The Brief Creative Newsletter
October 18, 2025
051 - Where Does Taste Come From?
It's all anyone is talking about these days
The Spark
This is stuff I'm enjoying out in the world (it's probably not B2B).
Who TF is doing Dunkin’s social these days? It’s unhinged, outrageous, and I’m so here for it!
tell ur mom to go to dunkin’s ig
This is the kinda thing I’d love to see more of in B2B. Literally 1% of this would potentially revolutionize the industry. It’s hilarious, self-aware, and unafraid to make jokes aka it’s human. I wanna know who’s responsible for this!
If you’re looking for something to watch, the John Candy documentary on Amazon Prime was full of heart. If you grew up with John Candy on the TV this one is for you. In music, the new Tame Impala album is the perfect end of summer soundtrack.
The Deep Thoughts
This is what I'm thinking about.
My Linkedin feed is full of one big question these days, “can you teach taste?”
Now that marketers have finally figured out that your brand and creative are the actual differentiator they’re trying to figure out how to game the system as if taste is something you can teach anyone. Well here’s the thing, it might be…
Where does taste come from?… it’s you!
What is taste?
This is the trickiest question to answer but the way I think about taste is that it’s the ability to look at something and instinctively understand if it’s good or bad, if an audience will respond to it or not.
Here’s an example, think about your friend group. Who is the person you ask about a shirt? Who’s in charge of the music? Who makes the dinner reservations? Those are the people in your personal life that have taste. In business it’s a bit more complicated but who are the creators whose stuff you always watch? Who are the colleagues who always get the clicks, likes, or shares? Who are the people that you want to listen to when they speak up on the Zoom? Those are the taste makers at work.
The thing about those folks is that they didn’t grow up thinking about blog posts and webinars but they probably did read a lot of books or watch movies or travel or draw or one of a million other things that weren’t reviewing T&Cs. In doing that they started collecting insights like “you listen to DMX when you need to get pumped up“ or “dessert before dinner is frowned upon but a better way to live”. or “Dmitry can’t pull off a ‘gonia vest”.
Nobody told them those things. They learned them by paying attention and exploring things, maybe trying things out that didn’t work out (anybody remember that Rick Rubin produced a Limp Bizkit album?), and then learning more. Taste is something you constantly cultivate and refine. It's something that is uniquely yours even if you share it with everyone.
So while I won’t deny that there’s a major instinctual piece here there are ways to hone your taste to make it stronger.
How to train your taste
Here I am talking about something based on instinct and feelings and I present you with a flywheel. Let’s just say you’re not the only ones wondering what’s up…
Renee’s surprised too
Instinct and feeling are critical here for sure but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a bit of science too. Taste is about experimentation and if you’re experimenting then you’re learning. Learning leads to iteration, iteration to new experiments and so on… In the case of taste, it all starts with awareness
Awareness
There’s too kinds of awareness. First, awareness of what's happening directly around you and second, awareness of what’s happening in the world. This is where the books and movies and even doomscrolling come into play. The way to build taste is by refining and filtering through all the noise to see what’s good (at least to you). The smaller your world and the less exposure you have to new ideas o.r materials, the fewer things you have to filter against
So before you can develop your taste, you need to observe, consume, and start thinking about what you're seeing. This is the first step to understanding your taste.
Opinions
Now that I’ve got you thinking it's time for you to form some opinions. Ask yourself questions like:
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What are the things that you like/ don’t like? Why?
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Is this something popular/ not popular enough? Why?
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Is this something other people like/ hate? Why?
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Is this something your audience would like? Why?
(important note: if developing taste for your job, you don’t actually have to like it)
Questions like these help you form your opinions. From opinions come your unique observations. Those observations are what develop your taste. And for what it’s worth, even if you’re basing taste solely on instinct, opinions are still important. If someone can’t tell you why they like something then it’s not taste, it’s luck.
Once you’ve got your opinions down, it’s time to let people know.
Confidence
Confidence is where taste is actually made. Knowing what’s going on and having feelings about it is useless if you keep it all to yourself. Having the courage to share your opinions with the world (or at least your team) are where you learn if your taste is any good*. Are people responding? Are they curious? Are they asking where that idea came from?
If they are, then you’re onto something. It’s time to do the work to create whatever it is you’re thinking. If they aren’t, then understand why it’s not hitting and try again. One way or the other, whether you influence the crew or not, you’re back in the awareness stage because either you’re watching results or you’re rethinking your approach.
Your opinions shape your taste but it’s the ideas you share that you show you what you really believe in. If you're not confident in your taste, why would anyone else be?
...and that's it.
Taste is about paying attention and seeing what others don't when it's right in front of them. Taste is about being able to share why you do or don't like something. Taste is about believing in something enough to share it with others (or at least influence them). And then you start again because taste isn’t just something you have, it’s something you constantly refine.
