R.J.
Abbott

Oprichter Neighborhood Cult

About R.J.

R.J. Abbott is de oprichter van Neighborhood Cult, een creatief bureau uit Los Angeles dat merken transformeert tot meeslepende werelden met een eigen geloofssysteem. Met een achtergrond als creative director bij onder andere The North Face, Oakley en Ralph Lauren, richt hij zich nu op het bouwen van ‘cult brands’ die niet alleen opvallen, maar ook diepe emotionele betrokkenheid oproepen.

The Talk

Commodity or cult? Why brands are dead in the age of AI

Brand awareness no longer drives growth. In an era of algorithmic noise, AI-generated content and endless scrolls, attention is fleeting, and no longer enough to build loyalty.

R.J. Abbott reveals why visibility is now only the starting point, and why the brands that will dominate the next decade are not the loudest, but the most believed in.

Abbott explores how societal shifts, rising loneliness and fractured trust are pushing brands to evolve from advertisers into belief systems. From world-building to rituals, exclusivity to mythology, he outlines the tools that turn customers into loyal defenders.

This session challenges founders, executives and marketers to rethink brand-building, not as a campaign to optimise, but as a cultural architecture designed to make people choose sides. In today’s world, if your brand is not inspiring devotion, it is already losing.

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