Blending Nostalgia and Now: Anomaly’s Take on Journeys’ Youth Culture Reset

Jordan P. Kelley, Content Director, BrandStorytelling

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Journeys’ latest campaign from Anomaly presents a contemporary look at how brands rooted in youth culture are using entertainment to reassert cultural relevance. Built around a recreation of New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give,” the work uses the familiar mall setting and music-video format to connect nostalgia with modern self-expression. Featuring artist Gus Dapperton alongside real micro-influencers, the campaign marks the launch of Journeys’ new platform, “Life on Loud,” positioning the retailer’s creative direction squarely within the intersection of fashion, music, and social storytelling.

BrandStorytelling caught up with Creative Directors Fee Millist and Miklas Manneke to discuss everything from the thought process behind the project to the role entertainment now plays in shaping brand identity:

What inspired the decision to produce a non-interruptive, entertainment-led music video to launch 'Life on Loud'? 

Fee Millist: Show don’t tell. Instead of telling people what it meant to do Life on Loud we wanted to show them. Teens, more than anyone, HATE being told what to do, so that standard manifesto style of “we are brand, we are X and Y and Z” was never an option for us. The New Radicals song ticked every box: anthemic lyrics that aligned with the Life on Loud ethos, a video that was raucous romp through Journeys’ home – the mall, and an infectious, optimistic teens being teens energy. 

Miklas Manneke: Life on Loud was always meant to be more than a tagline, it’s an ethos for living. There isn’t a more uncertain time in recent history to be a teen, so we needed an optimistic rebellion – against culture, against algorithms, against everyone telling you who to be. A call for teens to get off their phones and back into real life. And it came in song form.  

When was the decision made to incorporate creators and include them as core collaborators? What went into the process of partnering with those creators? 

MM: Honestly, from day one. We knew the campaign had to be co-created with the people it was speaking to. The only way it feels authentic is if they’re part of making it.

FM: We deliberately leaned on micro and mid-level creators, for us, it was about authenticity over reach. They appear in the video as background actors, dancers, and bandmates. They extended the story through BTS and native content on their own channels. The main criteria for selection was simple: people who already embodied the spirit of Life on Loud, distinct personal style, unapologetically themselves. It means that the video doesn’t feel like casting, it feels like holding a mirror up to a loudass life. 

Where did creative authorship sit across set, BTS, and social extensions as it related to the relationship between brand, studio, and creator? 

MM & FM: We set the guardrails, but we never wanted to be the only authors. The brand owned the platform, the studio owned the cinematic craft, and the creators owned the authenticity. That overlap is where the magic happened, the film felt like a drop, the BTS felt like you were in on it, and the social extensions felt like the internet had already claimed it.

What opportunities and challenges presented themselves on set? 

FM: Two overnights, stills and film and social and bts and 1 million cups of coffee. Perfectly, brilliantly chaotic. No one told the kids about the confetti cannons. The second they went off, the mall erupted with genuine whoops and cheers, capturing the spontaneity and teens doing life on loudness we were chasing. Pure magic. 

MM: Over 100 extras, 25 featured talent, influencers and Gus were all dressed and fitted with sneakers for each of the shoots along with unique merchandise was CHAOS. A really important part of the shoot was finding the balance between reverence and reinvention –  the original music video (with Gregg’s blessing) and our unique perspective on it (thanks to Stillz). This was a constant in every decision from wardrobe, to film stock, to locations and scenes. 

How did the revived mall-culture idea map to distribution and retail outcomes?

MM & FM: Back in the 90s and 2000s, the mall was the epicenter of teen life. It was where you went to discover music, meet friends, experiment with style. It was the third place, not home, not school, but your main place to hang away from watchful parents. What’s interesting is that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are rediscovering that idea. For them, the mall isn’t a relic, it’s a playground. So putting Life on Loud in that setting wasn’t just retro, it was about showing Journeys as the brand that keeps the third place alive. 

What takeaway might you offer for brand storytellers seeking to foster relationships and create content in partnership with today's young creators? 

MM & FM: Don’t rent relevance, earn it. Don’t cast influencers as props, collaborate with them as partners. And above all, don’t tell young people what to do. Create something worth them picking up and making their own. Above all, aim to make interesting, not ads.

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