Slow takes on creator marketing for hospitality.
Notesis the long-form section of the Tastemaker Network. We write here when the thinking won’t fit on a client call — pieces on creator marketing for restaurants and bars, on what taste means at small scale, on what it’s like to run a curated voice network from Singapore for venues across Southeast Asia.
The audience is two-sided: operators looking for an alternative to rate-card influencer marketing, and creators who’d rather be invited into rooms worth being in than paid to post about anything that walks. Most pieces here are for both, arguing the same case from one side or the other.
Written by Abhishek Cherian George. New essays roughly monthly.
- Essay
SEO is dead. Long live AEO.
AI search rewards first-hand experience, named human authorship, and brand mentions across credible publications. A tastemaker network happens to produce all of these by default.
8min read →
- Essay
What we mean by taste.
A definitional piece on the word doing most of the work in our writing. What taste isn't, what taste is, and how to read it on a feed.
7min read →
- Essay
What we look for in a tastemaker.
Most applications we read aren't a fit, and the reasons rhyme. Five things we care about, four we don't, and the common patterns across our “not yet” replies.
8min read →
- Essay
How to find credible food creators.
For small opinionated venues, the best people to post about you are usually the ones who'd post about you anyway. A field guide for restaurant operators.
9min read →
- Essay
Influencer marketing has failed.
Why creator marketing keeps mismatching the venues with a real point of view — and the invitation-based model that's quietly replacing it.
10min read →