🎨 the human edge: taste

why cultivated taste will outperform any ai prompt stack in 2025

hi, team pr@ctical. welcome back. last week we pressure-tested crisis plans with ai. this week we’re talking about the only moat that widens as automation explodes: taste.

taste is strategy at the speed of instinct.
it’s the split-second gut check that tells you which headline sings, which reporter will bite, and which trend is vaporware.

ai can crank out infinite angles and perfectly grammatical copy, but it can’t (yet) decide which ideas deserve oxygen in your very robust news cycle. that editorial instinct—the “this feels right for our brand right now” sense—is why clients still pay for humans.

🧭 the T.A.S.T.E. workflow [for earned media]

a single-pass filter you can run on any comms deliverable—pitch, op-ed, social post, or crisis note.

how to use it

1. draft (or let ai draft)

2. run the piece top-to-bottom through t.a.s.t.e.—it’s a 3-minute pass, in this order

3. ship or refine where it fails a check

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🤖 pairing “prompt power” with taste

try:

less

“generate 10 counter-intuitive angles on {topic}. for each, suggest:
  • a supporting stat
  • a contrarian pull-quote
  • the most likely skeptical question from a tier-one editor”

then run the outputs through T.A.S.T.E. and keep the top 1–2. you just saved an hour of angle-mining while still applying human discernment.

📈 proving taste to execs (& keeping your seat at the table)

• curated option sets: present three differently flavored headlines, not thirty. explain the “why” in one line each—execs remember reasoning more than copy.

• post-launch debriefs: show how a taste-driven tweak (subject line nuance, image swap, quote selection) lifted opens or coverage quality.

• taste “context and overview”: track wins attributable to judgment calls—exclusivity decisions, timing pivots, angle swaps. qualitative slides turn into budget arguments.

🚀 want the taste calibration worksheet?

i built a printable scorecard (+ sample answers) you can run during brainstorms. reply “taste” and i’ll send it over.

stay selective,
sarah

thanks for reading pr@ctical—where sharp taste meets sharper tools. subscribe, share, and let’s keep the craft human.