This email may not display properly if your device is in dark mode.

Plus: Is resale properly trending? Raves are back (and healthier), and why the world of design is re-thinking the little things.

For years, glossy magazines and luxury houses shaped the idea of taste. Now, small independent titles are starting to carry more of that weight. This signals a shift in what readers value, showing that close taste communities hold buying power.

These niche mags focus on having a sharp perspective. They produce small runs, often beautifully made, that feel closer to cultural artefacts than disposable media. As Ana Andjelic notes in her look at niche magazines, their comes from curation and scarcity, which readers treat as a form of currency, with the ultimate value lying in taste.

In Australia, the music festival is dying a slow death for a similar reason. Broad, catch-all lineups are losing momentum because micro-communities want a specific vibe. They’re not willing to spend their hard earned cash on heavily marketed headliners, when they only want to watch the 2:15 PM slot in the back tent behind the loo.

A mass-market fashion mag now has to work twice as hard to hold interest, when audiences know they can find content that speaks directly to their tastes rather than one that dictates them.

This shift lines up with a broader rethinking of luxury. Taste is narrowing into smaller circles. Cultural relevance no longer has a single borderline, it moves like a river, defined by those who gather around it and give it meaning.

A 140-year-old retailer just made a power move on eBay. By treating resale as retail, Marks and Spencer confirms what Depop and Vestiaire already proved, that secondhand is a taste-maker in it’s own right.

Curating a hit wardrobe from some timely finds now scores higher cultural points than a haul from Shein. It goes to show that as an uncertain future looms for our resource-strained world, closing the loop is becoming as popular as it is necessary.

Raves are no longer hedonistic, they focus on wellness and community.

01 Fish are out, design is in
South Australia has banned those tiny plastic soy-sauce fish, the first move of its kind worldwide, signalling how even the smallest design objects are being rethought through sustainability.

02 Shaken, stirred, then re-imagined
Bacardi’s 2025 Cocktail Trends Report shows drinking rituals are shifting, with theatrical serves and lower-ABV options turning a night out into more of a performance.

03 Sydney, exhale
The city has been ranked the 4th most relaxing place in the world thanks to an abundance of green space, wellness centres and… minimal traffic (🤔).

Accor has set the table for something big – a brand-new in-house food & beverage group, created in partnership with Example, and built to redefine what hotel dining looks (and tastes) like across the Pacific. 

Expect bold new concepts, refreshed icons and venues that are as culturally magnetic as they are delicious. All of it shaped by guest insights, global inspo and local flavour. With hospitality legends like Stefano Catino and Vince Lombardo (The Maybe Group) also on board, the Example team are proud of what’s been created and super excited for what’s to come. 

Example is leading the creative strategy, brand storytelling, marketing and PR for Table For, teaming up with Accor’s in-house crew to build restaurants and bars that are destinations in their own right.

First to launch, Flaminia - an inspired collab with Chef Giovanni Pilu alongside two new bar concepts with Maybe Group this summer.

View the Table For website we built.

Senior Account Manager

Last year I made the classic Brit to Bondi move and now get to start my day with beach walks and way better coffee! I have just started at Example agency as a Senior Account Manager after working in a similar role in London before I moved. Though I’m a millennial my online footprint would lead me more to being Gen-Z (the TikTok addiction really is a cry for help).

I have implemented a rule that I don’t have scroll time for the first hour of my day because I end up getting sucked into the Tik-tok blackhole. Instead I start nearly every one of my days with a good walk (it's one of my non-negotiables) and I will listen to a feel good playlist or a Podcast as it helps get my brain into a good productive space.

I really love listening to Podcasts that spark positivity and motivation, my go tos would be Mel Robins or Elizabeth Day ‘How to fail’. I love the whole outlook of her podcast showcasing how most people's biggest failures end up being their success. I think we spend so much time trying to be perfect at what we do but we can learn so much from our mistakes and I think they’re what really shape who we are today.

Albania as a whole, particularly the south, I visited Ksamil there last year. This part of Europe is stunning with clear blue water and has some amazing food with a greek influence, but it's way cheaper and the country as a whole hasn’t become too tourist heavy. The north part is also meant to be absolutely stunning and you can hike in the Albania alps.

I spent about 6 months travelling around South East Asia and 2 of those months were spent living on Koh Tao island. It’s one of the smaller islands so has a lot more of a Thai community than the larger islands that have been heavily westernised. There was one small restaurant down a back street called ‘mamas’, most of it was outside so there wasn’t your usual type of restaurant ambience. However, it was hands down the best Thai food I've ever eaten. The Pad Thai was about 50 cents and was life changing, I would go back in a second just to experience that again.

We are an earned-led culture agency. We create and amplify the world’s most talked-about brands, destinations and experiences.