"Need to know what marketing girly pitched this."
How “Marketinggg👏" became a compliment.
Good morning everyone. Extremely rare Saturday letter today.
Today’s letter includes: a type of media scammer I didn’t know still existed, $350k face lifts, the movie screening I’d attend tonight if I had no plans, and some sad news for Sweetgreen shareholders.
We’re talking about private jets and brand trips in the Feed Me chat:
This morning I spent some time looking at the latest launches from Paige Lorenze’s brand Dairy Boy. The first was a photo of colorful fleeces with over 200 comments, including several along the lines of “UM PAIGE PUT ME ON PR NEOWWWWW.” Translation: “Please add me to your gifting list so I can post a fleece selfie for free.”
Another post was a short film showing a new Dairy Boy ice cream truck. The video shows Paige herself driving the truck through the countryside as a swarm of young women appear out of fields to chase her down. Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy’ plays in the background, and Paige eventually pulls over on the side of the road to pass out ice cream cones to the group.
I will be shocked if this ice cream truck isn’t a huge hit for the brand. The top comment reads, “Marketinggg👏.” Other comments include “I love your marketing so much” and “Your creative director deserves a raise (it’s probably you).” On a video Dairy Boy posted last week – also in collaboration with filmmaker RJ Bruni (whose resume includes Porsche and Ralph Lauren) – one of the 2,000 comments reads, “Wait who ever wrote this script is genius and I absolutely LOVE the marketing it’s pure gold!!”
This sort of feedback is everywhere now. A comment on a recent post from Unwell, Alex Cooper’s hydration drink, reads “The marketing is always 💯.” A comment on a reel from Telfar’s recent bag-on-the-street campaign proclaims it is “one of Best overall marketing lines since the beginning.” A commenter on Astronomer’s video of Gwyneth Paltrow post-Coldplay couple wrote, “Need to know what marketing girly pitched this idea.” Someone posted “Marketing team needs a raise” under the Harris Dickinson Rhode post – the comment itself has over 3k likes.
I asked
what she thought of this comment pattern. “I have been thinking about this, how TikTok or maybe Substack or both have made everyone tuned-in and extra opinionated on marketing strategies and business in general,” she said. texted me, “For the past four or five years, brands felt like they had to post iPhone videos to be ‘social first’. They relied on quick-turn TikTok trends to tell their story. We’re starting to see the pendulum swing back. The goal of social is to break through and in a sea of same, story stands out. Importantly, for a younger consumer, this might be the first time they’re seeing social marketing that’s original and considered. To them THIS is marketing—and it’s worth leaving a comment over.”