelle Obama.

More than a fashion brand, Hanifa is a gateway – showing what’s possible for Black women around the world, from Congo to California, and everywhere in between.

Instagram: @anifam + @hanifaofficial

Joerg Koch, Founder and Editor-in-chief of media and fashion company 032c, has created what can only be described as a feeling. From a research manual to a publication to a universe that interrogates (and participates in) the world of fashion from a multitude of angles, the Koch family (Joerg and his wife Maria) are empowering independent thought.

From Kim K to Little Simz, Gucci Mane to Raf Simons, a wealth of creatives have graced the covers of the magazine that is now 20 years old (and some change). Complementing such an eccentric publication is a ready-to-wear line that stocks a wide breadth of products — from simple tees to premium leather jackets.

Instagram: @032c

London’s East End is never too far from the West Coast of the US thanks to Clint419, whose streetwear brand Corteiz has generated a cult following.

With its ubiquitous Alcatraz logo, Corteiz is growing year on year. Meanwhile Clint419, who has amassed almost 500k followers on the @crtz.rtw Instagram account, has become synonymous with his brand. Despite this, the values of both still seem the same from when they just had a few thousand followers.

Building a social presence that translates into physical experiences is Clint419’s superpower. Whether on the streets of Melbourne, Lagos or London, the brand has managed to make significant noise on the ground worldwide.

Instagram: @clint419

Anifa Mvuemba Founder of Hanifa

Clint419 Founder of Corteiz.

Joerg Koch Founder and editor-in-chief of 032c.

Founder & Artistic Director

Ballet Black

Words by Yasmin Arrigo Global Editorial Director, Amplify Image: Holly McGlynn

Across the week, when the young aspiring dancers arrive for their after-school and weekend classes and push the door back to the Marylebone studio, they are entering into the world Cassa Pancho created 21 years ago – the world of Ballet Black.

Launched to celebrate and bring opportunities to Black and Asian dancers, the professional ballet company has an ultimate goal of creating a greater representation in the mainstream ballet universe. From traversing traditional worlds through to extending beyond performance, Pancho answers frankly about the challenges of breaking formats and transforming the dance landscape.

Cassa The Pioneers

Building the world of Ballet Black

My dad is from Trinidad, and my mum is white British. My childhood was spent taking ballet lessons in west London where there was all the diversity that you’d expect in west London. However, this all changed when I went to professional school – there were no Black dancers and no Black teachers or staff.

I started overhearing what others said about Black culture and its place in ballet, without understanding my background. It made me think, was the world of ballet a racist place? When I was a kid, taking classes with other children from west London, I hadn’t considered that, but at professional school it changed.

Breakthrough moment

In my final year, I decided to write a dissertation about the lack of Black women in classical ballet in the UK. But I couldn’t actually find any UK-based Black ballet dancers to talk to so had to go further afield and spoke to professional Black dancers about their experiences. I felt their discomfort.

I started Ballet Black upon graduation. I found a teaching post and took on a role as a receptionist in a pilates studio, then the weekends and evenings were about Ballet Black. The first step was actually deciding to do it and the second was coming up with a name. Ballet Black was meant to be a placeholder, lots of people found it too direct and confronting.

I wasn’t aware of needing a certain resilience about me, though. If you do anything of note in ballet, you have to have been a name first. The typical path is to be a dancer, a principal and then a choreographer. In that respect, I was an unknown. Additionally, I was very young and I was a woman. Did I have to be resilient? I wasn’t aware of having to be, as no-one cared – not in a bad way – but no-one was even aware of me and what I was doing. I wasn’t a name so I could carry on building this.

Image: Nick Guttridge

“There are so many brilliant stories, but to write them for ballet is tricky, it’s a nonspeaking art form so how you translate those stories can be challenging. But we need to find new stories, as the ballet world has really old stories, but does that speak to our modern audiences?”

Traversing traditional establishments

Baroness Deborah Bull, former principal ballerina with the Royal Ballet Company, had a remit at the Royal Opera House to find different work to sit in the venue’s smaller performance spaces and she invited us in to train and perform in the Linbury Theatre. It was the equivalent of being a struggling filmmaker that suddenly meets Netflix and gets to be part of the programming. We were an obscure company now suddenly working at the Royal Opera House. Our class numbers quadrupled overnight, we then built an audience and started to grow

Taking the Glastonbury stage

Winning a prestigious Critics’ Circle National Dance Award in 2012 for our company, with Rambert and Scottish Ballet also in the running, was overwhelming. Of course, there’s that moment when you think, did we get this because we had to? Because we were the ethnic one? But to win on our ten-year anniversary was a highlight. You go through the journey and can have dips – the award came along at the right time, to remind the company of why we are doing this.

Extending the footprint

Luke Jennings, the dance critic and journalist, had written an article about the lack of ballet shoes for Black dancers and Freed London got in touch, and he directed them to us. Cira Robinson (Ballet Black dancer) had also been in their shop looking for pointe shoes – they had every colour except brown. Someone working in the shop had told her that if she found the satin, they would make the shoe. When I found out, I went back to Freed and asked them to find the satin! We used Cira as the model, we needed a bronze shoe, plus matching ribbons and elastics. The process began in 2016 and we launched the shoe in 2018. The reaction from across the world, from students, parents and dancers was immense.

Of course, there remained the negative voices, too –questioning why we were focusing on shoes and not crime, as if to say that is what Black people should

Stormzy and I were already connected. I had met him at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony, where he’d won the Pop accolade. I’m a huge fan of his music and we followed each other on Twitter, so he already knew of Ballet Black. He said to me that we’d do something together, so when the head of his creative team got in touch, asking if we’d come and do a festival with him (in 2019), of course the answer was yes. Just four of us went down to Glastonbury and our performance was just 2.5 minutes but it was such a defining moment – one that put Ballet Black on a global stage.

Inspirational worlds

There are so many trailblazers to admire – Kwame Kwei- Armah, the Artistic Director of the Young Vic is such an endless ball of energy. I wish I had his unbridled energy and enthusiasm! Then there’s Laurence Gomez, Director and Head Chef of Papa L. He’s a true disruptor of the food industry, taking Caribbean dishes to a haute cuisine level. And of course Cira herself, who has been very overlooked in the UK.

Future aspirations

We’re 21 years old. When I look to next year and beyond, I want us to do exactly what we’ve done to date but more: more kids, more classes, more dancers, more performances. Then we need to start to perform new stories. For 2023, we’ll be telling the story of Nina Simone. There are so many brilliant stories but to write them for ballet is tricky – it’s a nonspeaking art form so how you translate those stories can be challenging. But we need to find new stories, as the ballet world has really old stories, but does that speak to our modern audiences?

Explore Cassa Pancho’s world:

Instagram: @cassapancho + @originalballetblack

Online: balletblack.co.uk + BBOnFilm

“Play is one of the more natural of all human behaviours. We all have this desire to play and to be playful. It’s really vital to helping as far as developing motor skills, and our It gives us this ability make friends

Kris Crockett, The LEGO Group

natural

play helping us

Image: LEGO ‘Fly Away Isles’ (Amplify)

behaviours.

developing our minds, imaginations. ability to live and interact, friends and eventually, find community.”

Founder & CCO

Words: Seun Areoye

Trends Editor, Amplify

Adeyemi Femi NTS

Images: Bexy Cameron

How does a good day begin for you?

A perfectly brewed coffee, a solid gym session, a hearty breakfast, perhaps?

Whilst all of these outcomes are subject to many-avariable, there’s a consistent way that music lovers worldwide are beginning their mornings: by tuning into NTS. Whether you’re a casual listener in Tokyo, or a daily discorder in Montreal, the platformfounded by Femi Adeyemi - serves as a 24-hour, seven days a week companion fuelling discovery and fandom in equal measure.

Learning on the job

Simply a disgruntled music fan, I decided to make a change. When I say I actually listen to everything I truly mean it. So when I saw that I, like so many other talented musicians, weren’t getting the airtime they deserved, I built a platform for those who just couldn’t make it onto the mainstream airwaves.

Now, as someone who didn’t have above-average technical skills, building a radio station was a challenge. But I realised if I leaned on my friends, my passion, and some good old posters stuck around London, I could build something that not only I needed but so many others needed too.

It wasn’t easy to begin with, but I understood why I was doing it. With £3,000 and a dream, I began renting an empty studio in (pre-gentrification) Dalston, put out some flyers, and before I knew it, I had 50 or 60 people who wanted to take space on our programme. Whilst I had started this for slightly selfish reasons, before I could really understand what was happening, all of these signups proved to me that this thing I was building had legs.

By any means

I started in Hackney, not only because it was cheap (that is not a typo, this was over a decade ago) but it already had the essence I was trying to capture. Everyone was hustling. Whether it was the barber next door, or the butcher across the road, there was no way anybody was not going to succeed, so I felt like I was in good company. Additionally, it was reflective of everything I was trying to create: a hub of diverse sounds, with a multitude of layers and stories that could connect with absolutely anybody. So the foundations were already there.

Whilst the pirate radio model of charging for a space on the platform was working just fine, it just wasn’t enough to keep the lights on. I didn’t need that whole office space, so I subletted the rest of it and kept a tiny corner with desks just to keep the dream alive. As well as having this radio station, I had to become this office manager, ensuring that I was there at 7am every morning to open up, even if I’d been out until 5am ...

I’ll tell you a funny story just to show you how seriously I took the hustle. It’s 2018, and we’ve got a stage at Notting Hill Carnival. If you’ve ever been, you’ll know that trying to stream anything from a place packed with millions of people, with a complete reception blackout, is pretty much impossible. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. My partner Sean and I went to a flat across the street from our stage and simply asked if we could pay to use their internet. They agreed so we bought a 100m long ethernet cable and streamed directly, using wired connections in the place where the only connection you could get was with the person you might end up dancing with.

And there’s no place like home, all these years later, we’re still here, right in the same studio it all started - although we have multiple homes now.

Image: NTS, featuring the late Andrew Weatherall

The music comes first

There’s only one way to define our fanbase. Not by age, location, occupation. Simply put, our fanbase is obsessed with music. Where we have people from every corner of the world tuning in, the thing that bonds them together is the music. Nothing else. There’s a big, shared energy that is born from the urge to dig deeper, to learn, to share, to boast about the artists and the music you know that nobody else in your circle does.

And we’ve got here by following a simple rule: there are no rules (cliché I know). But there really aren’t. When we invite individuals onto our airwaves, they play whatever they want. It’s the foundation of discovery because we all have that secret weapon that we know will turn a passive listener to one that’s locked in, that’ll have them reaching for Shazam before we transition to the next track.

When you have a fanbase as dedicated to something as ours, it’s inevitable that people and brands will want to endorse that, share it and ultimately be a part of it.

Building communities through collaboration

I’ve always placed importance on the need to be present physically, although we’re an online radio station. Whilst we’ve got a community of people we’ll never be able to physically meet, it’s nice to think they know where to find us.

Aside from the 600+ DJs that are part of the NTS family, there are many brands we’ve collaborated with,

celebrating the wealth and strength of our community. It all started with Carhartt, who approached us three months after we launched. They understood, even then, what we were creating. Twelve years down the line, we’re still working together, exchanging ideas. We work with all sorts of brands, gaming brands, alcohol brands, clothing brands. If a brand wants to speak to the obsessive music lover, they know exactly where they can find them. Whether it’s simply a radio show, merch or an event, every time we collaborate with brands it’s an open con- versation – never us being instructed. We want to ensure that everything we do reflects well on our solid audience because, remember, the music comes first.

The future is bright

I found an old notepad of mine from 2011. I’ve done a lot but at least 12 of those ideas haven’t been done, so the job is far from finished. There’s a bigger world out there and I can’t wait to get lost in it.

That’s why I started all this, in pursuit of discovering everything that’s unknown to me – it always makes for a great story. Everything I do distils down to understanding the story. Whether I’m playing Final Fantasy VII in my spare time or building out our offering as a record label, the process is the prize – the gift that keeps on giving.

Keep reading whilst I write new chapters.

Explore Femi Adeyemi’s world:

Instagram: @eddie_fiction + @nts_radio

Online: nts.live

“There’s only one way to define our fanbase. Not by age, location, occupation. Simply put, our fanbase is obsessed with music. Where we have people from every corner of the world tuning in, the thing that bonds them together is the music.”

Galloping onto the scene with his debut single Old Town Road, Lil Nas X quickly became a number one artist across the globe. Early on in his career, he delivered confirmation of his sexuality and he also opened up about the “draining and straining” pressures of being a Black gay artist in the music industry. Despite this, Lil Nas X continues to make history, celebrating his sexuality with an onstage kiss and constantly breaking stereotypes surrounding rappers. Alongside the video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name), he penned an open letter to his 14-year-old self with the hope of opening doors for other queer people. From twerking on the devil for his music video to releasing Satan trainers, Lil Nas X has his fans in a choke hold and as we’ve seen on TikTok they will happily pole dance with him to Hell.

Instagram: @lilnasx

Music managers are like superheroes – appreciated by those who know, invisible to those who don’t. A mysteriously incognito character with the best part of ten years of work within music, Phoebe Gold is music manager defining what success means on her terms and the terms of her artists. With a small but strong roster that includes PinkPantheress, Tommy Gold, tendai and others, Gold is able to chase the work she wants. Crafting a different world for her artists that oozes with authenticity, it seems the focus always is connection over commerciality – with the latter coming as a result of the former and never the other way around.

Phoebe Gold

Co-founder of Up Close Management.

Nobody could’ve predicted how far KSI would come when he first recorded a video from his (at that point) humble abode. YouTuber, rapper, actor, boxer and multi-business owner are just some of the ways you could describe the 29-yearold. Building an empire that transcends not only realms of entertainment but also industries is something that a multitude of large corporations are dying to achieve – it’s incredible to think that KSI has managed to achieve this from playing FIFA in his bedroom. In 2022, KSI’s bout with Logan Paul entered the top five highest-selling fights in history, whilst the pair’s Prime drink was potentially the most spoken about drink in the past year. The Sidemen Charity Match, a collective which KSI is a part of, raised over £1m for selected charities, and had 2.6 million concurrent viewers, making it one of the most successful events of its nature.

Instagram: @ksi

KSI

YouTuber, rapper, songwriter, boxer and actor.

Lil Nas X

Rapper, singer and songwriter.

As a saxophone player, tech entrepreneur Ethan Diamond already had a genuine love for music prior to launching online record store and music community Bandcamp in 2008. An essential revenue stream for independent musicians and labels, Bandcamp allows the sale of digital items and physical merchandise. As a place where fans can discover, connect with, and directly support the artists, it choose to waive its usual 15% fee on a number of occasions in order to support artists affected by the shutdown of live music during the Covid-19 pandemic. Diamond holds the belief that music is essential for humanity and so rather than focusing on selling advertising or a subscription plan, when it comes to his platform artists have to come first.

Instagram: @bandcamp

Yvon Chouinard

Rock climber, equipment manufacturer and founder of Patagonia.

Reluctant businessman Yvon Chouinard did not have his sights set on becoming a billionaire when he founded outdoor clothing and gear company Patagonia. The avid philanthropist, who began giving away 1 percent of Patagonia’s revenue to environmental organisations in the mid-1980s, last year announced that rather than going public the company would be opting for purpose. Chouinard gave away all of his shares in Patagonia to a trust that will use future profits to help fight the climate crisis, turning shareholder capitalism on its head by making the Earth its only shareholder. As a self-proclaimed “existential dirtbag”, Chouinard’s focus is on being a craftsman rather than chasing personal wealth.

Instagram: @patagonia

“It starts with hello” is the message in a Bumble campaign, encouraging women to overcome their hesitation and start the conversation. Bumble’s Founder and CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd, had set out to create a platform where women made the first move in a bid to create a more respectful relationships app. Being different from the other apps on the scene has given Wolfe Herd the mighty task of shifting cultural norms to be a women-first dating platform. The female business leader was also a co-founder of Tinder but exited after filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company. When it comes to managing her own business she is committed to a healthy work environment and offers great parental rights. More than just a dating app, Bumble stands as an ally to helping advance gender equality and putting an end to misogyny. Its online shop also extends the relationship by selling everything from wedding gifts to baby clothes - a humorous acknowledgement that making the first move can lead to new adventures.

Instagram: @whitney + @bumble

Ethan Diamond CEO of Bandcamp.

Whitney Wolfe Herd Entrepreneur and CEO of Bumble.

Bugeja Audrey

Managing Editor & Head of Global Communications and Partnerships

Sneaker Freaker

Words by Yasmin Arrigo Global Editorial Director, Amplify

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Sneaker Freaker was founded by Simon Wood, aka Woody, in a bid to fuel his passion around sneakers and collecting. As Managing Editor and Head of Global Communications and Partnerships, Audrey Bugeja sets the editorial direction for a zine that welcomes the young teen dreaming of their first pair of killer kicks through to veteran sneakerheads who’ve been collecting for 40+ years - plus everyone in between.

Image: Audrey Bugeja

Images: Sneaker Freaker

The world of Sneaker Freaker

Our world started as a magazine, which is printed twice a year and stocked in all good bookstores and independent retailers from New York to Japan and quite prominently across Europe. And we are across the digital realm, we have about 10 million people per month visiting the site plus our social pages on everything from Instagram to Facebook and TikTok. We are an independent publication and we share our opinion in a really positive way.

The common element with our audience is that appreciation for the sneaker.

A shifting landscape

Ten to 15 years ago, the sneaker landscape was a subculture. Now it’s a global industry and people working in corporate spaces wear sneakers to the office, so the world of sneakers has definitely evolved and shifted. We have brands that have been around for 100-plus years and particular silhouettes that have shaped or have really influenced culture.

Then there’s how sport comes into the mix – whether it is basketball or the terrace culture of football or tennis, sport is the absolute foundation.

Image: Sneaker Freaker

“Sneaker Freaker allows that female consumer to come in and feel confident that they can share their passion for sneakers without being looked down upon or trolled, which was happening in the industry 15 years ago.”

The art of sneakers

The sneaker is a work of art. It’s the same as if we’re looking at a fashion and an apparel item or actually a work of art. It’s all about the design – there’s someone behind that, a team behind that and a reason for that. And that for me is art and design. It’s well known that in the industry there are people who purchase sneakers and don’t wear them and just keep them in their collection, and then obviously there are those who wear them and enjoy them in a different way.

It’s that bridge between something that’s heading into luxury. The late Virgil Abloh brought those two worlds of streetwear and luxury together. And there’s been another way of appreciating the sneaker through the likes of virtual platforms that talk about it in a way that is deserved. We’ve got so many amazing designers in our community who work across the sneaker spaces for all different types of brands. So, in short, a sneaker is absolutely a piece of art.

Sustainable futures

There’s so much consideration that goes into sneaker design and production across the globe. So much goes into the design of a sneaker – thinking about comfort and design, the functionality aspects of a piece of footwear, plus the materials selected to make it work. Brands that are wanting to design and produce products that minimise waste are finding new ways to do that.

We’re liaising with some brands that we’re really close with and actually seeing what they’re providing to their design team is super exciting. That’s allowing them new, exciting and collaborative ways to design sneakers that minimises waste and has a different approach to production. I think it’s really important that we look at

ways that technology can enhance this and make a more sustainable place across the sneaker industry.

Inclusive spaces

Reaching the volume of people that Sneaker Freaker does is not something that we take lightly. I often remind my team to just remember what impact our voice will have. We have such a fantastic team of really passionate people that actually understand what it means to work in this space, but we definitely have a role to play. And personally, I am the only female footwear editor in this position and that’s a really important role. We’ve always been a very inclusive brand in terms of gender, race, location … you name it.

It’s been really important to continue to communicate the importance of having an inclusive space and acknowledge that, when we look at sneaker collecting and some elements of the industry, there’s no denying that there’s some barriers to purchase. It’s getting harder to get some of the top releases.

Nevertheless, what we find so important is to ensure that we have a community that helps each other and that all have that common element. So for us, the future is really bright. We still are an independent brand and we’ve been around for 20 years, and I feel like our best work is still to come. There’s a really big year ahead – a lot of exciting things are launching. From my perspective in my role, I’ll just continue to grow our community authentically and show women across the sneaker industry and across the fashion world that we’re here to stay and we’ve never left. We have a really strong female community, which is just so wonderful for me to see grow year-on-year organically.

Sneaker Freaker allows that female consumer to come in and feel confident that they can share their passion for sneakers without being looked down upon or trolled, which was happening in the industry 15 years ago. The sneaker industry, as with any industry, has its ups and downs. So for us, it’s about riding those out and just remaining true to who we are. And I think that’s why we’re still around and still a really strong independent voice in the sneaker world.

Explore Audrey Bugeja’s world:

Instagram: @sneakerfreakermag

Online: sneakerfreaker.com

Magazine: sneakerfreaker.com/mag

Image: Sneaker Freaker

Not all worldbuilders

Image: Frito-Lay and Cheetos

worldbuilders

Not all worldbuilders are born human... but that won’t stop them entering the worlds of entertainment, gaming, fashion and more.

Chester Cheetah, the official mascot for Frito-Lay’s Cheetos brand snacks, was born in 1986 making his TVC debut with the undeniable line “It’s not easy being cheesy”.

The self-proclaimed righteous kitty has kept his paws firmly in the gaming landscape with two releases - Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool and Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest for Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, and a cameo in Just Dance 4.

Chester’s fashion creds also include announcing Cheetos’ House of Flamin’ Haute for New York Fashion Week, where a style bar created the Wild Cheetah Cat Eye look for fans of the suave one.

His long-standing partnership with global recording artist Bad Bunny coupled with the recent unveiling of Chesterville (a new digital suburban neighbourhood built as an experience inside Meta Horizon Worlds) are proof that this cat loves to collab and experiment with new spaces if it helps him meet more of his fans.

are born human...

Words by Fayola Douglas Brand Editor, Amplify

Image: Ali Mendes

Nurturing a world

I think Legendary is probably best known for working with a lot of world-class IP. We are really lucky because usually we’re stepping into pre-existing fandoms and finding ways to bring stories and characters that have lived in audiences’ minds for years to the screen in a way that’s going to deliver on expectations. There are people who already love what this IP is. But also, we need to invite a new audience in who might not be familiar.

There’s a real challenge, a real responsibility. Structurally we function as a studio and a production company so we are executives, but we are also on-the-ground producers. When you are trying to build worlds like ours, which are huge and take years of your life, it’s helpful to be involved as a producer because you want to caretake them. These worlds are like children, they need to be raised and moulded with love.

Something I found with all material, whether it’s a giant piece of pre-existing IP, the most popular video game in the world or an original idea from a creator, is it always leads back to a strong concept. You cannot build a world without a strong concept at the centre. So, I think that’s something that all of the films we put out have in common. They all begin with what feels like a great idea that is combustible. There’s something in the concept that connects with people emotionally in a way that makes them care, it’s distinctive and it doesn’t feel like something you’re seeing everywhere else.

Ali Mendes is the world-class exec behind the first live-action Pokémon movie, Detective Pikachu, and Enola Holmes.

As SVP of Creative Affairs at Legendary Entertainment, Mendes works to build on IP and is emphatic about the need to bring it to screen in a manner that rights holders are proud of and that fans love.

Image: Legendary Entertainment

The world of Pokémon

Pokémon is a huge legacy brand that has been around for over 20 years and has informed the childhoods of millions of people. I think Pokémon’s success goes back to the very simple idea of collecting, finding your best friend, and it’s this creature that is going to make you a better version of yourself. And then together you’re going to be able to evolve and become more powerful than you were before.

We were very excited about starting the live action Pokémon franchise with Detective Pikachu as it is a character who comes to you with a certain emotional circumstance. When it comes to worldbuilding, that can sound like a very cynical term but really what that comes back to is who is this character and why do I care about them? From there, you can build an enormous world – as long as it starts with that kernel of something that’s really powerful. So, for Detective Pikachu, it’s a very simple idea of a man whose soul had gotten stuck in Pikachu’s body, and this man was a detective. Now this little character has an ability that no-one else in the world has, which is he can understand humans and he can understand Pokémon, and that makes him the best detective in the world. We loved that because there was immediately a lot of character stuff that you could do, and we always go back to that theme.

“When it comes to worldbuilding, that can sound like a very cynical term. But really what that comes back to is who is this character and why do I care about him? From there, you can build an enormous world –as long as it starts with that kernel of something that’s really powerful.”

Reimagining Enola

We fell in love with the idea of Enola when Millie Bobby Brown brought the books to us. She saw herself in this world in a way that she felt like girls had never been able to be seen before. It’s about Sherlock Holmes’ little sister, who is just as capable and clever as he is. We thought that was wonderful because she’s very distinctive from Sherlock. You have these two great minds, but because of who she is, being younger, and how she’s experienced the world, she is a different detective than he is.

The world of Sherlock Holmes that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created is known throughout the world, and to have a character that has that much equity with people is rare. It was a wonderful worldbuilding opportunity to look at how you take something like Sherlock Holmes (which we’ve seen so many times before) and bring a new style to it, bring a new element to it that makes it feel compelling and like you have to watch it.

And we were very lucky that we had such great creative partners in our screenwriter Jack Thorne and our director Harry Bradbeer. Jack had the idea of taking this girl who’s alone in the world and giving her a direct relationship with the audience – having her talk to us, bringing us into her mind. It shows how she deduces things, but also her emotional experience in this world. We feel her character has been successful because she is unique and she forms a relationship with the audience. It all goes back to the emotional investment and the relationship that you’re forming with the world, with the characters.

Multimedia output

I think part of what’s unique about Legendary is that we have various content arms, and when dealing with big brands and big worlds it’s hugely helpful. Our film division and TV division work very closely with each other. With some of these bigger IPs, such as Godzilla and Kong, as the films are being developed, we’re thinking about other versions of these stories and if we could expand the storytelling for TV.

We’re in a world right now where audiences are consuming content in so many ways. You need to break through the noise when people are so distracted and they’re holding their screens in their hands now all day long. But there’s also an incredible opportunity because there are a lot of access points for audiences. Nerdist, which is a site that Legendary owns, has been really helpful to us in understanding what our audiences are engaging with. We think about how to reach audiences that we might otherwise miss and we spend a lot of time thinking about TikTok – as I think everybody does these days.

Our comics division is incredible. For all of our films, we put out original graphic novels and original comics and they’ve been really successful. Our Enola comic went out through our YA imprint and sold really well. That told us people want to keep engaging with this character – even when they’re not going to get another film for a year or so. That character is alive in them and it’s alive in their world, in their imagination.

Explore Ali Mendes’ world:

Instagram: @legendary

Online: Legendary.com

“Worldbuilding can an opportunity for audiences to the worlds and

provide opportunity to step into and IP they love, or break through and pull those worlds into our own

Alex Wilson Executive Creative Director, Amplify

Image: Activision ‘Call of Duty Modern Warfare II ‘(Amplify)

Founder & Creator

Bliss Stories

Words by Yasmin Arrigo Global Editorial Director, Amplify

Image: Thomas Decamps @thomdek

The passion and the pride shines through Clémentine Galey’s work. Since April 2018, she has been the queen of motherhood podcasts in France with her Bliss Stories. Each Monday, she shares an unfiltered story via her podcast and the brand’s footprint has grown beyond audio into IRL experiences and physical products. Accustomed to sharing the personal journey of others, here we turn the tables and share hers...

Clémentine The Pioneers

Blissful beginnings

When I started Bliss Stories it was really in response to a personal need, and also a need of women around me – like one of my sisters who was pregnant at the time and who would ask me plenty of questions around pregnancy and labour. When I would answer her sincerely, honestly and spontaneously, she responded by saying “If you hadn’t spoken to me this way, who would?” And that made me realise that even in 2018, many women that had a huge amount of information to access on so many platforms still didn’t know what went on in a labour room and knew even less about what to do when they took their baby home. The idea was to respond to this urgent need and lack of information and this invisibility of a whole part of a woman’s life.

A world of stories

At the start, people thought I would run out of content and be covering the same ground or not have enough personal stories coming through. Having been a casting director for years and knowing how hard it is to find a good story and teller, I knew instinctively that there was a rich font of stories. Bliss Stories is about women and motherhood stories – the scope is infinite. We receive around 500 requests to share stories each month, there are just so many voices out there that want to be heard. This community is my fuel and it is so organic, always communicating and it brings me so much gratitude. The feedback on how sharing stories and receiving the information has helped is my motivation every day.

The power of community

When I started, I also launched an Instagram account to draw in women and mothers that used the platform. I already knew mothers on the platform were vocal. But at that time, they would only show the attractive side of pregnancy – with beautiful, filtered photos with a really soft and lovely outlook. What I really wanted was to take away those Insta filters, to take them away from that way of communicating dictated by the perfect aesthetic and to talk about real life. It was by infiltrating this community of extremely powerful Insta mums that I was able to go on and set up my own. Connections snowballed and we now have 180K followers and we are a family – we’ve formed bonds and are like an army of women who are working together to help relay information, and that’s so powerful.

The main aim of this project was also to create an appointment. My episodes come out every Monday. Having spoken to other entrepreneurs, it is quite difficult to create a place for people to gather, like a safe space where you know there is no judgement, where we’ll listen and give tips. But I think we’ve earned this unconditional trust of our audiences. So we now have to honour this trust every Monday and via all the other products we’ve discovered via Bliss. My community pulls me up because it has high standards and I owe it to them to be my best.

“My community because high standards and I owe

up

Defining the universe

In France, there was no media that covered maternity and motherhood in depth. Bliss Stories launched to give women a platform to discuss the subjects in this way. It was about creating a space for women to use and to share information that had real meaning for them. Since launch we have built 40 million listens in five years, which is quite phenomenal for the podcast market in France, so clearly it found its target. I wanted to accompany women right to the end of the journey with specific content. So beyond the podcast, we have developed paid audio shows, physical products, plus a book and a live show. We have Bliss Bump, an audio guide which is about pregnancy, featuring month-by-month information.

To continue helping, we wanted to create physical products to stand out from the audio. Bliss Vanity is our survival kit for post-pregnancy, created with cosmetics brand Talm. Our first drop was a big commercial hit with our listeners and suddenly this product became emblematic of our community.

The idea of the Bliss ecosystem was always to be coherent and to always maintain the values and draw various threads together from the mother ship that is the podcast. Recently, Bliss became a live show. I didn’t just want this to be a version of the podcast recorded on a stage, I wanted an evening to celebrate women and motherhood and I wrote the show I wanted to watch. It is a lively and entertaining show that also provided information and was emotional and imparted both trust and good vibes, so women would leave the venue with self-confidence and power and the belief that they are capable of anything – like a superhero. It shares the same values as the podcast, Bliss Bump and Bliss Vanity.

Ditch the manual

I didn’t set out to create a brand, I created a medium first that became a brand. I went so slowly, with lots of uncertainty and innocence and ignorance of traditional strategy, and by not knowing how to do something sometimes, without a manual, you can work better. It meant I had complete freedom in terms of possibilities and listened to my instincts. I have a lot of faith in projects that come from within. When you have a project that comes from your gut and your heart, it carries a lot of truth.

Explore Clémentine Galey’s world:

Instagram: @clemgaley + @bliss.stories

Online: bliss-stories.fr

community pulls me

because it has standards owe it to them to be my best.”

Image: Marie Rouge @lesjouesrouges

The Matrix rocked the science fiction genre when it was released in 1999 catapulting the Wachowski name to fame following the film’s major box office success. Directors, writers and producers Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski are trans sisters who have worked as a writing and directing team throughout most of their careers. Starting with Bound in 1996, the pair’s credits include V for Vendetta, Netflix series Sense8, Cloud Atlas and completing The Matrix with a trilogy. Since coming out, their Matrix masterpieces have been able to stand as a metaphor for their transness and queerness as the films explore transformation, worldbuilding and the seemingly impossible becoming possible.

IMDB: Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski

Since Kevin Feige became President of Marvel in 2007, the studio has embarked on the huge undertaking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Films. This has involved the production of multiple movies each year with one focusing on existing characters and one featuring a new character. Feige has produced every film in the series, starting with Iron Man in 2008. Releases in 2022 included Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. To fight any potential superhero fatigue, Feige ensures that although the characters exist in the same world and are inspired by the same source material, each film has distinguishable features conveyed via the characters, comedy, locations and the directors of each movie. Feige’s worldbuilding is set to continue with releases scheduled through to 2026. Instagram: @marvel

A globally-recognised voice on metaverse innovation, Cathy Hackl leads Journey’s Metaverse Studio helping brands with metaverse/web3 strategies, NFTs, gaming and virtual couture. Her team are credited for creating Walmart Land and producing its virtual concert Electric Fest where she styled Kane Brown, Madison Beer and Yungblud in virtual couture looks. In 2022 Hackl, was chair of the first Metaverse Fashion Week and featured as a tech and web3 innovator on the inaugural Vogue Business 100 Innovators List. 2023 is set to be big for Hackl, often described as the Godmother of the Metaverse, as she will be launching several luxury web3 connected fashion collections as she dives deeper into virtual fashion. Instagram: @cathyhackl

Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski

Film and television directors, writers and producers.

Cathy Hackl

Author and Chief Metaverse Officer and Founder.

Kevin Feige

President of Marvel Studios.

French photographer (self-professed photograffeur) street artist and activist JR doesn’t need an invitation to show up in a city. From the favelas of Brazil to derelict buildings in France and broken bridges in Africa, his works have wrapped themselves around many a landscape. When he created Face2Face in Israel and Palestine, displaying supersized monochrome portraits of Palestinians and Israelis that shared the same profession, JR described it as “the largest illegal art project”. His audacious holy triptych featured images of a priest, an imam and a rabbi side by side on the barrier in Bethlehem. Known for his large-scale public flyposting, one of his most recognised works involved wrapping the glass pyramid of the Louvre Museum in prints of itself, making it seemingly disappear.

Instagram: @jr

JR

French photographer and street artist.

Joshua Safdie & Benjamin Safdie

Independent American filmmakers and actors.

Starting in short films, brothers Joshua and Benjamin Safdie turned their talented hands to writing, acting, editing, shooting, mixing sound and producing their own films. The duo directed Good Times starring Robert Pattison in 2017, with Benjamin also appearing in front of the camera. Often casting experienced actors alongside new faces, the pair co-directed Uncut Gems, which has steadily gathered a cult following due to breakout star Julia Fox. Looking at life through their own unique lens, the brothers are set to prove that any place can be interesting if you look carefully – especially New York, the city they call home. The Safdie brothers have a captivating way of combining scripted storytelling with scenes from everyday life. They have also explored various mediums including art and photography, with Benjamin describing photography as a tranquil world he can enter when not in the madness of production.

Instagram: @bowedtie

IMDB: Joshua Safdie

At just 16, Edward Enninful was scouted as a model on a train. This set the wheels in motion for an unflinching debut in the world of fashion, with modelling assignments for Arena and i-D magazines followed by assisting stylists on shoots. Accolades abound – his first being the youngest ever editor at a major international fashion title. More recently, he was named the first European Editorial Director of Vogue. In February 2017, in a direct riposte to President Trump’s anti-immigration policies, Enninful united some of fashion’s biggest names in a powerful film for W magazine titled I Am An Immigrant. As Editor-in-chief of British Vogue, his iconic covers and coverage have drawn in new audiences to a world that once seemed accessible only to the very elite.

Instagram: @edward_enninful

Edward Enninful

English editor-in-chief of British Vogue & European editorial director of Condé Nast.

Words by Seun Areoye

Editor,

Kesang Ball

Trends

Amplify

Image: Bexy Cameron

Co-Founder & Head of Content

Whilst it might be a plane or train that takes you to your holiday destination, Trippin is the vehicle powering travel that empowers armchair travellers and nomads alike. The 360 degree media platform, co-founded by Kesang Ball, enables travellers to get underneath the cultural belly of a destination whilst consciously travelling. Its touchpoints span digital and physical realms, with a truly global community that resides in over 100 countries.

Trippin

Images: Trippin.world

Petri dish to platform

Trippin is one big collaborative project. Nothing we do is without the help of our community and everything we do is with our community in mind. It’s amazing to think that Trippin began as a Facebook group, a petri dish for ideas. And we’ve kept that two-way feeling about the platform, putting those who have helped us build this platform at the forefront of how we operate. To our most recognisable essence, collaboration is the blood that pumps through it. Our travel guide is powered by local (emphasis on local) tastemakers that know the best spots in their home cities, which means we’re able to provide a rich perspective of a city. When you pick your holiday destination – or perhaps before – you can take Ladipoe’s advice on Lagos, or Benji B’s favourite places to eat in London.

Travel is such a vast thing, we’re just here to satisfy that thirst for a multi-sensory adventure.

The double-edged sword

We can’t talk about how great travel is without speaking about the drawbacks it has, as all good things do. I genuinely believe travelling is the greatest thing to do, but it also does damage to the planet and the people of our planet. With a history of colonial influence on travel, conscious travel is super important for us. We’re all aware of the high level of emissions created from travel and we’re also encouraging and pushing large travel bodies and governments to look at innovative ways to reduce those figures and put them into law so action can be taken.

That’s why for us, travelling and discovery doesn’t always have to be to an exotic location that’s seven hours away – it could begin in the city you’re already in. With experts filling us in constantly, we’re sure there’s something special we can show you about your city and we know how important it is to bring the fun back to travelling locally, too.

Shifting the gaze

Authenticity is so important. The travel industry has capitalised on often inaccurate tropes, passport privilege and inequality for too long. We want to be part of the force

“Nothing we do is without the help of our community and everything we do is with our community in mind.”

pushing to level that playing field. There are so many places that are culturally plentiful but fall victim to the expectation of tourists who are encouraged to visit the same places, eat the same foods, and see the same things. We’re trying to empower the thriving of local cultures, passing back authority to communities so they can honestly and accurately represent themselves and their city and disrupt the colonial roots that travel is sometimes limited by.

Pick your vehicle

Because Trippin is a vehicle for travellers of all kinds, we’re not limited to physical travel and are inspired by those who want to learn and widen their horizons. Whether you get lost in our resource space or escape to another time through music we share, we’re here to push the notion that travel is the portal to open your mind.

As a bit of a fashionista myself, fashion is so important to me as a vehicle – it allows me to express who I am, my values, my style. It drives so much deeper than just physical garments on our bodies. Patagonia is a perfect example of how fashion brands can use their presence to not only create sustainable clothing but, also, provide information and resources to those with aligning values. We really resonate with that at Trippin.

The best part of the journey happens after it’s over

Now stick with me on this one: the most beautiful thing about travel is how it’s able to widen your peripheral vision, heighten your senses and create connections with people who can help discover who you are. A lot of this comes whilst the trip is over but still marinating in your mind, informing your choices and tastes on a wider spectrum. It sounds really obvious, but the more you travel the more you begin to make sense of the world around you. With the privilege of being able to do that, not just personally but through all of the people we collaborate with, we want Trippin to be a guiding light on your way.

But sometimes, just sometimes, don’t forget to switch off, open your mind and follow your instinct. That can be when the most magical moments happen.

Explore Kesang Ball’s world: Instagram: @kes4ng + @trippin.world

Image: Bexy Cameron

“Inspiration something

begins with inclusion... something we all crave is to be seen and understood ”

Image: Pinterest Presents (Amplify)

Judy Lee, Pinterest

Daniel The Pioneers

Artist, Producer, DJ

machine. Then came DJing. I didn’t really know what it was until I came across a club night in Bournemouth, where I grew up – an alternative night playing lots of guitar music, some electronica and the more leftfield pop music of the time. I hung around there so often and was so taken into that world that I became obsessed with it. It felt like a really exciting underground corner of the town where I felt I belonged. I began DJing there for the opening hour every week and completely fell in love with it, instantly. From there, I had a number of jobs within music – as a booker, a promoter, working in a record shop – and DJing was a constant throughout it all. Gradually, my hobby of making my own world defined

If you were to attempt to create a tracklist to define the career of Daniel Avery to date, it would be pretty damn eclectic. From fuzzy shoegaze to abrasive techno, ethereal ambient to off kilter een, the sounds continue to expand, united only in their energy. Welcome to the world of Daniel Avery...

Image: Mike Portlock

Album Art: Claudia Rafael

“The live experience really is an opportunity to expand your world as an artist. It’s all very well sitting in your studio making music, but putting it out into real life is exciting.”

Early influences and collaborators

I loved bands like Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins, obsessed over directors such as Chris Cunningham and David Lynch – all while pouring hours into video games like Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid. To me, all of this occupied the same shadowy space. Anyone that was able to beckon me into their world absolutely fascinated me and I still feel the same way now.

I was a huge Erol Alkan fan before I even met him. I used to go to his club night, Trash, and we gradually became friends. I signed to his label Phantasy Sound ten years ago, and I just released my sixth album for them – a perfect circle. Someone who was kind of my hero in many ways became my friend and long-term collaborator. I find it really important to keep those relationships alive, it invigorates me.

Two photographers have played a huge role in everything I’ve done in my career. One is Steve Gullick, my favourite visual artist without question. As a teenager I was obsessed with his photographs and I remain that way. Parisian photographer Keffer is perfect at capturing the excitement of nightlife and he has followed me on the road for ten years. We have a mountain of tour photographs – not just of me but of the energy of the party, beautifully captured in black and white. Steve and Keffer are two huge figures in my career.

Creating the live moment

The live experience really is an opportunity to expand your world as an artist. It’s all very well sitting in your studio making music, but putting it out into real life is exciting. It’s not just the night itself, it’s about the poster and flyer design and then how the venue or club looks and feels. We’ve all had those nights out with our friends where you want to keep the ticket or steal a poster and put it up in your room because those are the nights that really stay with you.

Post-pandemic, the rise of streaming has been really interesting and exciting. I’m a big fan of Boiler Room which is so well-executed, but there are probably members of the newest clubbing generation that predominantly know that world through a screen. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re watching a DJ through a screen you’re probably only getting about five percent of the overall experience. A DJ is a part of the night, the rest is fuelled by the energy and the atmosphere in the room and every single person plays an important part in the overall experience in that room. The journey to and from the club is also every bit as important.

Latest release

The world of this record is bigger than simply the album itself. In addition to its digital release, the album was released on vinyl, cassette and CD, and each medium has its own secret track only available on that format. It all goes back to being an obsessive music fan as a kid. Every great act has a collection of B-sides and rarities as exciting as their main output. I’ve taken on that challenge myself. From Bjork to Nick Cave, The Cure to Aphex Twin - these are acts into whose worlds you want to get fully lost.

Of course, new music is still vitally important. HAAi is a fantastic artist that has immediately nailed this idea of creating her world and she is a unique character that people are so drawn to. Manni Dee is someone else who creates a world that feels unique to him.

Future ambitions

Above everything else, I want to keep returning every year or two with something new – some form of new project. I’m very interested in the world of scoring as well as working on more art installations. The last thing I did was called Falling Light, a collaboration with artists Flat-e. The experience was intense and chaotic. And I got every bit of exhilaration that I get from the best club night out of working with that, so that’s certainly something I’d like to explore. But as long as I can keep expanding the world that I’ve already started, that’s really my main goal.

Explore Daniel Avery’s world: Instagram: @danielmarkavery

Jay-Ann Lopez

Black Girl Gamers CEO & Founder

Words by Fayola Douglas Brand Editor, Amplify

Jay-Ann Lopez, CEO and founder of Black Girl Gamers, was inspired to start her communitypowered business when she found herself feeling lonely online after struggling to find other Black women who were interested in gaming. Having faced sexism and racism while gaming, Lopez sought out like-minded online comrades on social networks to develop a new community that she could feel part of. Black Girl Gamers has evolved into a multi-platform, female and LGBTQIA+ inclusive online gaming community of over 8,000 Black women that share a passion for gaming. The platform aims to heighten its community’s voices.

Image: Michael Stuart Daley

Establishing community

Black Girl Gamers started off as a passion project. I was lonely when it came to gaming online. I didn’t have many Black woman friends who played games. When you play games and you’re a woman and Black, you will experience racism, sexism, or a mixture of both. To avoid that, I created a Facebook group and invited some women that I had met on social media to join. As the community grew, the business also grew, becoming a community-powered business that works on consulting, events, talent brokering, content and community workshops. As well as being able to show gaming content and the latest news, we’re also challenging the industry to do better and be better when it comes to representation, diversity and equity and inclusion for women, underrepresented people and marginalised sexualities and orientations.

With the community, we have rules and codes of conduct because you can have bad actors in any community, regardless of race or gender, sexuality, or orientation. Our community values became our brand values and our brand ethos, and that’s how our brand grew. When you’re creating worlds, it is important to build a system so that the world revolves around the essence that you built it on. If you don’t maintain that essence, then it’s not the world you’re creating, it’s the world it’s become. And that’s completely different.

Brand connections

I think brands need to pay attention to the fact that there’s going to be a lot of TV, film, gaming and IP crossover in the next two years. It’s already happening with The Last of Us, The Witcher, Cuphead, Sonic and Super Mario. TV and film is an unexpected area for a business like ours but it actually makes perfect sense.

Recently we worked with Paramount around the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. We sent members of the BGG community to free screenings across the US and all we asked for was a video or photo in return. It created a sense of excitement – some members met up to go together, others were able to take their kids, everyone had a good time.

It’s really important to understand that gamers don’t just want to be in the house by themselves. If you look at E3, the Game Awards, Pax East and Twitch Con, there are loads of events where gamers want to come together, because ultimately, even though there are lots of single-player games, there are lots of community games and gamers like to share their love of gaming with other gamers. Ultimately, gamers like to feel close to publishers, they like to feel special, and they like to feel like they have the in on something. So, you can work with communities and influencers as part of IRL activations that will propel your brand.

Beautiful crossover

Avatar: The Last Airbender is my favourite cartoon of all time. It has elements of Asian culture, but also really great life lessons about balance, right versus wrong, the greater good, and spirituality. Whenever I want to just unwind I’ll just watch it again for the 500th time, I am fully immersed in that world.

I pay attention to a lot of marginalised, independent designers. I love Hanifa, Brandon Blackwood and the magazine and platform Black Fashion Fair. I think fashion is one of the ultimate ways to express yourself. I’ve recently been doing some work with Kurt Geiger and adidas. It’s been nice to show my whole self. What typically happens with gamers is we get put into the gamer box and no one else wants to touch us. I’m showing that gamers can have so many more passions than just playing a game.

The crossover between gaming, beauty and fashion seems to be unexpected, but it’s actually really harmonious. I created and co-produced an event called Gamer Girls Night In, which is an event specifically for women and non-binary people in gaming with fashion and beauty elements. There’s a nail bar, DJs, custom cocktails, gaming areas and career clinics. We had Riot, Twitter, YouTube, NYX Cosmetics, 2K and Ubisoft as sponsors.

I really like taking inspiration from different places and am inspired by other creatives in anything from art and photography to fashion and nail art. Ultimately, what drives me is creating legacy and self-expression – legacy for myself and my community and authenticity, being my best self in this thing we call life. Life’s too short is one of my mottos.

New vanguard of storytellers

In TV, film and games, I think there’s going to be a new vanguard of underrepresented, marginalised individuals who are going to create some fantastic stories. Old gatekeepers are going to have to take a step back and understand that the same gaming franchises and stories that they want to keep telling to generate profit are just not going to do as well. They have to really relinquish some of that power to those who haven’t had it historically and allow them to create new, exciting, innovative stories.

There’s a game coming out called Black Myth: Wukong. It’s the kind of game that we’ll see come to the forefront. That space is often occupied by games like The Last of Us – games with great IPs but typically have a middleaged white man who has lost a daughter or wife, has a gruff look, is very burly and closed-off emotionally. I think those characters are going to fizzle out eventually and different types of protagonists are going to take the stage. I loved The Last of Us, Uncharted and other similar titles, but give me something else – I’m ready.

Explore Jay-Ann Lopez’s world:

Instagram: @jayannlopez_ + @theblackgirlgamers

Online: https://www.theblackgirlgamers.com/

“ Ultimately what drives me is creating legacy and selfexpression - legacy for myself and my community and authenticity, being my best self in this thing we call life. ‘Life’s Too Short’ is one of my mottos. ”

Image: Michael Stuart Daley

Noah Sacco

You can pick an A24 film out of a line up. Yet no A24 film is the same. Its house style is that there is no house style. It’s this pioneering, against-trend, indie approach to filmmaking that has set it apart in the industry in recent years.

And Noah Sacco, Head of Acquisitions and Production embodies this ethos entirely. A New Jersey native, Sacco has spent the last few years bouncing from New York to LA, acquiring and producing some of the most creative and boundary pushing titles of the last decade.

A true believer in creators and artists (his parents are both artists themselves), Sacco supports and empowers filmmakers to realise their visions in the purest way possible as he and A24 look to create communities and a brand around filmmakers and their films.

Instagram: @A24

From The Weave Project to Chubby Hearts, Anya Hindmarch has been bursting out of her category as a fashion and accessories designer and using her skills to play in the world around her. In 2018, guests were invited to enter a state of relaxation as they were enveloped by a Chubby Cloud beanbag big enough to hold up to 90 people at a time. Returning to Pont Street, the site of her first store, Hindmarch operates from a village of stores. The Village Hall is an evolving space that recently housed The Ice Cream Project, where cult food brands including Heinz Baked Beans and Bird’s Custard were available in ice-cream form. Inspired by her collections, Hindmarch is able to create experiences that capture even the most dormant adult imaginations. Instagram: @anyahindmarch

Actor. Producer. Football Club Owner. Entrepreneur. Marketeer. There are hybrid talents. And there is Ryan Reynolds. The Canadian star has excelled in the art of authentic marketing, using all of his talents and networks to speak to audiences in ways they want to be spoken to. Mastering the art of making product a key character in any narrative or content, Reynolds and his agency Maximum Effort ensure audiences don’t only not mind being marketed to, but are genuinely entertained. Blurring the lines of his own brands with those of his clients, he – like his on screen character Deadpool – constantly breaks the fourth wall of the industry.

Ryan Reynolds

And as co-founder of non-profit Creative Ladder, Reynolds is ensuring the next generation of under represented creatives and communities can get into the industry.

Instagram: @vancityreynolds

Anya Hindmarch

Entrepreneur and fashion designer.

Actor, film producer, entrepreneur and founder.

Film production and acqusition at A24.

How do you open the doors of a cultural megalith to a global and socially savvy audience? In his former role as head of digital communications at The Louvre, Niko Melissano spent more than a decade carefully leading the revered French institution’s social media presence. As an early adopter of Pinterest and with an established presence of close to 5 million followers on Instagram alone, The Louvre has cultivated a virtual audience eager to experience and engage with the collections and spaces of the palace and its gardens. Melissano has spoken of the need to constantly keep a fresh lens when representing the different cultures and civilizations of the world, citing Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s video at The Louvre as being a pivotal moment for younger audiences.

Instagram: @nikomelissano

Frieda Gormley

Founder of House of Hackney.

Forget a wash of magnolia on the walls and a couple of grey throw pillows, for House of Hackney more is more is definitely the way to go. Frieda Gormley founded the interiors brand with her husband Javvy M Royle. Together, the pair wanted to be brave and showcase something on the opposite side of the spectrum to the reserved clean lines seen in Scandi style homes. Their bold, bright colours, mixing prints and clashing patterns provide a much needed break from the ordinary. Born in Hackney, the brand can now be found flourishing in the Cornish countryside. The pair have even unleashed their world on Castle of Trematon in Saltash, Cornwall, turning the rooms into House of Hackney maximalist design creations.

Instagram: @houseofhackney

Comic book creator, illustrator, music video director and songwriter Jamie Hewlett’s career trajectory encompasses everything from stints creating anarchic comic strips through to grappling with character development to create the world of Gorillaz. His creation Tank Girl, originally co-created for Deadline and followed by a film and comic miniseries, focused on the world of a teenage tank-driving punk who dated a mutant kangaroo. Some pretty beguiling characters also dominate Gorillaz, the virtual band Hewlett created with Blur’s Damon Albarn. Accolades include the Design Museum’s Designer of the Year award and Hewlett debuted his first exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in 2015. In his new art book, Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee, Hewlett shares some of his comic strips originally published in The Face, alongside his process art. At the close of 2022, Gorillaz took over New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus for two AR shows, directed by Hewlett and Fx Goby.

Instagram: @hewll

Niko Melissano Communications Officer at the Louvre Museum.

Jamie Hewlett

Actor, film producer, entrepreneur and founder.

Worlds

Worlds

Words by Jeavon Smith Chief Creative Officer, Amplify

Worldbuilding forms the evolution of brand worlds, crafting more interconnected and immersive ways to engage with audiences. The combination of emerging technologies and the continual blurred lines of channels, disciplines and mediums ensure it will only gain more traction as a fundamental framework within which to build brands.

So where does worldbuilding go next? Well, as with many good stories, sometimes it’s about turning our attention back to the beginning – in this case, to the world of sci-fi and fantasy which form its origins.

“Niche is no longer about beginnings, it’s about a place to belong. Rather than being for everybody, it’s creating interactions that become more a reflection of identitydeliberately impressing what an individual likes, believes and stands for.”

The Companion takes fans deeper into the universe of Stargate with new original scripts being developed, readings with former cast members and new narrative arcs to explore. Take that model and attach the potential of AI tools and you unlock an ability to enable continually customisable content to meet the interests and imagination of the audience.

The focus should also shift from audience to community - a key frontier for where worldbuilding goes next.

Community connections

We’re starting to see how some of the most exciting developments are baked around a highly engaged small or even micro community to stimulate growth. From a streetwear phenomenon like Corteiz to Black Girl Gamers, the common thread is structuring the brand world in a way that fosters deeper connection. Niche is no longer about beginnings, it’s about a place to belong.

Rather than being for everybody, it’s creating interactions that become more a reflection of identity – as they deliberately impress what an individual likes, believes and stands for. The notion that brand worlds enable the audience to project persona creates a real opportunity to think about worldbuilding as an approach to establishing richer and more expansive levels of audience engagement. Crucially, worldbuilding can catalyse that sense of community through a myriad of new and emerging creative tools.

Experimenting with AI

Salt is a movie created using AI and social media by tech entrepreneur Fabian Stelzer. However, Stelzer isn’t just embarking on an attempt to make a film using AI creative visualisation tools - such as Midjourney and DALL.E. Salt’s growing community of followers are co-authoring where the story goes next – from location to narrative. It’s a new way to conceive how, and crucially who, determines the way a film is made.

Black Tales Untold (@blacktalesuntold) uses AI tools to shine a light on ‘the forgotten black icons that deserve a movie’ and is based on true stories. This is so much more than social commentary; it shines a light on how and where creation may begin to generate a connection with an audience and thus become reality. Emerging technologies will enable more experimentation that in turn will establish new opportunities to build worlds

with and for audiences. These emerging tools require a low barrier to entry and will power a new wave of test and learn as content can be crafted more independently. So, expect to see a diverse range of applications catch fire.

As a temperature check on where any cultural shift is going, you rarely need to look much further than fashion – where a recent movement towards worldbuilding is evident. The likes of Gucci and Vivienne Westwood have doubled down on a more fluid and accessible aesthetic narrative that has been able to build stronger connections with younger audiences. As we see the changing of the guard at some of the major fashion houses, expect to see the cultural shift continue into new trends and mediums as worldbuilding frames the cultural extension of brands.

Unleashing your digital persona

Avatars will also continue to take the next step in 2023 and beyond. From the world of influence, with Lil Miquela we’re now seeing new possibilities through AI. This year saw basketball player Luka Dončić become Luk.ai – an avatar alter-ego of the Dallas Mavericks point guard. Fans were able to converse and engage with Luk.ai and, on the face of it, create new types of interaction with a sporting superstar. These new extensions of character could ultimately lead to any number of commercialisation opportunities and a complete reimagining of what visual rights are and the revenue potentials associated with them.

Even more established avatar creations such as Gorillaz are exploring where and how audiences access new forms of experience. Using AR to transform public spaces into immersive cultural experiences, the band recently transformed the streets of New York and London into stages for performances of its new single, ‘Skinny Ape’ accessible via the Gorillaz Presents app.

Image: Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 by Virgil Abloh (Amplify)

Getting deep

Ultimately, much of worldbuilding in 2023 will be around how we connect with and serve communities by bringing them richer and deeper levels of engagement. Amplify’s work with Netflix on La Casa de Papel: The Biggest Fan tapped into a niche super fan segment of the audience and super-charged it. Participants’ journey from UGC casting tape to starring in a new reality format created a direct link to the universe of the show, with the eventual winner assuming the character name of their home city to become part of that world forever. Something that was made for a smaller community was designed to ensure it would entertain the masses and in doing so bring them into the show’s final season. That intersection of niche to mainstream offers a rich potential when looking to break formats through worldbuilding around both new and existing IP.

That is evident in the proliferation of streetwear culture in high fashion. One of its pioneers – Virgil Abloh –approached his craft through the lens of worldbuilding, creating a continual dialogue with audiences that stemmed from his collection and cross-pollination of cultural inspiration. One of his final collaborations for Louis Vuitton x Nike saw the iconic Air Force 1 crafted in the luxury maison. To introduce it to the world, a New York exhibition took audiences into the dreamscape of his imagination and story. As part of the campaign, Amplify disrupted traditional media and created an anamorphic installation that formed a companion piece for the immersive narrative of Virgil Abloh’s world. As we look ahead to 2023 and beyond, it will be fascinating to see where Shannon Abloh takes the story of his vision and creativity in their next chapter of worldbuilding.

Evolving spaces

As part of our strategic and creative process, we explore how we can break the format around the mode and moment we engage audiences. Worldbuilding is a gateway to so many new avenues to forge and deepen those connections and ensure they extend out across a myriad of different forms of interactions. It becomes less about the channel mix and more about the spaces in between, enabling the communities to form around the story in the places they want to discover it. Much like the original worldbuilders, it’s about creating a rich and diverse tapestry that allows the audience to connect the dots surrounding the central story and plot their own journey through.

Watch

From Paris to Abu Dhabi, London to Lagos, these individuals are creating projects and spaces that can’t be ignored.

Words by Yasmin Arrigo Global Editorial Director & Seun Areoye Trends Editor, Amplify

Masooma Ali

Multi-disciplinary creative.

After early career marketing stints at Beats by Dre and Jabra, Masooma Ali’s Nike chapter was preceded by a role as Marketing and Brand Strategy Director at LA Rams.

Six months in at Nike, she’s part of Team Swoosh, working with the Nike Virtual Studios team to lead partnerships and explore blockchain technology to build experiences for communities and creators alike.

Ali has her hand in dreaming up new digital worlds and inviting consumers in to co-create the future of Nike, with the first digital collection shaped by .SWOOSH, a web3-enabled platform allowing collaborations between the brand and virtual creators, expected to drop this year.

Instagram: @nike

Kirou Kirou

Previously working as an art director for a French house label, Kirou began DJing between Paris, Amsterdam and London, building a wealth of experience and understanding for what he loved. He founded creative community 99Ginger in 2018 with the goal of blending a plethora of music to create an experience that was all inclusive of the multitude of fragments of the Parisian music scene.

Five years and countless radio shows, Boiler Room takeovers and international tours later, the proof of the fusion of songs means it’s no longer impossible to go out in Paris and hear hip-hop played alongside techno or Afrobeat.

But Kirou’s mission extends beyond Paris. He’s also connecting disparate musical worlds together with 99Ginger, whether that’s through the community’s online shop, books and merch, editorial offering or truly unforgettable events. He’s breaking down barriers and ensuring that whilst treading new ground, there’s support in place to create a well-trodden path for lovers of music.

Simply put, music sounds better with Kirou.

Instagram: @kiroubel

DJ and founder of Parisian creative and record label 99GINGER.

Grace Ladoja

Music manager, director and festival organiser.

Although a six-hour flight away, it sometimes feels as though London and Lagos are merely minutes apart. And with multiple bridges being formed between the two cities across a multitude of disciplines, it seems that Grace Ladoja is a common denominator behind the scenes of all exciting crossovers happening across the two nations.

Founder of global culture studio Metallic Inc. and the Homecoming Festival, her work’s red thread looks to bring brands authentically into the world of some of the most influential talent coming out of the UK and Nigeria, whether that’s household names like Skepta and Slawn, or more nuanced figures like Ayra Starr and Teezee.

Becki Whitton

Mixing, mastering, vocal engineer, songwriter and producer.

From creating a sense of community with her following on Discord through to working as an engineer on other artists’ tracks, Becki Whitton is a Melbourne-based singer-songwriter whose alter ego Aphir effortlessly blends choral vocals with electro synths and drums.

Influenced by 17th century vocal music, dreamscapes, and the catharsis brought about by screaming words of devotion into a wall of noise, Aphir’s music combines Becki’s work as a studio engineer who mixes and masters work for Australian pop and electronic artists like G Flip and Allday.

Through her Twitch stream and via her latest album, she brings together and celebrates Australia’s burgeoning art pop scene.

Instagram: @aphir_

Whether through funding to help start-up businesses take off, festivals to showcase musical talent or placing talent with potential in the right places to allow them to gain visibility, Grace Ladoja has her hand in many cultural crossovers, working unassumingly – but with major impact – behind the scenes.

Instagram: @graceladoja

Farah Al Qasimi

Abu Dhabi-born Farah Al Qasimi turns her lens on people and public landscapes as part of her ongoing commentary on consumer culture. Often quizzical and questioning, her work features the layering of framed photos and flatscreens alongside smartphones and often offers a window into life in the Gulf.

As part of a recent project, she overhauled 100 public bus shelters in New York City, turning them into art installations featuring images of immigrant communities in Queens and Brooklyn.

The Lebanese and Emerati photographer currently resides in both Dubai and Brooklyn and was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 Art and Style in 2020. She is also a classically trained pianist and writes music for her films. Instagram: @frequentlyaskedquestion

Ichi Hatano

Japanese artist, creator and NFT designer.

Getting a tattoo from Ichi Hatano is more than body art – it’s a statement.

Hatano has been working as a tattoo artist since 1998, perfecting his craft and creating art that lives both on body and canvas and is truly a cut above the ordinary.

Taking his work into the web3 space, he straddles both the physical and virtual worlds telling stories that feel reminiscent of his Japanese heritage. Often utilising the age-old suibokuga style, Hatano presents mythical musings within his head – most often to do with dragons.

Instagram: @Ichi_hatano

Photographer, artist and musician.

What kind of worldbuilder are you?

Just like the worlds they create, worldbuilders come in all shapes and sizes. From those breaking down barriers to create truly accessible open worlds, to those crafting escapist universes for people to lose themselves in. Worldbuilders are as diverse and varied as the audiences they serve. The kind of worldbuilder you

Audience

Are you looking to build a world to unite fans of you, your brand or your IP? Are you wanting to build a world that becomes a home for an existing community? Or, do you want to open up the previously inaccessible for an underrepresented audience?

Values

With an audience defined, worldbuilders need to consider what values they want their world to embody. What’s most important to you and your audience? Does it need to be fun? A playground for escapism? Or is purpose your primary concern? Is building a world that rights a wrong or unites a cause at the top of your agenda?

Location

Finally, where do you want your world to exist? Do you want to be on the digital frontier? Do you want to build a world in or across culture? Purpose lives and dies in the real world. Your world may cross over from IRL to URL but the causes at its heart are rooted in real experience.

are starts with the people you’re building for...

What kind of worldbuilder are

you?

Cultural Connector

You’re the glue that binds diverse cultural threads together. The worlds that you build are places for communities to come together, connect and progress as one.

Community Conduit

You’re the connective tissue between fragmented experiences, weaving together a consistent and seamless world that hops across channels.

Entertainer

Your worlds transport your audience to somewhere else entirely. They are an escape from reality, full of wonder and entertainment built from your brand or your IP.

Cultural Changemaker

From resources to platforms and opportunities to access, you’re empowering your audience and laying the foundation for the next generation of cultural innovators.

World Rebuilder

You’re a worldbuilder focused on a more sustainable future. Providing spaces and experiences that unite people, raise critical awareness and drive action.

Trailblazing Innovator

You embrace new technology and innovation to bring your worlds to life. You’re an innovator and a trailblazer.

Concept development

Jonathan Emmins

Jeavon Smith

Alex Wilson

Yasmin Arrigo

Sophy Vanner Critoph

Bexy Cameron

Nate Thompson

Ben Seary

Ed Hallam

Words

Yasmin Arrigo

Jeavon Smith

Alex Wilson

Fayola Douglas

Seun Areoye

Simon Richardson

Design

Caitlin Taylor

Illustration

Joe Stone

Talent management

Lara MacAlpine

Tosh Ohta

Vivan Thi Tang

Project management

Rebecca Hobbs

Proofreading

Meg Carter

Wider thanks

Catalina Velásquez González

Dan Minty

Erin Sullivan

Hugo Bennett

Kieran Vernel

Monty Wilson

Rachel Matovu

Roxana McGlew

Tyanna Tulloch-Smith

Thank you to everyone in the Amplify team who contributed to launching this initiative, with special thanks to:

Special thanks to all the thought leaders, culture shapers and participants who helped shape worldbuilding:

Alejandro Cohen, Dublab

Ali Humphrey, Stella Artois

Ali Mendes, Legendary Entertainment

Amy Brown, Google

Andrea Moccia, Jove Studios

Andrew “LoveFingers” Hogge, ESP Institute, Total Luxury Spa

Audrey Bugeja, Sneaker Freaker

Bradley Zero, Rhythm Section

Cameron Saul, Bottle Top Org

Cassa Pancho, Ballet Black

Christophe ‘Chryde’ Abric, La Blogothèque

Clémentine Galey, Bliss Stories

Daniel Avery, Artist, Producer, DJ

Dorothy Di Stefano, Molten Immersive Art

Femi Adeyemi, NTS Radio

Dr. Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, Decentraland

Gurinder Bal, Danone

Jay-Ann Lopez, Black Girl Gamers

Judy Lee, Pinterest

Kesang Ball, Trippin

Kim Piper Bowles, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London

Kris Crockett, The LEGO Group

Leoni Blue, Noctis Magazine

Liv Little, Author

Mark ‘Frosty’ McNeill, Dublab

Noah Sacco, A24

Nico Sarti, Conde Nast

Paolo Nieddu, Copa90

Rachel Day, Dublab

Ricc Webb, Bacardi

Rob Quartermain, Sainsbury’s Argos

Roderick Beltran, Paramount

Simon Denby, Percolate

Tom Coxhead, Defected