duolingo's brand behavior, miumiu growth, sports x finance, legendary copywriters and nepo funds
a random batch for u today!
but first- what are u reading atm?
i’ve been heavy in my book bag since being on a lil break from employed life. the list so far;
the shards, bret easton ellis (needlessly graphic and drawn-out)
yellowface, r.f. kuang (excellent from start to finish)
doppelganger, naomi klein (life will never be the same)
evvie drake starts over, linda holmes (perfect for reading on a beach)
would that be funny? growing up with john clarke, by lorin clarke (only for the australian/kiwis amongst us. but a really gorgeous, tangible output of one daughter’s grief.)
goodbye to all that- writers on loving and leaving new york, edited by sari botton (exactly what it sounds like.)
im about to finally embark on my ACOTAR journey (this piece really put me over the edge: How Sarah J. Maas Built A Sprawling Fantasy Multiverse) but if you have any recs please send em in! As you can see from the above list i like to run the gamut from smooth-brain junk to mind-melty analysis.
anyway- onto the good stuff!
IG Creative best practice samples circa March 24
in case you need some updated examples, just a grab bag of what' i’ve seen recently that i like.
Performance:
Telfar are running this creative as performance / sponsored content. It is extremely eye-catching. Wish i could see the analytics on this one. This is how you blend brand personality with Performance.
Earned/Influencer/Creator:
Sam Youkilis captures Hunter Schafer at the Prada-aligned ‘Luna luna’ in LA. perfect way to partner. no notes.
All-rounder award for effectiveness:
New Balance Lifestyle account is blending the right amount of product, storytelling, style and everything else. Bonus points for the fact the women are styled in a way they would actually be dressed in the real world (not common in sneaker content).
Did you know Duolingo own a mexican restaurant by their office?
and you get discounts if you order the food in spanish? It’s called "Duo’s Taqueria.” This is old news, but I must have missed it when it happened, so maybe you did too. Apparently some residents have noted its ‘the best mexican theyve had’ (unsure of how much of a quality indicator this is in Pittsburgh). The restaurant grosses $700k in revenue1. This is an interesting demonstration of how the best brand behavior/marketing can actually immediately generate $ if you can get out of your own organizational silos to make it happen. There’s also a deepdive on Duolingo’s business here if you are interested in them beyond the famous tiktok antics. To me they’re fascinating; both of the last two brands i worked in-house at were ostensibly digital products/services, one with a similar membership structure to this, but didn’t offer real-world value or extensions in any kind of permanent format. It’s such a no-brainer for online brands, and yet…
Miu Miu’s growth; earned media/virality, trend + day pieces, shrewd exec oversight
Nice piece in BOF giving a high-level assessment on the strategy driving Miu Miu’s undeniable growth. The lyst luxury index has given Miu Miu both Brand of the Year and Worlds Hottest Brand credentials over the past two years. The vision ive detected from the outside has been a renewed focus on dressing the it girls metaphorically and figuratively; the muse of this ‘it girl’ is the driving force behind every collection, casting and styling choice, and has seen investments skewing towards influencer/celebrity endorsements, collaborations, essentially stoking earned media coverage.
I absolutely hate the shoes-on-bed violation here, but i get it:
Robinhood and Klutch are joining forces
In hindsight, I kind of cant believe Robinhood is still a thing, but they are and you cant deny the app is kind of best-in-class (or am i wrong? I still prefer their interface to apple’s stocks app or any others). That said, the recently announced strategic partnership between Klutch and Robinhood is a really smart alignment from the app- as Sports seems to be a pioneering space for open dialog around how public people make and spend their money, and revisiting how its leaders are able to monetize. The conversation between Sports and Finance in USA is totally under utilized by Finance brands (i’m not talking about empty Capital One ads, im talking about actual dialog, education and information). Ben Baller teased a gold card, with more to come in a few weeks:
Will be cool to see what happens here even if Rich Paul needs to get his shit together and claim Adele.
Hell of a round, Jim Riswold and John Brown
Beautiful piece in FT.com about Jim Riswold, a storied copywriter who at age 66 is still penning lines for Nike at huge moments such as Tiger’s recent departure. It’s an honest reflection of our profession.
Separately, I saw a post this week from one of Nike’s archivists (who you should absolutely follow!) memorializing John Brown, whose work as a copywriter will no doubt be familiar to you.
The brief for this ad was: "write something that makes runners feel good about themselves." Imagine getting a brief like that these days?
Just putting this sydney sweeney throwback here while she’s trending.
This is one of my favorite pieces in such a long time. It is two years old and still lives rent free in a small, cordoned-off section of my brain.
Feets zone;
It’s time to admit HOKA actually have some heat. the end collab is a resounding ‘not no’:
likewise with these hiking offerings, via highsnob;
Salomon are seeding their Speedcross 3 as this year’s big franchise. Im definitely feeling a big push toward neon, bright footwear (e.g the NB 860v2’s that dropped a while back) and i’m not mad at all.
I’m absolutely loving everything about the Rick Owens x Dr Martens drop-
(including the product itself, which i am so close to just buying), but the best so far was the i.d interview. He dropped some gems in here tbh. Whenever i’m watching a Rick interview, i’m humbled by the self-awareness that there are some circumstances in which i would submit to joining a cult.
Thats all friends,
GG x