When Lush announced that they were leaving social media behind it triggered something inside and got me excited. If brands start turning away from social, surely creativity is what will capitalise?

Lush isn’t turning off digital; they’re just done with the toxic unhealthy scrolling pandemic. A place where algorithms mean we are all seen as pieces of data, not people. Brands that start moving away from what social media is today are going to be the ones more open to new ways of being creative in the next stage of the internet. And their reason is worthy.

Since Covid, we have seen an acceleration of innovation. The rise of Bitcoin and the digital economy. The popularity of NFTs. And the big one, Facebook’s decision to rebrand as Meta and shift focus to the metaverse. 

Earlier this year we made an episode of our Brand Film Award-winning documentary series ‘Imagine Beyond’ for Kaspersky that involved exploring the idea of living forever. Having interviewed people who are convinced that we will all exist in The Cloud in 30 years, the metaverse doesn’t seem that scary to me. Or far off. 

If we think in beta now with an always learning mindset, staying curious, flexible and open to change; we can take advantage of these new platforms, technology and the opportunities in front of us. Opportunities brought about by getting brands to recognise there could be better ways to do things born out of a genuine understanding and care for their audiences and communities. 

Evolving as a creator economy, we can make the metaverse be whatever we want it to be. For creatives and brands, this is pretty awesome. Built around technologies that make it as easy as possible for us all to do whatever we want, our ideas can be limitless. And when we take in the learning of the past and factoring in what isn’t working today (scrolling for one), putting human values at the heart of what we create, we could finally make digital a healthier more inclusive spaces for all. 

In other words, we’re stepping into a time when being open to thinking in beta and thinking big could, in turn, open the floodgates to better brand building online in amazing fun new ways with people’s wellbeing at its heart.

With change, you have to leave some things in the past. I’m happy to forget the 9-5 office, Facebook as we know it, Web 2.0. Scrolling. Now we may well have the first pioneering brands that are open to letting us explore a whole new future. These brands are the ones that could give us the opportunities to play. To think in beta and bridge the gap between the real world and the metaverse. Brands like Lush could have a massive competitive advantage and it comes from their unique understanding of the communities they serve and being open to new ways of connecting with them.

I’m excited by Lush leaving social media behind because I believe it is a sign that the future of digital will be more human with creativity playing a key role. Plus, I love the idea that soon we won’t be left hating ourselves for losing another 20 minutes of the day to the dreaded scroll.