All Caught Up: The Great Stay, Italian brainrot, AI wellness
Status fragrances 'n all
What a week!
I finally got Optimized to Death live, and the response was so exciting to see. All 250 copies were scooped up within 24 hours and considering I drove most of the excitement through my channels, super affirming to see. I spoke to
a little about my distribution strategy, and that will go live later today.I also spoke to the inimitable
about why brands should — or shouldn’t — join Substack. You can catch up on that here. Hot take: Most brands aren’t that interesting!Smells Like Hype Spirit
A story getting some eyebrow-raising headlines this week is Alex Brands’ new brand, Rite of Way — with Business of Fashion and the like calling perfume the new status hoodie.
and I had to get to the bottom of this and ask Alex himself about the brand. It’s no secret at all that fragrance is the trend du jour, with a momentum that feels reminiscent of the makeup and skincare boom, respectively. Fragrance drives the highest growth (7% CAGR!!!) in the beauty sector.It’s important to dimensionalize our understanding of ‘fragrance’ as a category beyond the perfume industry; it plays into the overall ‘scenting’ of things — from culty clouty hand sanitizer to deodorant, etc. And while this specific interview is about a particular brand, Alex’s responses from a strategic point of view lend a lot of insight if you’re looking to (1) build a brand or (2) just see the fragrance ‘thing’ playing out in the market!
You see fragrance as a form of identity formation. What cultural signals made you see this as an emergent consumer behavior?
When I started working on Rite of Way, one of the first activities I did was to conduct customer interviews. I spoke to 24 different friends to start, 12 men and 12 women. Over the course of these conversations, there were three different insights that came to the surface:
The first was that scent is really closely tied to identity. People want to smell unique, and they want to smell like themselves. I would guess that Glossier You was built on this insight.
The second was that there was an emerging consumer behavior around "wardrobing.” People were moving from a single signature scent to a small roster of scents that they rotated among depending on the occasion, the mood, or the energy that they wanted to project.
And the third insight was that customers spoke about their fragrance selection with an immense amount of passion. I've worked on over 100 brands over the last 12 years, and it's rare to come across a product category that elicits this much enthusiasm.
What signaled to you that now is the right time, culturally and commercially to build Rite of Way?
Culturally, fragrance is this really interesting category that sits at the intersection of beauty and fashion.
If you look at the way the brands are behaving, you would believe that fragrance is a beauty product, but if you listen to the way customers describe fragrance as “the punctuation mark on an outfit,” you would understand that fragrance lives in this space that's much more an expression of style and identity.
Commercially, fragrance has been positioned as an entry-level product in the world of high luxury. So when high schoolers see Charlie D'Amelio wearing Prada, they may not be able to afford a handbag, but they can certainly save up and purchase a bottle of Paradoxe at Sephora.
Gen Z has really run with this notion, and as a result, you’re seeing a lot of interest in the category. Over the past few years, fragrance has been a consistent driver of growth for some of the largest luxury brands in the world.
Together, these signaled that there was an opportunity to build a brand that behaved like a new, American fashion brand but played in the luxury fragrance space.
What do you think legacy brands are getting wrong about how people want to smell today, and how they want to be spoken to?
Right now, I would segment the category into a few different groups.
The first group is what I'll call legacy luxury. These are brands that do a great job of harkening back to an old world and a heritage-based definition of luxury. They're often heavily influenced by the origins of fragrance, and so they lean into a French or broadly European aesthetic. Even new players sometimes adopt this look to build legitimacy and feel like their predecessors.
The second group is what many call the world of niche perfume brands. From a storytelling perspective, these brands often lean on the vision and experience of a perfumer, who sits at the center of the brand. The scents are based on his or her memories, experiences, or artistic interpretations of a time and place.
Then there’s celebrity or influencer-driven brands. These are interesting because they also come from a singular vision, but they tend to emerge from a much larger universe — be it fashion, music, or culture.
And finally, there are the beauty brands. They introduce fragrance as an extension of their broader line.
In most of these cases, there's very little room for the wearer of the scent to be a part of the story. That's where there was an opportunity to build a brand that really focused on the experience of the person wearing it versus the person creating it.
You’ve worked across agency strategy teams and consumer startups. What did you have to unlearn or relearn when it came time to build your own brand from scratch?
During my time at Gin Lane, I worked on roughly 25 early-stage consumer startups and launched about 15 to market from scratch.
And then during my time at Madhappy, we were launching new products about three times a month, so almost every week. Each year, we were running about 20 to 25 organic campaigns.
The combination of those experiences gave me a really deep playbook to pull from when planning and executing Rite of Way’s launch.
But if I think back to the VC-driven direct-to-consumer era, I think the biggest difference in my approach now is in the ways I plan to grow: more slowly, more organically, more community driven in our tactics.
Culture moves like a river. And to build a lasting brand, you need to respect the pace of the current.
Fragrance sits at the intersection of memory, identity and desire. How do you keep that emotional complexity alive in a world where most people experience your brand in 2D?
The idea behind Rite of Way is that each fragrance is built from an ancient or mythological archetype. Think Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Gabrielle Roth, etc.
The goal is to give you a tool to step into an Alter Ego or specific version of yourself for the day.
From a visual perspective, we’re building a universe that feels elemental, warm, and enduring. The brief to Stine Nielsen was to build a brand so rooted in nature that it could have existed a thousand years ago and could exist in a thousand years. The same fundamental motifs would hold true.
From a product perspective, we’re launching a small capsule in addition to our first scent. The idea was to add surface area to the brand and allow the design and textures of these pieces to help round out the universe. Kudos to Cul De Sac for their amazing work.
And from a content perspective, I looked to the world of music. Similar to scent, a hit single can’t be seen, but the feeling can be visualized. I worked with FISK on some of the campaign assets and asked them to treat Outer Realm like an album launch, similar to the work they’d done for Clairo or Toro y Moi.
Hopefully, each of these elements has a chemical reaction with the others that helps the greater whole feel tangible for our community.
What are your growth plans for RoW?
This week, we're starting with our first scent, Outer Realm.
We’ll be popping up at Colbo May 9th-11th in the Lower East Side, so come say hi.
And later this year, we have plans for more fragrance, more products, and more form factors.
This week's picks include GODMODE Beauty, scratch-and-sniff OOH and the effects of a life lived online.
Christina’s weekly scroll –
Coveteur is back, with Faith Xue at the helm.
Everybody wants to buy Chrome but is Google the only one that can run it?
The Zuckerbergs founded two Bay Area schools. Now, they’re closing.
Although anxiety is often linked to snacking, it seems to be having the opposite effect atm — snacking is down. Lots to consider here: rising food prices, GLP-1s, etc.
Great breakdown on hype vs. halo c/o
.
Hasan Piker’s body has been a useful vehicle for his politics.
What happens when a child’s most intimate medical experiences are broadcast online? The “medical mom” has become a prominent online archetype, revealing the dark side of extremely *online* parenting.
And while we’re on the topic… What are the effects of a life lived online? When a child’s life becomes the family business? EvanTube, now 19, reflects on what that kind of exposure meant for him…
What is happening to boyhood? A look at the radicalization of young boys, Andrew Tate, and the challenges of raising kids today — featuring an eye-opening interview with a 12-year-old (!)
OpenAI is launching an AI-powered shopping feature in ChatGPT that lets users search, compare and buy products — complete with visuals, pricing, reviews and retailer links.
The UAE is set to become the first country to use AI to write its laws. Yikes!
After The Great Resignation, we’re now facing The Great Stay — not because people love their jobs, but because they’re too afraid (see: economy and job security) to leave. Four in five workers are worried about losing their jobs this year.
The survey, which polled more than 1,100 U.S. workers, revealed that about 76% of workers anticipate more layoffs this year, with 63% expecting more businesses to close compared to last year. More than half predict burnout rates to worsen. And job insecurity has been cited as the leading cause by 43% of respondents.
Billie’s scratch-and-sniff OOH is brilliant.
With fragrance “wardrobing” taking off, it’s no wonder scents are becoming the smartest investment for businesses. Enter: Drake’s first Eau de Parfum.
Why does Gen Z smell like sugar? Is the rise of gourmand perfumes a response to a post-Covid world where people crave comfort/nostalgia? Or are they just bored? Maybe a lil of both?
Thayers is looking for a new CMO. Chief Mom Officer. Lol.
What’s a US home without Chinese imports?
Looking back at 100 years of The New Yorker.
ICYMI:
just joined Substack.
Nikita’s weekly scroll –
Anthropic dropped an announcement about moral considerations around the wellness of AI models. I guess saying please and thank you burns energy and cursing the model out does too.
Sorry but self-driving trucks are some Final Destination shit to me.
The MLB, like most entities, is seeing title inflation. How long until advertising types begin dubbing themselves ‘pitch strategist’ on LinkedIn headlines?
Cautiously curious about this zine from Concept Country, the world’s first Network State.
Bot farms scare me. That’s the story.
California surpasses Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Chanel is opening a center at CalArts for art and technology. I’m also writing a piece about brands as patrons. Probably nothing! :)
Family Style has launched a zine aimed at Gen Z, called Takeaway. It’s being positioned as the main publication’s feistier younger sister. Miu Miu to Prada I suppose!
This is the kind of shit I love reading. Tying fashion trends to overall macroeconomics + anxieties.
Thoughts on the vibes of it all. I really enjoyed this one, and I cannot blurb it easily, sorry.
Nike is making a pair of Uptowns that gets cleaner over time… and starts off dirty, filthy nasty.
OpenAI is reversing the rollout of their latest model after it proved sycophantic. The damage is already done…
Catholicism is so hot right now.
An internal AI deck-making tool at BCG is apparently really effective. Pls fix!
Super interesting. Our ideas of what is pretentious are shifting much like anything else. Pop culture is more expensive to access than ‘high’ culture.
Apparently Rina Sawayama and Chloë Grace Moretz are among a collective of artists and gamers launching a new gaming-inspired beauty brand.
Homme Girls has a new store! Designed by Rafael de Cárdenas, who has brought Skimberly’s vision to life in projects past.
The store is 250 square feet and is a single rack — a dry-cleaning conveyer system in fact! There are two Gen Zs and it scares me, thank you.
Gen Z is so angsty that it’s upending our understanding of happiness. Cool.
Italian brainrot. Ok.
I’ve been saying for years that the podcast sorts are taking people away from going to college (besides, well, the cost) and luring them into get-rich-quick schemes.
El*n might lose all his jobs.
Ring Concierge $25 solid gold Kraft mac & cheese collab. Say that five times fast!
Sorry, I just love this piece about Kirsten Dunst and this one Chanel blazer.
Your favorite new coworker is a North Korean operative… Oh?
˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚Little Treat Corner ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
Christina’s weekly report:
READING:
EATING: Dark chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and a lemon poppy seed muffin top.
PLAYING: The Many Saints of Newark.
OBSESSING: Over Steve Schirripa getting gifted by Marc Jacobs.
RECOMMENDING: Looking up Bill Belichick’s girlfriend.
TREATING: Poké Gold…
Nikita’s weekly report:
READING: James Corner’s The Agency of Mapping
EATING: Court Street Grocers Ham + Cheese. The one time ham is ok to me.
PLAYING: This playlist, lol.
OBSESSING: Over my dog and how much I love him.
RECOMMENDING: Staying on a consistent dosing schedule with your allergy meds.
TREATING: Haircut, roots AND a manicure. Living large!
If you want to share a link, a tip, or just chat, leave a comment or email us at hello@blankprojects.co.
Hit the nail on the head on why fragrance is growing. I think Le Labo really kickstarted the market. If you smelled Santal 33 on someone then you knew they could “afford” a $300 fragrance. Then it was BR540. However, as the interview explained, the real opportunity is that women (myself included!!) have a desire to build collections. Signature scents are out, but signature scent profiles tied to our identities are in.
Fascinating fragrance insights, loved this interview!!
Ugh we just pitching scratch-and-sniff wheatpasting lol 😩😩