the newsletter, every issue.
Nine hundred and fifty editions of yap, sat in one place. One long read every friday morning. Always free.
Nine hundred and fifty issues.
The circus is online now and we built it
Juvenal said give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt. Two thousand years later, marketing is the machine that keeps the bread warm and the circus running. The question is whether we are okay with that.
The not-so-subtle art of algorithm bait
Brands have figured out that weird, unexpected collabs are a cheat code for the algorithm. Nickelback and Meg Thee Stallion advertising Flamin Hot Dill Pickle Cheetos sounds like a fever dream, but it works. This is algorithm bait, and whether we like it or not, it stops the scroll every time.
How we went from duck face to dissociative numbness
The way we present our faces online has always been a performance. From the millennial duck face to Gen Zs dissociative pout, each era signals something different about what we want people to think of us. Now were splitting into two paths and neither of them looks particularly human.
The Alice effect: Why whimsy is the new demand signal
Whimsy is having its moment, and it is not just aesthetic. From Hinge profile data to oversized fashion runways, people are actively choosing the playful over the polished as a response to burnout and uncertainty. For brands, that is not just a vibe shift to observe. It is a demand signal worth acting on.
The death of optimisation: how we're learning to be human again
We've hit optimisation fatigue. After a decade of minimalism, algorithmic curation, and frictionless everything, people are turning back toward things that are messy, unpolished, and real. This piece unpacks what that shift looks like and why friction might be exactly what we've been missing.
The self-optimisation gurus are finally admitting they're miserable (and the whole thing was a trap)
The biggest names in self-optimisation are finally saying out loud what many people have felt for years. The endless pursuit of productivity and performance didn't make them happy. It turns out the whole system was built on keeping you feeling inadequate, and the people selling it are only just admitting it didn't work for them either.
Your fear of posting is holding you back. Let's fix it.
The biggest thing stopping most creators from growing is not a lack of talent or ideas. It is the fear of being seen. Here is how to lower your standards just enough to finally hit publish and get out of your own way.
In a panopticon state, we're all cam girls
Social media has flipped the script on surveillance. Instead of hiding from being watched, we now perform for an audience we desperately want. We've become unpaid content workers, broadcasting our lives for platforms that profit from our visibility while we compete for likes.
AI surrealism vs obviously-human made
Fashion is splitting in two directions in response to AI saturation. One path leans into AI surrealism, using intentional instability as an artistic medium. The other retreats into obviously human-made work, where rough textures and visible craft have become a statement of resistance.
What can we learn from modern history's most successful social marketing campaign?
The anti-smoking campaign is the most successful behaviour change effort in modern history. It didn't just tell people smoking was bad. It rewrote the cultural script around identity, social belonging, and what it means to move forward.
The great Easter pivot: how late-stage capitalism redefined a religious holiday
Easter used to be for kids. Now brands are selling bourbon-infused chocolate eggs to adults as self-care, running AI-powered egg hunts to harvest your data, and rebranding shrinkflation as mindful consumption. The Great Easter Pivot is real and it is genuinely strange.
WTF is the signal economy (and should you care)?
Every few months, marketing gets a shiny new buzzword that promises to unlock brand growth. The signal economy is the latest one. Spoiler: its mostly just first-party data and measurement wrapped in enterprise sales language.