A very demure, very mindful newsletter

Plus: Whole Foods' founder has a new venture & everyone is poaching CEOs

Aug 18, 2024

Morning,

Welcome new readers!

If you only read one thing in this letter I recco: DON’T DRINK AND DIVE. Followed by SEE THIS HEADLINE: VERY DEMURE, VERY MINDFUL just in case you’ve been offline this week and need to understand what the hell is happening on your feed.

Last week on the podcast we dove deeper into Intergenerational marketing, give it a listen.

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.

Let’s dive in!

CULTURE

SWIFT BRAND LOVE → Ali Kaltman // When Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna were abruptly canceled, Swarovski took the lemons and made lemonade. Already popular among Swifties for crafting Taylor's tour bodysuits, Swarovski impulsively offered free necklaces to all Swifties with canceled concert tickets. The result: 50 million views and counting. I love this type of brand love.

SECOND TIER IS FIRST RATE-> Feed Me // Dallas is getting popular. With no state taxes and a lower cost of living, investment bankers and finance workers are moving there in droves. Glossier is also about to open a store in Dallas—as good of a signal as any that it’s on the up.

SEE THIS HEADLINE: VERY DEMURE, VERY MINDFUL // This was the most popular thing on the internet this week. What I found very interesting is that it made the cross over from TikTok/Insta on LinkedIn—and resonated. Here are a few more examples of how people and brands are using it: here, here and here.

F&B

GOOD WITH GLUTEN -> Snaxshot // We all knew the tide would turn but ‘gluten’ is no longer a bad word. Newly launched Sorry Nonna, is a pasta sauce with Gochujang added. And it proudly exclaims that it is full of gluten. There’s a growing ‘anti-Goop’ movement and this is just one example.

SOME OF YOUR FINEST LOCAL WATER, PLS // Snaxshot had a fun deep dive into the future of water. Short story: People want hyper-local sources. There’s a growing backlash against brands importing water from overseas. Liquid Death even changed its water source because of it. Brands like Larq and Bobby are using ‘local’ as a value prop.

ALPHAS & ZS

HERE COMES THE VERY HER BRIDE -> As Seen On // Weddings are getting a Gen-Z overhaul. The vibe is: effortless. Instead of giving every detail the full treatment, the energy is more informal. They are more focused on representing their interests/passions than in feeling cohesive and overdone. This certainly tracks with everything we see on social with this demo.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL IS LIKE PROM -> As Seen On // Love this series by the LA Times. And love how into the jewelry the boys are. We also asked our very own Alpha’s what was cool right now—enjoy! YouTube is popular with this crew too.

RETAIL

BIG SHIPS TURNING -> Feed Me // Starbucks poached Chipotle’s CEO and Victoria’s Secret took Savage Fenty’s top exec. What’s distinctive is that both new players have deep roots in their industries. In retail specifically, despite drastic changes over the last 2 decades, there are still a lot of fundamentals that outsiders have a hard time grasping quickly, so this could be good for VS. As Kirsten wrote this week, speed is a thing and expertise helps.

TECH

AI’S EVOLVING // As the article says, this is not a particularly complicated post. It gives some fun examples of how far generative AI has come since 2022.

BRANDS ARE PICKING UP ON PINTEREST // Pinterest is getting popular with Gen-Z. Pinterest, In my opinion, is also a good channel in a downturn. It is a platform you use prior to purchase/action, and actions signal strong intention. Ie. ‘I want a tattoo, let me pin things before I do it’. That said, I still think their search accuracy with your taste could improve. It will with AI and then you’ll see this platform pick up even more.

SPORT

DON’T DRINK AND DIVE // 1-in-4 drowning in the UK is alcohol-related. Malibu Rum teamed up with Olympic diver, Tom Daley on a fabulous campaign to encourage water safety. The campaign takes advantage of Daley’s passion for knitting in the best way ever. And mixed humor with activism. I love it too much.

WELLNESS

ONLY SPENDING ON SPENDY -> As Seen On // Apparently, beauty sales are down. But the one sector that’s doing ok is prestige brands, especially fragrance. This aligns with a trend we’re seeing in Alpha purchases too. They are buying fancier products than ever before.

FROM WHOLE FOODS TO WHOLE HEALTH // The founder of Whole Foods, John Mackey has started a whole health club called Love.Life (the name kills me). The concept isn’t new but the size of the facility is notable—45,000sqft is a big space! “With expert practitioners spanning 20+ disciplines onsite, the offerings reflect the "best of" Eastern and Western modalities and emerging science.” Sounds like they’ll offer many of the wellness trends I’ve mentioned, from biomarkers, to microbiome health, to weight training.

BEAUTY NEVER GETS OLD // Dove’s new campaign features all over 60s—which I love. My complaint is that they feel a bit like caricatures but that’s the vibe of the campaign. It’s a departure from Dove’s long sentimental streak.

FUN FOR THE WEEK

New sports at LA28. Hopefully they fare better than break dancing.
Also love this LA28 logo with custom changing A’s by artists and athletes.
This illustrator’s Olympics illos are great.
And then this 3D artist is a mom and love her work.
These Nike illos are fun too (all the same rep).
A new study found that a customer’s intention to buy a product was “significantly lower” if AI was mentioned in its description.
Cute idea by Claudalie for DIY OOH. Obviously just staged for social in this case.
Tory Burch collab’d with photographer, Walter Schels, on their latest collection.
Bathrooms are people’s favorite spots in restaurants. This is not news but these bathrooms are fun and worth seeing.
Dolly Parton is launching a cosmetics line, "Dolly Beauty."
Dyson is launching headphones.
Arcteryx built a makers space in Japan.
Don’t worry about Alpha boys. Also this content is addictive and could be fun for a brand content.
Gap using AI art to make an announcement is not that novel. But sharing the BTS of the process is very engaging.
Speaking of BTS, loved this from IKEA.
This potter makes things that look like they are made out of corrugated cardboard. A brand should collab.
Big snacks just got bigger. Kellanova agreed to be acquired by Mars.
Baggu’s collab with Hanna Anderson cute. A graphic, not-too-sweet mommy-and-me set = nice touch.
Rothy’s did a shop-in-shop at Liberty of London.
Madison Avenue shopping is back.
Banana Republic opened a new ‘lifestyle concept’ store with “on-site services that encourage lingering” at Westfield Century City.
Love these Cartier ‘sculptures’ so much.
Spanx founder, Sara Blakely, launched Sneex. There aren’t words for this.
A fantastic deep dive by Snobette comparing who Complex thinks are the top sneaker collaborators versus people in the scene.
Sofia Grainge is launching a baby line with Amazon.

That’s all, folx!

-Chris

PS. The algo really likes it when you hit the heart. Thank you if you do.