Membership is free, but it still has its privileges.
A new breed of digital private clubs is courting young influencers and creatives with the same sort of exclusive networking opportunities offered by traditional members-only entities like Soho House and Aman. But, there are no clubhouses — or membership costs.
Instead, major brands, eager to access a curated network of social media stars and the internet’s coveted tastemakers, are footing the bill.
“We’ve taken the membership model and twisted it,” said Brian Goldberg, founder and CEO of Bustle Digital Group, which launched NYLON Membership — an offshoot of the lifestyle and culture magazine of the same name — earlier this year. “There are thousands of really cool, influential, culturally relevant people, especially younger women, who feel that they should be treated to these membership clubs. We agree with them,” Goldberg told NYNext.
Two other digital members-only clubs have launched in recent months: Contra and Syndicate11.
While these online VIP rooms offer some of the same benefits as traditional members-only clubs, they’re not necessarily in competition with them.
“There’s places in the world for both,” Nikole Powers, a leading members club consultant who has worked with Annabel’s in London and The Moore in Miami, told NYNext. “Really, these digital clubs are in competition with PR firms.”
To that end, partnering with brands is one of their main objectives. The clubs offer companies pre-vetted guest list of influencers and creatives who can lend instant credibility to a party, product or launch. Companies pay for this access.
The big advantage for the clubs themselves is that they aren’t tied to single locations like their brick-and-mortar brethren. In effect, they can roll out the red carpet anywhere.
As Levi Lomey, founder of Syndicate puts it, “Every place becomes a playground.”
NYLON Membership popped up at the Classic Car Club in Manhattan for Fashion Week, and earlier in the year, at Coachella.
Contra, which bills itself as “Raya-meets-Partiful,” worked with TikTok on its New York Fashion Week afterparty and with Wilhelmina at Miami Sweim Week.
Syndicate11 events have included a pit-side NASCAR party; pro-fighting lessons followed by front-row seats at a Times Square MMA match; a pickleball tournament with Ciroc on the top floor of The Refinery at Domino and a candle-lit Sondheim concert at St. Bartholomew’s Church.
At all of the clubs, some members are handpicked by founders, but the majority apply online and undergo a vetting process somewhere between a traditional application process and a casting call.
Goldberg, Lomey and Franco Lebolo, an equity partner in Contra, each insisted that membership decisions are not based on applicants’ follower count. And yet, many of those who make the cut do in fact have an impressive number of fans on social media.
Syndicate’s membership is tiny, just 376 handpicked “talent,” but their combined reach exceeds 506 million across social platforms. NYLON Membership said that it’s had some 10,000 applicants and only accepted 1,200 people. Their average following: 300,000-plus.
Membership lists are typically confidential, but Syndicate events have been attended by model Wisdom Kaye; Aris Yaeger aka, @theeuropeankid; and former soccer player Joleon Lescott. At Contra functions, influencers spotted have included Claudia Alvarado, Gal Klieger and former Bachelor contestant Peter Weber. A few notable names spotted at NYLON events include Lucy Guo, Xandra Pohl, Remi Bader, Sofi Tukker, Tinx and Sophia Culpo.
“It’s work and pleasure,” said Yaegaer, a member of both NYLON and Syndicate. “My brand revolves around these high net worth individuals and interesting people. [It’s a place to] represent, to play the networking game.”
Brands are equally bullish.
Hästens, for example, has hosted two sound bath therapy sessions in its $100,000 beds for Syndicate members.
Chad Holbein, chief of staff at the Hästens Sleep Spa, praised the club’s talent and told NYNext that the partnership “aligned with [our] culture and brought [our] philosophy to life.”
The event, like others Syndicate has put on, was intimate, surreal and social-media-ready — but there was no requirement that attendees advertise it to their followers.
“Online audiences are very clever, we know when we’re looking at an ad,” Lomey said. “What [Syndicate does] is give brands the opportunity to interact with incredible people organically.”
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He said the ultimate goal is similar to that of a traditional talent agency: getting creators paid.
“After the experience, we can go to the brand and say, ‘Look at these three or five people and the incredible content they made. You should hire them. Start to build a proper relationship with them and their audience,” he told NYNext. “That’s how you amplify your return on investment.’”
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