Is Erewhon moving to Paris?
Plus: Bean companies are now cool, and members' clubs are getting weird.
Morning,
Hope everyone Stateside is enjoying the long weekend. I debated not hitting send because you shouldn’t be thinking about work. But my Euro/UK following is growing! I’m not going to leave 600+ of you all hanging. This one’s for you!
If you only read one thing in this letter I recco: EREWHON IN PARIS & BRILLIANT BEANS. And there’s a juicy FUN FOR THE WEEK if you’re feeling low on reading energy after the long weekend.
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
UNCANNY VALLEY // We’ve fully passed the uncanny valley threshold for AI-generated influencers, and it’s raising more than “authenticity” concerns.
recently raised concerns about the rise of “AI-generated digital blackface that’s emerging”. If you aren’t concerned, click the link. Gary V predicted that all brands will have AI influencers by next year. Take this as a call-to-action to think through your strategy now before you’re in ‘jump on the train’ head space and not thinking clearly.SLOW VS FAST // Building on
’s astute observation that brands need to decide if they are fast or slow, Kat Ober made an excellent chart clarifying the concept perfectly. While Kat says this is for a brand’s social strategy, I’d argue that it applies big picture, too. Where do you lie on the Trends, Culture, Community, or Brand spectrum?BESPOKE LOVE // The brands are going all out for Wimbledon with hyper personalised gifting. “Bose Corporation just showed up to Wimbledon without being a Wimbledon sponsor” by gifting Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton custom, all-white headphones designed by Grace Wales Bonner. Nike sent Filipina, rising star Alex Eala, a sampaguita hair tie before her game. And Lorenzo Musetti stepped onto court with a one-of-one white, woven Bottega Veneta jacket. Bespoke gifting isn’t new, but it’s leveling up.
MEMBERS ONLY //Members' clubs are getting very specialized. Selfridges just gained permission to build to offer an "exclusive new shopping and social destination for its most valued customers and members". Board Room, the sports meets finance media company founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman, announced theirs in March. Their features will include intimate networking events, keynotes with industry thought leaders and experts, event access at All-Star and Art Basel, and “access to Boardroom’s deep rolodex.” London hotel, the Mandrake, that we visited (and loved) on our GOOD THINKING LONDON TOUR, has CooC where members can enjoy “a world where glamour, hedonism, and decadence collide.” Or you can join Don Jr’s new $500K/year “republican-friendly” members club that shares a building with a TJ Maxx and a Gold’s Gym. Something for everyone, as they say.
F&B
BRILLIANT BEANS // Getting home on the late train from Glastonbury and wondering what on earth you’ll be able to scrounge up from dinner? Probably not, but many were. And the Bold Bean Co was at the station with a solution: the British equivalent of a PB&J: baked beans on toast. “Glasto-goers were nearly in TEARS” as their got their free beans on the way home. Love when brands think about how to be useful and make a moment of it.
FACE PLANT // Molly Baz’s empire is expanding. She’s now the Culinary Director of plant-based fast food burger joint, Face Plant. “99.99% of readily-available plant based burgers I’ve ever tasted simply aren’t delicious,” said, Baz. “I quickly realized that we could only succeed at meeting our goals if the food could taste as juicy, crave-able, finger-licking, and mouth watering-ly delicious as its real meat competition (read: IN N OUT)”. Love this level of brand thinking. Plant-based needs to shift the focus on being an ‘alternative’ and focus on just being great by their own merit. People are notoriously terrible at making good choices if the choices are inferior. The reputation for plant-based has been hit with many punches, so bringing in this type of credibility is very smart.
WELL WATER // “China’s young consumers have a new favorite drink…Gen Z is now reaching for sugar-free teas and traditional “yangsheng shui”—wellness water made with red beans, barley, mung beans, or corn silk.” “Beverage giants like Yili, Chi Forest, Hope Water, and Suntory are rolling out signature products. Retailers like Sam’s Club and Alibaba’s Freshippo are launching in-house lines with flavors like snow pear and loquat, or apple and astragalus.” The Chinese beverage space is fascinating.
DRUGS & BOOZE
BABY VIPER BITES -> Gloria // People are very into microdosing. Half of LA is experimenting with microdosing LSD. But now biohackers are experimenting with snake venom to induce “rapid healing.” There’s some scientific merit to the idea; one study showed that venom might be an effective treatment for strokes. How long until Erewhon is selling venom, do we think? But in all seriousness, the desire to explore alternatives to mass pharma and mainstream Western medicine (aka MAHA) is getting louder by the day.
SILVERS, ALPHAS & ZS
SMART SOLUTIONS // Ikea has released a new series, BÄSINGEN, offering beautiful solutions to bathroom grab bars and step stools with handles for Silvers. While not quite as sleek as Remsen’s, they are still great. Why? 1) While Silvers is one demo, they are marketing the products for a wider audience who can also benefit. Which makes them inherently cooler to Silvers. 2) A huge brand tackling real needs with good design is always a good thing.
SPOKEN WORD // If you’ve been here since January, you know the kids only do voice search. But that conversation is reaching a fever pitch. According to this summer school teacher, texting is now the equivalent of sending a pigeon—its voice or video and nothing else. The reason? It’s faster, clearer, and less incriminating. In a recent TED talk, the CEO of Synthesia (an AI video tool, so read: biased), Victor Riparbelli, went so far as to say that the written word could be completely replaced with audio, video, and immersive tech like AR and VR. The comment section was, unsurprisingly, revolted. But we should be ready.
RETAIL
LOST LULU //
reported this week that Lululemon is suing Costco over selling dupes. While the brand has been all over my feed for months with big activation after big activation, and I was hopeful, on the London Tour, we visited the new (huge) London flagship, and boy was it bland. Rather than going after Costco, LL needs to be focused on being un-dupe-able. Move some of that experience strategy in-store and push to be the bold brand we once fell in love with.TECH
LEADING ROBOTS // Robots now contribute to about 75% of Amazon’s deliveries around the world. Wow. They use DeepFleet, an AI model that coordinates the robots—cool and unsettling. They aren’t alone, though. Multinational food corporation, Cargill, is using Spot, the robot dog built by Boston Dynamics, to do patrols and safety checks. And Mercedes is using bots in Berlin and Hungary.
did tell you that the robot workforce was arriving and that “it’s delusional that American manufacturing is going to come back” in April.SPORT
THE RIGHT LENS // In time for the Women’s Euros, which is expected to be the biggest ever, Adidas released a documentary. The film stars Ballon D’Or winner and football phenom Aitana Bonmatí through the eyes of her childhood best friend, Maria. It’s a moving watch. This is how you do a ‘softer’ side of sport without making Zendaya an alien. Adidas also cast Samuel L Jackson for a spot this week. Who better to read a manifesto? They are on a tear. But back to the Euros, this Google Pixel mini-movie spot with the German team is fun, too.
WELLNESS & BEAUTY
SPERM RACE //
shared that the male infertility space is heating up. I predicted this would happen in my 2025 forecast. Legacy, one brand in the space, states that sperm quality declines sharply at 35. So expect more men to freeze their assets as women have been. Fellow is making at-home testing accessible. There are now even underwear for men, by a company called Snowballs, that claim to tackle fertility, too.EREWHON IN PARIS // Is Erewhon Paris on the horizon? They recently participated in an event at Le Bristol in Paris, alongside Deepak Chopra (this man never rests), and Claire Thomson-Jonville, the head of content at Vogue France. While France does have the best pharmacies, I’d argue they are best for skincare. You can certainly get supplements and potions, but the choice is more practical than aspirational à la Erewhon. Europe doesn’t have a ‘holistic powerhouse’ brand, and with the cross-ocean influence, this could work.
TRACKING TRACKERS // I wrote about how they are glucose monitors are a chic accessory back in my 2nd month of the letter. But a little wearable for tracking hormones is even better. One of the big barriers to perimenopausal HRT is the near-constant blood tests needed. I expect we’ll see a big uptick in treatment once that hurdle is gone.
TRAVEL
// The new Capital One Lounge at JFK has a Murray’s Cheese counter. You can do a 45-min cheese tasting—a perk only the early-bird dads and the delayed will get to use, but still. They are also bringing in fresh Ess-a-bagel dough daily to bake fresh bagels. While these are lovely, the future of lounges lies in Ammortal red-light loungers and mini-Cosms, though, right?LUXURY CRUISE YACHT // Ritz Carlton launched their latest super yacht, the Luminara, this week. The occasion was marked with the most celebrity-packed influencer trip ever. The strategy worked. Everyone from Ricky Martin to Anthony Poroski to Martha Stewart was there. My feed was overrun.
DESTINATION DUPE // The tone of this New York Post article is ridiculous, but the content is interesting. According to
, travelers are turning to “destination dupes.” 63% of U.S. adults are opting for these alternatives (Azores over Hawaii, Croatia over Italy), citing cost and crowd fatigue. And +25% of Gen Z say dupes feel “trendier” than the originals. Showing up to a cute spot with giant lines because of TikTok is giving us the ick. Beware.FUN FOR THE WEEK
This will get cut off. Read in the app or a browser. Happy clicking.
People are all about this Polaroid campaign on LinkedIn this week. It’s good.
Love these XL sketchbooks by Woset. The product scale photography is great.
Cute pop-ups: New Balance x CJ Hendry and Jo Malone’s in London.
The J.Crew brand trip turned campaign came out nicely.
Sephora made airdrops at the Valkyries game. Fun!
These Burberry vinyls are mesmerizing. Burberry has woken up. This is fun too.
Viewfinders are very in right now. We saw some at Cannes, too.
Does this mark the return of the ‘fun’ website?
Paris’ magazine stands are getting the Italian newsstand treatment.
Tracee Ellis Ross cast the cast of Girlfriends for Pattern Beauty’s first commercial. Love.
Ballerina Farm has landed in NYC at Happier Grocery. The comment section is giddy.
By law, I have to include one Rube Goldberg machine a month. Here’s a Wimbledon one.
This series needs a sponsor. Too funny. And, wow, this mom dance troop is amazing.
Stone Island painted a billboard with a real painting. Love.
This Lidl jacket is hysterical.
- says we are “seeking wisdom more than knowledge.” I agree.
Love the absurd posts this luxury reselling brand makes.
This
post on our proximity to AGI is v good. And reflects my own hunch.This is a good car ad. Especially for a minivan.
Rhode’s swag game is unparalleled
This had me in stitches. And this is stunning.
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.