I hope you're staying warm amidst a polar vortex week here on the East Coast! If you're somewhere warmer and sunnier….enjoy! I'll be by the fire.
Our final issue of the year features a teaser for new offering we're spinning up, a rant about new year predictions, some thoughts on the implosion of adland (RIP just about every agency, ever), and wise words from a client and friend.
As you make your way through the gauntlet that is the end-of-year sprint, do make some time for yourself. Take a breath. Drink some cocoa. You're almost there.
Cheers,
Laura
My happy place is a dinner party. The kind with delicious but unpretentious food, flowing wine, and fizzing conversation. Where ideas spark, connections deepen, and people leave energized (and often far later than they planned).
The dinner party has become something of a lost art, especially here in Washington, DC. This city used to be a place where these sorts of gatherings shaped policy, culture, and history. But today's political dysfunction has killed much of that tradition. And so I think it's time to reclaim and reimagine the Washington dinner party, and in the spirit of "why the hell not?" I'd like to do it with a creative twist.
Introducing The Cider Supper Club.
This new offering brings together my favorite things: cooking, hosting, brainstorming, and connecting brilliant people who should know each other.
Here's the idea…
A brand or organization sponsors an intimate dinner of 8 to 12 people around a topic or challenge they're working through. I curate the guest list from my network of strategists, creatives, founders, operators, and other clever professionals. Over a thoughtfully prepared meal in my home, we create space for the kind of generative conversation that rarely happens in conference rooms or video calls.
It's salon meets hackathon meets networking evening, but with better food and none of the forced mingling. The sponsor gets access to smart people and new thinking. The guests get interesting conversation, new connections, and a proper dinner party.
I'm still figuring out exactly what this looks like in practice, so I'm looking for organizations interested in piloting this with me in early 2026. If this sounds intriguing — or if you have thoughts on how to make it even better — I'd love to hear from you.
As the end of the year approaches, it's a time for anyone and everyone to put on their magic spectacles and peer into the future. It's trend forecasting season! But what's on the horizon, if you can bear to peek?
Pinterest predicts we'll find comfort in nostalgia, which tracks because…we're scared and overwhelmed and clinging to anything that can make us feel better. AXA's Future Risk Report reminds us that, yes, climate change is coming for us all (as well as geopolitical instability, cyberterrorism, and loads of other unsavory things). And McKinsey paints the State of Fashion as having moved past uncertainty to a place of pure challenge, as consumer behavior, technological disruption, and economic instability define the new normal.
As ever, I take these trends with more than a handful of salt. The data is real, the presentations are beautiful, and the thoughts…interesting enough. And maybe I've grown cynical in my old age, but is anything really new in there? Or are we packaging up that which we know to be true and sticking a shiny label on it? Are we just reporting what we see today, and hoping by tomorrow we'll have made sense of it all?
*I should flag that a global consortium of truly incredible strategists does collate 150+ trend reports every year, and I'm so, so grateful to them. The 2026 folder of goodies is here. Have a nose. Enjoy. But you might also find yourself curled in the fetal position. Let's see.
Do you know someone who might enjoy reading The Pour? Please pass it along.
