"Do people even care about brand?"
Plus $50 body cream, $45 deo and why shoppy shop food brands are always on sale.
While industry trauma-bonding over coffee last week, a friend literally asked me, “do people even care about brand?” (ironically this friend just sold their very “brand” startup). It’s a funny question, and one that reminds me how misunderstood “brand” is.
The question in this context was really whether “cool” or “elevated” (read: expensive) branding matters. But it’s not the right question. The right question is how to approach brand-building strategically vs egotistically.
Brand isn’t about being cool. Brand is about knowing your target market (which many brands get wrong) and delivering products and experiences that drive the desire, trust, and love to acquire and retain them without relying too heavily on transactional (read: unsustainable) growth marketing.
If you’re building a premium brand for coffee snobs, being “elevated” is important. If you’re building a gen-z streetwear brand (god I sound old), being “cool” is important. If you’re building a healthy meal solution for families, being “wholesome” is important. It sounds simple but it’s true that a lot of “coastal elite” brands limit their TAM by only catering to their own echo chamber. I firmly believe that not every brand should aspire to mass-scale, but if you’re taking on VC money you usually don’t have the luxury of being too niche (less and less brands are/should take VC, but that’s a topic for another day).
That said, even the most strategic branding and brand marketing won’t make up for bad product-market fit. It’s easy to blame low engagement and inefficient marketing on brand, but if your product doesn’t satisfy market needs, you need to go back to the drawing board (let’s normalize that).
So yes, “people care about brand” lol, and brand is everything — aesthetic, packaging, price, product quality, product experience, customer service, social media, visuals, messaging, distribution, activations, emails, site, team, values, and yes, even paid ads — that impacts the desire, trust, and love to grow sustainably. My friend would not have sold their brand without “brand.”
Hope this roundup has product-market fit:
I spent last night at one of
’s events and it was therapy. Met and re-connected with some great people and bonded over consulting, building without VC, re-shaping our career identities, late-stage capitalism, etc. Highly recommend getting in touch with Jason to get involved or even just subscribing to his newsletter if you’re in ~the space~.“The recent debacle at Nike (of all companies) reveals what happens when performance marketers, with a passion for ROI and a mistaken belief that you can build brand and sell product within the same execution, take control of even the biggest brand.” On why there’s no such thing as “performance-brand” marketing.
Flamingo Estate is getting into body care with a Manuka honey-based cream. The positioning isn’t fragrance-forward but mentions that it’s “delicately scented with the essential oils of Australian Wattle Flower and Carrot Seed.” Knowing the brand it’s going to smell good, and ultimately fragrance and design will be the success driver unless the formula works magic (I’m intrigued, but at $50 for 2.5oz I’m going to hope I can get it for free).
pointed out in that they drew inspiration from Rhode for the campaign — that’s because the founder’s creative agency Chandelier actually does a lot of Rhode’s campaigns.
David Protein launched. I’m a bit underwhelmed by the site — the UX is difficult to digest and the brand doesn’t feel as aspirational as they teased it to be. They probably worked with an agency on branding and then struggled to apply it beyond packaging and core messaging (it looks like the full-time team spans product, growth, sales and finance and it shows). That said it’s definitely an opportune moment for this product and Peter is a proven founder, so if it holds up to its promise it will likely do well.
Saie hosted a masterclass at the iconic Schindler-designed Manola Court to launch their lip liner and gloss combo. Not sure how it all connects thematically, but I love how their creative team has elevated the brand through differentiated activations recently (they’re not the only beauty brand doing masterclasses right now, but theirs feel most impactful from a brand perspective). And the Soft Serve Parlour was perfection. And their foundation is actually the best.
A former Aesop exec is launching a brand with a hero $46 deodorant, confirming my hunch that brands like Aesop and Salt & Stone have elevated deodorant from hygiene to beauty through fragrance and design. Looks like they’re taking it a step further by leaning into armpit-forward creative, something deodorant brands have always painstakingly avoided #freethepit.
Also on that note, BRAVO SIERRA (where I started my CPG career) is about to make its current masstige line exclusive to Amazon and re-launch DTC with a premium line. The founder heading it up is a former L’Oréal exec, Glossier consultant and one of the smartest people I know, and the brand’s hero natural deodorant was a category-pioneer for efficacy, fragrance, and design. Keeping my eyes on this one!
There’s too much fragrance news to cover, but most notably Glossier is hoping to triple the You-effect with two new perfumes launching next month (the nose behind it all is Frank Voelkl, who also developed Le Labo’s Santal 33).
This Gia Coppola-directed series for Mejuri feels so refreshing — real friends, “real life,” engaging, beautifully shot, captures product so well and authentically. I hope it gets the eyeballs it deserves.
Why are all our favorite shoppy shop brands always on sale at Whole Foods? Because retailers price them too high (we’re all just chasing better margins).
I learned last week that Doên doesn’t even pay for their organic UGC. That’s the power of brand equity and a high-value gifting program!
I’m late to comment on the Goop layoffs, but cutting travel and wellness makes sense in their effort to become profitable. Having a multi-category lifestyle brand sounds nice in theory, but it’s really difficult to win in all categories let alone one, and wellness is such a headache with all the supplement regulations. Beauty has the best margins and it sounds like is their best-performing category. But the launch campaign for their lip gloss doesn’t feel like Goop (read: like Gwyneth), which tells me they’re losing their way trying to compete with younger, trendier brands. Sad! I think they could kill it in beauty if they stayed true to their DNA. I know Goop Kitchen is doing very well though (and is actually operated separately by DOM Food Group).
Curation is in demand and supply, from Substack roundups to generative AI.
Courage Bagels-inspired Apollo Bagels is opening in my old neighborhood (Williamsburg), which up until I left two years ago had literally everything but good bagels. They’re building a brand that could be ripe for CPG...
TikTok is Gen-Z’s Google — while it lasts, that is.
— Jess