A new Zyn competitor is targeting Citibank analysts.

Free letter today.

Good morning everyone. The comments and texts I got about yesterday’s newsletter were stupendous, and I’m so glad I got to discuss them with some of you in-person last night. Of course Air Mail sent out an email to subscribers yesterday to invite them to join Graydon’s Editor’s Circle (not to be confused with Puck’s Inner Circle). A lot of circles going on here.

Who will host me, Graydon, and John for a civil discussion about our media businesses?

Later in the night I got the Bay Leaf Panna Cotta and the Guinness Cake at Vinegar Hill House and both went so hard.

NEWS:

• Emily Oberg’s Sporty and Rich launched two new collaborations this month – one with Lily’s sugar-free chocolate, and one with The New York Yankees. I don’t know if this is the plan… but if Oberg can turn her trendy activewear brand into the Erewhon of sweats (dropping frequent collabs with brands), then I respect it.

• Donald Trump might be going on Red Scare. Confidently can say I’m not prepared for the conversations that will occur on Twitter if that happens.

• Anna Delvey in conversation with Ziwe is wildly entertaining.

• A writer at Eater is begging you to keep your flash off while taking photos in restaurants. “Of course, take your food photos. Most of us live our lives at least partially online now, and there is joy in documenting the moment, creating a keepsake of a meal and a day with cherished company… But everyone is there to experience the whole, not be made to watch as you selfishly man a literal spotlight.” I agree, the flash photos and documenting constantly is excruciating, but I don’t think phones are leaving restaurants (or concerts, or trains) any time soon.

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Feed Me is $50/year, which is about 20 cents/letter when you buy an annual subscription. It’s not staying at that price for long, so lock in while you can.

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• What if they made a Patagonia vest you could put in your mouth without getting weird looks? That’s what my gen-z finance friend said to me after he saw the commercial for Excel, competitor brand to Zyn launched by nicotine replacement brand Lucy. Excel (a nod to the industry leading spreadsheet software program) positions themself as a focus solution as opposed to a nicotine replacement. Copy on the site reads, “we believe that by maximizing productivity, we not only enhance individual performance but also contribute to the overall success and growth of your clients and stakeholders.” The angle is actually pretty brilliant, but I think it reads heavy-handed. Like if Rishi Ramdani and Stewy Hosseini were ran through Chat GPT, with the prompt being “Write copy for a nicotine company targeted at men who spend all day on Reddit.” The branding was done by LA-based agency Day Job, who has also worked on Recess and Fly By Jing.

  I got in touch with Lucy/Excel’s founder, John Coogan, this morning and asked him some pressing questions:

  Have you ever worked a job that looks like the one portrayed on the Excel site?

  “I interned in somewhat bullshit roles at Citadel and Bain Capital in college. More recently I’ve been working with Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, which returns-wise is in the same league as many Wall Street legends, but has a much more modern aesthetic.”

  How hard is it going to be to market this brand without being able to use social (advertising limitations for nicotine)? Do you have retail distribution set up?

  “The only place we need to run social ads is LinkedIn for obvious reasons, but you’re right, retail is very important. We have a ton of distribution experience and plan to be in every Manhattan bodega by EOY.”

  Team Harper or Eric?

  “I don’t watch TV, in solidarity with the real heroes, overworked banking analysts.”

• New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, asked if prostate cancer affects women as much as men.

• New York Magazine recently did a deal with OpenAI. The New York Magazine Union is back at the bargaining table this morning to continue their fight for AI job protections.

• “We say that we like messy women, but we only act like it once they’re gone or dead.” NYLON interviewed Caroline Calloway about her new book, Elizabeth Wurtzel and Caroline Calloway’s Guide to Life. Obviously we’re going to fly Caroline up from Florida to host a Feed Me book club when it comes out.

• We all think our experiences are original — buying a new suede jacket for fall, ordering a Negroni with mezcal, impulsively chopping all our hair off — but what if our personal style isn’t so personal? Brooke LaMantia wrote about this today for The Cut:

  “Last summer, my best friend and I were drinking an Aperol Spritz in Dimes Square when I noticed scores of women walking by in different iterations of the same outfit: an oversize tee, a skirt, white socks, sneakers or loafers, and some kind of embellishments in their hair. I looked down. I was wearing an oversize button-up, a maxi skirt, white Nike socks, and vintage loafers. Suddenly, everywhere I looked, I saw myself, and it felt mortifying. Who was I to think my outfits were better, or less basic, than anyone else’s?”

• If the walls of Chateau Marmont could talk…

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See you tomorrow! And if you’re feeling generous, can you hit me with an email at emily@readfeedme.com with a suggestion of who you’d like to see for the next Guest Lecture?