The Subthread

AI Adoption is the Real Bottleneck, Not the Technology

Gong CMO Emily He thinks the AI industry has been telling the wrong story – fixated on job cuts and efficiency when the real opportunity is revenue growth.

Hannah Bowler

Jul 1, 2026 — 4 min read

The Partnership Game with Lynsey Woods, Senior Global Brand Marketing Director at Carlsberg

Lynsey Woods, global brand director at Carlsberg, has spent twelve years inside one of beer's most recognisable brands – and a career before that across FMCG, from healthy snacks to wine to Premier Foods. She's clear on what makes a partnership work, and what doesn't.

The Partnership Game Sport

Rich Hewes

Jul 1, 2026 — 1 min read

Time to Kill Portfolio Sprawl

Brand portfolios ballooned in a growth‑at‑all‑costs era. Now attention and budgets are tight, only the brands that truly earn their place should survive.

Brands & Branding

Claire Huxley

Jun 29, 2026 — 4 min read

No More Ivory Towers: The Creative Director Asking Brands to Actually Show Up for Fans

The Premier League’s only creative director doesn’t see himself as a sports marketer – and he thinks most clubs are stuck in an outdated idea of fandom.

Sport Culture

Rich Hewes

Jun 26, 2026 — 3 min read

Why Hasn't Anyone Built the AI Ad Machine?

Everyone’s predicting AI will automate advertising. But the companies best placed to prove it keep backing away. That gap, says Charles Swann, tells us something important about what this technology is really good for, and what it isn’t.

Tech

Charles Swann

Jun 25, 2026 — 4 min read

Culture

The signals beneath the noise. We track slow culture, emerging scenes, and values shifts shaping how people live, work, play – and what that means for the products, media, and experiences they choose next.

No More Ivory Towers: The Creative Director Asking Brands to Actually Show Up for Fans

The Premier League’s only creative director doesn’t see himself as a sports marketer – and he thinks most clubs are stuck in an outdated idea of fandom.

Sport Culture

Rich Hewes

Jun 26, 2026 — 3 min read

What is Fan Psychology? How Emotional Identity Drives Brand Loyalty

Fan psychology shows us why brand reactions so often feel extreme, understanding it will help marketers see that what feels irrational isn’t always.

Culture

Calvin Innes

Jun 24, 2026 — 5 min read

Drowning in the Group Chat at Dawn

Waking up to a flooded feed, we’re all sunrise editors now – deciding what gets forwarded, what gets killed, and which brands, if any, deserve a place in our day. What do brands have to do to make the cut?

Culture

James Kirkham

Jun 18, 2026 — 4 min read

Explore our archive of articles, interviews, and creative projects

What is Fan Psychology? How Emotional Identity Drives Brand Loyalty

Fan psychology shows us why brand reactions so often feel extreme, understanding it will help marketers see that what feels irrational isn’t always.

Culture

Calvin Innes

Jun 24, 2026 — 5 min read

Uncut with Rosh Singh, CEO and Co-founder at Astral City

In Uncut, editor-in-chief Alex Zeevalkink sits down with agency leaders to dig into the realities of their roles, how they innovate, motivate, and where they believe the industry is headed. This week she talks to Rosh Singh, CEO and co-founder of creative technology studio Astral City.

Uncut Tech

Alex Zeevalkink

Jun 23, 2026 — 1 min read

Is Your Computer Hallucinating Correctly?

What does it mean to be a creative nowadays? Everyone’s training models to predict what people like. Fluoro’s Tim Smith argues instead for the unfashionable skill of actually having a point of view – and backing it when the data disagrees.

Creativity