Value isn’t found. It’s perceived. Then priced.
I work on the part of value that isn't functional: how something is read, why it feels worth choosing, and what that is worth in the market. Strategy, positioning, editorial and media for brands, places and publications — from Vienna, mostly in luxury, hospitality and culture.
VIENNA · WORKING ACROSS EUROPE
Tension
Two hotels can offer the same bed, the same square metres and the same breakfast — and the market values them completely differently. That difference is not decoration around the product. It is part of what people are buying.
The Taste Economy
Function explains usefulness. It rarely explains desire.
The Taste Economy is my framework for the economic value created by perception — how aesthetics, cultural codes, status, context and emotion shape what people notice, choose, remember and pay for.
Selected Work
Strategy, positioning, media and cultural work where perception had commercial consequences.
How I Work
Branding can make you recognisable. It cannot make you relevant. I use these five layers to find where a premium actually comes from — and where it is being lost.
01
FUNCTION
What does it actually do?
02
SIGNALS
What does it communicate?
03
CODES
What meaning does the audience assign?
04
PERCEIVED VALUE
What does it feel worth paying for?
05
COMMERCIAL CONSEQUENCE
Price, preference, loyalty, attention, status.
Journal
Essays, observations and conversations on value, culture, brands, places and the things people choose to care about.
About Taskin “Tash” Yüksel
Taskin “Tash” Yüksel is a Vienna-based strategist, editor and co-founder of Blooming Cactus. Across two decades in publishing, luxury, hospitality, retail and culture, his work has returned to one question: what makes something matter more — and what happens commercially when it does?
