The Sociology of Business is a global weekly newsletter about how to connect brand and business through culture. Culture is known as an “ambiguous market,” where success is random and unpredictable. Through my professional experience, I came to understand that, to reduce risk and increase their hold on their market, brands need to build their story as a portfolio: where once they influenced culture through advertising communication in print, tv, and billboards or public relations, today they influence culture through cultural products they create: entertainment, merch, collaborations, exhibitions and awards, content, brand codes, retail experiences, archives and fandom. A good strategy of cultural influence is a good business. When a cultural product becomes a hit, it grows brand equity, market presence, return on financial investment, and annual sales. The Sociology of Business is listed among the top 20 business publications on Substack, and I published analyses in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, The Guardian, Advertising Age, Adweek, Frame Magazine, and Communication Arts, among others. Buy my first book on Amazon, follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn, and read more about my career here

Membership

Paid Sociology of Business Members receive exclusive access to 4 monthly newsletters that include original writing about growth, culture, strategy and best business and brand building practices. Paid members learn how to build brand-first businesses, how to pitch angel investors and VCs, how to shift their brand narrative and competitive strategy, how to merchandise and sell, how to creatively differentiate, how to create brand systems, and how to ensure that your products and services create both monetary, cultural and social value. The issues mix sociology and business and are rooted in my experience as a C-level executive at the global brands. My writing regularly informs and inspires the wider aspirational economy coverage, so be first to access the source code.

Membership is available as an annual subscription in two tiers. The first tier is called “Professional” and is priced at $299/year. It includes access to all issues (4/month) and to private Sociology of Business Discord channels. The second tier is called “Master” and is priced at $499/year. It includes all issues and access to private Sociology of Business WhatsApp channels and Mastermind Sessions. You can also email me at andjelicaaa at gmail dot com for my availability and rates for expert interviews, talks, webinars, fireside chats, Q&As, advisory services and consulting projects.

What to expect

This newsletter will give you a framework to connect brand with business through culture:

  • Prioritize the brand story as the only factor for the durable brand growth

  • Understand a portfolio approach to building brand’s narrative worlds, where the story is told through cultural products and amplified through media

  • Create a lot of cultural products in order for some of them to become hits, depending on a cultural mood and moment

  • Transform media buying and planning into cultural amplification strategy, which allows brands to be quick to react to cultural moments

  • Approach media creatively, and use it to identify all the different cultural contexts for a brand to participate

  • Segment your audience based on their relationship to culture; some of them are going to be critical for turning cultural products into hits

  • Develop creative production capabilities to develop and test ideas in the real world

  • Think of cultural influence strategy as a self-enforcing loop of different cultural products, each seeded in a different cultural context and targeting a specific customer segment most likely to respond to it

  • Redefine brand marketing as the strategy of cultural influence

A sneak-peak into past posts:

Cultural influence strategy

Hitmakers

Culture GPT

How brands make culture

The cultural influence funnel

The creative economy

The creative economy

The new fashion creativity

Why brands need creative strategy

The other vibe shift

Building narrative worlds

New rules of brand marketing

Storytelling primer

Why brand comes first

The glory of storytelling

Storytelling checklist

Media amplification

Customer-driven media

The new media plan

A case for portfolio growth

Rethinking the brand ROI

The creative class

The creative class starter kit

Creative money aesthetics

How to sell to the creative class

Why cultural obsessives matter

Tools & frameworks

The brand stack

What kind of brand are you?

How to operationalize your go-to market strategy

The menswear playbook

The teardown guide

Subscribe to The Sociology of Business

A global weekly newsletter on how to connect brand and business through culture.

People

Global Chief Brand Officer. Doctor of Sociology. Author of "The Business of Aspiration."
Founder of The Rebooting