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.

Why Microsoft’s Clippy Comeback Says More About Brand Trust Than Nostalgia

Microsoft’s new Copilot avatar Mico hides a familiar face, and in doing so, reveals why familiarity still builds trust in a world obsessed with innovation.

Branding Culture

Rich Hewes

Oct 29, 2025 — 4 min read

Relevance Is a Two-Way Street

In a memified media world, Weber Shandwick's Tom Beckman says the brands that win stop interrupting and start participating – meeting audiences where they are and offering real, mutual value.

Creativity Culture

Hannah Bowler

Oct 23, 2025 — 4 min read

Spotting signals with Are.na

Are.na is the ad‑free bookmarking platform creatives swear by – built for collecting signals, organizing research, and going deep without the algorithm. Designer Nu Goteh and fans like Eli Bucksbaum say it’s less a social feed, more a shared library for ideas worth chasing.

Tech Culture

Hannah Bowler

Oct 22, 2025 — 3 min read

Testing Culture Before It Happens

Inside Artificial Societies, the startup using AI to model human behavior so brands can see how ideas spread, or backfire, before they launch.

Marketing Culture

Rich Hewes

Oct 15, 2025 — 5 min read

Glass vs Screens: Why Smart Glasses Won’t Kill Our Phones – Yet

As Snap, Meta, Apple, and Google race toward a screenless future, early demos hint at real utility and new social norms. The question isn’t if we’ll switch, but how we’ll coexist.

Tech Culture

Hannah Bowler

Oct 8, 2025 — 4 min read

The Problem With Brands and Fast Trends

Joey Zeelen from cultural insights & strategy studio ØUTLIER explains why brands need to stop chasing what’s hot and start understanding what’s human.

Culture

Joey Zeelen

Oct 7, 2025 — 4 min read

Attention is Finite: Eugene Healey on Structuring for Creative Scale

Eugene Healey doesn’t waste words. A brand strategist with a clinician’s eye for culture, he thinks brands need to rewire themselves to handle the “enormous” amounts of creative that tech will enable.

Culture Branding

Hannah Bowler

Oct 7, 2025 — 3 min read

Future Makers Live: Insights You Can Use Tomorrow

We started The Subthread to spotlight the people shaping what’s next – and to turn great ideas into real-world conversations. This month, we’re bringing the community together for the first time.

Branding Marketing

Alex Zeevalkink

Oct 1, 2025 — 1 min read