making the future human #5 - may 2024
may 2024 at dcdx
edition #5 tl;dr - new biz, new service, new news, and a big new hire
new relationships and getting serious ❤️🔥
May kicked off with an exciting new partnership and RFP win, one of the most meaningful projects we’ve had the privilege to work on here at dcdx.
Working with a new partner in the dating space is another illuminating sign of the category’s challenges - particularly visible after the mess of the Bumble Fumble earlier in May. But seeing and hearing the way our partners in the space lead with empathy has also been a sign of optimism. While there may be serious headwinds, the category remains ripe for innovation, redefinition, and a human-first vision for the future.
The virality of the category itself in the press over the last few months and the evolving dating app fatigue narrative has been a doozy, with new articles seemingly pouring out every day with staunch exclamations about the present challenges in the space.
And yet it is this same “virality” in which we at dcdx thrive - when there is so much noise, so much news, and so much chaos and wrongness (sorry, Bumble), it requires a new lens into culture and into this generation that cuts through to the signal to truly understand what is happening, why, and where it is going.
And that is where I believe we at dcdx perform at our best.
new service - Voices of Gen Z panels
Over the last month, we’ve seen a new service of ours take off.
We call them Voices of Gen Z panels; always-on, curated Gen Z group chats built around the evolving needs of your brand(s).
After our first pilot run last fall, we’ve been integrating them into select projects, making continuous improvements, and pushing the limits of their use cases. Over the last month or so, we started actively pitching them, and they are hot.
Why? What have we heard?
1) The ease of access and convenience on Instagram. “I love the [group chat], it's been super insightful. And just having the quick access to insights and the chat…we're continuously getting feedback.” VP, Consumer Insights
2) Audience quality and engagement - this is huge. We recruit from our network of 300,000+ Gen Z’ers on Instagram, and screen candidates to ensure they’re highly engaged, vocal, and independent thinkers. “The recruiting was a really great process; the clients were really happy about it. The amount of people that we could get in a really short time, and how involved and engaged they were… that was really great.” Director of Strategy.
3) Flexibility and adaptability of learning objectives. This is where I appreciate these panels so much - they tap into the essence of the pain point we solve most directly - navigating through the speed of today’s cultural change.
This really did not intend to turn into an advertisement, but we’re truly so excited by these panels and what they can mean for our partners. If you are curious about how these can be integrated into your work as a brand or agency, let us know here!
new news
Forbes ran a nice little piece on our latest Gen Z in the Workplace report, talking about the 6 things Gen Z want from their employers. They reached out for a few additional quotes, and here’s an important one I wanted to bring to this newsletter.
“Leadership, culture and the workplace as a whole are now built collaboratively with a push and pull across the threads of an organization—not just a push from the top down. It is this dynamic equilibrium that has become the living, breathing heartbeat of our organization at dcdx and one that I see disrupting the world’s most successful companies.”
-Andrew Roth, Founder and CEO, dcdx
We also had a few more May press call outs, with a podcast appearance on Marketing Moves, and Boston25 News mentioned our screen time data in relation to a growing trend of schools banning cell phones. More press stories coming soon!
upcoming releases from dcdx 🧲 👜
In ~2 weeks, we’ll release our Q2 2024 Gen Z’s Top 50 Fashion Brands Report, a look at the 50 most Magnetic fashion brands this quarter.
We took a look at 55 brands across fashion, and analyzed them with our GenZ Score®, looking at the popularity and consistency of user-generated content for the brand on TikTok. We call this “Brand Magnetism ®” (now officially an ®), and it is a foundational belief that the strongest brands in modern culture are Magnetic - attracting conversation, winning on a pull, not a push. Keep an eye out for this!
💙 inside dcdx: happenings in culture
This month, we celebrated a big work anniversary for our Director of Strategy, Mara. We also had a special guest join us for a surprise video for Mara. Survivor fans, check it out!
Also inside dcdx in May:
This month, we also decided to institute a trial 4-day workweek over the summer months. Except it is not your traditional 4-day workweek…we’ll be doing summer Mondays off, not Fridays. Our effort here is to be really intentional with the purpose of the day. Fridays off may extend a weekend, but usually just turn into late slumbering or laziness. Mondays, on the other hand, we believe give space for more rest and reflection, freeing up intellectual and creative capital to be more curious, thoughtful, and prepared for the week ahead. We’ll report back on how it goes!
We also ceremoniously added a seventh core value, called unreasonable intentionality. notably, it takes the third spot in our culture deck - for its association with Newton’s third law: for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. I believe the way we do one thing is the way we do everything - and that intentionality translates to how we work inside and out. read more on this and see the full dcdx seven here.
Reflections on May 2024
May was bittersweet - we said goodbye to someone near and dear to us as she moved on to a new role. And while certainly not easy, it allowed me to step back and evaluate our needs in a new light.
In June, we’ll be bringing on our most seasoned hire to date. Someone who has built their career on building business operations and partnerships. Someone we’re incredibly excited about - and someone I’m excited for you all to hear more about soon.
To the start of summer - and to new horizons coming soon.
Onwards to June!
-AR