Knowing your true brand story can help focus your business so you show up authentically to your audiences.
What is your brand’s story? Not your brand manifesto of goals and dreams but the story about how and why you came to be. Don’t really have one? You’re not alone. Many founders follow the spark of an idea, shape and refine it through real world market conditions, and make a lot of fast decisions on their road to success, without ever stopping to ask themselves, “What are we really all about?” If you answer this question truthfully, even if the truth is a little embarrassing at times, you’ll have a guide you can follow to show up authentically for your audience. To make it clear what we’re talking about, here’s the 2113 Labs story:
In the early part of the century, we were working in marketing by day and playing live events in the electronic music scene by night. Social media became key to both parts of our lives. The same techniques we’d use to build an audience were also effective in building brands. But as more and more companies caught on to the power of social, the spaces became more crowded. We realized that we had to think of content beyond ordinary posts if we wanted to stand out. This led us to an experimental approach, embracing ideas that were new at the time, like VR, live streaming, and immersive event activations. This is where “Labs” comes from in our name. We want to communicate the spirit of testing, iterating, refining, and never being afraid to try new things. To us, a lab feels more open and experimental than an agency or studio.
Because we also strive to take a broader view of content and its role in society, we’re very much aware of the potential negative impact of media technology. Our goal has always been to avoid a Ready Player One or Westworld scenario, where every moment of a person’s day is manipulated and marketed. Being fans of the band Rush, we thought back to their breakthrough album “2112”. It tells the story of individualism battling against computer-based totalitarianism, set in the year 2112. The end is ambiguous but we feel the lyrics indicate that the hero of the story was successful. We picture the following year, 2113, as being the beginning of a new golden era in the freedom of personal expression.
So the name “2113 Labs” means a place to harness the power of technology (content strategy) to enable authentic, human expression (content creation).
Our story keeps us grounded in our core mission of content strategy and creation, focusing on offering our clients relevant, engaging experiences when people encounter their brands in more personal ways, including social and live events. We’d love to hear your brand story and talk about how to bring it to life.
Daniel Quentin Zuber
Co-Founder of 2113 Labs and influencer in trance music, cyberpunk, and vaporwave culture on Instagram and TikTok @therealquentinZ.
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