Apple's holiday ad is a tearjerker
Plus: Amazon's home goods sales are about to skyrocket, and thank you
Morning,
I hope this email finds you in a relaxed, satiated blur. Save it for Monday if you’re still in vacay mode.
This year, I’m grateful for all the kind, inspiring, and generous people this letter has introduced me to. Truly, when you reach out to say hi, it makes my day. Thank you.
If you only read one thing in this letter I recco: PRIME VIEWING.
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
DELIGHTFUL CHRISTMAS -> Ryan Pearson // Holiday campaigns are good this year. Coperni had this delightful ad—love. Ralph made AI-powered windows—so cute. And, Apple came out with this super emotional holiday ad—tearjerker. One that didn’t hit for me? Michael Kors. Using ‘It’s Lit’ for a tagline in 2024 is not ok—naughty list.
MIDDLE IS MID // People aren’t buying middle-of-the-road products. Bargains, yes. Premium, yes. The lackluster between? Nope. For example, a high price point without high-quality ingredients or nutrition is not resonating. Consumers want their dollars spent well or to go far. We’re in the midst of a big awakening for mass-market brands.
EXCLUSIVE SALES // Newsletters are changing where we shop. This year,
held a ‘private sale’ with “exclusive discounts from brands that have never advertised, and as a rule don’t run, sales.” If you work for a brand—in any category—and are not tracking this, you should be.PARADE REVIVAL // Brands are having fun with parades. Rao’s had a Pasta Knight float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Haribo got in on the action. Elf, Graza, and Liquid IV all made fake floats that got very real likes. But the best of all was Dude Wipes introducing a ‘Poo Crew’ following some horses in Chicago—hysterical and clever.
F&B
BUILD-A-BUCKET // Fast food sales are in a slump. KFC is grasping at straws. This week, they partnered with Build-A-Bear (who are definitively not in a slump) on a collab. Initially, I read ‘Stuffed Chicken Legs’ and ‘Chicken Leg Pajamas,’ and I thought we were getting Jelly Cat vibes—could have been good. Then I saw the bear-head-bucket-body situation and was lost for words. How does this happen?
MODERN SLIM FAST // Hims & Hers, now a leader in GLP-1 sales, has launched a meal replacement line. Starting at $110/month, customers can get bars and shakes delivered along with their meds. The shakes will have 27-30g of “high-quality protein.” These guys are just printing money.
DRUGS & BOOZE
ALL-IN ON ALL-IN -> AfterSchool // All-inclusive bookings are up 324% on Fora. Hotels.com saw a 60% bump in searches for the same thing. More than 40% of Gen Zers said an all-inclusive was their preferred hotel type, more than any other generation. If you’re a booze brand worried about declining sales, here’s your audience.
LOVE CONQUERS ALL // A reader share! A high-end, adaptogenic, N/A sparkling wine by Waris Ahluwalia. Looks cool.
SILVERS, ALPHAS & ZS
BIG GAME // Toys “R” Us is back. They opened 24 new stores in 2024. And now they're getting into showbiz. They are making a family-friendly competition show with “larger-than-life challenges” around iconic toys and games. Parents of Alphas grew up on Guts (or The Crystal Maze if you’re UK-based) so this will resonate.
PRIME VIEWING -> AfterSchool // Amazon Prime announced they are sponsoring Season 2 of the viral TikTok show Boy Room. The show will be an Extreme Home makeover show, all done with Amazon furniture and decor—pure genius. More brands should be thinking like this.
RETAIL
BALLY IS BACK // The CCO of The RealReal says Bally is making a comeback. Bally’s been going through a revamp since 2022. The work is paying off.
EILEEN’S DREAM -> AfterSchool // Eileen Fisher wants to target Gen-Z? Frankly, this strategy makes zero sense. With their price point and reputation, they should focus on gaining relevance with Silvers—who are fast becoming the biggest and wealthiest demo every brand is insane to ignore. With styling like this, though, they are appealing to neither demo. This is a brand I’d love to help. The bones are good.
TARGET’S OFF THE MARK -> AfterSchool // Walmart’s winning lately. They are fast becoming a mass-market-shoppy-shop, and it’s working for their bottom line. Target, on the other hand, is not. Target is a brand, like Starbucks and Nike, that has 9 lives—I’d bet on them. Everyone’s blaming prices, but here’s my take: They aren’t giving us a reason to buy (and they are stuck in the middle). The former queens of collabs have not had a good ‘must-shop drop’ in years. Target used to be a beacon for culture. They can right this ship. It’s solvable.
shared a great stat from Hill House Home. In April, HHH opened its Charleston location. “In the months since then, this location has jumped from #32 on ecom to #20 ranked city on ecommerce.” This halo effect is very real. If you want to justify IRL expansion, this is it.TECH
USEFUL AI -> Natasha Ellis // O2, a global telecom brand, is using AI in the best way. They’ve created a human-like AI ‘Granny’, Daisy, to answer calls in real-time from fraudsters, keeping them on the phone and away from customers for as long as possible. At least in the UK, scam calls are a huge issue, especially for Silvers. Love this.
SPORT
F1 FUN -> Offball // F1 had a big weekend in Vegas. Brands turned out. Dermalogica, Patron, WhatsApp, Evian, Tommy Hilfiger, amfAR, and more. F1 has huge brand potential. Tommy’s snagging Hamilton for the occasion has to be the most impressive of this bunch, no one quite nailed a viral-worthy activation.
WELLNESS & BEAUTY
BOTOX IS BEAUTY // Botox is no longer a ‘procedure’, it’s now viewed as a beauty treatment. It’s been destigmatized.
THE SNOB EFFECT // The internet, and
, think that GLP-1’s ubiquity will make being skinny undesirable. Rex coined it the ‘snob’ effect. Once the masses can have something, the elite don’t want it. Take filler, now that it’s widely available and affordable, celebs are dissolving them. What’s next? “Some TikTok users think that with Ozempic widespread, muscled bodies will be in. You can’t fake hours in the gym or a pricey personal trainer.”WINTER ARC -> AfterSchool // Every year we get a health hack/accelerator for the holidays. Years ago, it was Whole 30. Last year, it was 75 Hard. This year we have Winter Arc. It’s a little choose-your-own-adventure, but commonalities include high-protein diets and increasing workouts. Health hacks are never out of style.
TRAVEL
HELSINKI IS FOR BADASSES // "Nobody in their right mind would come to Helsinki in November. Except you, you badass. Welcome." If you need a dose of fantastic OOH, this is for you.
SEE YOU IN SPACE // “Venture investors are ramping up bets on space and deep tech, including robotics, satellites, and startups using heavy engineering.” The Bezos-Musk bug is contagious.
FUN FOR THE WEEK
Does the WSJ have a beef with LoveEvery? This is quite the headline.
The next big play for VCs is turning their investments into content.
Violette FR’s new Eye Magique Set—stick-on acrylic eyeliner jewels—are the new glitter freckles.
Saint Laurent is releasing six short films based on Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. I know Gen-Z loves reading but this is quite heady. MiuMi’us book pop-up made more sense.
A guide to Art Basel activations. Are you going?
IKEA made a pop-up where you can customize their iconic Frakta bag—fun.
That’s all, folx.
-Chris
If you read this and liked it, that little heart is there for that. The algo and I appreciate it.