We Didn’t Burn THE Pope. We Burned *A* Pope.

Editor’s Note: We’re experimenting with the format of The Senses. Let us know what you think!

To set the record straight: we didn’t burn the Pope.

We commissioned an artist* to burn a page out of our new zine, The Multiplayer Brand. That page happened to contain an AI-generated likeness of the Holy Father, Pope Francis.

But why?

We lay out the reasoning in our most recent podcast — that media moments are critical for building engagement with your brand’s customers. And those customers are hungrier than ever to participate in discourse.

Here’s the Multiplayer Brand pipeline: 

• “The Moment”
• Discourse
• Critique
• Participation

The moment began with the passing of Sinead O’Connor, a longtime critic of the Catholic Church. Her act of critique on SNL in 1992 — tearing a picture of Pope John Paul II — led to a broad discourse. 

During his opening monologue the subsequent week on SNL, host Joe Pesci presented a mended photo as an apology gesture to the viewers. “I taped it back together,” he declared. He then proceeded to rip a picture of O'Connor, which was met with roaring applause.

Balenciaga has had its share of critique in recent years. The brand was vilified for its November 2022 campaign featuring sexualized images of children’s toys in bondage wear. 

“The Balenciaga Pope” is a Midjourney creation from Reddit user u/trippy_art_special. It  continues the tradition of art leveling critique against the Catholic church; this time by putting His Holiness in Balenciaga.

It requires internet literacy, media literacy, and critical thinking to understand art. It takes multiplayer participation to build on top of that art. This is the key insight of The Multiplayer Brand.

You can get your copy for $20 + free shipping right over here. 

— Phillip

* Photo credit: Gabby Perez, Emagen Photography

P.S. This year’s VISIONS: Volume IV lays this out in excruciating detail (3.5 hours of panel talks, and a collaborative whiteboard experience that will impress your boss and elate your foresight team, by the way). Trade your email’s soul for access to the report, and claim the ideas as your own.

P.P.S. Did you know that there are strong parallels between the disruptive motions of the fast fashion industry and modern SaaS businesses? Writer Alex Griefeld breaks it down for us on this week’s Insiders by Future Commerce.