Issue #69: Would you scratch & sniff a billboard?
Reporting live from SF! 🌁
Hi! I’m writing to you from gorgeous San Francisco this week. Actually, it’s been quite chilly (definitely colder than NYC), but it’s beautiful nonetheless.
This week, I’m sharing a few fun things on my mind, including brands on my radar (for good and bad reasons) and some photos from the city.
Brands on my Radar 👀
Maybe not for the exact right reasons, but fragrance brand Boy Smells has been on my radar for the past few days ever since their rebrand went viral for flopping. The criticism is mostly that their new aesthetic and packaging is trying too hard to be a buzzy Gen Z brand. Marketing to Gen Z without overtly using Gen Z terms is a tricky line to walk. And don’t get me wrong – I love how marketing campaigns have been embracing food as props, but whipped cream feels a little overdone at this point, no?
In other fragrance-related news, Billie unveiled scratch-and-sniff OOH in NYC to promote their new Coco Villa all-day deodorant. They partnered with @WhatisNewYork on a super organic, UGC-style social post showcasing the ad, making it look like someone just stumbled upon the ads and captured this footage. It kind of reminds me of what CeraVe did with DeuxMoi and a bunch of other creators last year. So smart!!
reported on Khloe Kardashian’s new Khloud ‘protein popcorn’ brand yesterday, and I’m just so over the protein craze. When is fiber actually going to become the new protein? (Popcorn has a lot of natural fiber, btw.)
In the agency world, influencer marketing firm Linqia gave real influencers fake sea moss gel and asked them to create spoof content promoting it. The content was distributed on social, TV, OOH, and YouTube in an effort to demonstrate the power of influencer marketing – not just on social, but across a range of channels. I hope Linqia reports back with performance metrics.
In Other News 🗞️
San Francisco is so. damn. gorgeous.
’ Morning Person series about death is fascinating, well-informed, and beautiful. As a graduate student in counseling, Leslie approaches this series with an intentionality and perspective that is widening my view on how we can all use the reminder of our death to live more fully in our day-to-day lives. I’m also reading On Death and Dying, a seminal novel originally published in 1969 about the state of terminally ill patients. I know, I know – maybe not what you expected to read about here, but such an important concept to grapple with nonetheless.
I finally bit the bullet and tried Coconut Cult, which I’m now obsessed with and will need to spend $10 on every time I go to Whole Foods. I got the Strawberry flavor and thought it would be gross, but now I (unfortunately) get the hype. Let me know if you’ve tried it in the comments.
Thanks for reading!! Have a great rest of your week. xx
first brand baby in sf!!!
fiber >>> protein 😎