Soft Power 2.0
This idea’s been circling for weeks. Maybe you’ve felt it too? The sense that big-P Power is shifting and taking a new shape in real time. I first felt it reading a Financial Times piece asking “Is this the end of soft power?” in early March and it hasn’t left since.
Then last week came the passing of Joseph Nye, the man who actually coined the term “Soft Power”, and the historic election of an All American Pope. All while André 3000 stole the show at the Met Gala - not with a hyped up Barbie-esque marketing marathon, but with a piano on his back.
"the best propaganda is not propaganda…credibility is the scarcest resource".
— Joseph Nye
It sounds like the opening line of a terrible dad joke, but what do a what do a scholar, a pope and a musician with a piano on his back tell us about Power changing? Or better yet, what does a 90s geopolitical concept have to do developing your brand and content strategy in 2025?
I started asking myself: If we’ve talked about the power of quiet influence and shifting to the backchannel chats, then what about the underestimated influence of soft power in transactional tariff times?
Nye defined soft power as the ability to shape outcomes through attraction rather than force. More carrot, less stick. At a time when coercion aka “Hard Power” is louder, (certain) leadership is more transactional, or calling for “masculine energy” and culture is generally fractured af, I’d argue that Nye’s concept absolutely still stands - is very much still needed - but attraction looks totally different now. The signals we trust have completely changed. Influence is no longer distributed top-down, it’s P2P lateral and it’s rarely universally understood.
It’s time to go deep.
Shifts Happen
Soft power initially thrived when culture moved through centralised channels: Hollywood, global media, religion, diplomacy. But that model assumed trust in institutions, shared cultural reference points and a top-down flow of narrative. You know where I’m going with this…
Today, those assumptions basically don’t exist because well, we now live in a landscape of:
Fragmented attention and exhausted, eternally multi-device scrolling audiences (which I’d argue we can stitch back together)
Declining trust in institutions (sidenote: I recently learned that this stems not from government inaction but from disillusionment on the day job, makes sense)
A hunger for emotional accuracy over broadstrokes messaging (no notes)
With this in mind, the old mechanics of soft power as a strategy i.e. projecting authority, crafting the perfect story, performing empathy etc. aren’t going to land the same way. But have we updated our approach accordingly?
Design is about possibility. It’s about asking, “What if?”
— Warren Berger
Soft Power 2.0
As with quiet influence heading into the backchannel chats, with Soft Power 2.0 it’s about shifting the intention from scale to depth. No longer reliant on the ability to broadcast singular charisma, Soft Power 2.0 is centred around connecting deeply with those sticky, turning point early adopters who want presence, coherence and hey, to simply feel something true. It’s almost a “be so good they can’t ignore you” strategy, but specifically targeted to those who a) it’ll land with and b) who like to share.
Not limited to, but can look like this:
Substack’s growth is weirdly not driven by our love of bloating our inboxes. It’s growth driven by people opting for emotional leadership and individuals whose worldview feels clear, honest, and trustworthy.
Gen-Z going analog (an early signal gaining traction; it’s no longer just the aged millennials burning out) are telling us they want to feel more present and less optimised. Specifically opting for tactile rituals motivated by what feels real not just limited to seeking retro aesthetics. Though the aesthetic cements the feeling.
The Met Gala’s best moments came from quiet, layered creativity, not hype, hype, hype. André 3000 showing up with a piano strapped to his back invited us in to a story of years-in-the-making craft, identity, and vulnerability. To steal James Denman’s on-point summary, it was a much-needed dose of Surprise > Hype. How refreshing.
Know who people trust - and why.
Influence flows through familiarity now, not authority. Collaborate with those shared values and grow together - not just those who already hold cultural credibility.
For Those Building the Future
See right: anti-AI Zines. But also, if you’re working in content, brand, or cultural strategy, here’s the takeaway:
Don’t aim for mass. Aim for meaning.
You don’t need to reach everyone. You need to reach someone deeply. And trust that they’ll pass it on. That’s the goal: soft power via quiet influence.
Take Creative Risks.
Not the first time I write those three little words. If there’s one surefire way to reach someone deeply, it’s through emotionally-driven creative work. Let them take risks.
Know who people trust - and why.
Influence flows through familiarity now, not authority. Collaborate with those shared values and grow together - not just those who already hold cultural credibility.
Accept that influence is messier now.
That’s not a weakness, it’s a reflection of the real world. Navigating complexity is the job, don’t prompt it, play with it.
Joseph Nye’s legacy obvs still stands: influence through attraction matters - maybe even moreso these days. When designing for change, we should always advocate for more carrot, less stick as a general rule. But attraction now looks different and mass moments as comms vehicles rarely exist. Instead, we need to design for emotional resonance and the means to reconnect and rebuild our fractured experiences.
And that redesign is not going to be led by institutions, but by individuals and communities who know how to make others feel grounded, seen, and more like their true selves. Nobody is coming to save us. It’s up to us.
So the question becomes: Where in your work are you still optimising for impression, when you could be building for impact?
“The future belongs to those who dare to imagine it differently.”
— Rutger Bregman, Utopia for Realists