2PM - Brand Advertising With a Tailwind

Memo / Must Read: The transformative potential of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) legislation has catalyzed a significant shift, particularly for sports outside of men's basketball and football. This evolution presents an unparalleled opportunity for brands to forge partnerships that are not only financially lucrative but also rich in cultural and social capital.

This, along with a host of other positive indicators, suggests a renaissance for the marketability of sports and the athletes playing them – especially the athletes who are often relegated to third or fourth place in the fandom sweepstakes.

The emergence of athletes as pitchwomen and pitchmen has heralded a new era in sports marketing, one that promises an exciting time to be a fan or the athlete. Continue...

Ten student-athletes with the highest NIL valuations

Business Insider / Excerpt: Bronny James and Caitlin Clark are among the highest-paid student-athletes thanks to NIL deals. See who else made the top 10.

Early trends in this year's March Madness campaigns

Morning Brew / Excerpt: The NIL space has matured in the nearly three years since a Supreme Court ruling paved the way for brands to partner with college athletes, and several are now leveraging their NIL partners in March Madness campaigns.

Mexican retailers struggle to grow online as Shein hits market

Sourcing Journal / Excerpt: “This move is one of many that Shein will make to cement itself at the heart of the fashion ecosystem,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail consultancy GlobalData Retail. “Shein is moving beyond being a seller of low-price fashion to one that has many strings to its bow, including marketplaces, services for sellers and now services for designers and apparel brands.”

With TikTok under fire, brands that rely on it worry

New York Times / Excerpt: Some lawmakers in Washington think TikTok is a platform for spying by the Chinese government. Parents fume that it is rotting their children’s brains. But lots of companies — big and small — credit TikTok and its band of influencers for getting their products in front of potential customers, especially young ones.

Temu's ad blitz is working

Business of Fashion / Excerpt: Temu’s parent, Chinese online retail giant Pinduoduo, reported three-digit revenue growth in its fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, posting revenue of 88.9 billion yuan ($12.5 billion), up from 39.8 billion yuan in the same period in 2022. The company does not break out sales or earnings for Temu, though its knockout results were surely driven in part by the meteoric rise of the platform on the Western landscape.

Why the latest TikTok ban attempt is different

Retail Dive / Excerpt: Beyond social itself, the broader economic landscape has shifted. President Biden has been more comfortable imposing trade sanctions on China than former President Trump. In a potential push to combat China’s attempts for economic dominance, Washington could be more likely to go through with a TikTok ban if ByteDance refused a sale. 

Third Update to the DTC Power List, presented by Bold Metrics. All brands are updated with the secondary interest poll. The third update of 2024 sees some major movers: Scentbird (+22), Lovevery (+25), Adore Me (+83), Black Rifle (+48), Misfits Market (+63), ButcherBox (+50), Ghost (+50), Caraa Sport (+437).

800+ Brands Measured

What a fashion company is worth today

Business of Fashion / Excerpt: Last month, Rag & Bone was acquired by a joint venture between Guess Inc. and brand management firm WHP Global. Guess will pay $56.5 million for its half, which values the brand at $113 million — about six times Rag & Bone’s adjusted EBITDA of $18 million in 2023, but just under half its 2023 sales of $250 million.

Shopify plugins leaked data from nearly 2K stores

CyberNews / Excerpt: The leaked database stored 25GB of data. This data was collected by plugins from over 1,800 Shopify stores using the company’s plugins. It held data from more than 7.6 million individual orders, including sensitive customer data. The same endpoint also had a public API that could have been used instead of the exposed database.

Amazon is already expanding same-day pharmacy delivery

Quartz / Excerpt: Doug Herrington, the CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said that by combining Amazon’s Pharmacy’s deliveries with its logistics network, “Amazon is building the fastest and most convenient service for the home delivery of prescription medications.”

E.l.f. Cosmetics partners with Liquid Death

WWD / Excerpt: E.l.f. and Liquid Death are collaborating on a new makeup collection, launching March 26, inspired by the heavy metal music genre.

Member Intel: The Argument Against Antitrust / Excerpt: The late Steve Jobs stands as a monumental architect of modern consumer engagement. His vision for Apple, articulated with characteristic foresight as early as 2010, was not merely to create products but to cultivate an ecosystem so enthralling that customers would find it difficult to leave.

Jobs explicitly aimed to “further lock customers into our ecosystem” and “make Apple’s ecosystem even more sticky,” a strategy that, in hindsight, laid the groundwork for Apple’s current market dominance. This directive, crystalized into a relentless pursuit over the years, has borne fruit in an ecosystem where the interplay of devices, software, and services has not only revolutionized consumer technology but also redefined the boundaries of competition.

Consumer spending started the year weaker than expected

Bloomberg / Excerpt: “Consumers’ budgets are strained,” said Scott Friedman, chief credit officer at credit-rating and consulting firm Pulse Ratings. Distress at budget chains is partly because the discounters’ core customers — low-income households — are cherry-picking what they purchase to save as much money as possible, he said.

To escape the algorithm, fashion girls are shopping via Substack

Vogue Business / Excerpt: The platform provides a safe haven for trusted recommendations, which have become hard to find on Google and social media apps.