Reid Hoffman has a LinkedIn newsletter called “Long Reads,” which might be one of the best newsletter titles on the platform. In a recent issue, he talks about a product called Replit, a tool that helps people code and build programs using AI. But the product itself isn’t the most interesting part of the piece. It’s worth paying attention to is [...]

Travel has always been collectible. We just don't tend to see it that way. Think about what people actually keep from trips. It’s rarely the generic hoodie. It’s the oddly specific thing that, six months later, still sparks a story: a stamped passport from a trail, a patch from a ski weekend, the ticket stub they can’t throw away, the weird [...]

Instagram’s leadership made headlines this week with a clear signal that the visual culture that once defined the platform is changing. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, shared a candid assessment of where the platform is headed, arguing that highly polished imagery no longer holds the same value it once did. Advances in AI, he noted, have made beautiful visuals easy to [...]

Your Content Goes Here Netflix and Stranger Things ended the year and a decades-long series with mind-blowing consumer attention. 1.1 million people packed into over 620 theaters for 3500 showtimes to see the final episode of the series on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The “ticket” itself was a clever twist: seats were free, but attendees had to purchase [...]

The Zero-Click Era Is Here — And Your Brand’s Visibility Strategy Needs a Reset In 2025, something quietly but decisively changed: your audience stopped behaving the way your dashboards think they behave. Organic traffic flattened, even declined for many. But demand didn’t. Discovery didn’t. Attention didn’t. Instead, everything is shifting to "zero click discovery, " the growing ecosystem where people get [...]

The Birthday Trip That Became a Masterclass in Hospitality On a recent family trip to Chicago to celebrate my son’s birthday, we planned the kind of weekend any kid, and any parent, would love. A stroll down Michigan Avenue. A stop at the Spider-Man exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. A downtown hotel near Millennium Park glowing with Christmas [...]

In a cluttered media landscape where attention is harder to win than ever, tourism marketers are being pushed to rethink how they drive awareness, influence travelers, and build long-term demand. That’s the core message behind Stronger Together: How Earned and Paid Media Work Better in Tandem, a recent webinar hosted with Southeast Tourism Society (STS), Advance Travel & Tourism, and Pineapple [...]

Events aren’t side dishes in the travel economy anymore, they’re becoming the main course. And if your destination isn’t treating them that way heading into 2026, you’re already behind. In a recent conversation on the Field Notes podcast, Rachel Normansell of Yodel joined me to unpack why events will be one of the biggest competitive advantages for DMOs in the coming [...]

This week, Chef Grant Achatz announced something almost unthinkable: for the first time since Michelin arrived in Chicago in 2011, Alinea dropped from a 3‑star to a 2‑star rating. That leaves just 13 three‑star restaurants in the United States. 20 Years of Innovation For nearly two decades, Alinea has represented reinvention. Even its name, taken from the symbol for a new [...]