I’ve been at two interesting events this week: SXSW London and the Global ComNet Commons. Both polar opposites of each other; one very commercial and focussed on technology, marketing and AI, and the other very communal and focussed on non-profits and grant-making foundations, knowledge sharing, problem solving and building community. There were good lessons to be learned from both. I enjoyed Des Traynor (co-founder of Fin, previously Intercom) talking about the age of AI in particular at SXSW London. On the flip side, David Lee, Chief Creative and Brand Officer at Squarespace, said that art school is the new MBA and humans will always persevere! Both had valid points.

💻 DATA POINT: Reuters Institute research on podcasting shows that some publishers are converting all their shows to video; others are taking a more pragmatic approach, keeping narrative and investigative formats as audio-only, which they believe still has long-term value. The economics are changing too: publishers including The Economist, Die Zeit, and the New York Times have set up podcast-only subscriptions, though persuading consumers to pay for previously free content remains challenging. Most tellingly for anyone making content in this space, publishers see the human dimension of podcasts and their role in habit-building as a critical defence against the machine-driven efficiency of AI.

The Internet Has No Benches (8-min read)

The New Social With Rachel Karten (42-min listen)

iPhone Notes Art (gallery of images)

Building A New Generation Of Civic Institutions (12-min read)

How Liminalism Became The Defining Aesthetic Of Our Time (8-min read)

On AI Search With Tom Critchlow Of Alephic (24-min read)

‘AI Simply Can’t Replicate It’: Japan Embraces Zines (4-min read)

A Rare Look Into The 180-Year-Old History Of Loewe (image gallery)

AI Enables Design Leaders To Go Closer Into, Not Higher Above, The Details (5-min read)

📣 Jinal Shah crushes on Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad (25-min listen) 📣

The Internet Has No Benches (8-min read)
Spencer Chang misses the days when people hung out on park benches in real life. He says that though he understands why people now actively want to go offline, the internet can be such a connector that it is sad there aren’t many opportunities to have those short, delightful encounters anymore. So he’s built something to help that happen.

The New Social With Rachel Karten (42-min listen)
Link In Bio’s Rachel Karten talks to Brian Morrissey on The Rebooting Show about how some brands are still living in the old era of social, but it’s now about the ‘new social’, “where followers are irrelevant and the algorithm rewards a “more shots on goal” approach”. She talks about brands as entertainment studios, and how appealing to someone’s consideration span, or getting people to consider whether your content is worth it, is more important than their attention span. This is literally the line we have been saying to clients for ages, so it’s great that she’s using the same framing!

iPhone Notes Art (gallery of images)
Artist and illustrator Chris Silverman has been creating art on the only device he always has with him: his iPhone. As he says, “#notesArt is a style formed by the limitations of the medium. I draw with my finger on a screen the size of a 3-by-5 card, using drawing tools that were designed for annotating documents, not making artwork. Similar to an app, each work is minimalist and limited in scope. The simple nature of the tool allows me to focus on the essence of each piece; perhaps a strange thing to be able to do on a device known primarily for providing distraction.” HT to the Dense Discovery newsletter.

Building A New Generation Of Civic Institutions (12-min read)
Another great read from Polly Mackenzie, who questions the lack of political imagination in solving social problems - problems that the Victorians also had, but built institutions to solve on their own, aided by philanthropists. From backing local media to investing in repair cafes, we can build the systems and tools we need to solve society’s biggest problems - we lack the will. My favourite line in this piece might be “The result is a landscape of gaps: things the country needs that nobody is building, because the economics don’t work for private capital and the politics don’t work for direct public provision.”

How Liminalism Became The Defining Aesthetic Of Our Time (8-min read)
I haven’t watched A24’s ‘Backrooms’ yet, but when Matt shared this I really enjoyed reading about how the crowd-curated digital movement of liminalism is the inspiration behind the original creepypasta short story Backrooms, and what that says about our response to dystopian late-stage capitalism.

On AI Search With Tom Critchlow of Alephic (24-min read)
OK buckle up, folks. If anyone has been thinking about how AI plays into traditional SEO, a very good person to learn from is Tom Critchlow, who was at Google Creative Lab for years and now works with friend of Storythings Noah Brier at Alephic. Tom's core argument is that AEO (AI Engine Optimisation) is fundamentally brand marketing, not a technical SEO exercise. Where traditional SEO was binary (you ranked or you didn't), AI search is qualitative: how a brand is mentioned matters as much as whether it appears, because every citation now carries an implicit reason to engage or avoid. Reputation, trust, and authentic third-party voices (Reddit, real humans, recognisable individuals) shape model outputs more than optimised content. Short-term tactics like self-serving listicles are already losing credibility, and over-indexing on AI-generated content risks long-term, potentially irreversible damage. The strategic imperative is building genuine authority. YES!

‘AI Simply Can’t Replicate It’: Japan Embraces Zines (4-min read)
Japan is seeing a surge in the publication and popularity of self-published zines. Some of the reasons even younger people are flocking to them now, despite the general downward trend in printed media consumption overall, is that they are niche and cover a very broad range of topics. I for one endorse the last line in this piece, by zine creator Watashi Kishino: “there is a warmth that only paper can offer.”

A Rare Look Into The 180-Year-Old History Of Loewe (image gallery)
This year Spanish fashion house Loewe celebrates its 180th anniversary, and to mark the occasion they’ve opened up their photographic archive. Some gorgeous images that capture the spirit of the brand.

AI Enables Design Leaders To Go Closer Into, Not Higher Above, The Details (5-min read)
Designer Christopher Butler on how, though conventional wisdom says AI enables leaders to move away from the details of the work, we are going to be proved wrong, and the job is really to get closer to the details. This was the sentiment conveyed in David Lee’s SXSW London talk as well.

📣 Jinal Shah crushes on Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad (25-min listen) 📣
Our latest episode of Creative Crush is an interview with Jinal Shah, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at digital financial services company Zip, a fast growing fintech in the US. Jinal’s creative inspirations are the musician-writer duo Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad. Learn more about their brilliance, why she started following their work, and her own creative rituals in this fascinating listen (of course I’m biased!). Give us a shout if you know a B2B CMO who might be a great Creative Crush guest!

Caleigh Farrell, VP Research at Public Inc, on not getting jaded by all the AI-generated content on LinkedIn and instead getting inspired by this dose of optimism from Muneer Panjwani, CEO of Engage For Good.

READ CALEIGH’S POST AND GET THE LINK TO MUNEER’S VIDEO HERE >

Drop us a line if you have anything you’d like us to share in a future edition of this newsletter, or of course if you have any comments or suggestions for us!

Have a great weekend!

Matt, Anjali, Hugh, and the team