Marketing is the work of a tastemaker.
Taste, in marketing and branding, transcends aesthetics. It reflects a deep understanding of culture, identity, and human behavior.
As marketers, it is, quite literally, our job to have taste.
Brand leaders, designers, writers, strategists, product teams, we are all shaping experiences that influence how people feel, decide, and remember. To be a tastemaker is a responsibility, one that asks us to consider how what we put into the world will be received, interpreted, and lived with.
Taste is often reduced to aesthetics, a matter of personal preference or visual style, something subjective and therefore dismissible. But in marketing, being an arbiter of taste is about knowing what belongs in a moment, what aligns with a culture, and what earns trust. A tastemaker understands the cultural conditions that produce trends, and curates experiences, narratives, and messages with an understanding that every choice signals something.
Taste, in this sense, transcends aesthetics. It reflects a deep understanding of culture, identity, and human behavior. To be a tastemaker in marketing is to live within nuance, to understand the values of the people you are trying to reach, and to make decisions that honor that complexity.
Good taste in marketing shows up in messaging that aligns with values, in design that supports the story, in emotional intelligence that knows how to connect, and a respect for the audience’s time, intelligence, and trust. Good taste removes friction by anticipating questions before they are asked. It creates coherence across brand, product, and communication so customers are not forced to translate or reconcile competing signals. The result is trust, and trust is what converts long before a button is clicked.
The importance of taste is something I’ve seen over my 17-year career, again and again, both in my corporate roles and through my marketing and branding agency, OFF MENU. The brands that gain traction tend to simplify and protect clarity. They trust that their audience does not need to be convinced at every turn, but thoughtfully guided. I’ve seen and led moments where momentum unlocks through better taste, tightening the message, and aligning the experience across touchpoints. When the work focuses on removing friction instead of adding persuasion, the brand begins to feel coherent and conversion follows.
In a business context, taste is the ability to consistently make choices that demonstrate empathy for your audience, cultural fluency in your moment, and ethical consideration for the long term. It is understanding not just who your audience is, but how they live, what they value, and what they are tired of being sold.
One of the clearest examples of tastemaking at scale is Apple. Apple demonstrates taste as a system, embedded across product, design, retail, copy, and experience. Apple curates choice with intention, and allows the product to speak, supported by design and language that make the next step feel obvious. The conversion path is quite seamless because the brand has already done the work of decision-making on behalf of the customer.
If I had to explain this to my non-marketing guests, I’d say: taste is what makes your brand feel trustworthy and easy to buy from. It’s when everything a customer touches feels consistent, intentional, and aligned, so they’re not second-guessing their decision. When people don’t have to work to understand you, they’re far more likely to choose you.
Cultivating taste requires better questions. Does this align with who we are? Does this add value to the experience, or simply add noise? Does this respect the audience, or are we asking them to do more work than necessary?
If this resonates, you already have taste.