A NOD TO THE PAST: REIMAGINING THE SOCIAL PLAYBOOK

Social Media Management has become a staple of marketing teams over the past decade, with many companies expanding their social spending and constantly chasing the boom that is virality. However, the playbook is shifting, and it’s hard to ignore that TikTok and Instagram aren’t just dance videos anymore. They’re fully-fledged media stations with further reach than cable ever offered and more personalization than a viewer could ever dream.

Media today requires more complexity in the story than ever before. Sizzle reels and unboxing aren’t enough. So it might be time to dust off the old playbook for building a digital presence that people want to follow and look to blogs and newsletters of the past.

Back in 2010, blogging was a huge strategy to drive web traffic. While many brands focused on using buzzwords to drive SEO through their engagement. However, many brands took a more traditional approach, treating their blogs like their own newspapers, perfectly curated for the customers they wanted. Huckberry was a personal favorite. Their journal was something I looked forward to reading each week. Articles were well-written and well-tailored to my interests at the time. The same could be said of Mr. Porter, whose men’s style blog quickly surpassed GQ and Esquire as my default space for men’s culture. There was a golden age of written content being created by brands that worked hard to curate their audience, and the growth of these companies is proof of that working. However, the shift to video was something few brands were ready for.

Video requires far more work than any other art form. This is in part because it’s a marriage of all human arts put together. A good video starts with a good script but still requires visuals, sound, movement, and more to make it come to life. This has led it to be out of reach for many brands. So, social media managers filled the void. The focus of quick trends and viral moments took over, leading to quick gains in views and sometimes followers but rarely sustained engagement. On the flip side, we have a rise of DPs and art directors who are masterful at developing visuals, jaw-dropping scenes, and reels that are often lacking any sort of staying power. Recent brand videos are often just aesthetic montages but do little to make someone want to follow an account. While there is a time and place for this style of video, it’s important to ask the question when looking at your own brand’s page: Why would I want to follow myself? What about this page is adding value to my life? This is where the traditional media playbook excels.

Good media gives something back to the viewer. This can be catharsis, information, or pure entertainment. Regardless, it offers something. All too often, brand socials deliver none of this. So, where does this leave us? It’s time to rebuild the writers’ room and start focusing on seasons. Focus on a long-term growth strategy, videos that play out over the course of a month leading up to a brand launch. A recurring segment that pulls people in and makes them want to follow you. Or a collaboration with a creator whose focus is on telling a story or an idea. It’s time to stop chasing trends and focus on building out the voice of your company and who you want to attract with it. The beauty is the cost of production is going down. When I look through YouTube, I see smaller creators producing episodes with the same quality as network T.V. for 15 years ago. House Hunters could be shot on an iPhone, cooking shows equally simple. Whatever your brand is trying to attract, there is a way to build a narrative around it and create work that holds onto people.

So cheers to a 2026 that’s filled with story, and I look forward to helping you share yours.

Under the Glow of the Buck Moon

My head has always been in the mountains or the clouds. Wherever that place is where the sky and earth come to meet. It could be because I’ve always been a dreamer and feel the greatest sense of self in places far above the world we know. Or because of how small we are compared to the rock giants we scale. It might also be from the proximity to death we feel while clinging to a rock face, gazing at what lies below. Whatever the draw, I found myself in the mountains under the dim glow of a once full moon, ascending peaks in search of an uncertain sunrise.

The decision to hike Mt. Washington came like most of my adventures. Struck with a need to create and a desire to move, it was the obvious choice, given my location. A six-hour drive away and a relatively easy ascent to solo, I soon found myself reopening my gear closet and prepping for the climb.

Mt. Washington first came on my radar during my time in my universities mountaineering club. Winter accents were a common proving ground for the more difficult winter climbs many of us aspired to. It offered an uncertainty I valued and a challenge that felt within the grasp of my current conditioning. Following the Tuckerman Ravine, I planned my route with a one-night stay at Hermit Lake to allow for a sunrise summit. The next day I embarked, gathering a few last-minute supplies for the journey ahead.

I arrived at the base around six checking in with the mountain office to update them on my itinerary and get a reading of the current weather. I was informed of a hiker who recently ascended without preparations for the temperature and succumbed to the elements. I made sure my puffy was in my pack and promptly set off. The route to Hermit Lake was steep but manageable. The section took about an hour, giving me a chance to settle in before the sun dipped completely behind the horizon.

Lying out under the stars on a borrowed pad, I became aware of the incredible luminance of the moon. While the night sky was visible for a few hours, it wasn’t long before the moon rose high enough to drown out the stars with its brilliance. Sometimes even the brightest stars can’t compete with a reflection. Nevertheless, the night went on, and I soon woke to begin the ascent.

Dawn has always been my favorite time. Just before the sun comes up, its dim glow peeking over the horizon intertwining with that of the moon. While the sun was still well below the horizon, you could see the gentle blue forming on the eastward sky while the valley was cast in moonlight.

It wasn’t far into the trail that the terrain quickly changed. Though still populated by an assortment of rocks, the path steepened. Soon the course turned vertical and thin, snaking its way across the rock and water. Making my way through the pines, the sky opened as I came upon the ravine cutting up the side of the mountain. The gorge was filled with flowers, ferns, and evergreen bushes. There’s something incredible about the way life preservers in alpine environments, something as delicate as a flower still pushing roots through the rock.

Turning back, you could see the sky warm as the sun edged closer to the horizon. I continued upward as the winds picked up, and the temperature continued to drop. Mt. Washington is home to the highest winds recorded. A combination of its high and correspondingly low surrounding lands makes it a perfect location for unexpected storms to materialize. As luck would have it, today, I was in the clear.

Looking back out into the ravine, you could see the lake below and the flow of the trail upwards. The sun had just begun to peak over the mountain casting the valley in a warm light before disappearing behind the clouds. Viewing a path climbed in near darkness in the light is always a pensive moment, the scale of accomplishment becoming apparent when the features you overcame make themselves known. There was still half a mile to the summit, and the weight of my pack could be felt in my joints as I hoisted myself over the last few boulders. Hiking over the edge of Mt. Washington carries a certain absurdity when reality sets in that most people just drive to the top. Like any adventure, it reminds you it’s never about the summit or the sunrise but what you overcame and learned on your way to it.

Jymmy Tolland: The Lonely Ones

Classic rock has always been a big part of my life, the old rock and roll images by Annie Lebovitz, playing a big role in the aesthetic I formed for myself. I was first introduced to Jymmy by my friend and longtime collaborator Cam Brown and we came up with the idea to create a YSL style editorial for the bassist. Jymmy’s life is an aesthetic from the car he drives to the way he casually goes about his day in platform boots. So to collaborate on a project like this was incredible. For hair and makeup we brought on Hallie Marie who lent a perfectly subtle touch to accentuate Jymmys existing aesthetic.

Freedom Fest 2021

Camp Waterlow sits in the back hills of Chillicothe Ohio, and is home to annual celebration known as Freedom Fest. The gathering of bikers from all walks of life takes place over the weekend of July 4th and is home to races and shenanigans of all types.

Mudvayne: Revolver Magazine

It’s not often you get a last minute call to cover a bands reunion, but that was exactly what happened when @revovlermag reached out about @mudvayne. To many fans excitement, Mudvayne played their first show in over a decade to the audience at Inkcarceration Music and Tattoo Festival. With only a few hours to capture the scene, and a few songs to document the bands historic reunion. Known for their sonic experimentation and incredible costume and makeup work, the band, and the fans did not disappoint.