No. 004: The hottest muse for brands is probably in your fridge 🍅

plus, Heaven Mayhem's new launch, Airhead's $7k vending machine, and why I love 'cookie theory'

Welcome to Volume 4 of my newsletter, Brandiose!

You can expect brand news, deep dives, musings, and occasional founder interviews spicing up your inbox each Wednesday.

🧲 OBSESSION OF THE WEEK

I’m obsessed with accessories brand Heaven Mayhem, created by influencer Pia Mance. They sell vintage earrings & belts (~$100-$200) beloved by the likes of Hailey Bieber, which in and of itself isn’t super differentiated. But it’s all in the branding.

Their photography is distinct and stylized, and their tight product drops always hit the right thematic notes. The brand tone feels part Reformation, part Rhode beauty — and it works for customers who are clearly in that demographic.

For their latest launch, they created a ‘Heaven Hotel’, and the details are stunning (and clearly designed for social).

Curious to see where they’ll go with brand collabs and product extensions — it feels like there are so many directions they could go now that they’ve honed in on look & feel and brand ethos. Definitely a brand to watch.

🍿 BRAND NEWS

Cheez-In Diner in Woodstock, NY

• The popup Cheez-It Diner in upstate NY was apparently a huge hit for customers who were willing to wait 3 hours for Cheezy Chicken Tendies, a Deluxe Cheez-It Milkshake and Sweet-N-Salty Cheezcake

• Airheads sold an underwater vending machine for $7000 and apparently it sold out

• Purely Elizabeth granola launched its first national ad campaign called ‘Savor the Start,’ which reminds people that “one good choice can lead to another”

• Heinz is launching pickle-flavored ketchup (I need to try) and their “you can already taste it” campaign is a smart way to get consumers familiar with a “wacky” flavor

• You may have thought WFH fashion was a thing of the past, but sweatpant jeans are taking over — especially Rag & Bone’s Miramar line, per the WSJ.

• Liquid I.V. launched a nostalgic flavor just in time for 4th of July — Firecracker Popsicle (IYKYK) — and it’s popping off on TikTok Shop

• Lily Pulitzer, known for its West-Palm-Beach-inspired bright, bold prints that millennial college campuses couldn’t get enough of, is trying to rebrand for a new generation (after sales only rose 1% last year). Curious to see how this will go…

• The CEO of Unilever Prestige (its high end brands including Tatcha, Dermalogica, and Hourglass) says that “beauty is recession-proof” as sales have surged for the last 13 quarters

• Target’s new campaign, ‘That Target Feeling’ features Target shoppers singing to a remix of Michelle Branch’s 2001 hit ‘Everywhere’ and as a millennial I feel both seen and attacked

• I love pretty much everything e.l.f. Beauty does — and this ‘So Many Dicks’ campaign calling out lack of diversity in the boardroom is no exception. It’s super smart because they are not trying to sell you anything; rather, helping them solidify their place as a brand that represents their diverse, socially conscious Gen Z consumers

🎯 DEEP DIVE: THE HUMBLE TOMATO IS HAVING ITS MOMENT

Loewe’s $120 Tomato Candle

Context

I have noticed that tomatoes are so hot right now. Sure, they were a blip on the radar with last year’s #tomatogirl makeup trend on TikTok but that quickly seemed to be eclipsed by the trendier cousin, Cherry red, last fall (a “pop of red” is pretty much the only thing anyone wanted to talk about on fashiontok for a minute there).

But now we’re seeing tomatoes everywhere.

Why now?

• timing: it’s summer, so brands are leaning into scents, colors, and prints that feel fresh & bright rather than warm & cozy

• trend cycles: as mentioned, we as a society are leaning into red right now in various forms. In fashion particularly, it feels like a nod to the 90s and is quite nostalgic (stay tuned for a future volume on nostalgia). This trend plays into that.

  • “Tomato, in particular, has garnered attention through products like Loewe’s Tomato Leaves candle and Tomato Girl Summer, coinciding with the vibrant red color trend in fashion from summer through fall... Tomato’s consistent growth in searches (+55.2 percent since last year) combined with its popularity in the zeitgeist suggests a promising trend for future months.” (source: Daily Beast)

• brand differentiation: for a brand to stand out today, consumers need to be given something a bit unexpected. all of the examples below are surprising in that they are a play on the humble tomato

  • “The smells that are created don’t have to exactly smell like a tomato, but they can be a bit of a fantasy fresh, crisp tomato-y scent,” notes Olivia Jezler, founder of scent consultancy firm Future of Smell. She says the luxury market is backing tomato because “it’s different from the usual florals and woods and ambers. It also fulfills a different olfactive category—it’s more of a crisp freshness without having to be citrus.” (source: Daily Beast)

The Details

STAUD’s now sold out bag

• Fashion brand STAUD launched a tomato-inspired collection, specifically this tomato bag, and celebrated with a party at Monte’s Fine Foods (makers of tomato sauce!) in the Hamptons this weekend.

• Fashion house Loewe has a line of 13 tomato-scented products for sale, including hand and body soaps, lotions, candles, and incense

• Flamingo Estate is offering a Roma Heirloom Tomato surface cleaner. They feel like the inventors of the vegetable-as-a-muse concept, so makes sense for them.

• Luxury brand Maison Margiela launched a ‘From the Garden’ Eau de Toilette which has a fragrance description of “earth & tomato leaves”

• Jo Malone is selling a Green Tomato Vine Candle for a cool $140

• Nette came out with a new $82 candle called Laide, with notes of Tomato Vine, Basil, Violet Leaf

• Sauz is like Rao’s but for Gen Zs, offering flavors like Hot Honey Marinara and Summer Lemon Marinara. They recently announced wider distribution in select Whole Foods stores on the west coast.

there’s no such thing as too much hot honey

Hot Take 🌶️

If the brand examples above are any indication, (Airheads vending machines, Heinz pickle ketchup, a Cheez-It diner and a Lily Pulitzer comeback), it feels a bit like brands are playing into a collective yearning for the simple summers we had as kids — likely involving tomatoes in one form or another.

Equally important is that brands must constantly reinvent themselves by doing things that feel fresh and relevant, so it’s not surprising that they would tap into our vegetable gardens for some creative fodder.

What’s most interesting is thinking about how a brand can find a muse — after all, inspiration is everywhere, but it’s all about where you look.

1. social listening: this comes as no surprise, but having a social listening strategy is key for brands these days. TikTok is a goldmine for trendspotting, reviews from competitive brands, pain points, and so much more. Just this week, my algorithm is all about ‘quiet vacationing’. There’s got to be something a brand can do with that!

2. taking cues from other industries: this tomato trend feels like it’s taking the luxury brand world by storm, per most of the examples above. Since those brands tend to be tastemakers, other categories should take note and apply the concepts to their own messaging, campaigns, or product lines. I’d love to see a tomato scented lip gloss from Tower28 or a tomato Samba collab with Italian sauce brand Bianco de Napoli.

3. getting to the emotional core: while tomatoes seem fun and a little irreverent, it’s not surprising that they’d be having a moment amidst all the nostalgia we’re seeing from brands. It’s playful, lighthearted, and a bit unexpected. What are other ways a brand can inspire that same feeling? Put differently, what feelings does your brand have a right to evoke?

4. color as branding: there’s a reason Pantone has such a strong place in culture. Color is incredibly powerful, especially as we live in such a visuals-driven society with an emphasis on aesthetics. It’s not only about the icon of a tomato, but the entire “tomato red” color story that brands are leveraging.

✨ MUSINGS

the glow up is so good

• If you’re anything like me, you devoured this new season of Bridgerton and are anxiously awaiting part 2 in June. This Vanity Fair profile of the show’s real star, Nicola Coughlan, is great. I also learned that “intimacy coordinator” is a real job (it’s Lizzy Talbot’s)

• GQ declares the end of the chunky dad shoe to usher in “sleeker styles” — but I don’t think I’ll actually get rid of my chunky shoes since I’m finally wise enough to understand that fashion is cyclical.

• Holistic oral care brand KÖPPEN launched an Oil Pull a few weeks ago, and I just ordered it. (full disclosure: the cofounder, Parag, is a good friend!!) If you don’t know the benefits of oil pulling, read about ‘em here…

this branding »

🎲 ONE LAST THING

the queen of fashion theories

Stylist (and great TikTok follow) Allison Bornstein was featured in The Cut about her “cookie theory” and I can’t stop thinking about it — essentially, it’s the fashion equivalent of the diet philosophy of simply eating the cookie.

The theory: when you want a very specific piece of clothing (like when you get a very specific craving), hold out for the real thing — even if it’s harder to get (more expensive or more elusive).

Otherwise, you’ll likely spend a bunch of money trying to make up for it via multiple cheaper pieces that don’t scratch the itch the way you want them to. Then you’ll likely end up with clothes you don’t actually like or ever reach for — the fashion equivalent of ‘empty calories.’

Chances are, you’ll end up caving and spending 2x on the thing you actually want (or eating 2 protein bars, a bag of popcorn, and the cookie you originally wanted).

Also a pretty good life philosophy?

🍪🍪🍪

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have a great week.

- Sabena