SUNDAY SCARIES: Anchors
1. RaptureTok: Bonding over the Apocalypse
TikTok buzzed this week with RaptureTok — predictions that the end of days would hit somewhere between Sept 23–24. (And yet, here we are on the 28th, alive and well). Despite the hundreds of them throughout history, from Nostradamus and Helter Skelter to Y2K and the Mayan calendar, these moments are not about predictions. Apocalyptic myths don't spread because they're true, but they're able to give uncontrolled times a fleeting sense of control, and a collective meaning in the abstract and absurd.
Takeaway: Not even Liquid Death jumped on "the RaptureTok trend," but even the bleakest myths can make the world feel more stable.
(Sources: The Guardian; Washington Post; Dentsu Creative)
2. Waiting for Godot: Timely Revival of Uncertainty
Yesterday I saw the newest Broadway production of Beckett's Waiting for Godot, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. It's a favorite of mine, but even I didn't realize until I was hearing the dialogue again just how much our culture today reanimates a play about waiting for something that never comes. One exchange in particular hit especially hard:
Vladimir: What's the matter with you?
Estragon: I'm unhappy.
Vladimir: Since when?
Estragon: I can't remember...
It perfectly captures the ambient anxiety of our era: people feel deeply unsettled but can't remember when it began. And it echoes cultural burnout, attention fatigue, and the sense that malaise has become baseline.
Takeaway: Even endless waiting can be an anchor, because it names the uncertainty we can't resolve.
(Sources: NYT; Variety; Beckett Estate)
3. Running as the New Third Place
Running is booming. NY Road Runners is bigger than ever; there were 55,000 finishers in New York last year, and there are over 200,000 vying for spots this year and there's plenty of people trying to buy their way in. Beyond fitness, the rise of run clubs has become the new social glue. To outsiders, it's just people running. To insiders, it's about rituals, routes, and communities that give comfort and rhythm to restless lives.
Takeaway: When people desperately need a place to belong, the place doesn't have to be a place at all. Connections can be made shoulder to shoulder at full speed.
(Sources: NYRR; Strava; The Atlantic)
4. Substack's Cerebral Slowcooking
At the risk of collapsing under the weight of this meta mention, Substack and newsletters are resurgent as people turn away from algorithmic chaos and the rapid-fire assault of polarizing content. The draw isn't just the slower long-form format, it's the individual authorship itself. A human voice is becoming the rarest algorithm of all (my own musings excluded).
Takeaway: In an era of automated and aggressive commerce, a trusted voice speaking through the written word can be a durable anchor.
(Sources: Substack; The Verge; Because of Marketing)
This Week's Red Thread
In times like today, when society feels untethered, people search for anchors: myths to believe, promises to wait for, rituals to repeat, and voices to trust. Rallying behind Rapture predictions, existential dread, running together, and longform revivals all reveal the same thing: when the world feels unstable, people reach for the anchors they need to steady the ship. Though nothing is actually able to fix uncertainty, these are about finding what makes it all just a bit better, a bit safer, a bit lighter.
Brands must always understand their role in consumers' lives. At the core, you're providing a service that makes something better for people; whether it's a tastier treat, a softer sofa, or relief from a headache, brands must recognize how their customers are feeling and be helpful first.
Don't just focus on how to serve people your ads, focus on how to be of service to them.
— NB