Why Belonging, Not Attention, Will Define the Next Era of Marketing.
For decades, advertising was thought to follow a simple formula: show consumers a compelling message often enough and eventually they’ll buy. We bought media to reach audiences. We interrupted television shows, radio broadcasts, magazine articles, websites, and social feeds. We measured impressions, reach, frequency, and recall. Success was determined by how many people saw our message and how often.
That model isn’t disappearing. But for the first time in modern marketing, attention is no longer the scarcest resource. Because attention is rented. Belonging is earned. The brands that define the next decade won’t simply be the ones that capture attention. They’ll be the ones that earn a place inside communities.
Creators have become one of the most effective ways for brands to earn that place. To understand why, we first need to understand belonging.
This summer, New York gave us a perfect example. For the first time in years, the Knicks were in the NBA Finals. The energy in the city was electric. A sense of camaraderie and community enveloped the city. New Yorkers, people who normally treat eye contact as an act of aggression, were suddenly talking to anyone wearing orange and blue.
A friend of mine, a lifelong Knicks fan who now lives in San Francisco, cashed in all his marriage chips at once when he left his wife alone with two small children to attend the championship parade. The crowd was so dense you could have crowd-surfed from Battery Park to City Hall, but when I dared suggest that he just get a hotel that overlooks the parade route, he replied in horror, “No! I want to hug strangers.” The chaos was the point. Being among it was the purpose. Community, not celebrity, was the draw.
Because fandom isn’t only about what we love. It’s about who we become when we love it together.
At the end of the parade, the mayor said “The Knicks didn’t play for New York. They played like New York.” In one sentence, a basketball victory became something bigger. It became a story about identity. About what it means to be a New Yorker.
That connection between passion, community, belonging, and identity also explains why creators have become so valuable to brands. Their value isn’t just that they have audiences.
It’s that they belong to the communities brands hope to reach.
We often use words like fandom, community, belonging, and identity interchangeably. But they’re different.
Fandom is shared passion.
Community forms around that passion.
Belonging is what it feels like to be part of it.
And identity is when it becomes part of how we see ourselves.
The Knicks parade had all four. Basketball was the passion. New Yorkers came together around it. “I want to hug strangers” was belonging. And “They played like New York”? That was identity.
That’s the power of fandom. We find each other through the things we love. And in finding each other, we find somewhere we belong.
Creators are Fandom Personified
Creators don’t stand outside these communities looking in. They’re already inside. They’re fans themselves. They understand the references. They get the inside jokes. They know what belongs because they belong. In many ways, creators are fandom personified. That changes how we should think about their value to brands.
For years, we’ve valued creators for their reach looking at follower counts, likes and views. But if creators are already part of the communities brands are trying to reach, their value goes far beyond distribution. They bring cultural understanding and trust.
Campaign Thinking vs. Community Thinking
Because you can buy attention. You can’t buy belonging.
Creators help brands earn it, allowing them to enter communities as participants, not intruders. That’s the difference between campaign thinking and community thinking.
Campaigns create moments. Communities create movements.
Next in From Attention to Belonging: Brands Can’t Buy Belonging. They Have to Earn It.
