Brands are into nudes lately
Plus: Flamingo Estate collab'd on a toilet
Morning,
A short and sweet letter this weekend because my daughter is turning 4 on Saturday and rainbow/unicorn/dragon birthday cakes don’t make themselves.
To make up for it, I included a link to a deck I made recently on the sexual wellness landscape.
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
EVENTUALLY EVERYTHING BECOMES PORN -> The Hustle It’s probably more accurate to say everything starts as porn. AI erotica is not new. But OpenAI exploring these waters is. They claim they’ll be ban deepfakes. But beyond that what they’ll allow users to do is TBD. I enjoyed this quote in particular: "Depends on your definition of porn," she said. "As long as it doesn't include deepfakes. These are the exact conversations we want to have."
The little sexual wellness landscape deck I promised.
F&B
HOWARD CALLED OUT STARBUCKS -> The Hustle Starbucks had a rough quarter and had to slash its forecast. Howard Schultz (who is no longer directly involved in the company) had feelings. His main points? The stores, specifically in the US, have lost their magic. The mobile app experience no longer feels good (agreed) and they need to “focus on being experiential, not transactional.” Excited for Starbucks to do something with this advice. I’m not ashamed to say I’m a big Starbucks person though since moving to Italy my attendance has waned. Starbucks, if you're reading I’d love to help.
PASS ME A CAN (OF OLIVE OIL) -> Snaxshot -> Feed Me The kings of format marketing, Graza, released a refill ‘bottle’ packaged up in a beer can. Since aluminum is infinitely recyclable people liked the sustainability angle (especially since many don’t love Graza’s plastic bottles). But
had some characteristically smart observations about it. My favorite was: “That bottle you’re refilling better be 100% empty or else you’re going to have a 25% full can of olive oil in the back of your fridge next to the 25% full iced coffees.”DRUGS
CANNABIS BUSINESSES PAY 80% TAX ON REVENUE Ouch. Most of this article goes into all the things MedMen did to lose 92% of their value. But it also adds detail to the benefits of cannabis being reclassified. If they do move cannabis from Schedule 3 to 1, businesses will be able to write off expenses, which they can’t do currently. Maybe this sector will heat up again after all.
RETAIL
WES ANDERSON FLOP ERA? Writing this hurt a little. This Montblanc campaign could should have been iconic. HiringWes Anderson to create hysterical and stunning content for a brand milestone in a brand’s history, centered around a timeless and emotional product—the pen, should have been great. How could it have not been great? Why was it not?
FLAMINGO ESTATE IS TAKING OVER YOUR HOUSE There are very few brands that can collab on a toilet and make it make sense. Flamingo Estate is one of them. Somewhat odd it’s only on Kohler’s feed but the comments are excited (FE might just be getting through their Mother’s Day marketing efforts?) Colored toilets/sinks are back guys. I saw the internet’s favorite mom/homemaker,
looking at some out this week if that tells you anything.STUDS IS GETTING FANCY -> AfterSchool The geniuses behind the term ‘Earscaping’ (so good) and fellow lovers of experiential, Studs have opened a new concept store: Fancy Studs. The store (which looks very much like a Flamingo Estate store) will sell 14K gold and lab-grown diamond jewelry. All the pieces are under $400 so they aren’t going for full luxury but maybe they want to grab a slightly older demo a la Maria Tash.
SCENTED RETAIL IS BACK -> Feed Me Stores, casinos, and hotels are getting people to stay longer by pumping the room with pleasant-smelling scents. It’s like we’re back in the early 2000s. That aside, scented retail always makes me think of the article ‘Confessions of Smell Designer’ about a scent designer who once dropped a cookie fragrance they made for Mirage all over a cab and the cab driver wanted more.
TECH
TECH LIKES TRUMP NewComer’s stance is tech companies supporting Trump is ‘beyond the pale’ and ‘shortsighted’—phew. But that’s not stopping many tech companies from attending a “MAGA-tinged” tech Hill summit—ugh. Why the uptick in support for he-who-shall-not-be-named? 1. Venture capital is very into defense tech right now (read: government contracts), 2) China’s tech industry has an unbalanced advantage and companies want the government’s help with that 3) Elections and the never-ending bid for ‘I owe you one’s’.
SUBSTACK IS STEALING FROM TIKTOK -> Feed Me The alternative headline here could be: ‘Ultimately every social platform turns to video’. Substack launched a Creator Studio. They are partnering with Gymnasium’s Adam Faze (creators of Boy Room and other popular short-form entertainment) to kick it off. The comment section is mixed here. Many people seem disappointed that a writing-focused platform is going to video. Many are confused as to why they aren’t partnering with big Substackers to help them launch video versus trying to pull over creators from TikTok. The answers seem obvious but the feelings are valid.
SPORT
THE BRITISH DON’T WANT BOUGIE SPORTS “The unabashed attempts to Americanize the English soccer experience range from musical acts as pregame entertainment to the addition of club seats — with waiter service and lounge access — and members-only bars inside stadiums” is not going over well. London club Fulham is adding restaurants curated by a Michelin-starred chef, a street-level produce market, and a boutique hotel and spa with an outdoor swimming pool and fans as boycotting games. Change needs to feel natural and shouldn’t disregard your core fans.
THE OLYMPICS ARE DRIVING ACCESSIBILITY France made accessibility central to their 2024 Olympics bid but is having a hard time pulling it off. Only 4% of hotels are accessible by law—not impressive. But actually, it seems it’s not just an amenities issue. It’s a cultural one. “Despite the progress, one barrier to accessibility remains stubbornly persistent: public attitudes. “The law is not enough. We really need to change mentalities,” Ms. Ribes said. For example, cabs have refused to pick her up, she said, telling her that her wheelchair would dirty the vehicle’s interior. Last year, an Uber driver was accused of attacking a blind man for getting into his car with a guide dog. Since then, Uber has made its 40,000 drivers in France watch a short disability awareness video.” If anyone wants to start a business, they could provide consultation and services to make LA business more accessible. Trust, they not there right now.
WELLNESS
DO YOU SUFFER FROM DERMOREXIA? -> The Review Of Beauty Popular Reddit thread, r/SkincareAddiction, increased more than 60% in the past year. Some new research is even seeking to categorize certain cosmetic use as a “substance-related disorder.” Maybe next year’s wellness trend will be ‘product abstinence’? Overall, I’m seeing a gentle but growing backlash against lots of active ingredients and against terms like ‘anti-aging’ so I wouldn’t be all that surprised.
29 ROOMS AND BEAUTYCON COMEBACK? Refinery 29 bought BeautyCon (and is renaming it R29 BeautyCon). Apparently, “it's part of a broader plan to refocus Refinery29's business away from programmatic advertising and toward more products that can be monetized directly, such as events and branded services.” They are also going to bring back 29 Rooms. At the time, 29 Rooms was a pioneer, I hope they reinvent it in a big way and blow people’s minds again.
SWEHL BOUGHT BOOBS TO TIMES SQUARE Putting my deep dislike for the brand name aside, I love this campaign. Timely given Molly’s pregnancy. Taps into a growing market of pregnancy/fertility wellness. Has fun photography. So good. Especially for a small brand. Feels very Billie-esque.
YOU’RE ONLY $40K AWAY FROM GREATNESS -> The Hustle Equinox is partnering with lab-test company Function Health on a personalized health program focused on longevity. For $40K/year the ‘Optimized’ package gives you: tests for 100 biomarkers, and fitness tests including VO2 max, strength and movement range. Then a “concierge” pulls all the data together and helps the member design a personalized plan. For your membership, you’ll get 12 personal training sessions, 2.5hrs of sessions with a nutrition coach, 2.5hrs with a sleep coach, and 1 massage per month. The math isn’t crazy if you can afford it. But more importantly, this tracks with the trend of hyper-health facilities and preventative medicine being on the rise.
TRAVEL
CRUISE BUT MAKE IT NUDE -> AfterSchool Norwegian Cruise Line and Bare Necessities, a specialist nude cruise travel company, are collaborating on a nudist cruise called ‘The Big Nude Boat’. 2,300 nude passengers will begin to sail the Caribbean ocean this February. Niche tourism is a big thing and worth thinking about it.
FUN FOR THE WEEK
The caption about this new Talenti commercial.
BTS can be bigger than the original on TikTok. 10.6M versus 4.4M view (Neither shabby! Shay is always a good choice)
TikTok loves this North Korean propaganda bop=
This Ritz choreo/ ad is great content
Who Gives A Crap is giving away free mom tattoos with custom flash for Mother’s Day. Cute.
This comment about the new Apple ad. Obviously, you’ve been told to watch it backwards to make it better. Still a miss.
This Vittle post about DEI and the dangers of doing it half-assed is savage and a good reminder for brands.
Katy Perry sent an AI to the Met Gala
The Lisa Frank nails remind me of the Cava chip nails that remains one of my fave collab posts (a
winner I believe)This product update notification copy by Asana is copywriting at it’s finest
That’s all, folx! Happy weekend.
-Chris