No. 019: goodbye Goldfish Crackers, hello Chilean Sea Bass
plus, the origin of Nerds Clusters, the MBA boom, & the business of haunted houses
Helloooo there! I’m back, gracing your inbox with your dose of all things brand. A weeklong hiatus turned into two, which turned into me starting a new job and it turns out ramping up means you have little to no time for much else. But we’re here and so happy to have so many new readers in the mix (hiiiii! 👋🏼) A few small changes:
🪄 Brandiose will either arrive on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of each week. Candidly the flexibility helps with my sanity but gives you an element of surprise. A win win.
🎯 Brand Deep Dives will now be 1-2x/month, instead of weekly. Reasons being a) this newsletter was getting aggressively long and b) I want to provide quality content while being realistic with my schedule.
As always, please let me know what you think! Here for constructive feedback, less here for criticism, but we’ll take whatever engagement we can get!!!!!
It’s good to be back — now on with the show! 🎟
🧲 OBSESSION OF THE WEEK
To know me is to know my obsession with gummy candy. Which is why I was obsessed with this WSJ feature on Nerds Gummy Clusters— the ultimate underdog story.
Nerds Gummy Clusters came from the insight that while customers loved Nerds Ropes, they hated the messiness. They wanted something cleaner and easier to eat on-the-go (you know, a purse snack).
In product testing, customers were unsure about the product. Execs went with their gut, and launched it anyway.
Soon after launch in 2020, Kylie Jenner organically posted about Nerds Gummy Clusters — and they went viral. They’re still huge on TikTok (exhibit A).
In 2018, all of Nerds did $50 million in sales. This year, Nerds Gummy Clusters alone did $500 million (90% of the company’s revenue). Insane.
To me, this is a powerful story of not abandoning your core competency, but improving on it — and knowing when to go with your gut and give the world something they didn’t even know they wanted.
I’d love to see an entire franchise built from Nerds Gummy Clusters. Chocolate covered? Mini? A Fruity Pebbles collab? Let’s get crazy.
🍿 BRAND NEWS
In an attempt to appeal to older snackers, stay relevant and be a part of the “girl dinner” group chat, Goldfish is selling a limited run of its crackers rebranded as Chilean Sea Bass online only, for a week. Curious if this has any impact on sales whatsoever.
Doc Martens x Wednesday launched a collab just in time for Halloween, and it’s selling fast — proving that sometimes the best collabs are kind of…obvious?
Victoria’s Secret’s Fashion Show comeback was kind of a failure, according to reviews, which called it “tokenistic,” “performative” and “muddled.” For more, I wrote a full deep dive on the brand here.
Netflix is going to stop making unwatchable movies (this feels like a win!!!) With new execs at the helm, the studio is going to make fewer, better films with the hopes of increasing both critics and fan ratings and viewership.
Skim’s latest ambassador is Olivia Munn in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I love this campaign as it’s raw, real, and shows a side of the brand we haven’t seen enough of.
I was today years old when I learned what ‘gate lice’ means — apparently, it’s an aviation industry term for people who try to board ahead of their assigned group. American Airlines wants to crack down on the behavior by playing an embarrassingly loud noise when someone tries to game the system. Honestly? Genius.
BTS’ Jin is the new global ambassador for Alo, a clear signal that the brand is looking to go global in a big way; it has plans to open a store in Dosan Park, Seoul in 2025.
The (surprising) snack of choice of the NFL? Uncrustables, an all-in-one frozen crustless sandwich pastry filled with PB&J (that can also be eaten cold). Apparently. the franchise eats 80,000 lbs of them per season. I smell a collab cookin’…
Apple is working on a movie adaption of millennials’ favorite computer game of the 90s: Oregon Trail. I’m so curious about the plot of this movie, because the game was about literally nothing.
Cult Gaia x Gap had a restock, so if you missed the first go-around, you have a second chance. Personally, I think this Barrel Mini Dress is amazing.
Taylor Swift is coming out with a memoir/coffee table book before the end of her Eras tour, and I just know this is going to quickly replace that one off-white AD a Century of Style book we all bought in 2017 (IYKYK).
The FTC is making it way easier to cancel your subscriptions, specifically stipulating that online memberships should take the same number of clicks to cancel as they do to initiate— good for us, bad for brands.
Ghost Energy Drink is getting acquired by Keurig Dr Pepper for over $1B. I have no feelings on the brand but clearly between collabs with Sour Patch and Cinnabon, they’re doing something right with the youths.
not for me but hey!
🆕 TREND REPORT
TIME rounded up the 100 best US brands of 2024 and the results are interesting. Some of the most surprising Top brands in their respective categories were Silk (Alt Milk), Gucci (Luxury Fashion), and Walmart (Grocery Stores), but to me the most surprising was Apple Watch beating out Rolex in the Watch category.
We want prenups. According to a recent study, there’s been a 62% lift in requests for prenuptial agreements, with Millennials asking for them more often than any previous generation (h/t
for the scoop). Curious if this number will only rise as more Gen Zs and Gen Alphas tie the knot or maybe they’re just chill and trusting. There are a plethora of startups in the space, like HelloPrenup and First and, if it comes down to it… Divorce.com, Plenty, and Honeydue.M.B.A.s for all. Applications for full-time, in person M.B.A programs are up 32% this year, the highest level since 2014 (the increase was a less substantial 12% when considering part-time and online programs). Not surprising considering the state of the labor market (especially for new grads) but also indicative of our collective desire to be more satisfied with our professional lives.
🎲 ONE LAST THING
Happy Halloweek! 🎃 I loved this profile on the business of running a haunted house, in case you’ve ever been curious:
BloodManor, located in Lower Manhattan, will do $1 million+ in 21 nights between September and early November.
It draws about 500-2,000 visitors per night at $40/ticket.
Operating costs include permits, props, LED lights, sound equipment, and a collection of 35 animatronic monsters worth up to $20k/ea. There’s also a year-round team of 8, a few dozen seasonal actors, and a makeup crew.
This comes after a $1 million renovation in 2017 which included bathrooms, staircases, Sheetrock and over $100k of fire retardant.
To be clear, you will not catch me at a haunted house anytime soon, but if that’s your thing, I wish you well.
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have a great week.
- Sabena
as someone who works in tech (design side) and adjacent to marketing, I’m not surprised at all to Taylor’s book deal. She’s a writer and poet at heart, so seeing her ‘From the Desk of Taylor Swift’ notes circulate online lately is surely no coincidence. With book clubs gaining popularity, Substack thriving, and even VSCO rolling out Blogs last week, it’s pretty clear writing is having its moment. Being on Substack is so neat bc we’re seeing it all happen in real time. This shift toward platforms that support long-form, thoughtful expression and I’m here for it.
Omg I have my substack scheduled for tomorrow morning and I’m talking about the nerds gummy clusters too - perfect timing for Halloween! Also welcome back :))