Jingles are making a comeback

Plus: The Olympics are delivering & People want to watch brands do ordinary things

Morning,

Coming at you from a flight with no functioning outlet and a toddler with a dying iPad—it could get interesting.

Also, a big thank you to those that share this letter, especially on LinkedIn. It’s very kind. Lots of new people here because of you. Hi, all! Excited to have you.

If you only read one thing in this letter I recco: OGX MADE A BOP. Are we in a new jingle era? Then follow it up with PEOPLE ARE WATCHING THE OLYMPICS because it’s nice and timely. 

As always, the lens of this letter 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

YOUR ORDINARY IS EXTRAORDINARY //

Rachel Karten

’s letter about ‘using your ordinary’ to be extraordinary was so good. She packed it full of examples (subscribe—she’s worth it). Take this video Wild Rivers Waterpark (400K views) and this post from The Natural History Museum about vacuuming the 21,000-pound blue whale model. People love to be amazed. Even more, they love to see things they are usually never allowed to see. Something to lean into.

SOBER, ON A JOURNEY OR IN BETWEEN // In trends, the pendulum usually swings both ways, simultaneously—such a good insight into insights! Take soberism and psilocybin. Both growing trends, both speaking “to an emergence of radical wellness and desires for self-understanding, just as different, extreme manifestations.” Worth remembering: if there’s a big trend, look for the pendulum. The real gem can be the commonality. 

F&B

CHAMPS NOT CELEBRATING -> Feed Me //  LVMH’s champagne sales are down 15%. LVMH’s assertion that it’s because no one is ‘celebrating’ is funny. My take? Champagne isn’t having fun. I regularly roll up to kids’ birthday parties and people are popping magnums for the parents. But it’s not champagne, it’s TrentoDoc (Italy’s Chamapgne equivalent). Magnums = fun. Spritz = fun. If you want people to celebrate with you, fun is essential. 

TIERING AS A BUSINESS MODEL // So many brands say it’s too costly to train employees due to turnover. But what if you built retention into your business model? USHG (Danny Meyer's group) has done just that and it’s working. The key? Somewhere to go when you grow. And because they have they can retain the best staff, they keep growing. Something to think about / I love a hand-drawn infographic:

ALPHAS & ZS

GIRLS JUST WANNA BLEND IN -> AfterSchool  // The WSJ must read

Casey Lewis

. Casey wrote about Gen-A megastar, Demetra Dias, the 17-year-old girl, in her past weekend’s newsletter. Demetra has 2.8M followers and 204.7M likes. She’s hugely influential with the Alphas. She also only wears low-rise jeans and basics. If you want to know what’s happening in back-to-school land, this is where I’d start. Preview: it’s very #mallcore. 

RETAIL

WALL STREET BUT MAKE IT MORE PARISIAN // Printemps opening in NYC in a building in Fidi and it will be “a concept store.” Interesting. And here people are saying the department store is dead. The rebranding/redevelopment of FiDi into one of the city’s biggest shopping districts is fascinating. Currently, it that is all feels very disconnected. Maybe a Parisian influence will help.

DANCING OUR WAY BACK TO SCHOOL // Back-to-school is still big, despite what forecasts say. I’m of the perspective that parents are just in a more continuous buying cycle. It’s less driven by one moment. Frankly, I’m surprised more retailers haven’t gotten into the ‘start of camp’ season for example (a big ‘buy time’ for my parent friends). But that said, I enjoyed this Walmart campaign. All fun. Not much sell. Good/relevant casting.

WAS IT A LEAK OR WAS IT A TEASE? // Lots of buzz this week when a TikToker appeared to leak Gap x MadHappy collab. Hard to believe it wasn’t on purpose. Neither brand is mad about it. As has been the theme of Gap lately—wisely—the collection draws on its iconic roots. “Noah Raf, cofounder of Madhappy, said the team went into the Gap archives in New York and focused on fleece and down from 1990-99.”  

DELOITTE WANTS YOU TO BRING YOUR KIDS // 85% of parents will splurge and stretch their budgets for a must-have brand their kid wants. 61%, said their kid’s preferences influence them to spend more. Deloitte’s recco? Create “fun and memorable shopping experiences for children” to encourage impulse purchases. I did say brands should study toy stores. 

THE ROLE OF RETAIL CHANNELS //

Ana Andjelic

is a solid follow. This letter on the role of retail channels was solid too. My top takeaways:

• Physical retail: “Ask: what can a physical store do that no other retail channel can?” —YES

• Pop-ups: “Have a strong and single-minded point of view. Miu Miu recently launched Summer Reads popups across the globe, offering only a selection of books. In its heyday, Glossier was known to have pop-ups with only one product.” —YES again. Especially for social. Regular retail could take notes here.

• Websites: “Websites are increasingly losing relevance to online marketplaces, but every brand still has one.”—SO true. A powerful thing for brands to consider. 

TECH

WHAT’S UP? WHATSAPP // Everyone loves Rex’s ‘10 chart’ series, if you don’t follow, do it for that. Americans (finally) love Whatsapp?! About time. Rex thinks we‘ll “see a new generation of startups building on WhatsApp like Winedrops, Jem and Visito are already doing. This is much more akin to how many apps operate in Asia. Perhaps Whatsapp is a gateway drug.

SUBSTACK IS THE NEW TALENT POOL //

Ochuko Akpovbovbo

covered both of these in her letter this week. 1) Jess Graves, of the substack The Love List, hosted a pop-up for fashion week. Read: Substackers are becoming the new influencer talent pool. 2) There’s a new Substack-native creative community called saloon. It’s intended to be a “hub for people in media & PR, fashion & beauty, editorial, food & beverage, and events. Julia, the founder, wants it to become a “curated and glammed-out Craigslist”.  Read: Substack the newer, cooler, Linkedin.

MAYBE AI WILL HELP? // “Ask the Google search bar what car you should buy, and the answer you get is dependent upon whoever is spending the most money on ad buys for your keywords or even based upon the time of day. However, ask an online car community what car you should buy and they’ll ask: What was the last car you owned, what’s your budget, where do you live, how many kids do you have, what are your top three priorities, and how often do you commute?” AI will scrape this data and give us these answers (though the community must keep fueling it). Something to seriously consider as you think about search. 

SPORT

PEOPLE ARE WATCHING THE OLYMPICS // Viewership is up 83% from the last games! Mark you cals for LA. Get those pop-up leases signed. A few finds from my feed from the games (aside from the memes which —unsurprisingly—dominated): 

• Gold: All the athletes. They brought their A-game content -wise. Ilona Maher as the shining star. Let this be your cue to watch the trials (and social) to see who’s rising to the top before LA.

• Silver: Jacquemus. Just so good.

• Bronze: Onitsuka Tiger. The venue (for this particular Olympics) and live painting moment.

• Noteworthy:

  • Chagee becoming a household name 

  • Brands could work with this guy in a fun way. This has 86M views.  

  • Props to whoever orchestrated this bizarre but meme-goldmine situation with Snoop.

  • Love this artist’s view of it all. So good.

• Not noteworthy? PG’s Grooming bar. What happened here?!

WELLNESS

BLAKE IS LATE //

Ochuko Akpovbovbo

won with this comment on the whole thing: “I actually believe this [took 7 years] because if that brand logo was designed anytime in the last two years, it would have a lot less lines.“ I chortled.

ULTA WANTS ALPHA // Ulta Beauty is seeing The Sephora’s success with Gen-A and bringing back its private label line Ulta Beauty Collection. There will be 700 SKUs—wow. I predict we’ll see the rise of private label ‘cool’ brands. I’m seeing a lot more effort being made. The rebrand here isn’t revolutionary but does make a huge difference.

OGX MADE A BOP // People actually like this song that Demi Lovato made for OGX. Check the comments. It’s catchy. This is a brave move. It’s hard to write good songs. But with so many songs no longer allowed on social, it’s an interesting idea. Wonder if we’ll see more of it.

A CLEAR STAR -> As Seen On // Starface is expanding. Last week it was a new category (lip gloss/make-up), this week it’s clear patches. They are coming for everyone who thinks they are too old for the patch trend. Just like Brandy Melville, they are planning for when you ‘age out’.

TRAVEL

SOUTHWEST IS LOSING IT’S IDENTITY // If you’re known for something, like REALLY known for something, be very careful when you change it. SouthWest’s class-less boarding system wasn’t for everyone but it was core to the brand (and the vibe). Bottom-line decisions are important but if you want to add a paid tier, why not do it in a way only YOU would do it versus becoming just like everyone else? especially when everyone isn’t all that impressed with everyone else.

FUN FOR THE WEEK

• Guaranteed to see some more Jude Bellingham campaigns (that don’t interfere with his non-compete).

• Media < Influencers 

• Listerine sponsored the cleaning of two historical landmarks and documented it for social. Wish it was less branded but I like the idea.

• Graza got the kid message.

• 2nd and 3rd order benefits make for fun ads.

• A car brand needs to partner with this dude. I wish car commercials had this much fun and got over their panoramic-curvy-roads-era.

• Obsessed with this. The way this guy shoots is magic. 

• The Sandy Liang x Salomon collab is great. How they higher production assets and UGC in this post is nice. 

• Someone work with this woman.

• A brand could interpret this in a fun way. What’s your lore?

• For your next July 4th or New Year activation.

• I don’t hate this from Fendi. At least it’s funny.

• People are just looking for fun things to do. Brands could play with this (or sim).

That’s all, folx!

If you feel inclined to hit the heart, the algo likes it and I appreciate it.