Screenshot of the Protein Contributors Forum
Screenshot of the Protein Contributors Forum

Since the last SUPPLEMENT, we've individually onboarded 129 (and counting) incredibly diverse, smart and cultural curious contributors to help us dig up the freshest crop of relevant research for you guys. These horticultural anthropologists have been cultivating, pruning and harvesting hundreds of SEEDS in our digital garden; the first of which we planted in your collective conscious this week (and see below). So, if you'd like to join our cosy corner of the internet and get paid to be published on Protein XYZ as well as collaborate on Protein AGENCY client briefs, then you can apply here.

Incase you missed the memo, here's a how we're redefining our beloved SEEDS:

  • SEEDS cultivate a valuable resource that can be continuously and organically referenced and added to over time
  • SEEDS focus on the most important topics, people, and ideas moving culture forwards
  • SEEDS inspire new ways of thinking and provide the tools, resources and context needed to understand and engage with them
  • SEEDS begin as short-form signals in our contributors forum that when planted in our collective consciousness, have the potential to grow into something beautiful
  • SEEDS can be many things: a new thought or piece of research; a deeplink to something compelling; an input for further thought and discussion
  • SEEDS look for something new, something old (that’s still relevant), something interesting, something funny or something that makes us think differently
  • SEEDS are a new format to what we’ve always done — helping you understand what’s coming next

So, now you know.

SEEDS

Brands as Libraries

By Charlie Robin Jones

Miu Miu Literary Club

“Brands as Libraries” proposes that brands should think like cultural institutions in order to deepen their connection to the public â€“ and create their own. Often lofty and frequently loved, these cultural institutions offer a new approach for how brands can interact with their audiences: by stepping back, providing space and facilitating the culture that built them. 

This seed comes from noticing that more and more brands are taking ideas from cultural institutions, knowingly or otherwise, and specifically from libraries. 

Libraries are where members of the public go to read, listen and talk (quietly). Explicitly, you don’t buy things: not even the books you read. They are spaces set against the noise of the rest of the world. But it’s exactly these qualities that make them so interesting for modern brands. 

By “thinking like a library”, brands can do lots of things that modern CMOs or CSOs want. Connect with their audience. Construct a world. Collaborate with visible and influential people. Become part of a wider story, not (just) selling things. After all, what better way is there to “authentically connect with culture” than sitting in a nice spot, and reading for an hour or two? 

Continue reading ...

Vanishing Culture

By Protein

The internet has evolved into the primary archive of our history and culture. Yet social networks get left behind and close up shop. Digital media sites go bankrupt. Companies stop selling their online products. Links rot. Files aren’t found. Everyone, obviously, has seen the following message countless times: 

Sometimes it doesn’t matter. The internet is a vast sea of content, and let’s face it, 90% of it is pretty rubbish anyway. So the loss of a single weirdly formatted, outdated webpage isn’t the end of the world. Then again, as an article in Business Insider recently summarised:

It’s a topic that our community has picked up on a few times, most notably when directing everyone to Vanishing Culture: a Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record. Coming in at 134 pages, it would be an understatement to call the report anything less than thorough. Remarkably, according to a graphic in it, an analysis of 5.4 million URLs shows that 26% are no longer working. RIP.

Continue reading ...

SEEDS (that are still germinating ...)

ONLY IMAGES (c/o @the2noelle)

CONTRIBUTORS

A massive thanks to all our wonderful contributors for showing up and sharing so many incredible SEEDS, keep 'em coming: @the2noelle, @nicksusi, @andrea, @Chidinma, @RADE, @MAL, @MalenaR, @mike, @valentina_p, @finmac, @IsabellaV, @COLETTE, @e_ekpo, @Jade and @luisa_ferreira