The Death Throes of Attention Mining

It’s been on my mind for a long while, but a month ago, after nearly passing out on the climb up to the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, the moment you land in the Basilica after that climb and descent… something hits you. The pure beauty and terror of standing before Michelangelo's sculpture. The sharp lines, the shadow, the movement cast in stone. It enraptures, holds you captive, body and soul. Both my companion and I looked at each other and asked, “Can you feel it?”

And yet, a week later I’m home seeing another conversation about how to gain attention on the internet. 

Chelsea’s argument from last month got me thinking about how meaning is built through creativity and the ethos established from the outset. And yes, she was right: the “attention economy” has been spoken about ad nauseam, but I’ve primarily been seeing conversations speaking on how to fight for more, what tactics to use, but never asking how we subvert it and, in that subversion, make the question of attention irrelevant. Why is creativity and outside thinking seeing businesses actually gain more leverage over those purely “seeking attention”?

Before we go there, let’s be real a second: if attention has leveled the playing field, it’s now the standard. And that same attention-economy ethos is why we could argue the conversation on ‘algorithmic sameness’ exists. Extraction pressures lead everyone to use the same playbook to gain that attention (just take a look at the Rhode marketing playbook). 

Brands that have seen major seed and early-stage funding rounds. Brands of my own that have gone on to sell, or generate 300% increases in sales and retention. They’re consolidating identity to build durability and leverage, with attention as a byproduct. 

They’re the equivalent of oxytocin and dopamine: the latter is the quick hit, the former a remembered and felt emotion. It lingers rather than merely exists to be consumed.

Thus the question becomes: What operates below the surface that sees successful distribution over being another in the red sea of sharks? You can have the greatest intentions in the world, but if it doesn’t produce a return and hold meaning, all you’ve got is fancy words on a page and an aesthetically stunning brand, with concepts built on chaos just because.

Let me introduce you to two brands that have earned their distribution and their business through that meaning. One has a cult following, and you’ve likely heard of them; the other is a narrative changer to the core, which is beginning to gain traction. But these businesses are not like mine, you state… stick with me.

The Drama, Priscilla, Marty Supreme. A24 is that brand redefining independent cinema by bridging niche artistic expression and global cultural influence, "becoming the most trusted brand for the next generation of storytellers and viewers." They take risks most production companies wouldn’t, and still operate like an indie company. You know there’s something to ponder when you hear that a firm like ThriveCapital—whose portfolio covers primarily tech—buys into an entertainment & content production company. 

I doubt I’d be too far off the mark when I say that many of their films have reestablished our love of cinema, and provocative cinema at that. The Drama alone sparked multiple dinner conversations and multiple glasses of wine poured while we mused on internet culture, hypocrisy, and perception.

Then comes the product lines—coffee table books, novelty items, shirts—ones that say, or rather signal, “I think critically about what I watch.”

A24 made it obvious that posting online was never where the conversation began, but around dinner, over a cheeky cig, or sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon when a friend pops around to visit. They put themselves where the conversations happened, rather than expecting them to occur naturally, as most production companies do. 

The conversations beget the devoted audience; the devoted audience leverage for the products; the products built the conversation; the conversation created the attention. All of which began with that bridge, which became the meaning, and the service of producing itself.

Without that, could they have seen the success and capital investment they have? Absolutely not. Because that very meaning was baked in before the distribution.

When the audience drives meaning, how does the conversation we’re having with our work exist beyond consumption? What habit are we trying to cultivate? What do we want the business we’re building to facilitate? 

Another brand that does this well is Sleep or Die™.

If anyone can create something visually pleasing, what holds meaning? How are we giving people the capacity to fully believe in what we're creating? 

Sleep or Die™ saw $1.0M in angel funding from True Beauty Ventures back in May 2026. Since then, it’s been solidly one of my favorite reference points for how creative creates leverage.

The brand is positioned to reject the concept of wellness, and anchors itself as a lifestyle brand. They’re sleep strips, but sleep strips made solely for the last five minutes of the evening —less about the ritual and more about building a habit for those who want and need rest, even those who don’t think they do. The mission itself is “die older”; the brand's name is a choice (and a Shakespeare reference?).

Everything is designed around that promise and premise.

The packaging mimics a cigarette packet (I will admit “want a strip” isn’t “want a light,” but it has a nice ring to it—iykyk). Anchoring the perception of the product as a ritual.

Persephone the sheep—\the brand's mascot and brand voice—allows the brand to be that bit snarky, a little left field, and inappropriate in a way Lauren, the founder herself, cannot be. Feeling a little personally attacked is the point. 

It’s using creative infrastructure to create recognition, anchoring the brand ethos in every single detail and touchpoint.

It’s a brand that demands thought both on paper and in action.

For both, they could have easily gone down the route of “let's shout at the internet” to build an audience, but what we see is something entirely different: creative thought and presence-building enabling leverage; simply put: subversion was the strategy. As a result, their audiences are loyal. 

There’s an idea in the sphere that marketing and brand aren't taken seriously because they're creative. Both brands prove the opposite: investment and revenue are possible because creative sits at the table—central to strategy and finance. In my experience, the same is true, and the most creative left-field ideas have delivered the biggest ROI in revenue and recognition growth. Different businesses and revenue levels call for different models of thinking, but the primary question remains the same: What happens when we stop centering the attention of the hoi polloi and start with leverage?

So maybe it’s time we put down the Rhode playbook and look elsewhere. I’m sure I’m not the only one sitting at the table saying, “How familiar are you with the French Resistance?” and preceding to deliver a concept, or I’ve taken a look at the standard industry practices, the numbers, and proposed a way to expand the business to add a whole new revenue stream through something that isn’t traditionally seen. 

Meaning begets creativity, begets attention, and gravitas. Maybe not the kind that appears a week later, but a year from now, two, three. The kind that truly connects to the shareholder—the client kind or the investor kind. 

I’m hopeful, I’m hopeful for a future. What if our current state of attention mining is actually the death throes of something that's been in the making much longer? A recalibration. 

Taylor Tudisco is a Brand Architect and founder of Bravi. Over years of working across Web 3 art tech, cube-sat launch service providers, the wedding industry, and an array of other service providers, one thing became clear: what takes a business from a single person's vision to a brand ecosystem begins with whole system thinking, and depth over breadth.

Today, her work sits at the collision of asking: how do brands become recognizable over consumable, how brand assets created recognition and business growth, and how a brand exists beyond an aesthetic. Taking businesses to recognizable ecosystem, but also: sale, 200% + revenue increases, and setting businesses up with the right assets to lean into investment. And seeing her clients featured across the likes of NTY, Tatler, and the Lane. You can connect with her on Instagram or Substack