We’re back with another edition of GOOD SIGNS — a monthly round-up of 4 letters, looking at what’s bubbling up.

These aren’t trends (yet!). These are signals, patterns, counter-trends. Stuff that’s emerging, continuing, sticking out, or simply what we’re finding interesting in the last month.

Enjoy! And let us know what you think in the comments.

Skip to the bits you fancy

02:53 — THE ART OF PERCEPTION // There’s a lot of anti-AI sentiment. But it is sure doing a damn good job at making people appreciate things most had forgotten to care about. Is it pushing brands and consumers to value humanity?

* Marie Dollé says we’re moving from creating to validating. Do we think this is where we exact greatness? My gut instinct says: probably not

* Jasmine Bina says we’re breaking a lot of unspoken contracts.

* Spotify begins what will surely be an avalanche of “real” certifications. But where’s the line? And will they work? Did “Organic” help much? B-Corp? The list of reasons against this approach working is a mile long.

* Matt Klein’s fascinating survey on AI says that Americans now default to “This is fake” six times more often than they default to “This is real.” Trust collapse isn’t imminent. We’re swimming in it. The messy middle is making us question everything.

Pendulum Swing → Huo Qubing, a Chinese war epic produced by a 20-person team in 48 hours on $3,000 in compute, racked up hundreds of millions of views. There’s an appetite for AI-gen’d content, so long as you bring a perspective.

19:16 — A BODY OF EXPERIENCE // The bar for brand experience is moving from “looked good” to “made me feel something.” The best examples are physical, sensory, and emotional. The metric brands should be tracking is: “it made me put my phone down.”

* Neko Health turned a check-up into a beautifully memorable end-to-end physical brand experience, from space to staff to report. It was emotional.

* Veuve x Yinka Ilori’s Chasing the Sun was five minutes, one room, both of us near tears.

* Morioka Shoten sells one book a week and designs the entire room to make you feel the story.

Pendulum Swing → People still want the “shot.” We saw it time and time again at Salone/Milan Design Week. The camera still eats first (for now).

28:33 — GATHERING IS THE NEW MEDIA BUY // The clearest community signal is not “build a community” in the abstract. It’s hosting something people want to show up for. And who you are gathering is half of the value-add.

* Dinner for One Hundred expanding from pop-up dinners, singles nights, young-and-old gatherings, and garden parties into its own restaurant/pub.

* Mama’s Night Market, Resy’s up-and-coming chef program, live tuna carving, and “gays eating garlic bread in the park” are all pulling wild turnout.

* Marimekko’s Salone activation turned the restaurant collab into the event itself. Not a logo slapped on a dinner. A gathering where both brands added value.

* Nadine @ The Stanza says that the new currency in hospitality is the other guests.

Pendulum Swing → Logging off is in. While you could argue that the above is a form of it. There’s still a performance in the above. The gathering is made for capture. But many are opting for untaped and 100% private.

37:42 — OPERATING SYSTEM // Health is moving beyond “issues”. This is more than just “preventative.” Health is becoming ambient. Where everything is tracked, scanned, logged, and monitored on-going, and the adjustments are more regular.

Places it’s showing up:

* Neko Health keeps score of your moles for you. And tracks correlations for your “biological age.”

* Eight Sleep Pregnancy mode auto adjustment and Barrière lactose patches.

* M&S’s Nutrient-Dense line and Chrono-Nutrition products in Japan.

Pendulum Swing → Nonnamaxxing and trusting your instincts is returning.

43:34 — NEW PLAYERS // The appetite for sport isn’t crumbling, but the format is changing. Clips, niches, amateur leagues, women’s sports, new operators. Legacy players aren’t losing because people stopped caring. They’re losing because they keep judging the new behavior instead of building for it.

Places it’s showing up:

* Golf’s rebrand is accelerating, and now women make up nearly 30% of players and 60% of new golfers. And smaller brands are meeting the moment.

* Ultramarathon participation is surging, and brands like Mount to Coast are targeting the niche.

* Gymshark is moving into gyms. The line between apparel and operator has blurred before. But this time it makes sense.

Pendulum Swing → ESPN has lost 40% of its cable subscribers over the past decade. From 100M households down to 60M. The biggest sports brand in the world is struggling to compete. The appetite for sport isn’t crumbling, but it is changing. And legacy players aren’t evolving quick enough.

Letters and episodes referenced: