This week’s episode coming at you from 12 planes and 10 trains. Quick client trips to NYC and Vegas keeping things interesting.
As always, the lens is a best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What I’m dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands.
CULTURE
There’s not much to cure people’s dislike for dating apps but this ‘Cover Ex-inspired Tattoos’ activation by Tinder is a cute idea and seems to be well-liked in the comments minus the inability to book a slot.
WE’RE RAISING EXPERIENTIAL ADDICTS
Sitting in a cab this week in Vegas, I got the low down on Gen-Alpha summer camps. It’s FOMO-inducing. Just check out this fair, it’s a borderline conference. Brands better pay attention because humdrum experience won’t cut it when you’re raised on this level of experiential.
SILVER SPEND IS AN OPPORTUNITY
“The average couple spends over $300,000 on healthcare throughout retirement, with challenges in how we manage, plan for, pay, and think about our health as we age.” I’m obsessed with this space. Especially products that target brand-trained millennials operating on behalf of aging parents. Anyone else obsessed, I have ideas. Reach out.
SILLY PR BOXES GETTING BACKLASH -> LinkInBio
Last week, we wrote about brands obsessed with making it bigger (Rhode’s bath bomb, Saie’s giant product sample). But this week Rachel signaled this might be coming to an end. So many comments pointed to regular consumers being HAPPY to take gifts influencers get—there’s a market here.
ARE WE AT PEAK FAKE IT TO MAKE IT? -> Wishlist
“Trend goddess herself, Casey Lewis, and she’s predicting, “there’s going to be a backlash this year against content that is created like, obviously, just in the hopes of going viral.” Found myself legitimately discussing the term BoySober and felt this sentiment strongly.
EVERYONE’S INTO BIRDING
Two polar opposite approaches to everyone’s latest obsession: birding popped into the feed. According to a 2019 report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, over 45 million Americans participate in bird watching activities, up from 12 million in 1980.
WELLNESS
If they take insurance, now that insurance likes alt med, they could be well placed to succeed. More than one-third of Americans (37%) are supplementing their medical care with alternative therapies like yoga, acupuncture, and meditation. That’s up from 19% in 2002, according to a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association.
CEO’S ARE GETTING PETTY—AND IT’S NOT THE LOOK -> Feed Me
This week, Jolie’s CEO posted about Act + Acre copying their shower head (very reminiscent of Graza vs. Brightland). Brands: Features aren’t a strategy.
BUTTHOLES ARE GETTING A MAKEOVER
“My 2024 beauty predictions are coming true. On December 29, I envisioned the emergence of an “asshole care” category. On January 10, founder Katie Sturino announced the launch of Megababe’s new “butthole cleanser.” (I know many of you thought I was joking about this, but alas, I was not.)” What a time to be alive. This falls into the ‘made to be viral camp’ though I’m not sure my influencers are ready to share this issue with fans frankly.
INVESTING
SOHO HOUSE IS THE NEW WEWORK -> Feed Me
“Eerily similar to WeWork’s public offering, we believe Soho House will eventually meet the same fate as the now defunct co-working space.” “Shares in Soho House fell as much as 30% after a short-seller said that the stock price of the luxury hotel and members’ club operator should fall to zero. “ Yikes.
F&B
PEOPLE DON’T LIKE PUNS ANYMORE, EVEN FROM GRAZA
Graza’s Souper Bowl initiative for the Super Bowl was a clear miss. No engagement on this one. So many clients approach us with wanting to emulate their rise to fame—rightfully. But even the legends don’t score every touchdown.
SNAXSHOT THINKS KIRKLAND COULD DESTROY
Not much to say here, these story slides say it all.
Very popular food influencer turned cook author, Frankie Gaw (317K followers) posted this genius new Lunchables—except Lunchables was not involved. Lunchables has a mere 77.5K so hopefully they are listening. Brands, pay attention. Rachel Karten had a great newsletter this week on ‘social listening’. As an example: Chipotle social listening vs Chipotle post.
BOOZE IS ABOUT TO GET THE RETAIL TREATMENT
Retail is back? We keep asking but all signs say yes. “Moët Hennessy CEO Philippe Schaus has nothing against liquor stores and supermarkets, but he forecasts his customers want more. As a best-in-class example, he presented California-based Chandon Home, a wine-tasting destination in nature that features re-imagined tasting spaces.” Not completely clear how this ‘best-in-class’ example is different from any tasting room but love the sentiment.
DRUGS
CAN HOUSEPLANT MAKE COMETEER COMEBACK?
Houseplant’s brand isn’t bad. Their product design is solid. But this Cometeer ‘Wake and Bake’ collab felt like a bit of a stretch and apparently, Snaxshot didn’t disagree. Collabs have to make sense.
NYC DISPENSARIES ARE ABOUT TO EXPLODE
We were in NYC for a client walkthrough for a future (very exciting) cannabis dispensary this week (stay tuned). While in town we visited all four ‘big’ players (Travel Agency, Gotham, ConBud, and HousingWorks Cannabis Co, not mentioning MedMen for obvs. reasons.). Fun to see but so much room for great brands in this space.
CALIFORNIA SOBER = DRY JANUARY -> AfterSchool
“Cannabis had a strong start to the year due to Gen Zer’s observing Dry January. Bloomberg calculated that Verano, Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, Tilray, and Canopy Growth are expected to grow revenue in the first quarter by 6% on average, and states such as Oregon and Colorado saw recreational weed sales jump in January.”
PSILOCYBIN IS MAINSTREAM NOW -> Feed Me
Mainstream not because moms are opting for it over boozy happy hours but because the Wall Street Journal is writing about it. Hopefully, this rollout is not as haphazard as the legal cannabis rollouts.
RETAIL
NEWSFLASH: DON’T TEACH CUSTOMERS TO WAIT FOR SALES
Petit Bateau is a classic. Honestly, it deserves to be more loved, they have great product. They do smart things like pajamas-as-costumes (100% would buy good PJs that could double as a comfy costume). But they also mark down like mad. And consumers know it. So here we are, waiting to use Carnevale sales to buy early Halloween costumes. Consumers won’t buy at full price if you ALWAYS mark down. Period.
MEDICAL IS THE NEW RETAIL EXPERIENCE
We said it last week: going to the doctor is the new after-brunch activity. In yet another cab (lots of learnings from cabs rides this week) Modern Age seems to be making Botox a high street affair—smart since it’s booming (market expected to grow to $10.62 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period).
ESPRIT RETURN DID NOT DISAPPOINT
Seeing this interview reminded me yet again of how much we all wanted the Esprit comeback to be glorious (it should be so good!). But that Abbot Kinney store, wow, not the answer we were all looking for. Can’t state this strongly enough: hire a lighting designer. This Printemps collab could not be more yawn.
BURBERRY IS OK WITH WRINKLES APPARENTLY
That’s unkind but seriously the fabric wrap on this Burberry @Harrods pop-up breaks my heart. But does it hurt more than it being lost on Tiktok because it’s a recycled tagline from their Tiffany’s Blue pop-up is the question. Meanwhile, Prada did this—now that’s cute. Granted a very different location but in researching these I seemed to have fell into a luxury pop-up rabbit hole and found this Dior winner.
B2B
YOUR B2B BUSINESS COULD BE A MEDIA EMPIRE
This Turner Novak interview with Craig Fuller is fascinating. If you think B2B shouldn’t think creatively when it comes to marketing this will prove you wrong. Maybe marketing IS the business.
ADS
CORONA GOT TAX CREDITS FOR FILMING IN PR—BUT DIDN’T REALLY
Bloomberg reported this week that Corona filmed their 2020 “La Vida Más Fina,” commercial with Bad Bunny and got huge tax credits for filming in Puerto Rico. A costly way to make jobs, though not unheard of. But what feels very shady (and a shame) is that only the landscapes and plates were shot in PR, but Bad Bunny and Snoop Dog shot their bits in LA. No wonder advertising gets a bad rap.
COACHTOPIA IS ON A MISSION BUT IT MIGHT NOT BE RESONATING
Coachtopia is Coach’s sustainable line (using waste scraps etc.). They made a docuseries to share the mission but coverage seems mostly to be sponcon. Casey, who knows Gen-Z, thinks they’ve misunderstood the assignment. “It always bums me out when brands funnel a lot of money into high-production content — which almost never resonates with young consumers — when there are so many creators who are genuine fans of the brand and can help share whatever message they’re trying to communicate in a much more authentic way…On TikTok, the videos average around 1K views, which is pretty lackluster for TikTok.”
Usually, Saucony is great. Their shoes are cool. But wow, this ‘Marathumb’ campaign is cringe. Zero engagement and not elevated. What in the what is this VI about?! Meanwhile, Tracksmith is making beauties like this.
WHERE ARE ALL THE LUNAR NEW YEAR ADS?
Pretty surprised at the lack of big Lunar New Year ads. Wondering if this is because it’s falling later in the year and overlapping with Black History Month? Overlap with the Super Bowl? Or because of the China downturn? These illustrations for Selfridges are nice. But did a lot of digging and didn’t find anything of note. Last year McDonalds did this and it was pretty cool. This year? Nothing it seems. There’s no shortage of good collaborator options but brands don’t seem to be ready for Year of the Dragon.
Does this fall under ad? Maybe. Not much to say other than this Rhode phone case is genius.
FUN FOLLOWS
It’s not new but absolutely love this series by Who Gives A Crap
Not new either but adore this account
The NY Public Library behind-the-scenes posts are fascinating
Not going to lie, I like the sphere.
Loving this Swiss illustrator.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
This ‘who is Usher’ primer for the youth
Fully here for the kid red carpet reporting trend.
This comment from Jean Madar, chairman and CEO of InterParfums Inc: “Mental health is so important to this generation…Fragrances that create mood-boosting, positive emotions are a big purchase driver.” CEOs jumping on the mental health bandwagon is one of the best topic
This whole section from Trung Pham on the Apple Vision Pro and all the memes.
That’s all folx. Happy weekend!
It’s hard to make these short!