You also churned out 11 blog posts, 27 captions, and 9 ad scripts. All while drinking your morning coffee (thanks, ChatGPT). Execution used to be the thing that held us back. Whoever had the most resources won. Now, you can create an infinite number of assets in almost no time at all. So whether you can produce something is no longer a barrier. The real bar is taste. Knowing which of those 27 captions will resonate with your audience. Which ads are worth testing. It’s the new core skill. [Here’s how to develop it]

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Well, well, well, if all the streaming platforms aren't in a race to see who can do vertical video better. Last week, Disney+ launched "Verts," its new discovery feature which feeds you scenes from movies you may want to watch. Right now, it's only available to US users, but Disney says this is only the first step in its vertical content takeover.

Not to be outdone, Peacock announced "Your Bravoverse," launching this summer. This vertical video feed features a personalised guide in the form of an AI avatar of Andy Cohen (weird, but ok). AI Andy is there to help users find content they might be interested in by highlighting iconic movie scenes or pointing out storylines that reference each other. And, oh hey, he's also there to name-drop sponsor brands as part of his concierge service. Peacock says they've designed the new interface to be hyperengaging. So yay, another scroll hole to get lost in!

Like every other millennial on planet Earth, I've been anxiously awaiting the premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2. And now, TreSemmé has jumped on the bandwagon, becoming the "signature hair brand" of the sequel. The hair care brand launched a campaign featuring podcaster Paige DeSorbo and designer Christian Siriano, with a 30-second spot that aired during the Oscars last night. TreSemmé is also releasing three special-edition products inspired by the film. Because nothing says high fashion like mass-market hair products.

And in other news, Gen Z is saving in-person shopping. Millennials have been blamed for ruining everything, from marriage (and also divorce), the diamond industry, dressing up, and The Mall. But thankfully, our younger counterparts are reviving that last one. In fact, Gen Z's retail spending growth is outpacing all other generations. And it's expected to exceed $12 trillion by 2030. I guess there's something about shopping at the mall that gives you that instant gratification online shopping can't touch.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

I’ve noticed a lot of discourse online currently about taste. It’s all the rage right now. Everyone’s talking about how it’s the new “core skill.” And I agree.

But then I saw this tweet from Derek Guyt recently that hit me like a ton of freaking bricks. He said that taste has been a core economic skill since the Industrial Revolution produced material abundance. When the cost of goods dropped, consumption shifted from necessity to identity. People used taste to express who they were.

F*cking mic drop.

So no, actually. I would not call taste a “new” core skill.

Making things is easy now. Anyone can produce just about anything. Knowing what to make is the hard part. That's where taste comes into play.

Think about it. AI can write copy, design layouts, create images, compose music, code websites. What it cannot do is judge what's good, relevant, or emotionally resonant. It averages patterns and optimises for what worked before, sure. It can create competent mediocrity at scale.

Anyone can ask Claude or ChatGPT to write something. The person with taste knows which output is worth keeping, what needs refinement, and when to throw everything out and start over.

The curation actually matters more than the generation.

This becomes a differentiator in the "sea of sameness" I’ve spoken of before. AI tools generate similar outputs because they're trained on average patterns from millions of examples. Someone with unique taste can push beyond the mundane, break conventions, create something actually distinctive. While everyone else is shipping polished mediocrity, taste lets you ship something that resonates.

It involves understanding context, audience, and emotional impact rather than just generating assets. Where AI can make ten versions of a landing page, taste tells you which one actually connects with your specific audience and why.

Executives are viewing this as essential for navigating AI-powered work. The skill becomes ensuring projects align with a specific vision rather than following algorithmic trends. Anyone can use AI to produce. Leaders with taste, however, use AI strategically to produce the right things.

While I want to believe we’re either born with it or we’re not, taste is actually learned through experience, exposure to quality work, and what some call 1,000+ small decisions.

You build taste by making choices, seeing what works, understanding why it worked, and adjusting your judgment accordingly.

Pattern recognition comes from deep, long-term exposure to a specific field. When you've consumed enough quality work, you develop an instinct for when something is off or when something is exceptional.

Restraint and editing separate good taste from mere preferences. Taste involves the discipline to sacrifice non-essential elements for a stronger final product. Knowing what to remove matters as much as knowing what to add.

Intense exposure to high-quality, diverse work builds your internal database of what good looks like. This is why it’s rare to develop taste in isolation.

Some people keep taste journals - daily curation of work, images, or ideas that resonate, with analysis of why they work. Intentional curation rather than passive consumption forces you to articulate your judgment and refine it over time. I call it my Pinterest feed.

Seeking feedback also actively helps calibrate your taste against reality. Your judgment might tell you something is great. But if nobody else responds to it, that feedback matters more than anything.

Taste develops through the friction between your instinct and actual results.

We're moving from a world where technical proficiency was the barrier to a world where judgment is the barrier. Derek Guy's point about the Industrial Revolution applies here too - when production became abundant and cheap, taste became how people differentiated themselves. Same pattern, different era.

The consensus across creative and technical fields is in a world where making is easy, knowing what to make becomes the most valuable asset. AI didn't create this dynamic, but it has absolutely accelerated it, dramatically.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The audio comes from a 2007 American Idol audition where Sarah Goldberg, who openly admitted to judge Randy Jackson that she couldn't sing, got rejected and then completely lost it when Randy pointed out she at least got some fame out of it. Her response? "That's not what I wanted! Are you kidding? I wanted to be the next American Idol." Instant classic.

People are using it to caption moments where they got something, just not the thing they actually asked for. For example:

Using the sound, film your reaction to getting the wrong version of what you wanted. Put your on-screen text using the format "when I [situation] instead of [what you actually wanted]."

A few ideas to get you started:

-abdel khalil, brand & marketing exec

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
✨Daily inspo: You can do more.
😊Soooo satisfying: Soap cutting is the best
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: One Pot Tomato Chicken Pasta

Hey Rachel,

Yes, and here's the way to think about it. If you make content specifically for your niche, you might reach 20 or 30% of that audience at best. But if you go broad and get ten million views a month, even a small percentage of that is still a bigger total number of your actual target audience than you'd ever reach going narrow. The math just makes sense.

And once you've got content performing well organically, you can always boost it with a bit of paid spend to make sure it hits your exact audience. Broad organic reach combined with targeted paid is honestly one of the strongest strategies you can be doing to reach your niche audience.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.