Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This episode of Stylish is brought to you by the Devil Wears Prada 2. Miranda, Andy, Emily and Nigel return to the sleek offices of Runway Magazine from April 30, only in cinemas. Hello, guys. Happy Fridays. I'm Rhiannon Joyce, Chief Commercial Officer at Shameless Media. And today I'm joined by our new co-host who is covering for Mads today, Priya McPherson. Hello, everybody.
For those of you who don't know, Priya is the founder and director of fashion label Sage Avenue. And we adore having her on the fortnightly Friday episodes. Thank you. Priya for being here. Hello, everybody. I love, love, love being here and happy Friday to you all. Guys, you know that this is the Corner of Stylish that focuses more on brand campaigns and career stories.
And today we have decided to focus on the brand side of things and explore something that's been on my mind quite a bit. I know your mind, Priya, and it's coming up a lot in the Shameless Media office, which is how much Substack has disrupted the media industry and I have a lot to say, as always. And you do too.
Big yappers in here.
Before we get into it, let's jump into word of the week. This week, it's my word. Passing the baton to you, Rae.
Hand it over.
I'm ready. Doing my thing that I always do. I've got two words. Fabulous.
Love it. I like to see it in real time. Okay.
Two words. I want to talk about brand names. Recently, I read a piece in the cut titled Brand Names Are In Crisis. And it was actually a conversation I was having with co-founders of Shameless Media and good friends of mine, Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, about how brand names are getting out of control.
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of Substack in the media industry?
Foyery? Foyer? Foyer? I just go shop F-O-Y-R-E. Okay. But I do find it hard. I find it hard because I'm like it should be easy to then share with someone who I've met at a coffee shop and be like, oh, follow them. This is their name.
And then if they're the barista, they're going to have to keep thinking about how I've spelled the name and then how they're going to actually go to write it in and look for it.
It also makes you feel like a little embarrassed. Yes. I feel this. If I can't pronounce a brand name, I immediately seize up and I'm like, oh my God, this is so embarrassing. And it also, for some reason, might give this indication that I don't actually care about the brand or I'm not, you know, super savvy when it comes to fashion. But that's not the case. Sometimes it actually is just hard.
It's really not. And as you said, it's actually a byproduct of trademark law at Instagram at the moment, which is just, it's frustrating. It's making us look silly, isn't it?
It's making it hard for the brand founders, but it's also making us look silly. So yeah, there is some rationale behind that. So read that piece from the cut if you are interested in that, like me.
I love it.
As I said, guys, we are here today to talk about Substack. It does really feel like Substack is having a moment and really disrupting the media landscape. The reason why I think this conversation is super relevant right now is Substack have actually just hired their first role in Australia. So this is their first regional hire that will cover Oz and New Zealand.
Mumbrella actually reported in December 2025 that the role will primarily focus on building awareness of the Substack brand, but also include hiring a local team, onboarding new writers or influential creators, and I say that in inverted commas, and helping them build successful subscription businesses and vibrant communities on Substack. So that was based off the job advertisement that went up.
Beyond the headline, there is a bit more as to why I care about this. And this is very much anchored in being someone who works in the media industry and seeing the democratization of content and how writers have been able to, you know, take control and build their own revenue streams without having to depend on traditional media outlets.
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Chapter 3: How has Substack disrupted traditional media practices?
images, you can add little photos, so you can make it as aesthetic as you want. Substack takes you back to the old magazine days.
It's almost like mood boarding and a way for you to find creativity, build your own identity without feeling the pressure of having to actually contribute as well, which I think happens a lot on social media. I'm going to round out the last one because this sits in the ad category, so I feel like... I've got a bit more to say on this.
Chapter 4: How is Substack evolving in the Australian market?
One of our listeners wrote, no ads feels like a breath of fresh air and has a wholesomeness that other platforms just don't have. I mean, it goes without saying we are inundated with ads across all platforms. And the reality of it is our attention is so diverted. I do want to flag, though, one thing that I have noticed having subscribed to a few sub stacks over the last 18 months.
There are ads on the platform. How the ads show up are very different. A lot of writers use affiliate links as a way for them to generate passive revenue. That's not as obvious as a banner ad or maybe a meta ad that pops up or a TikTok spark ad. or even an influencer promoting a product, but the ads are absolutely there. It just feels more passive.
It feels more intertwined and natural. It doesn't feel like you're being thrown an ad. And so somebody isn't writing a piece of content where you can tell that it's actually just for an ad. It still feels really natural and it still feels like you are connecting with the individual, but there is a paid element, an ad element to it. Am I making sense when I say this?
You're making sense, but what you're also making me think out loud, and I want to say this because my gripe with that is sometimes I don't think sub-stackers are actually actually transparent about the ads that are embedded into their content. And a couple of times, and maybe this is because I'm in the industry and I'm really, really receptive to ads.
And I feel like I can tell something's in the ad, even if it doesn't say hashtag ad, or even if it's a piece of content that's promoting you know, a specific brand, I am quite skeptical. And sometimes I do think editorial content is influenced by paid partnerships or being invited. Someone's been invited to an event and maybe that's not being disclosed.
There seems to be more grace for it on Substack with people who are better at hiding it.
Yes. See, I actually disagree. I feel as though it doesn't pop out to me as much as it might for you. You have a very ads focused brain. I don't. And so I feel as though when I'm reading it, I don't feel as though I'm getting screamed ads at. I also think the beauty of it is, is you can just unsubscribe.
Yeah.
You're not just going through a feed and an ad is popping up. You can consciously choose to stop reading or you can consciously choose to move aside and read another piece that you feel as though will be more aligned to you.
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Chapter 5: What opportunities does Substack provide for independent writers?
My only thing is we hold brands and media companies into such high standards about disclosure of ads and being advertised to. Where it gets murky for me and where I feel a little bit uncomfortable is that if that disclosure is not happening and you're getting a kickback or you're getting an invite and you're not disclosing that. Yes.
It does feel like it's influencing your decision to include one brand over another in that content. I do think that needs to be communicated. And again, maybe that's because we are constantly scrutinized as a media company over the disclosure of our ad features. We go above and beyond to make sure that we are really transparent about what's an ad and what's not.
But also our core value is content and community over money. Exactly. It does start to get a bit murky for me when I can see that there is a level of influence from a relationship that someone might have with a founder or, you know, attending an event on someone's behalf. Like that's fine to do that and then talk about a brand.
But I do think there needs to be a little bit of transparency around that. My point is really anchored in this affiliates piece not being disclosed. But it's also...
an editorial piece that has been influenced I can't control if a writer wants to disclose that or not at the end of the day but again I think because I am very locked into ads yes I have like a layer of almost skepticism where I will read things and be like how much is this actually purely editorial but also over time that comes with building trust if you from the very beginning
have been a writer or a creator or someone, you know, even a podcaster who has set the intention that I will always disclose ads or I will always, you know, let you know if something's an affiliate or I will, you know, acknowledge if I have a relationship with someone and just state, state the obvious.
And say like, yes, I have a relationship with this person, but by no means is that influencing the conversation we're having right now. I think for me it's that. Like say the obvious thing out loud and don't always assume that someone knows that because what it can quickly do is undermine the integrity if something was to come out later. So for me it's more so why would you not say it?
And I don't think it does actually affect, you know, my relationship with the content that you're creating because the reality of it is I'm consuming your content because I do trust your output.
And you respect them more because they're actually sharing it with you and they're being vulnerable. And so, yeah, exactly right. You are connecting deeper and it still allows them to be naturally themselves while still including those affiliate links. This is actually a great place to pause because we're going to hear from Zara Wong, who's been able to build this from the other side of things.
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Chapter 6: What are the benefits of using Substack for content creators?
Bringing it back to Zara Wong's example of the real, real, that makes sense to me because there is an element of curation and there is an element of trust. We're dealing with a website that is all about rehousing pre-loved fashion. It's about curation. It's about personal style, picking things that feel really unique and
That's why I think it works on Substack because at the end of the day, the heart of the content that they're creating is about curation. It's not about product.
Exactly right, Rae. And I couldn't agree with this more because I feel as though if I was a brand going into Substack, you have to ask yourself, what is the intention here? Why am I doing it? Are you doing it for a revenue income? Like you sat down and said, is this actually worthwhile for stylish right now?
Is our intention to grow this as a community tool or should we just wait a little bit longer? So you have to ask yourself, what is your intention on Substack?
Because like Zara said, and like a lot of people are going to come through it, you're going to be able to tell easily is, you know, when they are feeding you an algorithm led piece of content and you can tell when they are writing and you're reading a piece that is so authentic and it's educating and it's value and it's vulnerable. And so that is what will set people apart.
I think a very key question is to ask yourself, what is my intention here as a creative, as a brand, as a writer, as a podcaster? Because you can do podcasts on Substack as well, which is really incredible.
I'm going to be a little bit meta here and I'm going to reference a Substack that is by Jess Egart and it's called Brand Person. In this piece, Jess discusses how brands can show up in a way that is really effective on Substack, but also insight into why it doesn't work.
Jess said, branded content will never be as authentic as real editorial content because consumer goods brands don't have the luxury of operating like a media company or a publication. It's a completely different business model. So if you're going at it from a commercial point of view.
See you later.
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