November 19, 2025
There’s a particular kind of silence when someone asks in a meeting, ‘How can we make this go viral?’
With all the love to my clients and colleagues, in 2025, that’s a question I don’t want to hear again.
Virality is luck and makes little long-term impression.
The better question we need to be asking ourselves is ‘How can we make this go local?’
Because when something lands locally, that’s when it moves people.
When brands talk about ‘going local’, they usually mean targeting a city or region. But today, local is no longer just geography. It’s about the digital spaces where communities live and interact - the group chats, Discord servers, Facebook groups and the niche sides of TikTok I won’t admit to being on.
To define ‘local internet’, it’s the digital reflection of real-world, community-driven culture.
The spaces that mirror where communities already exist, and where culture spreads not because a campaign is loud, but because it resonates with people who already care.
Brands chasing virality often miss this. Speak to everyone and you speak to no one. You can’t broadcast to a culture and expect it to accept you. To matter, brands need to show up where culture already exists and contribute in a way that feels genuine.
Local internet gives brands that chance. It’s not about screaming the loudest; it’s about being part of the conversation and helping shape culture from the inside out.
Take, for example, the newly opened Erwhon-dupe health-food shop Common Supply that’s quickly becoming a Bondi hub. As a self-proclaimed basic ‘Brit in Bondi’ who has always wanted to try the Hailey Bieber smoothie, this was extremely exciting news.
This week, they teamed up with ASICS, who gifted the staff team fresh sneakers. It wasn’t a billboard. It wasn’t a campaign.
It was ASICS placing itself inside the exact cultural moment shaping Bondi right now.
ASICS understood the micro-culture around Common Supply - baristas and floor staff who are literally on their feet all day, the fashion-forward status of Bondi hospo workers and the way local run clubs finish their morning loops at cafés.
This wasn’t random gifting. It tapped into the fashion-meets-fitness community that influences Bondi’s aesthetic and behaviours.
By partnering with a hyper-local, culturally relevant brand, ASICS demonstrated they know what’s shaping Bondi and the Eastern Suburbs right now. It’s not just marketing - it’s showing up where culture already exists in the real world.
The result? ASICS is in my brain. I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about the brand before, and now I’m writing about them.
That’s the power of local internet and local culture. Relevance beats reach, every time.
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Minor Figures’ ‘Made Locally’ campaign is another example of a brand showing up in local internet.
They took over a Melbourne record store bar, starting the day with free oat coffees and ending the evening with DJs, local talent and coffee enthusiasts celebrating all things oat. The event was streamed via MF Radio, connecting this hyper-local moment to an ‘if you know you know’ audience.
This was Minor Figures embedding itself and contributing to the cultural zeitgeist, shaping Melbourne’s music and coffee scene - the kind of moment that gets shared, talked about and amplified within local internet communities. These are the spaces where cultural relevance spreads - where people care about and talk about what’s happening in their city.
They tapped directly into Melbourne’s growing day-time culture - the rise of day parties, low & no-alcohol socialising and the city’s obsession with coffee as a social anchor. They recognised that people are swapping late nights for creative, community-driven experiences that don’t revolve around drinking. By aligning with that shift, they weren’t just hosting an event; they were contributing to a movement.
By showing up authentically in this moment, Minor Figures earned attention, engagement and credibility without shouting for it.
So, brands, if you want to show up in local internet spaces, start by listening first. Take the time to understand the hubs, hotspots and cultural events that matter to the people who make up your target audience.
Look for opportunities to participate and create alongside local communities in ways that go beyond sponsoring or broadcasting to them. Start small, show up authentically and amplify locally. When brands meet culture where it lives, relevance spreads naturally, and credibility will follow.
When brands show up in local internet spaces with genuine intent, people see it. We’re savvy scrollers, and it's obvious when a brand is adding to culture rather than posting for engagement’s sake.
The payoff is there for the taking - brands gain deeper relevance and communities get support for the moments that matter to them - not a hijacked version of it.
Because when brands invest in culture instead of extracting from it, they earn something algorithms can’t manufacture - a place in the culture.
