Goodr is a sunglasses brand that has *checks notes* five different Instagram accounts. As Avril Lavigne once said, “Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?”

According to Goodr CMO Kelley Puckett, they’re all part of an effort to foster communities within different sports since the company creates sunglasses designed for running, biking, golfing, and CrossFit. In addition to its main Instagram, each of these sports has its own account.

“We really saw an opportunity to connect with those communities on a deeper level,” she told Marketing Brew. “While all speaking to the brand, there’s different aesthetics for all the pages. Obviously, the conversations we’re having [across pages] are very different, and it’s really to create community with those different sports.”

Goodr isn’t alone; over the past few years, brands, especially DTC ones, have increasingly focused on community-building efforts as part of their marketing strategies.

“We saw the response to…the community that we were building with runners, and I think we realized there was just a huge opportunity to have these separate conversations with these sports on their own pages,” Puckett said.

Read the full story here.—AM

Change is coming to the numbers side of marketing: Google migration. Say goodbye to Google’s Universal Analytics—the industry standard—and hello to Google Analytics 4. (You’ll need to hop aboard the new system by July 2023, btw.)

Worried about the shift? You’re not the only one. This change is already causing issues in the UA world.

Fortunately, Parse.ly is here to help you navigate this whole new ball game. Their downloadable toolkit covers the transition to GA4 and how content teams can get their footing in the new system.

The toolkit doesn’t stop there. It also unpacks the differences between UA and GA4, lays out common problems people are encountering with 4, and explains how to solve them.

Get ahead of change. Download Parse.ly’s toolkit.

Conservatives are calling for a boycott of The North Face after the brand released a Pride campaign starring drag queen Pattie Gonia. The ad promotes the company’s “Summer of Pride,” a series of outdoor events taking place across the US.

In response to the backlash, The North Face released a statement saying it “has always believed the outdoors should be a welcoming, equitable, and safe place for all.” Last year, the company released a similar ad for “Summer of Pride” that also starred Pattie Gonia.

“Creating community and belonging in the outdoors is a core part of our values and is needed now more than ever. We stand with those who support our vision for a more inclusive outdoor industry,” the statement concluded.

Peas in a pod? The North Face is the latest brand to receive calls for a boycott over LGBTQ+ collaborations. After Bud Light partnered with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney during March Madness, conservatives began to boycott the brand, which has had an impact on its sales.

In contrast to The North Face doubling down on its support of the LGBTQ+ community, Bud Light seemingly backpedaled on its collaboration with Mulvaney: Last month, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth put out a statement saying the brand “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”

• Kylo Freeman, founder of wellness brand For Them, recently told Marketing Brew that Bud Light’s response may make the brand seem inauthentic.
• “I think it’s a good learning for other brands to stand behind what you do. And if you want to tap into our community…that should be in an authentic way,” Freeman, who is trans, said.

Target has been another recent target of boycotting. Continue reading here.—JS

In the last few years, beauty AR and AI tech has become increasingly realistic (remember the buzz over the TikTok Bold Glamour filter earlier this year?). But it hasn’t always been that way, particularly in the virtual beauty try-on space.

Wayne Liu, chief growth officer at Perfect Corp, which partners with brands like Benefit, E.l.f., and Mac on virtual try-ons, told Retail Brew people were “suspicious” about how well the tech would work back in 2015.

“In the early days of our company, we did lots of more evangelist-type of work. We tried to educate the customer and try to get them to trust and believe,” Liu said.

• Its tech was making its way through different test markets abroad when Covid completely accelerated it, Liu said, and the tech has since become “more like table stakes” for beauty brands.

While virtual try-on tech is still a developing concept in other categories like apparel, innovators in the beauty space have worked to improve the customer experience to be as close to the real thing as possible, working to match the sheen of a lipgloss or the nail polish on a moving hand to make it an increasingly essential service for beauty brands.

Read the full story on Retail Brew.—EC

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Question everything: If you’re thinking about using generative AI as part of your marketing efforts, consider these five questions.

Vibe check: The “State of Search 2023,” at least according to Semrush.

Put me in, Coach: Google has expanded its free digital coaching program, which helps small businesses with their marketing strategies.

Join eMarketer on June 2 to explore how digital hubs like streaming TV, search engines, and social media are changing as user habits evolve. Plus, get your questions about ChatGPT and generative AI answered by our live analyst panel. Hear from brands like Wendy’s, M&T Bank, Albertsons Media Collective, MNTN, and more.

Register for free now.

Read: “Tech layoffs have ravaged the teams that fight online misinformation and hate speech” (CNBC)

Quote: “No one who owns a bar is thinking, ‘I can’t wait for NBCUniversal to come offer to buy my bar for a hundred million dollars.’ If you think of it as a business that you’re running with your friends, it becomes a lot easier to just be like, ‘Yeah, we’re having success, and that’s all we need.’”—Tom Ley, Defector Media’s co-owner and editor-in-chief, comparing the worker-owned, subscription site’s financial philosophy to that of other media companies in an interview with CJR

Digs: Architectural Digest looks inside Barbie’s dreamhouse, a “fuschia fantasy inspired by Palm Springs.”

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• What search advertisers think about Google’s AI-infused search
• Peloton unveils a rebrand that invites users to come one, come all
• Publicis is buying into the AI hype—literally