WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

The 2026 World Cup really is for the fans—and we actually mean all the fans, not just the soccer ones. From the cinematic universes created by mainstays Nike and Adidas that weld together soccer stars and pop culture icons, to the concertification of sporting events with the first-ever World Cup half-time show, it’s easier and more satisfying than ever to enjoy the ride via shared rituals and passion points—and they might not even involve caring about the actual matches.

  OUR TAKE

Brands have always participated in the World Cup to court the true-blue soccer and sports fans, and it was a halo effect if the ‘normies’ happened to engage as well. The event has always been a party that brought together people with communal and high-energy fanfare—it was fun and low stakes to pop into the pub with your friends to watch a game. Even the soundtrack permeated mainstream consciousness (Ricky Martin’s The Cup of Life for 1998, Shakira’s Waka Waka for 2010) by being great pop songs and sheer omnipresence. 

Fashion and music are still anchors of the event, but the catchment area for brands is now bigger. Consumers now feast from a huge spectrum of fandoms and interests, many of which cross-pollinate and rub shoulders. Brands, in order to meet consumers where they are most engaged, now need to be cognizant and thoughtful of this multi-hyphenism. For brands engaging with soccer and the World Cup, maximum cultural impact means touching many different types of consumers and sustaining their attention post-event.

It’s a no-brainer to leverage the biggest bands on earth for this. The reveal announcement for the half-time show had Coldplay’s Chris Martin, characters from Sesame Street and The Muppets (not a coincidence that these are some of the biggest kids’ IPs in the world) FaceTiming BTS. An entire 18-track official album was created, with artists from BLACKPINK’s LISA to content creators such as IShowSpeed. Masked J-pop singer Ado has a soccer jersey collaboration with Adidas and music video that channels peak storytelling from sports anime. 

It almost feels like the World Cup is playing catch-up to the sports event + concert combination, which brings in the music-slash-live-events crowd, as exemplified by the Super Bowl and F1.

Soccer jerseys are one thing; fashion and luxury brands now look to be always-on. This means a longer pipeline and lifecycle of culturally rich moments—it’s one thing to imagine yourself dressed as a soccer player on-pitch, but the off-pitch ‘civilian’ possibilities are endless. Loewe and Spain’s national soccer teams’ new partnership is for off-pitch and travel wardrobes, and spans World Cups up ‘til 2030. PEACEMINUSONE, Nike, and the Korea Football Association have a streetwear collection that is said to reference blokecore (British football culture), but really embodies the most culturally resonant thing—G-DRAGON’s weird, wonderful mind. Even WAGs (wives and girlfriends—another British term popularized by soccer) are analyzed from a fashion lens and are often content creators and reality stars in themselves, with the male athletes as background dressing.

Cameos and Easter eggs, beloved for the IYKYK cache, have even spun off into multiple storylines that evoke some of the hottest topics online. The GOATs’ Goodbye, Nike’s feature-within-a-feature from Rip the Script, tapped into the intrigue and speculation around the stars’ retirement plans, which culminated in Serena Williams rounding out the cast. Ted Lasso is literally everywhere—in the Nike commercial, as well as Burberry’s “A Good Sport” campaign. The performance by JI Blue is a winking nod to fandom, as the singers and songwriter are bona fide soccer fans who also happen to be idols and musicians (members of boybands JO1 and INI, and legendary J-pop artist Taku Takahashi of m-flo).

Toy and video game companies are also taking the chance to tap into the broader culture of play. Video games such as Electronic Arts’ EA Sports FC and Konami’s eFootball are long-running soccer game IPs that include World Cup skins. LEGO’s soccer-themed playsets and Singapore pop-up aim to bring in both young and older audiences. Roblox has an official tie-up with FIFA for World Cup-themed games. Roblox creators are also adding their own (non-FIFA affiliated) World Cup and soccer spin to their games—user-generated content that will live beyond the tournament in forever games.

Given the way consumers and brands now interact, this World Cup season feels both broad and hyperlocal, with a tail that will extend to years after. Whatever activation or collaboration that emerges, the moments that have true staying power are the ones that feel most authentic—like distinct pieces of culture. When the quick solution is to market towards just the one passion point, how will you evolve the cultural playbook and stand out?

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 ESCAPING THE CLIPPING MINES

Is anything you see online real anymore? From the excitement surrounding Justin Bieber’s performance at Coachella to the backlash against Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle commercial, there is evidence that a significant part of the discourse was inorganic and manufactured.

Synthetic hype isn’t just limited to chatter about pop stars and Hollywood actors. That Reddit thread about sunscreen brands? The debate around the latest bestsellers on BookTok? A good deal of it may actually be covert advertising, versus actual discussion in a healthy community. If everything online is dismissed and distrusted as marketing slop, it becomes harder and harder for brands to build quality connections with consumers.

  OUR TAKE

Clipping has upended social media. This refers to the now seemingly ubiquitous practice of hiring third parties to turn your content into bite-sized pieces that are then posted and shared by a network of accounts (that often turn out to be created for the sole purpose of content distribution). “Narrative campaigns” form the next step—artificial comments and opinions are planted to resemble authentic consumer banter.

The previous high-water marks of digital marketing, maximum views and engagement, can now be so juiced that brands are trying to step away from -maxxing in order to differentiate themselves. “Going viral” is no longer the end all be all, as brands think about how to build long-term relevance, credibility, and genuine loyalty.

One avenue that brands are investing in is long-form content, especially via YouTube. Passive scrolling and the trend-base algorithm exacerbate digital fatigue, reportedly felt by 58% of Gen Zs and 54% of Millennials in Deloitte Global’s recent Gen Z and Millennial Survey. Long-form allows brands to communicate with more nuance, and take advantage of a longer effectiveness tail where brand integrations have a longer shelf life instead of disappearing after 24-hours.

Even the quality of SponCon can hit different, as long-form content allows for more room for storytelling.  Creators can speak with genuine appreciation for a brand or product in a longer video essay without being immediately dismissed. YouTube has tools that identify creators organically mentioning brands, improving the match-making with advertiser needs.

Brands are also expanding what they do offline. As it becomes harder to distinguish between a flesh-and-blood netizen versus a bot account, people look to IRL events to build emotional connection, and authentic fandoms. As we previously covered on Culture Wire, brands recognize the power of community-building in these spaces, where consumers are choosing to invest their time, dollars and social ties. Literary salons by fashion houses such as Miu Miu offer the opportunity to signal shared identity and interests with real people. Prime Video announced Obsessed Fest, a convention centered around its new slate of streaming content based on Young Adult IPs.

Online, anything is now table-stakes or just plain homogenous. As the attention economy continues to evolve, brands need to be more creative than ever and truly think end-to-end to build lasting power with consumers.

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“THAT’S ALL.”

The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens this week and promises all the fan-favorites of the 2006 blockbuster and more—more Miranda-isms, more New York City, and definitely more fashion. Ahead of the movie opening, brand collaborations have multiplied, from Samsung mobile phones to L’Oreal Paris makeup. One would expect all these brands’ ads to play in the movie theater right before the lights dim, but the curious thing is—these brands might not even be in the movie.

OUR TAKE

Brands using movies to create cultural cache isn’t new but it is clear that brand marketing in movies has evolved from product placements to become an extended form of content and engagement. The latest slate of brand and movie marketing don’t just feature actors holding up products, but hero storytelling and feel like bite-sized extensions of the movie brought IRL. 2023’s Barbie broke the floodgates for this, with experiences such as AirBnB’s bookable Barbie’s Dreamhouse placing consumers right in the middle of the story.

Much of the more interesting marketing content tied to The Devil Wears Prada 2 goes beyond just product placement within the movie. Brands are now accessing more creative avenues to convey their message and integrate in people’s lives. Immersive storytelling and IYKYK nods to deep cuts can create stand-alone featurettes and open up other enticing parts of the world of the movie.

For behind-the-scenes footage of Runway magazine, look at the campaign from beauty brand Lancôme where actors Pauline Chalamet and Caleb Hearon reprise their movie roles to tackle a classic ‘impossible’ Miranda task. Coca-Cola brand Smartwater’s mini-game makes players search for the right shade of blue—a throwback to Miranda’s cerulean monologue in the first movie. Starbucks, which does physically appear in both movies, launched a real-life secret menu with the characters’ go-to orders and even brought back actor Adrian Grenier where he meta-comments on his hated character, Nate.

To partner with movies, brands now don’t have to be limited to the actual run-time of the movie, but can create these “pocket universes” that still feel true to the story and give audiences space within the world.

One example is not even a promotion for a movie, but accesses the legacy and shared moments of a decades-long cinematic collaboration between two veteran actors. To promote the Shogun Burger, McDonald’s Hong Kong created an entire music video with home-grown artists Louis Koo and Jessica Hsuan, channeling scenes from the multiple movies where they’ve played love interests. The campaign also included an Instagram Live session with the artists and collective trading cards riffing on their romantic scenes from movies.

At a time when demand for IRL experiences is heightened and cultural status comes from being in-the-know, brands have a real opportunity to leverage movies for their iconic scenes, characters or IYKYK moments to build their own cultural capital within the movie hype cycle. This is especially so for films with a rich history (easy for sequels, remakes and  franchises, which seem to be the norm in Hollywood today) where core fans are eager for more content and experiences to get closer to the movie-world, and it doesn’t hurt that cinema attendance is on the rise with Gen Zs, especially in APAC.

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FANDOM MEANS BUSINESS

On flights from Manila to Seoul last week, Philippine Airlines offered some euphoria to BTS fans by offering banners to any passenger who could prove ARMY credentials. The thoughtful gesture was a hit on social media, with some calling for other airlines to follow suit. For those that missed out, Incheon International Airport provided consolation in the form of farewell messages on departure boards in the days following BTS’s comeback concert. 

That concert – held in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square – drew over 75,000 people from Korea and beyond, with 1 in 4 flying in from abroad to witness the event. The largest share of overseas fans came from Thailand, followed by Vietnam. BTS’s return from mandatory military service is, of course, big news for the record label but local Seoul businesses benefitted too: a traditional liquor maker tripled production for a highball brand endorsed by member Jin. Restaurants in Gwanghwamun hired temporary staff who speak Spanish, Uzbek, Burmese, and Japanese. And BTS-themed tours are doing brisk business nationwide. 

On the surface, these are examples of brands catering to BTS fans. But there’s an underlying shift here and it’s the idea that fandom doesn’t just drive culture. It also drives demand.

OUR TAKE

Long-term readers will know about the concept of the Culture Wallet, and how consumers spend around the passion points that express who they are and where they belong. For BTS fans, that means concert tickets, albums, merch, hotels, themed looks or accessories. Practical and emotional investments that allow them to be part of the moment.

But the Culture Wallet doesn’t stop there. When fan spending scales and concentrates, it results in a second wave of economic activity that ripples far beyond the artist. For example, Asian airlines are adjusting schedules and flight paths in response to K-Pop touring cycles (some carriers are adding temporary flights timed to concert dates). 

And according to data from tour sponsor Visa, foreign travel to South Korea surged more than 25% in the week of the concert, with travel spending up around 20% from an average week. (Side-note that Visa’s role goes beyond sponsorship, with the brand giving cardholders direct ticket access and running on-site merch booths across APAC tour stops). The Korea Culture & Tourism Institute estimates that one BTS concert can generate up to ₩1.2 trillion (around US$815 million) across retail,  hospitality, staffing and local commerce. These demand spikes should be anticipated in the same way as other major seasonal or event-led surges.

Another thing that makes this moment different is not just the spending, but the structure of fandom itself. In the past, fandom was often dismissed as irrational excess or a closed loop of repeat purchases. Today, it functions more like a live participation network: continuous, global and always-on. Fan-to-fan connection can be just as important as fan-to-artist devotion. The main event — in this case, the concert — is one part of the appeal. The evolving lore matters too, as does collecting proof and mementos that they were there. 

For many superfans, cultural devotion is both personal and communal. The real value doesn’t sit only in the concert itself. It comes from everything that’s around it: the travel, the community fans meet, the side-quests, the visible signals of belonging and, of course, the commerce that forms around all of that.  

For marketers, the opportunity is more than a one-off partnership or a themed product drop. Recent data from Live Nation found that 97% of fans want brands to play a bigger role in live entertainment and when brands are involved the effects are positive: a 75% uplift in brand consideration, while 80% leave liking the brand more. Fans don’t just tolerate brands’ presence at live events – they are inviting them into the space. And that means that the brands that see success here will be the ones that see past the ‘main event’ and build for everything that fans do around it. 

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CAN I MEME THIS?

Is it a meme in and of itself to talk about the current day AI sloppification of memes? To long for when actual human beings would apply finishing touches to the thinking man’s meme? This is one of the questions behind the Great Meme Reset, a call to action that snowballed on TikTok for memes to harken back to our shared humanity, come 1 January 2026. Memes used to serve more as ciphers, with layers of meaning, allusion and backstory to be unpacked. Nowadays, meme-craft can be turned over to AI meme generators that go heavy on throwaway, meaningless imagery to elicit quick bursts of emotion that are then forgotten.

The backlash against pump-and-dump content comes and goes, but it’s clear that people want to feel something again – as well as see the actual human-made qualities of what’s being consumed. This is paramount for story-telling in the entertainment industry, but also for brands that don’t want their customer outreach to get lost in noise. Brand-building is akin to story-telling, and customers want more than just the reductive and sensational.

OUR TAKE

There have never been more ways for brands to engage with customers, but it still feels like everyone is competing for tiny slices of attention pie. Each customer touchpoint becomes a permutation of screens – someone is watching a program on streaming while playing a mobile game and also browsing through TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. There are industry murmurs that streaming executives wonder if content needs to be dumbed down, to outslop the slop. Does this spell the end of prestige TV? Is this why people are nostalgic for prestige memes?

Microdramas can get the short end of the stick, especially when compared to the “serious business” of prestige TV and auteurs. The dramatic plot twists and AI enthusiasm in the visual effects are easy to dismiss. It would be myopic though to forget about why people are drawn to this content  – the emotional beats of the characters and storylines coupled with accessible formats equal a thriving fandom. We’ve covered this before in a previous edition of CultureWire! Microdramas speak to consumers and the love for stories, and shouldn’t all be painted with the same brush.

At the end of the day, people will always be drawn to impactful story-telling. This especially pertains to the reviled advertisement format. Brands are experimenting with cinematic story-telling and movie-making tools to create ads that are short films. Watching ads in theaters before the actual movie starts used to be fun, until the ads got too long. But what if it were a 33-minute story with Hollywood talent and an idiosyncratic director? It no longer feels like just product placement, but a story that feels purposeful and makes it fun to engage with the brand. Thus the ad playbook continues to evolve, as these formats aren’t a magic bullet and won’t guarantee audience engagement. Who knows, movie-rating service Rotten Tomatoes may end up passing judgement on these ads.

Consumers might be as distracted as ever, but the yearning to feel something and feel spoken to remains. Brands have a plethora of tools (this includes AI!) at their disposal – what are you going to say next about your brand?

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CODED ROMANCE

Inviting players to ‘step into a sci-fi world where love knows no bounds’, Love and Deepspace is an otome mobile game that combines real-time combat, photorealistic characters and customization options with a first-person story. Other features include mini games (which open up more dating options) and in-game micro-transactions. It’s wildly popular. According to its Chinese developer Papergames, Love and Deepspace has more than 50 million players worldwide. It generated USD 446.6 million in its first year, with 36% coming from outside China. Now the game—and the otome genre—is gaining traction in Southeast Asia with Google searches in Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore on the rise in the last 30 days.

OUR TAKE

Before we dive in, a quick primer: otome games are a sub-genre of dating sims that are catered to women. Originating in Japan, the word otome means ‘maiden’ (it also refers to a girl who is obsessed with anime or manga). In these games, players take on the role of a female main character, navigating a series of scenarios alongside simulated romantic relationships with male characters. It’s important to note that while Love and Deepspace is very new, otome isn’t—the genre dates back to 1994’s Angelique.

Three decades later, female gamers have emerged as a powerful demographic in SEA. Not only is the number of female gamers in the region growing, they’re embracing mobile games (77% of female online gamers in SEA are mobile gamers, compared to 83% of male gamers). Perhaps more importantly they are willing to open their wallets—30% of female gamers make game-related purchases versus 22% of male gamers. And some are openly documenting their Love and Deepspace sprees. Per one report, it’s not uncommon to find players who have spent nearly USD 1,400 on the game.

Players cite the ‘gentler’ relationship dynamics where female characters are respected and male characters are both aesthetically pleasing and emotionally intelligent. At their core, otome games appeal because they center on the female experience. At the start of the year, Love and Deepspace introduced a period-tracking feature, where players can input their real-life menstruation dates. It’s part of a broader Remind Me calendar-style feature where players can add specific events then receive a notification from a male character. (Note that while some embraced this feature, others raised concerns about the risks of sharing sensitive personal information with companies).

Beyond the empathy factor, otome games provide an antidote to dating apps and IRL relationships that, for many young women, don’t live up to the hype. The Philippines, for example, has seen a surge of romance scams. It’s perhaps unsurprising that Love and Deepscape is finding success in markets where women’s rights remain contested.

Zooming out and considering the broader pop culture scene, Love and Deepscape’s success sits alongside the explosion of interest in romantasy (romance and fantasy lit), which has gained significant traction globally, including Southeast Asia. Both offer escapism and fulfill romantic fantasies that form a collective experience through communities like BookTok and fanfic forums.

This success is indicative of a media industry that’s finally acknowledging and catering to women’s interests in a creative and culturally relevant way. The recent success of Barbie and Wicked proved that when brands give female consumers something to show up for, they will. And they will show up with enthusiasm. Expect more success stories like Love and Deepspace in the coming months.

The rise of otome gaming across SEA reveals a shift in how women engage with entertainment: they’re seeking experiences that balance fantasy with agency, escape with empowerment. Female consumers aren’t just looking for products—they’re looking for spaces where their complexity is understood and catered to. Can you create spaces where women can explore their desires on their own terms, without judgment or limitation?

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PLAYING THE RIGHT GAME 

This week, League of Legends in collaboration with Mercedes celebrated the induction of Faker, the most popular player in the game, into their newly announced Hall of Legends. What was meant to be one of the most anticipated launches within the gaming community however was quickly met with negativity due to the hefty price tag attached to the bundle. Redditors on the LoL forum lamented how the $500 paywall was not only insulting to fans but also dismissive of the player’s own legacy as Faker himself was known to not use skins in-game. Long time readers would know that we’ve both worked with Riot Games in the past and are big fans of their work for being able to effectively tap into non-gaming communities through their partnerships. Which then makes us wonder what happened this time around? And what can other brands learn from this when looking to tap into the gaming space (or any fandom for that matter)? 

OUR TAKE

Since its mass acceptance from over a decade ago, we’ve seen an uptick of brands from various categories build a presence within spaces that were previously private pursuits like gaming, anime and esports – and along with that comes the inevitable risk of occasionally ruffling the feathers of long time community members if the right care is not put in place. But there’s only so much precautions a brand can take before the rest falls into the hands of larger, uncontrollable factors that continue to shape and evolve consumer behavior. 

While LoL did introduce a tiered pricing as a way of acknowledging different types of fans (newbie, casual, long term diehard) and making sure there was something for everyone, ultimately what seemed to be upsetting fans was that even the lowest tiered pricing was deemed too expensive for a long term diehard fan. 

However, we at Culture Group believe and have seen time and time again that price only matters to consumers, it never matters to fans. So why the hullabaloo over price this time? In this instance, we think it was less about the price that was bothering fans, rather what was being offered for the asked price. As the lines for cultural consumption continue to blur and fans are increasingly gravitating towards experiences that enable more ways for them to enjoy their passion points, perhaps the tiered pricing would have fared better across fan levels if the bundles delivered on a multitude of experiences and limited edition merch the higher they went as opposed to limiting the upgrade to technical aspects within the game. Taking stock of fans’ current cultural wallet, what they’re willing to spend on and understanding what matters the most to them can often help brands establish a more realistic threshold and set the parameters for what brands would like to stand for within the community. 

The other reason this launch garnered such a strong reaction from the community might lie within the premise of the launch itself. The Hall of Legends was meant to celebrate the contributions of well-known players that shaped not just the game but the sport and community itself. For such a culturally significant moment, it’s only natural that fans would expect a more heartfelt fanfare that not only celebrates the player but also acknowledges the sense of camaraderie they share towards Faker. Taking this into consideration, having a single paid option may very well be the source of disconnect. At times like this, it’s good to go back to the underlying culture of fandoms and understand that it is the fans’ dedication to the game and its players that stays enduring over time. With Faker being a beloved member of the community – perhaps there could have been a more touching tribute to celebrate his induction into the Hall of Leagues apart from the bundles offered. 

Amidst all the commotion, one cannot miss the saving grace in that Faker gets to walk away with a brand new electric car gifted to him by Mercedes Benz, the luxury car manufacturer and T1’s newest sponsor. Say what you will but Mercedes has always been at the forefront of supporting esports. And the bringing together of one legend with a legendary brand just shows there is more to come from the esports category. 

Culture is always changing and trends dictating spending behavior are taking place at an even quicker pace. Both Riot Games and Mercedes are known for being pioneers that championed esports and gaming to where it is today and while this might’ve been a bit of a miss for LoL, we are certain they will be able to bounce back and we hope to see them in the news soon.

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GAMING FOR GOOD 

Developed by audio tech brand JBL Quantum, Guide Play is a free tool that uses AI and machine learning to make first person shooter (FPS) games more accessible for people with low vision. The software, which was developed with the nonprofit AbleGamers, turns in-game objects and buildings into audio cues, allowing gamers to map out obstacles using sound. Customizable settings mean the software can be adjusted to individual needs. Guide Play launched earlier this week and can be downloaded from JBL’s website.

OUR TAKE

As of 2023, WFP reports there are more than 700 million persons with disabilities within Asia and the Pacific Region. Meanwhile, AbleGamers estimates there are 50 M visually-impaired gamers across the world who want to play games which have typically been inaccessible to them. With Southeast Asia home to an estimated 285.5 M gamers (predicted to rise to 344 M in 2027), it’s not a stretch to say there might be overlaps between these two statistics. At the very minimum, marketers that are developing gaming activations should consider how they will make these campaigns accessible to everyone—and gamers with sight loss is just the tipping point.

Accessibility in gaming and beyond has become a hot topic over the last few years, but there’s still work to do. One of the big criticisms of Sony’s Access controller for PS5, which finally launched at the end of 2023, was the price. JBL Quantum has gone one better by making Guide Play available for free. It’s also available open-source, with the brand hoping that developers will download the code and implement it in their own games.

That practice has become increasingly common as brands strive to show that their accessibility strategies are contributing something real. In February, for example, Starbucks open-sourced its Inclusive Spaces Framework with the aim of improving accessibility in all retail spaces, not just the brand’s portfolio. So when you make improvements to your product or service, don’t keep it to yourself—lean into collaboration and make it available to others. Two reasons: it’s unlikely that one brand will solve society-wide issues solo, and it could help avoid accusations of purpose-washing.

The expectation that brands make the world more accessible doesn’t only apply to global companies like JBL Quantum and Starbucks. Brands across APAC are working to make the world fairer and more equitable: WeChat’s Quiet Mode is aimed at deaf users, while Malaysia’s ZUS Coffee is working from the inside out, teaming up with a local hearing aid partner to provide hearing aids to baristas. And remember Coldplay’s inclusive concerts that included Singapore Sign Language and Subpacs (interactive vests that allow hearing impaired concertgoers to feel music through vibrations)? 

So here’s some questions to ponder: as the conversation around accessibility becomes more nuanced, how will you make inclusivity a central component of your pop culture-led marketing activations? And how can the quest for greater inclusivity inspire more authentic campaigns that resonate with every fan?

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

AN EPIC PARTNERSHIP

Disney will invest US$1.5B in Epic Games—the publisher of Fortnite—to create a new games and entertainment universe. According to the press release, not only will the partnership give fans new ways to play, watch, shop, and engage with Disney characters, but it will also allow players to create their own stories and experiences and express their Disney fandom in a new way. It will all be powered by Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.

OUR TAKE

While this is Disney’s largest-ever investment in games, it’s not the brand’s first move into the space: the partnership follows failed attempts to develop games in-house and more successful licensing agreements. But the company hadn’t really cracked the formula and, in the light of Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s changing media habits, that’s become increasingly urgent.  

Disney’s press release was light on concrete details, leading to speculation about what the partnership might entail: Game maps for Disney IPs? A digital Disney World? Skins inspired by or featuring beloved characters? But this is much more than an IP exchange. Instead, it could open up totally new ways for Disney fans and Fortnite players to experience their passion points. It could create communities where different fandoms coexist and celebrate the things they love together.

But the most significant part? A marked shift in how Disney views fans: this partnership gives them the ability to create their own stories and experiences. Disney has always tightly controlled its IP, but there are signs that it’s changing. Some of this is the result of external factors, with characters like Steamboat Willie and Winnie the Pooh entering the public domain. It’s also strategic, like its partnership with TikTok to celebrate The Walt Disney Company’s centenary, for example.

Perhaps you might think Disney’s efforts don’t relate back to your brand. But here’s the thing: as fans get used to collaborating, creating, and designing their own experience, the more they will expect this from every brand they interact with. If you need some help translating this expectation to industries outside of the entertainment sector… you know what to do!

A final thought. This is a mutually beneficial partnership. Epic remains overly reliant on Fortnite and is entangled in a legal dispute with Apple. Meanwhile, the house of mouse is under pressure from investors after the MCU franchise underperformed at the box office (sidenote that Deadpool 3 is looking more promising!). CEO Bob Iger must hope that the partnership with Epic Games (combined with a Taylor Swift exclusive and a new sports streaming platform) will turn things around. Although considering that it took well over a year for the LEGO x Fortnite collaboration to evolve from investment to launch, it might be some time before both parties reap the financial rewards… 

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL

Palworld is the game of the moment, selling more than 7M copies in just 5 days. It was released on January 18 by Japanese indie video game developer PocketPair and has already surpassed 2M concurrent users on Steam. Only one game—PUBG: Battlegrounds—has ever drawn more Steam players at once. The gameplay involves players capturing colorful creatures called ‘pals’ through combat (which involves guns, and sometimes pals with guns) bringing them along while exploring and battling. Other pals are assigned to work on your base, where they build things and harvest materials. And yes, it sounds and looks familiar—the game is being described as ‘Pokémon with guns.’

OUR TAKE

The game’s success has come with its fair share of controversy, one being the resemblance of the characters in Palworld to those in Pokémon. As a result, PocketPair has been accused of plagiarizing Pokémon, in particular using generative AI to create the characters (which critics have dubbed Fakémon). Long-time Pokémon fans have taken to social media to compare the entire list of 111 pals while others have pointed out that Pokémon has also drawn inspiration from Dragon Quest. While the developer has had a history of releasing games that look a lot like other games, the Palworld lead has come forward to debunk legal concerns.

Controversy aside, the reason why the game is doing so well is down to gamers enjoying the gameplay, sharing their new passion with their friends—growing the player base at pace. Conversely, the once more popular Pokémon has been around for quite some time now, many fans have since outgrown the formulaic approach that developer Game Freak has utilized. The Palworld developers have capitalized on this discontent to deliver new experiences and improvements that many fans have been asking for. 

In the creation of Palworld, it could be hypothesized that PocketPair has cannily capitalized on a consistent desire of Pokémon players: for the game franchise to grow up with them; refreshing the gameplay by taking elements from other exciting games such as ARK: Survival Evolved and RUST.

Similar to many games that hit it big in the past few years, Palworld also has a big multiplayer element (that’s been lacking in Pokémon, according to our resident gamer)—allowing players to experience it with their friends. 

While the game has successfully harnessed the power of nostalgia, capturing a rapidly growing audience in the process, the launch isn’t without its flaws—we’ll be watching to see how it develops.

The success of Palworld provides a few lessons for brands looking to go from zero to hero: finding the line between invention vs. innovation, owning the difference between inspiration and imitation, and above all listening to the evolving needs of a fandom as it develops over time.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’