Nue Co claims their fragrance helps with alcoholism
Plus: Wicked made a wicked mistake, and Walmart is the new shoppy-shop.
Morning,
I’m working on a panel submission for SxSW London. I’m looking for fellow / best Europe-based Substackers. Any reccs? Drop them in the comments or hit reply.
If you only read one thing in this letter I recco: MASS HEALTH but don’t skip NUE CLAIMS.
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
WICKED MISTAKE // Truly, my heart is breaking for the poor production designer in the middle of this Mattel fiasco. Obviously, parents are not too thrilled—get that. But I’m also eager to know which hawk-eye parent with a penchant for porn spotted this. Because we all know you’d only notice if you’d been on the site.
POLITICAL HOPE? // Two things with a political slant: One by
(more below). The second is a highly optimistic take by . It disregards the societal implications but offers a ‘could this be ok for business’ perspective. The gist is that deregulation will lead to this generation’s space-race-level leaps. I remain doubtful. But I do love the optimism.F&B
piece on the similarities of Erewhon-going liberals and right-wing conservatives re: healthy food was a truly fascinating read. She ends on a note of optimism. The people leading this charge are not reassuring, but ultra-processed, under-regulated food is a massive problem, and there’s consensus growing around that—all sides.MASS HEALTH -> As Seen On // Speaking of healthy, Walmart has its sights set on the healthy consumer. They are introducing new sections like "Modern Soda," featuring health-focused brands like Poppi, Olipop, and Culture Pop; boosting Poppi’s SKUs from five to 17. Is Walmart the new shoppy-shop?
WONDER ROLL-UP -> The Information // Wonder, the food delivery company is in talks to acquire Grubhub. They recently acquired Blue Apron and delivery service Relay. They are coming for UberEats by owning the whole eco-system, product to door.
SWEET AND SALTY -> As Seen On // Sweetgreen is adding fries. With no seed-oils in sight—smart. I agree with Nazy; this will be an absolute hit. All that said, fries go well with salad, but stealing doesn’t. Their new Kale camo print seems to have been someone else’s idea first. Dear brands, just pay for the ideas.
BRAND BABY BRAND ->Brandiose // McKinsey is as bullish on well-branded private-label products as I am. The surge is not just price-driven, consumers are looking for quality and a good brand conveys that. “Sophisticated retailers are using private brands to differentiate themselves in the market and build customer loyalty.”
DRUGS & BOOZE
SHOPPING ADDICTS // China is all in on livestream video. The latest craze is “blind box livestreaming” which, put simply, is shopping-meet-gambling. Not that I would encourage brands to get into this but if Rhode did this with their products it would be a thing.
SILVERS, ALPHAS & ZS
THE GREAT GRANDMOTHER REBRAND // Martha Stewart is doing for Silvers what she did for homemaking: making them cool. She’s giving aging a glow-up. Pinterest gets it too. Their curated gift guide series features a grandma sharing what they want to be gifted. Hot tip: not dowdy sh*t. Burberry cast some cool silver in their holiday campaign. Silvers are changing, and their influence is underestimated.
NO GRANDBABIES // The comment section on this NYT post is captivating. Silvers are grieving the fact that they might not become grandparents—silently. The comment section says it’s anything but silent. The comment section has a LOT of gems.
RETAIL
SINGING PRAISES // John Lewis, the father of Christmas ads took a somewhat different approach this year. They kept it sentimental but moved away from larger social messaging. The most delightful things about this year’s are the cinematography and the song. Brands in 2024 are having big success with bringing back great nostalgic songs.
PRINCESS IN NYC -> AfterSchool // Princess Polly, an Aussie fast-fashion e-comm brand, is ramping up its brick-and-mortar locations. Frankly, it looks like Zara, but apparently, there are “Instagrammable spaces” and a “curation of unique furniture” for sitting while you wait. Anyone been?
VUORI GLORY // Vuori just raised $825M to hit a $5.5B valuation. They are targeting 100 US and 50 international locations in the next few years. This will be an unpopular opinion, but this has All Birds written all over it.
MEN’S MOVEMENT // Menswear has been having a moment ever since we emerged from pandemic capacity. LVMH just bought the Swedish menswear brand, Our Legacy, and
says that Ven. Space, an NY menswear store will “ it was probably the busiest store in the neighborhood besides Paisanos.” If you read 8-Ball by Sean Monahan, who coined ‘Norm Core’, you’ll know he’s predicting a Neo Yuppie rise. Think traditional but not nostalgic, structured clothes.TECH
CLONE YOUR EXPERTISE -> Digital Native //
says he expects “clones will be one example of category creation that emerges from AI, reinventing how creators connect with their communities.” Delphi is a company that lets you clone yourself. He made a clone of himself you can chat with. Experts will use this but the corporate value seems obvious, too. Delegate, and they’ll ask your clone for your POV.PARENTING ON CO-PILOT -> As Seen On // Andreesen Horowitz’s Justine Moore and
are bullish on AI tools for parenting. As I’ve written, co-pilots will soon be in every aspect of your life. It will be like saying you have a phone now—so obviously, I agree. I don’t think it solves the cost of childcare. Whoever cracks that will be the real hero. insight on AI’s future feels important: “At some point, the novelty of having ChatGPT create yet another personalized season of Game of Thrones will wear off. There will be no spoilers, no water cooler talk, no trivia nights. The whole social rationale for mass pop culture moments will have withered away. And that’s when people will realize: it’s no fun being an audience of one.”TIK TOK TIK TOK -> As Seen On TikTok is launching TikTokGo a tool to promote restaurants, retail businesses, the travel industry, and other online and offline businesses. Given what they have done for search, I’d be worried if I were Google.
SPORT
ANCIENT WORKSHOPS // Tonal, the at-home fitness tech brand, has a new ad. It depicts ‘ancient times’ and positions ‘old fashioned’ workouts as a horror. I’m not sure who this ad is targeting but it doesn’t hit for me. Gym memberships are up. People are into heavy weights. Something that spoke to squeezing in a weight session between two meetings makes much more sense for their audience.
TWIST N’ SETS // This staggering is staggering: 45% of Black women avoid exercise to keep hairstyles intact. Gymshark recently launched a "Twist n’ Sets" pop-up hair salon in Shoreditch, designed to support Black women in fitness. I’ve written about them working in this space before and I continue to love it.
WHOOP WHOOPI // Whoopi is launching a women’s sports network, AWSN—love it. OffBall had a long segment in their recent letter about all the new women’s leagues popping up from Lacrosse to cricket. It’s a big space. And now you’ll be able to buy ads here.
CHRISTMAS ON NETFLIX // Netflix has the rights to 2 exclusive live stream Christmas Day NFL games this year. It’s fascinating to see them getting into sports. They also streamed the Mike Tyson x Jake Paul fight last night. Sports are widely known to float media companies, and now Netflix has an ad tier and they plan to take advantage.
WELLNESS & BEAUTY
ONE OF A KIND HOLIDAY // Star Face has launched a Depop shop called Star Market for the holidays. It will sell one-of-a-kind goods made by small markers that are ‘friends of the brand. Star Face has a knack for reading the collective room so I’d think about this one-of-a-kind strategy.
SCALP CARE // CeraVe is getting into haircare. Think dandruff shampoo and hydrators. “One in two Gen Z has curly hair, and this is designed to meet their needs.” Which explains the scalp care products. The "skinification of hair” that’s been growing.
NUE CLAIMS // Nue Co re-released their Functional Fragrances with updated branding. I quite liked this brand in the past, but the new energy is strange. This post where they promote their Functional Fragrance as helping with alcoholism is particularly off-putting and strange.
FIRE SALES // Two interesting things in the ‘sale’ department. 1) Dieux posted a ‘transparent’ guide to their Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale. Pretty counter to the reveal strategy most brands opt for. 2) The Sephora’s semi-annual sale is a triumph. Putting the sale ahead of brands wanting to promote their sales—so smart. Claps to them for winning BF before it’s even BF.
TRAVEL
LYFTING UP PREGNANT WOMEN // Lyft partners with Babyscripts to offer free rides to maternity appointments in 'maternal care deserts,' enhancing access to vital medical care. In the US, 35% of counties are “maternal care deserts”, where pregnant people have no access to medical help or nearby birthing facilities. Wow.
FUN FOR THE WEEK
Logos are shrinking. Not sure this is news.
Have this person paint your products on the floor.
This flip on the Gen-A wrote the script’ to ’a Millennial wrote the script’ is funny.
People are loving Louis Vuitton’s scaffolding.
Mango used AI images for its sports apparel ‘shoot’, and no one was impressed.
Love this localize OOH. And this grad email when you cancel. Bobbie is so good.
Takashi Murakami started a footwear brand.
These kinetic paper fireworks are so fun. Hire these kids for a campaign.
Remedy Place and Kohler collab on a 15K home ice bath home ice bath.
Beehiv launched a fund for journalists to offer a health insurance stipend, litigation insurance, and business strategy consulting.
Substack’s raised $10mm from investors from some eyebrow-raising sources.
Yeti opened 6 brick-and-mortar locations in 2024 and 2025 will be bigger.
Amazon sent Hims&Hers stock tanking by announcing fixed-cost hair loss and erectile dysfunction drugs.
The ring-the-bell-for-spritz at the Glow Recipe 10th anniversary pop-up is fun
Hellman’s Mayonnaise hidden by a wine bottle. No words for this really.
Amazon launched ‘Haul’ to compete with Temu.
People are microdosing Ozempic.
Fun color theory for packaging food.
Great OOH copy and a good reminder to always have fun.
I want to visit this London Jacquemus store and their Winter Retreat shoot 🤌
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.
I don't know about this product. I do know first hand that Nue Co rips off photographers. They use their images and does not pay. So good or great product I'd never buy anything from them, ever.