We’ve been tracking nostalgia for a while (see ARCHIVE) and while there has been plenty written on the topic, nothing we’ve seen really gets to cause of why we’re still talking about it. Our next DIRTY WORD will unpack the cultural shifts, psychological roots and strategic opportunities behind this well documented but still misunderstood word.

The evolution of nostalgia

The Nostalgia Report will be released on 23rd July 2025 for Protein BRAND MEMBERS only, so if you’d like to attend the launch briefing and be the first to receive the report, click below:

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SEEDS

As consumers grow weary of artificial scarcity, brands are rethinking exclusivity – not with longer lines, but with deeper engagement. Queuing is a signal of demand and a test of commitment. Those willing to wait are demonstrating how much they value the product. For brands, this has long had marketing utility. For consumers, queuing confers status, where owning the rarest item is as much about community as clothing.

It starts with a glimmer. We’re coming to the end of the quarterly review. The air is stuffy, and my chair creaks beneath me as I shift to stave off the numbness creeping down my left thigh. Then she mentions completion – and the strawberry moon. There’s a pause. A look. A delicate moment where we’re both trying to work out if the other is that way inclined.

Since 2019, whispers of its demise grew louder, especially through the pandemic. Yet while empty dance floors sparked eulogies, communities quietly rewired how they connect through music and redefined what it means to move together. This new matrix of musical connection is reshaping how we gather, listen and move together.

They come for the charm, but leave behind chaos. We ask: has tourism reached a breaking point? Is the problem really tourism – or is it the “Instagram tourist”? Is it mass tourism or the housing crisis? Is it time to rethink how we travel?

Long banished from polite society, anger is making a comeback – at least in the pages of Sam Parker’s new book. He argues that learning to welcome our anger could be the most radical act of self-care yet.

Clouds, cables and country codes: why digital infrastructure is anything but neutral – and what it means to build a website in a fractured world.

How public swimming is splashing back into our lives – and why it matters.

What our community is currently obsessing over, including Ana Roman on How To Build a Healing Machine, Noelle Weaver on Rise & Root Farm, Carolin Meyer on Olivia Melkonian, and Alice Jasmine Crippa on Sporesight

SEED CLUB

The latest snapshot of what's been germinating in our cosy corner is below, so if you’d like to plant some SEEDs of your own and get paid to have them featured on Protein XYZ, apply here:

ARCHIVE

Keeping it on theme, we thought we’d revisit our Is It Time We Broke Up With Nostalgia? FORUM from last July with Sean Monahan, Dal Chodha and Maya:

Nostalgia is everywhere. It’s like an old flame that keeps popping up in our lives, seducing us with memories of better times. For years, we’ve seen trends from bygone eras trickle back into popular culture.

From music to tech to entertainment to design to food, the allure of recent history has seeped into all facets of our lives. Gen Z is even nostalgic for eras they never lived through, embracing trends from the 1990s and 2000s with an insatiable hunger. But are we slowly self-cannibalising our past? Is nostalgia the enemy of the new? Is originality in decline? Is culture stuck?

You can watch the recording here.