Our "public square" is dead.
We killed it with ads, AI-slop, and influencers who’d sell their nan for a 2% increase in engagement.
Welcome to the gated garden.
The Dead Internet Theory used to be a niche conspiracy.
In 2026, it's a reality.
We're witnessing the birth of a Two-Tier Internet, and if your brand is stuck in Tier 1, you’re basically shouting at bots and brands.
Tier 1: The public swamp
This is the free web we all know and (used to) love.
It’s now a graveyard of AI-generated articles, bot-farmed comments, and engagement-bait videos. It’s slop as far as the eye can see.
- The behavioural science: Consumers are experiencing Digital Habituation. They aren't just scrolling past your ads; their brains have evolved to treat marketing content as background noise. And they've got their ear defenders on.
Tier 2: The gated gardens
The real humans are moving to Tier 2: high-trust, human-verified, and often gated environments.
Think Substack, private Slack communities, Discord servers, and exclusive "members-only" ecosystems.
- Why? Because in Tier 2, the signal-to-noise ratio is actually worth the entry fee. Content here has substance, not just reach.
Our strategy: "Proof of Human" marketing
How does a brand survive when the audience is hiding behind a velvet rope?
You stop being a marketer and start being a value provider.
- Zero-party data is king: Stop guessing based on pixels. Ask your audience directly in exchange for actual value.
- Authenticity as a moat: Use unpolished, raw video and human-only markers. If a piece of content could have been made by an AI, it’s Tier 1 slop. If it’s nuanced, opinionated, and slightly sweary? That’s Tier 2 gold.
- Community-led growth: Stop trying to target an audience. Start hosting one.
The choice
You can keep competing for the scraps of attention left in the public swamp, or you can let us help you build a bridge to the gated garden.
The internet has changed. Has your strategy?
