The actual insight: exclusivity isn’t about aspiration, it’s about distance. People who already have status don’t want more people let in, they want fewer. He calls it “economic racism” and backs it with sharp comparisons: LVMH lost cachet in China when it opened stores in lower-tier cities. Bentley lost long-time buyers once rappers started driving them. For anyone doing brand strategy, the line that lands hardest is this: research tells you what people are willing to say, not what they actually believe, and those two things often pull in opposite directions.

Read about it more here. He’s quite brilliant is Rob.

A night of ten-minute talks where the one rule is this: it can be about something that fascinates you, but it can’t be about you. No selling. No personal brand. Just people being properly into things. A talk format with almost no rules. No rehearsal, no slides sent in advance, no filming, change your mind at the last minute if you like. Make it that easy, and you get the people who never normally speak. That’s the whole trick. Read more about ‘INTERESTING’ here.

Celery is the king of vegetables. Most people treat it like packing material, the thing you fish out and leave on the plate, but Deb Perelman’s “Chicken Salad for Celery Enthusiasts” finally gives it the crown. Half the bowl is celery. Cool, crisp, loud with crunch. The chicken plays support: roasted on the bone for juice, seasoned early, bound with just enough Dijon and mayo to hold, never to drown. Then the trick that wins doubters is crisped chicken skin in strips on a buttered, toasted roll. Australians never warmed to chicken salad. This is the version that changes minds.

Get her recipe here.

As a woman over fifty, ambition has not left me — it has become clearer, quieter and far more discerning. Being back out there, working for myself, has reminded me that I no longer need to prove my value in every room or measure success by someone else’s ladder. What matters now is the quality of the work, the people I choose to work with, and whether my energy is being used meaningfully. That is not stepping back. It is choosing more carefully.

Great article on LinkedIn by Lucy Kemp, you can read it here.

Workshops give a space for voices to be heard. Ideas to be formed and shared. Concepts to be positively challenged. They allow people to be heard. They allow people to speak. Allow people to be educated. Allow people to build and contribute. Allow people to define a common language. Allow inspiration and passion to be experienced. A good workshop should synthesize thinking and motivate future action.

Great article from Matt Davies. You can find it here.

In the digital landscape, the rise of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts has transformed online life into what some describe as a “search-optimized hellhole.”

I’m not sure that I’d entirely disagree. As dissatisfaction with the quality of Google search results continues to grow, the spotlight turns to the individuals who exploit algorithms to manipulate online visibility for profit. The allure of traffic and profit has led to the evolution of SEO techniques, shaping the internet into a space inundated with commercialized content. Designed to help us as consumers? Absolutely not. It’s only designed to help us spend money. Amidst criticisms and stereotypes, these professionals are depicted as modern-day pirates, navigating the murky waters of online and sometimes making a whole lot of money through unscrupulous practices. (The Verge)

Thanks to Rosie Yokob for this.

From Russell Davis via Helen Lewis

“There’s a lesson in here for anyone who has a creative person in their life. I give notes for a couple of trusted friends, and I’ve learned that the worst thing you can do is impose yourself onto the work.

When giving notes, people tend to offer solutions: cut down the final act, set it on a submarine, blah blah blah.

No. Your job is to tell the artist or writer your personal, human reaction: I got bored two hours in, this character’s actions didn’t make sense to me. Then they can find their own solution. For instance, earlier this year I told a friend that I didn’t “get” the final act of a film and he sadly quoted back William Goldman’s rule to me: if you have an Act 3 problem, it’s really an Act 1 problem.

This also applies to editing journalism or books: saying “I don’t understand this” or “I think these sections are in the wrong order” and letting the author figure out their own solution is more useful than simply rewriting it to how you would have written it.”

Creative Boom takes a stab at making eight predictions on trends we will see in 2024 in the design industry. Anyone seeing any of these in action yet? Trend 1 seems kind of interesting as a business model but not sure about it as a creative model to get the best work possible… same with brand sprints. More on this at Brand New here.

So where does the shrimp cocktail saga begin? Its predecessor, the oyster cocktail, was birthed in San Francisco. Read more here – interesting stuff.