Tami Makinde is a Behavioural Analyst at Canvas8. With experience in leading a global newsroom and pioneering cultural conversations, she pivoted to behavioural insights. A lover of literature, alt-pop, and SZA, she spends her time discovering new music or dissecting her favourite TV shows. 

Diverse representation is an expectation, but as individuals no longer allow themselves to be defined in singular terms, there's mounting pressure on brands to understand and sensitively reflect how the intersections between race, gender, class, and ability impact people's everyday lives.

Collective Equity

In a hyper-connected world, it feels like everything previously ‘insider’ is more available than ever: from behind-the-scenes access to the lives of public figures to travel experiences immersing people into worlds previously deemed unattainable. But while people embrace this community-based inclusivity and unprecedented access to their icons, they still yearn for touches of exclusivity to define their status.

As the age-old understanding of exclusivity is eroded, people are redefining status for themselves using a broad range of factors beyond solely economic ones. This new iteration of status is often based around increasingly niche and local signifiers – from luxury dupes to the rise of members clubs and closed-community spaces based on shared interests. Status is becoming a mode of belonging and connection with like-minded people.

People are erecting walls of their exclusive communities, relying on more subtle markers of identity. This is apparent with middle-class people fetishising working-class aesthetics, athletes turning to niche sports like padel, and social media groups organising around niche interests – spawning companies. As status-defined micro-trends on social media accelerate, brands face a challenge to keep up. If previously certain legacy items were automatically associated with exclusivity, now people are much more trusting of the UGC-defined vision of what status means. More than ever, speed, knowledge, inventiveness, and being plugged into the community determine what – and who – is in.

Insider Status

Yemi Abiade is a London-based writer, editor, and podcaster who specialises in written works exploring music and culture. His work weaves topics such as grime and rap, and documents their place within the contexts of the Black British diaspora and its roots in the Windrush generation and beyond. He is a contributing editor for 

, and more. He also co-hosts Rhymes Like Dimes, a bi-weekly hip-hop podcast.

United Kingdom

Media and Entertainment

Communications

Music, radio, and podcasts

Official Charts

IFPI Global Music Report

Forbes

Interview with Yemi Abiade conducted by the author

Finder

Hunger TV

Capital Xtra

McKinsey and Co

Psychology Today

Central Cee is the British rapper injecting a fresh and vibrant energy into the hip-hop scene which is garnering the attention of a new generation of global music fans. With his raw and unfiltered template of authenticity, what can brands learn about the power of utilising such a figurehead?