Brands are making…TV shows??

Summary

Style-ish Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Brands are making…TV shows??
Date: March 26, 2026
Hosts: Madison Sullivan Thorpe & Priya McPherson (Founder of Sage Avenue)

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the emerging trend of brands creating their own TV-style content, from miniseries to mockumentaries, as a way to build deeper relationships with consumers and cut through saturated social media feeds. Madison and Priya explore why this shift is happening, how it changes the nature of brand storytelling and marketing, and what it means for the future of fashion, lifestyle, and business communication.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: The Rise of Entertainment as Brand Strategy

• Brands from Crocs to McDonald’s to InStyle magazine are producing original video miniseries for social media, imitating TV's storytelling formats.
• The hosts note how this strategy shifts the product to a prop in a story, not the protagonist (08:26).
• Brands are competing with entertainment platforms (like Netflix or TikTok), not just category competitors.
• Madison’s opening insight:

  “Today we are exploring how entertainment is dominating both the fashion and business space.” (04:10)

---

2. Examples of Brands Making TV Shows

• Crocs: Five-part micro-drama series, each 2 minutes long, centered around flirtation via ‘jibbitz’ charms. Achieved 3.6 million views for episode one.

  Priya: “It got 3.6 million views on the first part.” (07:08)

• Tower 28: The Blush Lives of Sensitive Girls series – focuses on emotions and personality, not the makeup product’s technical attributes (08:26).
• Dairy Boy (Paige Lorenz): Tryouts-style video for a new collection achieved viral status, 1.4 million views; viewers encounter the brand through entertaining scenarios (09:20).
• InStyle Magazine: The Intern mockumentary series led to massive TikTok growth—36,500 new followers; 99% of 5 million episode-one viewers didn’t already follow the brand; 59% were under 24 (21:06).
• Other brands mentioned: Converse, Bratz, Oatly, McDonald’s.

---

3. Strategic Rationale: Why Are Brands Doing This?

Priya outlines four key reasons for the trend (13:08):

• Competing with Entertainment:
  "Entertainment brands like Netflix...it is where everybody's eyes are right now..." (13:17)
• Cultural Relevance:
  "They can reach so many more people...sustaining attention over multiple episodes..." (13:24)
• Owning vs. Renting Attention:
  "Instead of relying on influencers or celebrities...they're creating it as their own attention source." (13:52)
• Storytelling as Strategy for 2026:
  "Storytelling is becoming an essential strategy for 2026." (14:37)
• Madison adds that brands aren’t just competing in their product’s category—they’re vying for any sliver of audience attention against all forms of media (14:45).

---

4. Authenticity & Audience Trust: The Creator vs. Brand Dynamic

• The hosts debate whether brands telling their own stories might feel less authentic than creator partnerships:

  Priya: “Can a brand still build trust when they know the storyteller is also the one selling it?” (17:17)

• Madison’s take:

  “I don’t think they lose authenticity automatically, but I think they lose the ability to pretend they’re not selling something...” (17:29)

• For brand-created content to work, it must resist over-polish and feel genuinely funny, emotive, or meaningfully engaging (18:18).

---

5. Measuring Success: Data and Metrics from InStyle

• The Intern saw 36,500 TikTok followers gained, 1.6 million engagements, and 5 million episode-one views—99% non-followers, 59% under 24 (21:06).
• Madison spotlights InStyle’s change in strategy:

  "The intern doesn’t exist to send people back to the site. It’s built to live natively and to encourage followers to stay on the platform and keep watching." (22:56 – Jonathan Borch)

---

6. The Human Touch in a World of AI

• The conversation pivots to how AI is flooding the content landscape, but human-driven storytelling remains the key differentiator for brands:

  Priya: “Even the smartest brands in the world know that without a story, nobody connects.” (25:54)

• Madison references a viral TikTok by Sultonic founder Sophie Hood, arguing that AI cannot replace creative strategists and brand storytellers (26:00).

---

7. Where Is This All Going? The Future of Brands as Entertainment Producers

• Vogue and other media report companies like Gap and Google hiring Chief Entertainment Officers and storytellers from Hollywood (28:10).
• Gap CEO Richard Dixon quote:

  “Fashion is entertainment, and today’s customers aren’t just buying apparel. They’re buying into brands that tell compelling stories and drive cultural conversations.” (28:43)

• Priya sums it up:

  "You're not shouting your product, rather, you're making people's time worth their while." (29:01)

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the emotional power of storytelling in ads:
  Madison: "I always think this about the Qantas ads. Oh, they have no reason to be making me cry." (10:44)
  Priya: "I am an emotional person and I will say it took tears... It gets me every time." (11:04)
• On authenticity and oversaturation:
  Priya: “How do you cut through a market that can be so saturated?...You’re pinching the time and making it worth it.” (08:19)
• On nostalgia and human connection as AI rises:
  Madison: “Even the fact that we’re talking about a lot of these content series feeling like old school TV ads. There is like this element of nostalgia and wanting to go back to the familiar...” (27:54)
• On being a “brand producer”:
  Priya: “100% so cool to own a brand and be like, I’m just going to become a producer now.” (20:08)

---

Important Timestamps

• 04:10 – Overview of brand-created TV miniseries as a trend
• 06:36 – Crocs micro-drama example
• 08:19 – The ‘prop not protagonist’ concept in brand storytelling
• 13:08 – Priya’s four strategic reasons for the trend
• 17:17 – Brand ownership of storytelling versus authenticity
• 21:06 – InStyle ‘The Intern’ statistics
• 22:56 – InStyle’s new approach to social content (Jonathan Borch quote)
• 25:54 – The essential role of human narrative despite AI’s rise
• 28:10 – Brands hiring Chief Entertainment Officers (Gap, Google)
• 28:43 – Gap CEO on fashion as entertainment

---

Conclusion

Madison and Priya agree that the future for brands lies in owning audience attention through entertainment and emotionally-resonant storytelling. While authenticity remains critical and brands must avoid overly polished or strategic “fake” content, those who connect at a human level—especially amid AI-driven digital saturation—are set to thrive. The episode closes affirming that, in 2026, the most successful brands will win by making us feel something, not just selling us something.

---

Notable Quotes – Quick Reference

• Priya: “Storytelling is becoming an essential strategy for 2026.” (14:37)
• Madison: “Brands used to interrupt entertainment, but now it’s them becoming part of it.” (19:59)
• Gap’s Richard Dixon: “Fashion is entertainment... customers aren’t just buying apparel. They’re buying into brands that tell compelling stories and drive cultural conversations.” (28:43)

---

For further discussion, listeners are encouraged to contact the hosts via email or Instagram DM (29:20).

Transcript

[Priya McPherson]

Foreign.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

This episode of Stylish is brought to you by M. This season shop a major line of global names and Australian designers new to mile.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Hello. Happy Friday. Welcome to Stylish. My name is Madison Sullivan Thorpe and today I am very excited because I am joined by my co host for today. I'm Priya McPherson, who is no stranger to stylish. We have had her on the face to Face episode. Priya is founder of fashion labels Sage Avenue. Priya, welcome back.

[Priya McPherson]

Oh, my God, I'm so excited to be here. Love being behind the microphone. Thank you for having me.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Well, we love having you behind the microphone. So this feels like a perfect arrangement. Now, you've been on Face to face, but in case you don't know, Friday is our corner of Stylish where we talk brand campaigns, we talk career stories. Today we're kind of we're saddling two of those horses. We're doing brand and campaign. I'm really excited to have you here. How are you feeling?

[Priya McPherson]

I'm a bit nerv.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

You should not be nervous. You're amazing behind the mic.

[Priya McPherson]

Thank you. That's so kind. I think naturally the nerves just play up a little bit when you're doing something new that you haven't done before. I mean, I have done it once, but not often. So, yeah, a little nervous, but I am truly so excited. I feel like brand fashion, it's so me. I live and breathe it every single day of every week of every year. So I'm really excited.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I'm excited because I feel like what we're going to get stuck into today will be so great. Now, look, we do start every Friday episode with word of the week. Now, I. I always joke that Rae and I break the rules all the time because it's almost never a singular word. But what's your word of the week?

[Priya McPherson]

Well, actually, I listen to the fried episodes all the time. I'm gonna bring it back to its origin of one word.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Oh, go, girl.

[Priya McPherson]

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna come hot and strong and powerful with the word wonder. I've just recently been to China traveling for work. I came back yesterday and it was incredible. I was traveling, I was seeing manufacturers, I was walking fabric markets. I mean, I walked a fabric market that had 20,000 stor and I've at least seen four of them on this week in China. It was insane. But I think there's nothing like being immersed in a culture to make you just stop and wonder.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

You know, you look around, how people move, how they eat, how they believe, how they love, how they dance, what they wear. I think it's really incredible. It's very easy in your day to day life to get a little bit on autopilot. You wake up, you exercise, you go to work, come home, have a bit of chalky and you go to bed. You know what I mean? Like you can get tunnel vision sometimes it's on repeat. And I think that this trip has really let me stop to wonder and I think that's a really beautiful thing that I want to encourage everybody to do tomorrow when they wake up. Go have a little wonder when you're driving to work. It's beautiful. It's a little magical. And yeah, my recent trip made me wonder and I think it's important to share too.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I love that so much. What a beautiful sentiment. I actually had a girlfriend recently teach me something and I want to play this with you. It's that you have a rose, a thorn and a banana. So when someone comes back from a trip, you say what was the rose to your highlight? Thorn is what didn't go so great. And then the banana is something surprising and fun.

[Priya McPherson]

Oh my God. Okay, putting me on the spot. First rose. Let's start on a high is I started my business three years ago and I believe that the people who make our products are half of my business.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

And to be able to meet them in person and just be like, hey, how are you? We talk every single day. I love to connect. And seeing the people who help me bring my business to life, it was such a special moment. And that would definitely be my rose. My thorn would probably be having to wake up at 1am to leave for the flight. I think that is just speaking volumes for my trip though because it was all around incredible. And my thorn was the fact that I just had to get up at 1am for a flat. So it was a really good trip all around.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Sign of a brilliant trip.

[Priya McPherson]

Exactly right. I think my banana would be the food. I have grown up with an Asian background, so it wasn't new to me. But the food and the spices and the and the way they make things was definitely banana. I loved it. I'm such a food gal too.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Honestly, I'm such a food girl. I usually have restaurants booked before I've even booked flights.

[Priya McPherson]

Oh, I'm 100%. Are you a check the menu?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I'm absolutely a check the menu.

[Priya McPherson]

Me too. Me too. We're digressing.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Okay, so let's get into today's episode. Today we are exploring how entertainment is dominating both the fashion and business space. We're going to unpack why brands seem so drawn to entertainment right now, what's working and why and where we see this all going. But we're going to get into it right after a word from today's sponsor.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Question for you guys. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? If it's bordering on ridiculous, it could be your wardrobe's fault. Maybe you have too many clothes or maybe you've just outgrown the ones you have. Either way, taking forever to get ready is a telltale sign that your style needs a shakeup. And that's where Maya can help. They're going through a bit of an evolution themselves, sparking a fresh new chapter grounded in individuality, expression and newness. Yes, Maya are welcoming a host of new labels both from Australia and abroad. And we get to reap the benefits. From tomorrow, you can shop a fashion forward lineup starring Bi Johnny, the Wolfgang, Sonia Motor and Kinney. Introducing big energy, bold silhouettes and modern femininity to Maya and our wardrobes at home. If you need some inspo, look to their latest fashion campaign featuring beloved actress Olivia de Jong alongside Kat and Yana Velos, passionate advocates for wellness and modern living as they take us through their getting dress routines and share go to styling tips and reveal easy ways to refresh your own wardrobe. Find elevated essentials, statement pieces and some of the world's biggest fashion brands. New to Maya this week and a huge thank you to Maya for making this episode of Stylish possible.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

So you might have seen this all playing out across socials, but if you haven't, essentially what seems to be happening in market right now is that brands are making TV shows or miniseries if you will. Have you seen everywhere? Everywhere. It just seems to be everywhere. We've seen it from the likes of InStyle with their intern series on TikTok Tower 28, a brand very close to my heart. They did a series called the Blush Lives of sensitive Girls, which genius Converse have tapped Amelia Demolderberg to host their new blind dating show. Chuck Mates, McDonald's, Oatly, even Bratz Dolls. What a throwback. There are so many brands creating mini television series and it's essentially for their social media pages. Priya, when did you first notice it? Because you've mentioned you've noticed it everywhere but when was the first time you were like, huh, I'm clocking this.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah. Crocs came out this year, February 13th. They debuted a five part miniseries. It was kind of Like a micro drama. It was two minutes per part. And the first episode, it was about a girl in her 20s, she works at Crocs, she's single, she lives in an apartment. And every time she would go to work, she would see another pair of Crocs out the front of another apartment. And it was a men's classic clog croc and it was completely bare. And before she would go to work, she'd be like, hmm. And she'd pick up a charm from her croc and pop it on his croc.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

And it was amazing because it became this like flirtatious drama. She would go to work, she would talk about her apartment and. And you take them through the journey, but also intertwining a charm with the croc. And it got 3.6 million views on the first part.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Insane. Don't they call them jibbitz?

[Priya McPherson]

Jibbitz, yes.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I'm like obsessed with that word. You know those words that you just learn and you're like, I love that. And like a gibbet, it sounds like a little fantasy creature. I love it. Literally.

[Priya McPherson]

And you become like, I want this jibbet. I want this jibbet.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I don't have Crocs, but maybe I need them just so I can get a gibbet. Literally.

[Priya McPherson]

Neither do I.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Sounds like an excursion for us.

[Priya McPherson]

I feel like we need to go. I think it's really important here to reference a business of fashion quote we came across when we were researching. And it says rather than paying content creators to make content for them, both brands and media companies are increasingly finding ways to do so themselves. Decades old beauty brand Mary Kay, jewelry brand Alexis batar, fashion publication InStyle and celebrity tome people have all produced narrative series for social media. It's all in hopes of connecting with Gen Z consumers anticipating that if they can entertain them, they can sell them product. I think this quote really shows that you're not shouting your product, but rather you're telling a story that's worth everybody's time. Yeah, everybody's time is so precious these days. How do you cut through a market that can be so saturated at the moment? You're pinching the time and you're making it worth it.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Totally. And I think as well it comes down to the product becoming a prop, not the protagonist. And I think that's why this affinity for long form content. And it is funny to call it two or three minute video long form, but in the current doom scroll climate, and despite, you know, average four or five, six hour screen times, it is a long form piece of content. And I think, you know, we talk about some of the examples. I've spoken about Tower 28 being a great one. Their entire brand DNA is centered on being made for sensitive skin. And what I loved about that blush campaign that they did to launch their blushes was it had nothing to do with payoff. It had nothing to do with, you know, where the product belonged. It was about sensitive personalities and sensitive, friendly products lending themselves in it. Which I think goes back to that prop, not protagonist play.

[Priya McPherson]

Yes, I love, and it's such a good point. I have another example I wanted to share with you really quickly. Came up on my feed two days ago. So it's really top of mind for me at the moment.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

The algorithm's listening to us.

[Priya McPherson]

It literally is. Or I don't know. Paige Lorenz is going above and beyond with her marketing at the moment, but do you know her brand? Dairy Boy?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yes.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah. Country, cool vibes, sweatshirts, oversized jumpers. That's really the vibe. But two days ago, she posted a video, and it was kind of like a tryouts system. And so it was for her Dairy Boy Sport collection. And she was sitting there amongst a table of people, and everyone was coming to audition, and they had so many different unique things to show. Like, I remember somebody was making a butterfly out of a balloon. I checked this morning. Dairy Boy has 3, 307,000 followers. That video two days ago got 1.4 million views.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

You're gonna assume that half of those people are brand new people that haven't seen your business before.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I'd be willing to bet that it's even more like. I just think the algorithm skews so differently now. It doesn't need to be someone you follow or that someone whose content you interact with 100% you interact and you'll get served it again. And another piece of content from that brand. Hopefully it's converting to sales for her too. No, of course.

[Priya McPherson]

Well, everybody was wearing Dairy Boy Sport in the audition, so it was just. It was perfectly fitted. I was so engaged. I was like, oh, love this. What a funny skill. And I was laughing as these people were wearing the product. And so I'm having a fun and happy experience.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

And I'm associating it with this brand and what they're wearing. That's not a perfect recipe. I don't know what is.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

It's the total emotional response. And to go back to, like, such a historic reference. I always think this about the Qantas ads. I. Oh, they have no reason to be making me cry.

[Priya McPherson]

Oh, my God.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

And as someone who's not an emotional person, I find myself crying at. I still call Australia home and that ad every single time.

[Priya McPherson]

Yes, I am an emotional person and I will say it took tears.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

It gets you every time.

[Priya McPherson]

It took tears. It gets me every time. And I was still quite like it was a few years ago now and I was still in my early 20s, so, like, traveling for me was such a big thing. And I just remember feeling this sense of, like, home comfort, warmth.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

All from a video that they had made. How incredible is that for a business to be able to tap into such a deep emotion for somebody at everybody's different ages of life and still have such a deep meaning and relate it to a brand. Yeah, it's incredible.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah. And I think that's one thing we always forget is that I think people go like, brands don't have a place playing in emotion. That is the subsequent response. That often happens, though, whether it's your customer service experience, whether it's the content you're engaging with. As you said now, you're like dairy boy feels fun. It feels warm, it feels energetic to you because you've seen this great video.

[Priya McPherson]

Exactly right. I think as well, one thing I have learned myself, especially as a business founder of a fashion business, but also as a customer myself, I always remember how someone's made me feel.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

It's not about what they say or what they do. I will always take away the feeling.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

And the emotion. And so if a brand can tap into making you feel something that will last longer than anything else.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree more. So I guess to sum it up, all of these mini series serve a purpose. We'll look into why this is happening right now after a word from today's sponsor.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

For many of us, our dream is to smell so good that people chase us down the street to ask what we're wearing. Well, fragrance. First personal care brand Gem is making this wish come true as they expand their range of indulgent deodorants into body care and hair care. Think milky body washes, sugary exfoliating scrubs, and smoothing hair care in sweet scents like coconut vanilla, vanilla sugar and vanilla Mac Academia Gem is all about making daily care feel decadent while deeply nourishing your hair and body with the most hydrating ingredients. Discover their new range in store and online at Kohl's. And a huge thank you to Jem for making this episode of Stylish possible.

[Priya McPherson]

I think it's time we distill why this is happening, Mads, don't you think?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Absolutely. Let's break it down.

[Priya McPherson]

Let's do it, girl. I believe there are four reasons, and I want to share them with everybody. I think the first one is a really important one, and it's the fact that brands are trying to compete with entertainment.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

Entertainment brands like Netflix, your social media platforms, like TikTok. It is where everybody's eyes are right now. It's the way the world is going. And so it's a way that a brand can compete with these big players and increase their brand awareness. Another one is greater cultural relevance. It allows brands to gain far greater cultural relevance. And when I say that, I mean globally. Like, they can reach so many more people with these entertainment videos, these shorts on YouTube, Instagram, on TikTok. They're sustaining people's attention over multiple episodes and seasons. And I think that's. That's really strong and incredible. Another one, owning attention instead of renting it. So I think instead of relying on your influencers, your celebrities, your content creators to share your brand story or extend your reach, they're creating it as their own attention source.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

And this means that they don't have to rent it, they own it. That is amazing. For a business to own something that gives them so much reach and power and not having to rely on people and not having to be like, oh, that content wasn't amazing. That wasn't good. You know, you have it within your arms and your reach, and you can share your brand the way you want to. Yeah, it, like, it's like it becomes its own person. I think that's pretty cool. And the last one is storytelling as a strategy. Let's be real. I think this is really reflective of something that's happening across many industries right now. Storytelling is becoming an essential strategy for 2026.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

Seriously, it's happening everywhere. And I think it's also a core business capability instead of a support function. But we'll get into that a little bit more.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah, it's so interesting. Like, just to piggyback on some of those concepts, obviously, my experience, having been in Beauty, I think a lot of the time now when you're launching a Blush, you're not competing with the beauty category or the blush as a subcategory. Now you are competing for that airtime. Like, I think about my own TikTok algorithm. It's like Netflix scene shorts. It's creative logs. It's, you know, even just on my phone. My favorite writer's Substack. It's a recipe that I've put into ChatGPT because I'm asking, like, what can I cook with, you know, chicken tomato paste and, like, the leftovers, zucchini. So it's. The brands aren't just competing for the airtime or competition against their own category or subcategory anymore. It's the, like, span of attention that is small and fleeting. And I think for so long, the playbook was that brands hired creators or celebrities and they piggybacked on their audiences to get that attention. Yeah. I think that's less guaranteed now. And much to your point, it's renting, not owning that asset. And so I think now it's not hoping that that celebrity or creator's relevance rubs off, but it's, you know, that model is kind of getting dated because it's expensive, it's inconsistent, and it's borrowed. And so having an owning and creating that asset themselves is a much better play because, you know, it can. As we saw with Jerry Boy, the results can be absolutely incredible, 100%.

[Priya McPherson]

I think there's also a level of the fact that creators are getting paid. I mean, I'm a creator myself. I only take on deals that I really resonate with. But how do you know that for other creators? Right.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

Obviously, you are so connected to them. You share the values. That's why you follow them. But I think you do lose that sense of authenticity sometimes.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

Do you know what I mean? I think that's the other side of the coin.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

I think creators do also offer authenticity, so, you know, you're getting it either way. But I think it is important to mention that, you know, they're getting paid. And so.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

Are they actually doing this because they really care about it or just because it's a part of their job?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

And I think that's why the creator landscape feels so slippery, because people are kind of like, have you ever bought this with your own money? Do you interact with this brand? Or is this. Are you looking at this as a job? And it is a check.

[Priya McPherson]

I've been thinking about something. I wanted to get your thoughts on it. Mads, I feel like you would have a wealth of insight to this. So when Brads become the storytellers, I've been thinking about whether they lose the authenticity or gain control. And to the listeners, to give you a bit of backstory into the way my mind was thinking with this question was, I know I'm kind of going against what I said before, but I have always felt that creators add that authentic, real side to a brand. And I think that brands are quite polished and curated. Right now, we're seeing brands trying to manufacture authenticity internally. And so my question to you comes, can a brand still build trust when they know the storyteller is also the one selling it?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I think they can. I don't think they lose authenticity automatically, but I think they lose the ability to pretend they're not selling something, which is where I think creators have often filled that gray spot of, oh, we're selling to you, but because it's from my page, you don't feel like you're being sold to by this brand. So the luxury of pretending you're not selling something is gone.

[Priya McPherson]

Yes.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

And so I think, you know, the bar is higher. Audiences know where the content has come from, who's made it. And so much to your point, when you were saying, you know, brands are very polished and curated, I don't think they can be too much in these sorts of formats because it can't be too polished, can't feel too strategic, because people can smell that inauthenticity or fake manufacturing or that manufacturing too much. And so I think the content needs to be genuinely funny.

[Priya McPherson]

Yes.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Emotive. So even if it's not funny, it needs to be, like, incredibly moving. It needs to be culturally relevant or, you know, emotionally in tune to kind of where we're at and where we find ourselves. So long as audiences get to the place they give the brand that permission to go. I allow you to make me laugh or I allow you to make me feel a certain way or to talk about a culturally relevant topic.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I think then it gets to come through authentically. But there's a lot of points that have to line up there.

[Priya McPherson]

Yes, 100%. I totally agree. It allows them to connect so much deeper than normal. But I think it means then that they're walking a fine line because they're so close to the person now, and they've built that attention and that trust. Brands have to be really careful here because you. You walk the fine line. It could go incredibly well, or it could go incredibly wrong.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

If you're bringing in culture as well, you have to be careful. It's incredible because it does allow people to connect. I think it's a fine line, and I'm really intrigued to see where it's gonna go, because right now I'm all here for it and I'm loving it. But I hope that a brand doesn't just do something wrong by it. If that makes sense.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I definitely think we'll see more of it because I definitely feel in market here and both overseas, there is kind of like a creative fatigue. I think there's a personality drive. Like, I think creators who are personality fueled, you know, we're talking like Jake Shane, you know, the podcaster. He just did the, you know, the Vanity Fair red carpet. He's had great success. Just announced via Variety that he's doing a TV show now as well. There's more of that that we're seeing, but even then, it's like, how do you maintain that authenticity? I think that's where we'll see more of it come through. And what's fascinating, I guess, is that brands used to interrupt entertainment, but now it's them becoming part of it.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Like, they want in on the fun.

[Priya McPherson]

They're like, hand in hand, let's go.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah. They're trying to become the entertainment rather than piggyback on someone else doing it for them.

[Priya McPherson]

100% so cool to own a brand and be like, I'm just going to become a producer now.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

I'm going to add that to my resume.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Let me entertain you.

[Priya McPherson]

Let me entertain you in the way that I think I can do it best.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Okay, so now we've dove into why this is happening. Yeah. Let's get into whether we think it's actually working, because I want to start with InStyle, the reference that we spoke to earlier in the app. So I know we referenced their miniseries the Intern earlier, and they've had tremendous results from this. And if you're listening and wearing your AirPods or your Wired headphones, we won't.

[Priya McPherson]

Or in the car.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. You always forget that you're in the car. I'm just such a headphones guy.

[Priya McPherson]

Just keep looking straight, though.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

No, straight ahead, left and right when you're at the lights. Look, it's such a great series. It's a bit of a mockumentary series where interns taking them through the office, kind of playing to all of those, I guess, notions and jokes that sort of sit within, you know, that fashion intersection of what it might be like to be working at a fashion magazine.

[Priya McPherson]

I love how this intern series really takes you through a regular day at the office.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

But in a fun, engaging way. I literally feel like I'm the intern. Yeah. According to Instyles deputy editor and showrunner Jonathan Borch, season three of the Intern brought an increase of 36.5 thousand followers on TikTok. There are a total of 1.6 million engagements on the seasons across platforms and there are 5 million TikTok views on season 3, episode 1 starring Mickey Gordon. With 99 of those viewers being non followers and 59 under the age of 24, is that not a drop the mic moment?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Oh, I mean, someone at InStyle is like, yes, this idea of hate off. What I loved about this as well, hence why I made the comment about Dairy Boy and going I think that that a lot less of them would be followers is that that stat of 99% of them not being followers is really interesting. But what I found most fascinating by this stat was the 59% under 24. Because traditionally InStyle is not a magazine that would be resonating with a Gen Z audience. It is very much a millennial Gen X publication that's been around for quite some time now.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

So I do think this just goes to show when you diversify format and content asset, you have the ability to tap into a brilliant audience that otherwise you're not accessing.

[Priya McPherson]

I think that this really shows as well that being under the age of 24, you've got to assume these people are quite. They're energized. They want to know what they want to do with their life, where do they want to go? And watching InStyle would be an incredible experience for them because they can understand the workplace a little bit more and they're more eager. And so through their transformation of being a young adult, they're resonating to this brand and they're always going to remember that they're a really good consumer to target right now. And I think they've nailed it.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah. And as evidenced by the fact that they gained 36.5 thousand followers on TikTok after the series dropped.

[Priya McPherson]

Honestly, insane.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I actually have a quote here from Jonathan, who was asked by Rachel Carton, a social media consultant, why InStyle invested in the original programming. And he said, the intern doesn't exist to send people back to the side. It's built to live natively and to encourage followers to stay on the platform and keep watching. There are many different metrics of success. Engagement, video views, a change in demographic. We do everything that we can to ensure healthy traffic, but we also think of social as original storytelling and each post should be as engaging as possible. I love that so much because working in business, and I imagine working in traditional publication business is incredibly challenging. You are, you know, trying to hit your commercial targets. Everything is under the microscope of how many sponsors do we have, how many articles are we running, who Are we speaking to, you know, what's the engagement or the click through to the site to be able to take some of those metrics out and be like our metric here is traffic and entertainment.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

That's a real privilege to be trusted to go with that as a corporate team.

[Priya McPherson]

The fact that they're focusing on a long term dedication to their customers speaks volumes to what that business is. Yeah. And they themselves, as you mentioned, they've got their own KPIs. They're trying to compete right now. They are a big business trying to compete and they're going a different route. And that's how you cut through right now. Yeah, you got to go different. I love that quote from Jonathan and yeah, it's just a sign not to follow what everybody else is doing. Right?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Absolutely. And also, again, it comes back to that emotive being that we spoke about. Yeah, yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

Everyone's going to remember how you make them feel. How do you cut through right now? It's with human connection. And I think this is my perfect segue. I hate to bring it up, but it would be doing this topic a disservice if we didn't touch on the big, dark and scary. Mads, finish my sentence.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

It's the robots. It's AI.

[Priya McPherson]

They're here. We know they're here. Our grandparents might not know they're here.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Oh, my granddad's all over it.

[Priya McPherson]

Oh, really? My nanny actually wouldn't have a clue about ChatGPT, Claude, any of it.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

You got to teach it.

[Priya McPherson]

Oh my Nani. That would be an interesting one. Nani. Using ChatGPT would be hilarious. I think it would be really important though to mention AI at the moment. There's a content overload. We know that. And the way that brands cut through this really big spectrum of content and saturation is through human connection. I think even AI realizes the real currency of human connection. And the reason I say this is because I came across a job ad for the head of communications at OpenAI. I believe this was a San Francisco located role. So I'm sorry my Aussies, but it was a six figure role and some of the things that the role included was in quotation marks drive the story of how OpenAI helps businesses in this role. You will shape the story of how AI transforms work, creates industry specific programs and storytelling that highlight how our tools create value for people and organizations. This just shows that even the smartest brands in the world know that without a story, nobody connects.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Totally. And that would be a hard job because let me Tell you, the PR of AI right now is not. Not great.

[Priya McPherson]

No.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I feel like every week I open the afr, there's an article about a whole bunch of layoffs that are attributed to the fact that AI can replace a lot of roles. There was a really great tick tock I saw from Australian brand founder Sophie Hood. Yeah, we've spoken about her before on the podcast. Founder of Sultonic. She's an absolute legend. And Soph uploaded this really great tick tock that kind of went a little viral and we can pop it in the show notes because definitely worth watching. And she was sort of saying all of the jobs you think AI are going to take are incorrect. She was like, the jobs that. I don't think AI can replace. Our creative directors, our creative strategists, marketing heads of like these people who create the vision and stories for your brand. She was sort of saying that's not where AI is coming to get us because that can't be manufactured and a robot can't learn human connection like that.

[Priya McPherson]

Exactly right. And it's going to get bigger and bigger. And so for that gap between digital and physical to grow and grow and grow.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

People are going to be craving that human connection. They want a touch of humanity in what they're doing. And so that is why I completely agree with it. I haven't seen and actually watched that video, but I agree. The creative roles and, and having that sense of humanness to what you're doing, nobody can replace that.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

That's why they're bringing in someone who has that storytelling, emotive, human feel to it in a business that is actually helping make the gap bigger and bigger. Like it's a juxtaposition. Yeah, but I thought it was a really worthwhile one to mention.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

And I think we will see this content swing. I think we've seen it in various formats already. You know, you think about hi Fi content and production that we've seen and then suddenly, you know, everyone had a digital camera and now everyone's favorite thing is like recording on film and camcorder. Because it's like that nostalgia piece. I think the same thing's going to happen with all of this like AI generated content that we see too. That it is like. Hang on, no, let's bring it right back to, you know.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Even the fact that we're talking about a lot of these content series feeling like old school TV ads. It's like, okay. There is like this element of nostalgia and wanting to go back to the familiar where it swings from going so far forward that we're like, no, no, no. We want to go back to the comfort and safety of home.

[Priya McPherson]

I'm intrigued to know, where do you see this all going?

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I could talk about this for days. It's playing out in real time. Vogue had a feature recently, why brands are, you know, hiring entertainment officers. We're seeing some of the largest brands in the world, like the likes of Google hire storytellers. Gap have just hired a ch. Chief Entertainment officer in January of this year. And that recent hire's previous role was at the media and entertainment business Paramount. And she was an executive there, Pam Kaufman.

[Priya McPherson]

Amazing.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I mean, to have someone from Paramount Pictures go to Gap, a clothing brand, just goes to show where we're headed.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

And there was a great quote from Gap's president and CEO, Richard Dixon, that said, fashion is entertainment, and today's customers aren't just buying apparel. They're buying into brands that tell compelling stories and drive cultural conversations.

[Priya McPherson]

Yeah.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

And I feel like that quote is just the perfect way to round out this conversation.

[Priya McPherson]

Literally. Exactly. Right. And again, it goes back to the fact that you're not shouting your product, rather, you're making people's time worth their while. And worth it.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Priya McPherson]

2026. I think the way that brands are winning is through entertainment. It's through TV series, it's through emotional messaging, and it's really just touching the humanness of people. And I think that's how they win.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Absolutely. Our next step will drop on Wednesday. We'll be back. Feel free to email us at style-ishameless media.com or you can slide into our DMs over at StylishPod to keep chatting to us. We would love to hear from you. Priya. Thank you so much for coming back, girl.

[Priya McPherson]

Thanks for having me. I love it. I could stay here and yap all day.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

Honestly, honestly, Same. But it is very warm in this room. Or Priya has discovered it in real time in a long time. Very chic little denim dress.

[Priya McPherson]

Thank you. I must say, de Cuba. Amazing. Right now, they're killing it.

[Madison Sullivan Thorpe]

I love it. Shout out to Dekuba. Big thank you to our show's production team, head of podcast, Lucy Hunt, and our senior podcast producer, Kate Emma Berg. We'll be right back with you on Wednesday.

[Priya McPherson]

See you later. This podcast was recorded on Wurundjeri land. Always was, always will be aboriginal land.