A Lesson in Finding Your People
week of March 31st: Top 9 Headline Highlights
Welcome to Top 9, a weekly newsletter curated by the team at Dayna's House, where we try to make sense of what’s happening at the intersection of culture, creators, and entertainment.
The wedding industry is a $300 billion business with real couples planning real celebrations. So, why are wedding vendors (florists, photographers, etc.) receiving phone calls from fake couples? It blows my mind companies would rather spend the time creating fake profiles to satisfy advertisers with inflated metrics than focus on creating something that can connect them with, I don't know, actual customers who want to spend actual money. But this is what happens when you build an engine that can only survive on advertising money. Currently, 900,000 wedding vendors in more than 10 countries use the Knot, and some are paying to advertise on the platform. Last year, they reported four billion dollars in consumer spending via advertising. It's beginning to feel like everyone has lost the plot: real connections and community lead to real sales. When did we become so obsessed with artificial engagement metrics that mean absolutely nothing? Clearly, there's a huge discovery problem in finding people in the spaces where authentic communities already exist.
“Let’s Get This Bread” - Topicals
Topicals founder Olamide Olowe is implementing the exact playbook that industry veterans missed. This week it was announced Olamide's holding company acquired Black-owned haircare brand Bread. This new generation of beauty founders are fearless. They don't give a shit about doing things the way they've always been done. Listen. If Olamide can pull off building a house of brands (aka what Emily Weiss should've done) then I am here for it.
Thought this was an April Fool's Joke but this is serious. It's like the iconic Kiss Cam but on 100. This needs to be a social-first content series, right? The goal is to match people during the game…we don't need to follow the couple's story after they leave the stadium.
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserThis is interesting, brands are crowd sourcing for agencies on LinkedIn.
These guys are doing it right. We need more of this. Mad Realities initially launched as a crypto entertainment experiment where fans bought tokens to access content and participate in show decisions. Then, of course, crypto crashed and they pivoted to becoming a "social-first TV network." I'm curious about their structure with creators. Do creators have equity in their own shows? In the platform itself? Their business model seems legit, but do any of the creators actually share in the upside? If anyone knows, let me know.
Isaac Mizrahi is Selling His Archive
There's something oddly comforting about 90s fashion people living their best second lives on TikTok. Lori Hirshleifer has found her people via her maximalist lifestyle. Rick Owens has gained a cult following by simply existing in the most Rick Owens way possible. And Isaac Mizrahi has opened his home to us via his Belgian loafer collection, and now he's selling his archive. The clothes are insane, but I have to admit, browsing this hodge-podge site he made feels strangely archaic. You have to email for basic information, such as sizing. For someone who embraces the people of TikTok, maybe he doesn't want to sell his archive to just anyone? I emailed Marla, who is managing the archive website. Will report back next week… I mean, the clothes are just too good.
No One Does a Brand Trip like Topicals
Two years ago, Topicals flew influencers to Lagos, Nigeria for Detty December. This time, they partnered with Soft Like Ski, an Afro-Caribbean owned Snow-sports and Music Festival.
April Fools Day
April Fools remains the most cursed day in marketing, but every year, a few brands accidentally strike gold by revealing the real tea is finding those rare jokes that generate authentic excitement exposing the gap between what brands think people want versus what they actually want.
Graza x Betty Crocker
A fake collab between a pantry staple and niche fave. The result? People asking where to buy it.
Clown Affair
Crown Affair launched Clown Affair, a fake meme account to share styling disasters and “it didn’t go as planned” moments.
But, the Real Winner: Kevin Hart on Tiny Desk
Coachella Week 1 is next weekend! See you then!