Tomato sauce purses, sandwich flip-flops, and now…a bucatini bikini.

Despite food-inspired fashion being all the rage this summer, Nicole Landesman, VP of marketing at Banza—the chickpea-based food brand that created the “bucakini”—told Marketing Brew that its involvement in the trend is purely coincidental.

“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” Landesman said of the company’s merch. She cited a collaboration Banza did in 2021 with beaded-accessory designer Susan Alexandra on pizza charms as one example.

“At the time, we saw on social that there were a lot of wearable food items,” Nicole McNey, director of earned media at Banza, added. “Every single time we launch, people just love [merch] and so that’s why we always try to do it.”

In addition to the bucakini—created to promote the company’s recent bucatini release—Banza also has a T-shirt line with actor Drea de Matteo on the horizon, according to McNey.

Companies create branded merch for several reasons: to get people talking online, drive media coverage, or collect customer data. At Banza, McNey said creating merch is about driving buzz on social and turning product releases into bigger moments.

“We launched bucatini in June and we really wanted to give people a reason to keep talking about it over the following weeks,” she said.

Read the full story here.—KH

Success starts with ownership. Over your life, over your brand vision, and over your owned marketing channels—especially with Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the horizon.

Learn how to leverage those channels at Klaviyo’s free virtual OWN IT summit from Aug. 15–17.

Klaviyo is bringing together the best in the biz to help you gain new customers and boost sales (even after the holiday shopping season rush). Hear from a lineup of e-commerce rock stars, including:

• Ty Haney, founder of Try Your Best, Joggy, and Outdoor Voices
• Kim Kreuzberger, former CEO of Cravings by Chrissy Tiegen and CRO of Goop
• Cody Plofker, CMO of Jones Road Beauty
• Nik Sharma and Moiz Ali of the Limited Supply podcast
• Kyle Cooke, founder of Loverboy

Don’t miss out—save your spot for free.

Gen Z seems to love a lot of things, but “science-backed” may not be as high on their list as buzzwords like “plant-based,” “natural,” or “vegan.”

That’s where Lisa Guerrera, co-founder and CEO of Experiment, comes in. With her science-based beauty brand, she is trying to re-educate consumers that chemicals and science are not all bad.

And Gen Z is listening, as evidenced by the brand’s TikTok-famous products like Buffer Gel and Super Saturated barrier formulations. But how does the entrepreneur make these products less scary for her audience? She told Retail Brew all about it at the recent Porte Conference.

Keep reading here.—JS

Each week, Marketing Brew recaps what people are talking about on social media, the trends that took over our feeds, and how marketers are responding.

X no longer marks the spot: After a weird (and bright) few days, the makeshift-looking X on top of the former Twitter headquarters is gone now. Like many other things that have happened since Elon Musk took over Twitter, this seems to have been due to short-term thinking—and a lack of permits. Great news for the people who had to deal with strobe-like flashing in their windows all night.

Speaking of X: The World Wildlife Fund saw an opportunity and ran with it.

It’s a doll summer: While Barbie’s marketing team has been going hard on the collabs, its Y2K doll competitor is also doing crossovers. Bratz unveiled its first celebrity collection, a collab with Kylie Jenner. A post announcing it has received more than 5 million views on TikTok. However, not everyone is thrilled with the mini dolls, with some noting that their skin tone appears darker than Jenner’s, and questioning why the brand didn’t choose to work with a woman of color.

Throwback turtles-day: The latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie got Jonathan, the “I like turtles” viral sensation from 2007, to re-create his original interview as part of its promotion.

Halt the Barbie memes?: Based on the box office, no one’s sick of the movie yet.—KH

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

If at first you don’t SECceed: Here are some tips on how to comply with SEC regulations across social.

Link up: Info about LinkedIn’s demographics that can help shape your marketing approach on the platform.

Needle pulling ___: Catch up on the basics of Threads here.

Mmmm, fresh strategies: Wanna whip up the perfect holiday shopping marketing strategy? Get the recipe for a successful season (and a dash of expert advice) at Klaviyo’s OWN IT summit on Aug. 15–17. RSVP here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Stories we’re jealous of.

• The New York Times wrote about striking actors getting on Cameo.
• The Atlantic looked at why the recession everyone predicted (including ad buyers) hasn’t seemed to manifest.
• Eater examined why “celebrities can’t stop making ice cream.”