Bandit Running is the new Nike we all need
Plus: A case for varying your packaging and why DiGiorno needs to be more unhinged.
Morning,
I hope this finds you a little sunburned, a little sun dazed and still relaxing. It’s always nice when 4th of July turns into an extra long weekend—even if the state of affairs is less than celebratory.
If you only read one thing in this letter (this is a new thing I’m testing) I recco: SPORT > UNBRANDED IS THE BRAND.
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
BUILDING ON OTHERS SUCCESS // Venroy recently made waves by making the most of an opportunity. Recently when Rhode had a pop-up, right outside of their store, they didn’t waste time. They hired shirtless male models in cute swim to hand out branded water bottles. And of course, they got into man Rhode-focused TikToks. Smart. Easy.
ANXIOUSLY WAITING FOR THIS BIZ // ‘The Anxious Generation’ is a book everyone is obsessed with at the moment. I have a few issues with it (as does this article) but I shouted YES when it got to the part about spaces designed for kids. Here’s what most parents I talk to want:
Places that serve food that also have good, fun entertainment like live music in the middle of the day
Places like obstacle courses/trampoline parks that aren’t a misery for parents. Well-designed, good food, good drinks.
Places you can be loud
Places for getting messy and making art that aren’t camps you have to sign up for
This is why the Camp stores are so popular. And they prove people are comfortable with brands sponsoring if they give us what we want.
WHY DO YOU BUY? // “Brands are a vessel of meaning.” Just read the post, it’s short. It’s good.
F&B
DIGIORNO IS UNHINGED -> The Hustle // DiGiorno have lost the #1 frozen pizza spot to Red Baron Fairly. And apparently, they are leaning into ‘chaotic pies’ to solve it. (Novelty items, rebranded?) Problem is, that their social is not chaotic good. I think the brand has potential (most do) but this brand has no clear personality. Unhinged brands are a lifestyle and you have walk the walk.
SAVE THE TEA // Tea shops are having a moment. But the good, old, regular English Breakfast is struggling to wake up. But again, look at any of these socials, from PG Tips to Lipton’s, and you can tell they aren’t set up to do younger, in fact the audience and the brands aren’t clear at all. But it’s possible. I love how Celestial Tea is both odd and yet wholesome.
ALPHAS & ZS
Zs LOVE THE TUBE // YouTube made a trends report. The most interesting points:
Context content is a big opportunity:” 66% of Gen Z Americans agree that they often spend more time watching content that discusses or unpacks something than the thing itself.”
Brands also should be influenced: “Closely follow what your fans are creating to get a better idea of what your audience is and isn’t responding to in your own content.”
Solo pursuits are big: “47 % of Gen Z report belonging to a fandom that no one they know personally is a part of.”
CHINA MARKET SLOW DOWN -> AfterSchool // Gen-Zs in China are gameifying saving, trying to save as much as they can. They are using ‘savings buddies’, ‘Saving aka barebones budget travel experiences.” Makes me worried for luxury brands.
RETAIL
KATE VS COACH -> AfterSchool // Kate Spade’s did collab with Heinz. Not only is this a weird choice, it also feels a little too Anya Hindmarch ‘inspired’. Kate’s due for a comeback but needs a new bag of tricks to get there. I’d also argue that beyond good TikToks Coach has 1-2 hero products. It wasn’t a novelty strategy, it was a hero strategy (combined with more relevant content, art direction, styling, and more). Kate used to do retail well, I’d love to see them return to their root but made for today.
KITH GOES BIG AT THE BEACH // Kith opened a new flagship in Malibu. It has a Treats bar, complete with a Nobu collaboration and the prerequisite surfboards. What stood out to me is it has a whole Kids section. Earlier this year Kith opened its second stand-alone Kids store in BK. As their audience age, they’ve leaned in. I said last week, kids stores were everywhere in Milan. I see this being a bigger part of retail strategy for a lot of brands.
MARKS & SPENCER’S SPARK OF GENIUS // If you don’t live in the UK then the cleverness of this campaign might be lost on you but for all of Britain, the reaction was overwhelmingly ‘give your partnership team a raise’. This week M&S launched a collaboration with two ultra-famous and uber-similar (but usually not connected) reality stars: Mark Wright and Spencer Matthews—get it?It’s unexpected, it’s clever, and they look good doing it. It’s a win.
SPORT
UNBRANDED IS THE BRAND // Bandit is such a fun company to watch, I love what they are doing. For the Olympics, they are doing it again with The Unsponsored Project (this is year 2). The premise is clever. Most big athletes are sponsored. But most new/young/unknowns aren’t. Those athletes have to purchase their own gear, which usually has a logo on it, effectively forcing them to sponsor brands that isn’t sponsoring them. Bandit is stepping in and giving all these unsponsored athletes free all-black, unbranded Bandit apparel that basically tells brands ‘I’m unsponsored, sponsor me’. Then if the athlete does well in trials and signs a sponsor, Bandit has given them an easy out-clause so they can go on to wear any brand they want—that’s paying them. I love it so much. Currently, there are 35 athletes running in all black looking for a sponsor—if you’re looking.
A SPORTING GENERATION -> AfterSchool // A new study says 50% and 48% of Gen-Z are watching the NFL (you can thank Taylor Swift) and the NBA, respectively. The MLB and NHL viewers are up too. But it’s not just viewing; it’s playing, too. Gen Z saw the biggest increase with 15% more people playing a sport. Brands should be excited about this.
WELLNESS
SUNSCREEN’S ON THE MENU // Dutch health insurer Zilveren Kruis launched a fun campaign to combat skin cancer. They partnered with restaurants and bars to put sunscreen on the menu—literally. When ordering a drink, customers can add a ‘shot’ of sunscreen if they forgot to apply earlier or need to reapply while enjoying their time outdoors.
interviewed Annie Krieghbaum. It’s a great read. If you have the time you’ll definitely learn a lot. Here was my fave nugget:“Strategically, if your brand has a ton of skus that all look the same (like The Ordinary), you’re not letting the packaging do any of the marketing for you. Your product stories are taking a back seat to brand recognition. It can be a confusing shopping experience to remember which little bottle was recommended on TikTok when they all look the same. Or someone might just scroll over a new launch announcement because it looks exactly like your existing products. With Soft Services, for instance, I wanted each carton to be a little billboard for the product inside—that was more important to me than cohesion for the sake of the core brand.”
Foxtrot (RIP) used this strategy very effectively with their in-house products and it was fun.
TRAVEL
SO LONG YOLANDA -> Feed Me // Yolanda Edwards, one of the big travel Substacks, has left the partform for her own site. “While Substack has been a great platform for our newsletters since we launched three years ago, as we’ve grown our contributors and content, we wanted a platform that could be as visual and as searchable as travel deserves to be (and should be). And we wanted to have all of our offerings under one roof.” Beehiv bought an AI web building product to prevent this. Search on Substack is pretty awful so they make a good point. For what it’s worth I think Substack could allow you to integrate things into a website you already have and that could be a start.
FUN FOR THE WEEK
Paul Smith made a Defender. Love a good color-blocked situation.
Nike launched a Women’s sport Zine, made by women.
I like using Goop for gifting idea (for some people) but this retail experience feels like the wrong direction for the brand. Maybe we need to go back to our yoni egg roots. That said Marin seems stoked in the comments and it’s the right location demo-wise.
Kid interviewers are trending and no one is mad about it.
Love that Burberry worked with this creator on a custom football. I’m shocked more brands haven’t done collabs with this guy
WSA is quickly becoming the ONLY set for fashion shoots says
Flamingo Estate made non-gross car fresheners
Supergoop hotel takeover in Montauk is well done.
Did you listen to our Milan retail 2024 review?
JCrew made The Bear merch and many love it but some wish for something more.
This could be a fun series for a brand. Picture these guys in better clothes.
Stunning. I wish more brands added work like this to their pop up mood boards, it would work.
This poetry pharmacy is adorable and another good activation inspired idea
This basket-weaving thing would be a hit for a campus or dinner party brand activation
“This is unfortunately a very clever use of deepfakes. Of course it came from J*ke P*ul’s new brand W.” What
saidI’m over this brat situation but this is somewhat funny
Need one of these at an activation for sure.
This would also be super cute for a food brand’s activation (and super affordable).
- ’s doing the lord’s work. Erewhon smoothies packed with 79 grams worth of sugar—not a good look.
Could be fun with outfitting images.
Tiger Woods mini golf (the comment section has feelings)
Netflix updated their famous culture memo
Enjoying this director
The sphere hosted the NFL draft. Wowza.
Dieux got my memo about products for +50s being a good idea:
This cover is amazing:
That’s all, folx!
- Chris