There’s a scene in Damien Chazelle’s First Man that depicts a moment that I had never considered. A tune by Leon Bridges blares for the short duration of the scene. On screen, a group of young African-Americans stand viewing the Apollo 11 launch from a nearby field. Kennedy Space Center is in view but the military installation may as well have been 10,000 miles away. They were purely spectators, nowhere near the real action. And they knew they never would be.
Pictured: early Instagram Checkout partner, Warby Parker
On Facebook and cutting out the middle man. Where Warby Parker goes, the industry follows. This is what Instagram executives are hoping for, at least. If you were to launch a challenger brand today, how would you do it? Facebook executives are making the bet that by 2020 and beyond, the commerce conversation will begin with them. And for prospective DTC owners, Instagram’s cozy relationship with Shopify’s integrations may soon be influencing the product marketers who are on the hunt for efficiency and scale.
