Open Tabs #21
Week of 3/10: Influencer Happenings across the Internet
Last week, I mentioned that VS Pink sent the Pheloung twins to the University of Miami for a meet and greet during their campus tour. This week, they visited the University of Tennessee for another event. I’m curious what this contract looked like ($$$). While Danielle attends the events, only Brigette posts dedicated in-feed content.
Damson Madder celebrated turning five with their community in NYC and London. Influencers like Isa Sung, Hailey Sani, Kitty Lever, Nimay Ndolo, Veronika Slowikowska, Malina Weissman, Jazmine Brown attended. Simply obsessed with the floral arrangements by Molly Ford at the NYC dinner!
A few weeks ago Sarah Shapiro wrote about Madewell’s Midlife Crisis in Line Sheet. “Madewell either needs to recapture its denim authority through quality and focus or figure out how to appeal to younger buyers. If they can match their most recent, promising styling with the quality that made people love them in the first place, they may regain their former spot in America’s closets.”
Since then I have seen multiple partnerships with fashion tastemakers like Emilia Petrarca’s recent Madewell Styling Treatment newsletter and laura reilly co-hosting an event with Madewell and Substack. Based on these partners, it looks like they are choosing to grow with their original customers and regain authority in the denim space. I’m a barrel jean girl, and I have heard great things about their Darted Barrel-Leg Jean.
Tommy Hilfiger partnered with Sophia Richie Grainge on a co-created capsule.
They seeded product to influencers and friends of Sofia to drive awareness to the launch. Looks like the striped sweater and red bag are already sold out. I’m eyeing the trench coat.
Roz hair launched in Sephora! They celebrated with a cocktail party at Nine Orchard. Rose Florence also designed this beautiful illustration for their in-store announcement!
Can’t not mention the NYC influencer drama on TikTok. I had the same reaction to the recent influencer drama on TikTok as I did to The Cut article about r/NYCInfluencerSnark. — people say unnecessarily rude things out of jealousy. You choose what influences you, so just unfollow the people who annoy you. While I get irked by the greed of this industry, it’s a career at the end of the day, and these influencers are successful. But the influencers who felt targeted, didn’t need to make response videos…
SXSW just wrapped up in Austin, and it felt like there was little coverage from influencers and brands. Dear Media hosted a panel with Whitney Port and a dinner in partnership with Nicole Miller, Xandra DJ’ed an event with JBL, Create and Cultivate held several creator-focused panels with Tefi and Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest, and OLLY Wellness x Ashley Graham hosted a panel within Create and Cultivate’s space. Since I wasn’t on the ground, I reached out to friends who attended to get insights on what they saw and heard regarding the creator industry.
There’s a party going on and most brands are *still* missing it. There’s a clear disconnect between spend vs reality of media consumption. The work they’re proudest to hold up is still a long form, linear tv commercial, and my brain breaks thinking about how expensive it was vs how many people are actually influenced by it. Brands need to spend far less on TV, and far more in new media (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, podcasts, twitch, yada yada). It’s not just *social* media, it’s not just idiots taking pictures of themselves and hocking nutrifol. It’s an entire new media landscape, and brands aren’t clear on the immensity, possibility, and urgency of investing heavily in it.- Grace Murray Vazquez, VP of Strategy at Fohr
We (Graza) hosted a Smashburgesa Bash with Bar Toti, featuring their famous smash burger, fries, and light bites, all cooked with Graza EVOO—along with olive oil infused ice cream served by Lick, a local favorite of ours. Austin is one of the biggest foodie cities in the country so it’s a no brainer for us to show up but instead of doing something directly with SXSW, we’ve found it more effective(and fun) to throw our own party when the week starts winding down for attendees. That way, we get to hang with both locals and all the people in town for the festival—without competing with the chaos. Our guest list included local chefs, restaurant owners, brand partners, as well as creators in the food space, ensuring Graza showed up in a way that felt authentic, memorable, and ofc community-driven (the heartbeat of the brand). - Gabby Fowler, Sr Social Media Manager at Graza
Other things I saw this week: Erika Veurink hosted an event with Casetify at Gem Wine, Sydney Silverman hosted a dinner with Aspen Vodka, Krissy Jones led a meditation with Thuma, Parke rebranded and a lot of the comments are quite negative about the fabric content not being disclosed….human claws were a theme at a Hero Cosmetics and Beis events (why!?), and Coola hosted a lunch and spa day at the Four Seasons Westlake.
Things I’ve been influenced by this week: Update, I caved and bought the bag.
Ok the bag is so cute though.
Thank you!