The future belongs to brands with fans

Article summaries below but FYI I summarized my fan takeaways down at the bottom so that you can carry them into your work week next week!

Spotify says Gen Z is using music and podcasts to anchor real life: milestone moments, inside jokes, and even entire friendship eras. They listened to more than 86 million minutes of playlists labeled “first” (first kiss, first car, first day of school) turning fandom into a backdrop for their own coming-of-age stories. Fans share albums and drops inside of Spotify via the chat feature and brands that understand that will win. I keep repeating this in my own personal writing: “It’s not about you anymore. It’s actually about the fans.” | WWD

Psychologists say fandom offers a mix of belonging and individuality that is hard to resist, especially when artists name their fanbases and social media turns taste into identity. The trouble starts when criticism feels like a threat to the self, which is why fan reactions can get extreme. I agree. When I first launched Huge Fan, someone DM’d me asking about why things get toxic or cult-ish. I replied that I think it’s when too much of your identity is tied up inside of a fandom. | BYRDIE

Industry leaders agreed that fandom is shifting from watching to participating. But hasn’t this always been true? Gaming now lets fans step inside the story the same way early virtual worlds like Habbo, Club Penguin, Habitat, and The Palace once did (can you tell I’m doing a deep dive into early virtual communities?), letting people build identities and inhabit their own spaces. EA noted that fans logged hundreds of millions of virtual laps on the Las Vegas Grand Prix track months before the real race, proof that the controller has become a primary entry point into fandom.

Modern fandom isn’t that different from fandom from decades past. It’s strong when it’s immersive and co-created, rooted in the same impulse that made virtual avatars addictive in the first place. | Adweek

Hammarby is one of Sweden’s most historic football clubs and its women’s team now has a supporter culture unlike anything else in the sport. Their ultras (aka fans) show up in the thousands, carrying enormous hand-painted tifos, singing from the first whistle to the last, and treating every match like a ritual.

What stands out most is the time. Hammarby’s tifos are painted by a group of artists who spend thousands of hours each year crafting them entirely by hand. Fans travel across Europe for Champions League matches, stay long after the final whistle, and build real relationships with the players. In fandom research, the truest measure of devotion is time investment, not merchandise or money. | FourFourTwo

Holiday music is the rare fandom that belongs to everyone at once. It’s huge (bigger than sports) and generic in the best way, a giant cultural container that makes room for your specific loyalties: Nat King Cole listeners, Bublé fans, DMX “Rudolph” truthers, Kelly Clarkson purists. UPROXX reports Q4 holiday views jump nearly 90 percent, with some songs spiking more than 1,500 percent. People show up for the ritual, then customize it with the artists they love most. | Tubefilter

Fast-casual chains keep responding to inflation with discounts, bundles, and limited-time deals. It works in the short term, but long term, the real competitive edge is fandom. As Chain’s CEO Steve Milton argues, diners are not choosing meals, they are choosing meaning. The brands that win are the ones that create emotional resonance, rituals, and identity.

Chains with cultural fluency, like Taco Bell, Raising Cane’s, and Red Lobster, are thriving because they treat their dining rooms like pop culture touchpoints. Fandom is universal and the most powerful customer signal available, especially when built through story, symbols, experiences, and layered ways to participate. Discounts may bring people in for now, but belonging is what brings them back. The future of fast casual will be decided by who builds worlds, not who prices lowest. | Fortune

The Oscars used to pretend they were above fandom, but that era is over. This year’s biggest contenders include horror, superheroes, fantasy epics, and a Guillermo del Toro monster movie. The Oscars may still love “prestige,” but fandom films are the ones reshaping the prestige itself. | Comicbook

Timothée Chalamet has one of the most active online fandoms, but no figure inside it is more famous than Simone Cromer, a 59-year-old Gen Xer who runs Club Chalamet. What started as a supportive fan account after she rewatched Call Me By Your Name became a full-blown fandom institution with nearly 50,000 followers, viral selfies with Chalamet, tabloid attention, and now a monetized Substack. Cromer insists she’s not a stalker or an obsessive romantic. She sees Chalamet as a serious young artist and says her goal is simple: help him win an Oscar.

But that visibility comes with backlash. Younger fans have called her posts intrusive or overreaching, especially when she speculated publicly about Chalamet’s dating life. She says the criticism hasn’t changed her dedication, only her tone. | Wall Street Journal

I was send this reel the other day and it lined up perfectly with the things I think about all the time. It breaks down why fans get furious when a place like Pitchfork leaves their favorite artists off a “Best Of” list, even when those artists dominate streaming. Human taste is messy and subjective, and sometimes more interesting than data. That drives people wild. But of course bias exists. Who works at Pitchfork? What do they value? How are they defining “best”? There is no single right ranking system. That’s why fandoms are fun. You get to love your favorite among other people who wholeheartedly agree. | Instagram, submitted by reader Bryan

MY TAKEAWAYS: