Rich people are building a new New York City
Plus: we don't need AI to tell us everyone wants to be unique.
Ok, these weekly emails, are no joke. Respect for everyone who does this daily. Wow.
As always, the lens 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.
I find a lot of links through newsletters I read. While I might link to a more direct article after I do a little digging in, I want to give credit to where I’m finding these things so I’m introducing this little arrow -> for that.
Coming at you from a train to Rome with a toddler in tow—brevity wasn’t the priority. Will try to keep these shorter when I can.
AI
ETSY’S NOSEDIVED INTO THE CURATION WATERS -> The Hustle
“Etsy introduced Gift Mode, an AI feature that generates gift ideas for 200+ different personas”. Love this conceptually, Etsy is great but it’s like wading in muddy water. This feature should be great but, I tested it, and, currently, it’s delivering what a standard search can. If brands are to launch fancy ‘AI’ features, they should to deliver.—and delight.
SUBTITLES ARE A DYING BREED -> Digital Native
“Last week in Davos, Argentinian President Javier Milei delivered a speech to the World Economic Forum. Milei gave the talk in Spanish, but used the AI startup HeyGen to translate it to English. The result was remarkable.” This was remarkable and somewhat scary. Brands will quickly pick up on this for multi-language needs, no doubt. I’m not sure all talent will be as thrilled about it as politicians, time will tell there.
PEEPS ARE LOVING SPOTIFY’S NEW DAY LISTS
I’m not sure why NYT thinks “Spotify Daylist That Really ‘Gets’ You? It Was Written by A.I.” is a surprising or provocative title. No one thought a human was writing these. What’s more interesting has nothing to do with AI. People like to feel like they are kooky and weird.—unique One friend posted this week: “Don’t tell me what your sign is, tell me the title of your day list’. We all just want to feel seen and brands need to do more with this truth.
INVESTING
ZIRPCORN AND PAPERCORNS, GOTTA LOVE IT -> Newcomer
“60% of current unicorns that are actually “ZIRPicorns” — unicorns that haven’t raised funding since interest rates were low. These companies could face a rude awakening come their next round.” The only thing funny here is the terminology. It’s looking bleak , though The Information reports that this dude who’s operating fundraising tours to the Mid East is killing it, so maybe all is not lost and oil money is about to save us all :/
GOOGLE’S SHOPPING FOR INVESTORS -> The Hustle
Alphabet is slimming down its ranks — nearing 180k employees (about 2%). And X, aka The Moonshot Factory, is now shopping for investors. They have four active projects, currently:
Chorus: tech to enable better real-time supply chain management.
Tapestry: computational tools to untangle the complexities of global power grids.
Tidal: an underwater sensor system to aid in more sustainable fish farming.
Taara: a plan to increase internet access through beams of light.
Chorus, based on simply the description, is the one that would have the most interest—despite the others seeming better for us all.
RETAIL
DTC IS SWITCHING TO RETAIL AND THERE’S A LEARNING CURVE
“As many people in the DTC world know, it changed. The way the algorithm worked changed, the advertising changed. Retail became a much bigger focus for most brands. Including her own, says Hudson, who just kicked-off her foray into retail with a six-month exclusive in 400+ Whole Foods Market stores.” As DTC brands move into retail there’s a whole slew of new considerations: merchandising, placement, different packaging needs, education in a sea without a full website for help, the list goes on. Words like ‘merchandising’ and ‘dealer loaders’ are familiar to more legacy/big brands but there’s a big learning curve for the newcomers, like one of our faves, Omsom.
TARGET IS LEANING INTO WELLNESS
Your fave place to accidentally spend $100 is adding 1k+ related products to shelves, including workout gear, vitamins and supplements, and healthier F&B options. As more DTC brands move in, you have to acknowledge, that most of these retail experiences aren’t super friendly to discovery, Target included. Think we’ll see a lot of acquisitions, honestly, and possibly many fewer celebrity brands.
MALLS HAVE REBOUNDED THANKS TO AN UNLIKELY SOURCE: GEN Z -> AfterSchool
“Gen Z has a strong preference for shopping in-person, and malls” Casey knows GenZ so I trust if she’s saying it it’s true. “For 23-year-old Nicole Tan of West Hollywood, online shopping is for browsing while in-person shopping is for buying. “I like to try things on,” she said at the Westfield Century City shopping center. “If I see ads on social media and there are sales online, I’d maybe buy stuff online, but I usually like to shop in-store.” Does this mean we’ll get back to a better in-store experience? Because in the last few years, let me tell you, it’s been meh at best.
TRAVEL
IS AFRICA FINALLY GETTING ITS DUES?
Seeing so many positive indications that Africa (and African cuisine) is moving into the limelight. “Certain cuisines have also experienced upswings, like African and Peruvian restaurants, which are up 65% and 28%, respectively, compared to 2019.” Cult-fave Topical did an influencer trip to Ghana that got a lot of love. Namib dunes are ripe for the rising popularity of ‘frontier tourism’. Watch this space.
CUT TOO MANY (FINANCIAL) CORNERS, DOORS MIGHT FALL OFF -> SatPost
“What happened to Boeing? The Odd Lots podcast breaks down how America’s leading aerospace firm went from an engineering-first culture to a financial-engineering one. This transition has led to a series of accidents, including the most recent one involving a mid-air door blowing out of the fuselage.” Having lived and not lived through many cost-zealous CFOs, of course, I couldn’t help but think of the whole Solo Stove drama last week.
PEOPLE WANT TO TRAVEL BACK IN TIME
“So-called heritage tourism has grown into its own travel category…an Airbnb survey found that the share of people traveling to “trace their roots” worldwide had increased by 500 percent since 2014” “The governments of Germany and Scotland have websites devoted to heritage tourism. Conde Nast Traveller is all over this trend. In Dublin, the Shelbourne Hotel’s “genealogy butler” can research your Irish side, if you so please. The Conte Club, a boutique travel service known for its focus on privacy and members-only jet rentals, will take you and your partner on a week-long “DNA-mapped journey” starting at $35,000 (flights not included). These ultra-niche style amenities are an interesting space for hospitality brands.
POSITIONING
CAN MEMES GOING TO SAVE WINE? -> AfterSchool ->LinkInBio
Both Casey and Rachel dove into the whole Josh Cellars meme phenomenon this week. Seems like Josh just lucked out and they’re seeing an uptick in sales because of it (though, anecdotally, I know a lot of Millennials who already drank Josh, happily). Feels like this is a big positioning opportunity for Josh (and something for other wine brands to take note of). Josh is having fun with it—a good sign. Will be interesting to see what they do with the momentum.
TOPICALS IS DOING THINGS RIGHT
Speaking of positioning, this move by Topicals is a great example of understanding your market position. They ran out of product, they could have apologized and told people to wait but no, they did better than that. They recommended other brands that customers could try while they waited. Confident in their expertise and place value. This kind of behavior only comes when a team is hyper-clear on the brand’s positioning and trusted to do great things with that confidence. So cool.
KYTE BABY NEED APOLOGY EDUCATION -> The Hustle
Apologies work for brands. But they have to match the moment, be on-brand, and more importantly, be sincere. “Kyte Baby, a Texas-based baby clothing company, apologized again for firing a woman who requested to work remotely while her baby was in the NICU.” Apologies are a positioning opportunity when done right (like this amazingly on-brand apology by Aura Bora this week). So are parental leave policies. 2 weeks for a baby brand, and not getting NICU stay leniency is just unforgivable. Paid Parental Leave is a ripe space for the brands—the right opportunity is in front of their faces. Good reminder: consumers are looking at ALL of your actions for signals.
SPORTY AND RICH IS COMING FOR YOUR COUNTRY CLUB
“When you have a clear vision of your business, it’s also easier to be decisive…Since we became a real brand my vision has always remained the same. A luxury country club for young people. With all of the amenities that I wish would exist under the same roof, but don’t.” Another example of positioning. And cementing my belief that country clubs are a space for brands to play in.
CLUBS
LUXURY PRIVATE CLUBS ARE ALL THE RAGE -> Feed Me
Speaking of clubs, Emily did a lovely deep dive into private clubs this week. “Rich people are building a version of New York City that’s only for rich people.” Most of these spots are launching with private restaurants (or 4) and have rates up into the $35K range. If Soho House is any example, showing up in these spots will be big for brands.
YOUTH SPORTS IS GETTING BIGGER
This April the first Prep Super League, an 11on11 high school spring football league, is happening. It’s sponsorship-friendly. It’s selling teams for 7-figures. It’s early days but it’s a place for brands looking for young talent and partnership to cultivate early.
APPLEBEES IS FOLLOWING IN PANERA’S FOOTSTEPS -> The Hustle
“Applebee’s is rolling out a $200 subscription date-night pass to get happy couples into the restaurant. The pass covers up to $30 per use and is valid 52x, enough to offer a year’s worth of weekly date nights.” And it sold out in 1min (and seems to have crashed their site—as of Friday). Panera has its Unlimited Sips Club which is wildly popular and making them good money. HBR has a good piece on these types of loyalty programs. The best snippet IMO:
“Interestingly, the 14% of members who contributed the highest profits after subscribing were not the ones who had purchased the most prior to subscription. Rather, they were customers who had been less active before subscribing, but who had demonstrated interest in exploring new products, made repeated purchases of similar items, and were responsive to promotions. In contrast, the customers who had purchased the most pre-subscription only moderately increased their spending while still enjoying all the benefits of the program, suggesting that the retailer might have been better off if those customers hadn’t joined.”
BEAUTY
BEAUTY IS PULLING OUT ALL THE STUNTS THIS WEEK
Beauty is super crowded so this isn’t a judgment, in fact, typically beauty leads the way so it’s more of a space to watch. Pamela Anderson became the co-founder of Sonsie. Rhode made an enormous bath bomb, seeding it to influencers to reveal its new Pineapple Refresh daily cleanser (the bath bomb is def buzzier).
DRUGS, CIGS & BOOZE
THE MAGIC MUSHROOM SCHOOL IS IN SESSION -> The Hustle
“Now, professionals — like midwives, hospice workers, and educators — can train to become state-licensed psychedelic facilitators” Companies like InnerTrek, Beckley Retreats, Walden and Yawn (not to be confused with the Yawn we mentioned last week) are all leading the way for the journey intrigued. Lots more brands and services about to pop up here.
COOL CIGS ARE HERE -> Feed Me
Just when we thought cigarettes were behind us, we see brands like Hestia popping up. I’m not pro-smoking, just FASCINATED by this resurgence.
While we’re all in dry January mode, (Snax Shot just did a cool event with N/A brands like Figlia and Boisson) the Saudi is getting boozy. Saudi Arabia is getting its first alcohol shop in more than 70 years. Their policies have been changing since the World Cup (remember the beer debacle that ended up turning into a plus).
JUST FOR LAUGHS
This had me laughing this week. If fonts humor tickles you, click through
Also this post on Cold Stone’s cringe step-and-repeat at the Critic’s Choice Awards. Funny.
I have my feelings about R/GA but this post about the Solo Stove drama mentioned above was very funny if you’ve been following along.
That’s all folx.
-Chris