The Noetic Future of Culture and Brands

As more and more of us sit with the question of what sits beyond intelligence as our true human premium, it seems that we’re doubling down on that ineffable quality that, as of yet, lies beyond the grasp of the machine: intuition.

It’s an entrance into a new era — a noetic era — coined and elaborated upon by Concept Bureau’s Zach Lamb, a brand stra... See more

Clearly the cultural pressure to achieve a unique self is old, strong, and not unique to hipsters, so why did the authenticity drive spin out of control after CE 2000? One possible reason is that the hundreds of studies on authenticity in tourism and subcultures have also been read and in many cases sponsored by business thinkers who directly influ... See more

In the absence of religion and other community belonging, consumers yearn to find the brands they can use as signals for identity curation and kinship – signaling to other Glossier or Stanley cup girls that no actually, we’re the same. Brands do this signaling implicitly (owning Aesop hand soap reveals something about you - well-to-do, metropolitan... See more