The Wellness of Everything

Our latest report with Vaan Group is live (and free) here.

I am particularly fascinated with the bodycare and beauty niches for a few reasons, that are relevant to almost all brand-owners and marketers.

The first is that beauty, body and wellness are on a collision course. I spend a lot of time discussing and consulting on the idea of “wellness in everything”. The concept of how every consumer decision we make is becoming increasingly educated on its implication for wellness - from bluetooth to polyester to skincare— and the increasing amount of optimization, education and product development that is rapidly occurring across industry. Cosmetics and body-care is front and center to this convo, and worth understanding to see the potential ripple effects in every industry from food to supplements.

The same goes for implementation of technology to shape the online brand experience. In an extremely traditional retail niche, cosmetics in particular has always been best served in-person. But the desire to win online has prompted companies to invest more than any other industry into truly interesting incarnations of the experience that are beginning to look actually BETTER than the real life version. Virtual try-ons, AI formulations and analysis, educational live streams, influencer marketing drama that rivals TV… What we see in beauty now will become the baseline of how fashion is experienced online, and that is something anyone interested in the future of the space should understand.

Bodycare is an equally interesting one, where there is not real sampling or retail hands-on experience, perhaps the scent of a soap, even at retail we are buying purely off of vibes, it is a niche ripe with branding learnings.

We were fascinated building this report and being submerged in this industry thourhg months and with more than half dozen interviews, four brandscapes, website case studies and extensive trend and tech analysis, and we think you will be too.

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Localized Content

One of the more interesting topics for brands, creators and entrepreneurs around content going into next year is around “local” content.

TikTok is promoting a program called Hidden Gems, encouraging creators to talk about the places they live and share tips and recommendations. One of Instagram’s most consistent algorithm features is its showcases of your local region for food, events and more. This makes sense, its popular content to save this type of content for a future date or free night, share with friends to consider going, and easy for the social networks to identify where you are from location tags.

But we’ve seen an uptick in accounts that are turning this into a specific business, and there’s a brand connection that should be considered as well.

Two Cut30 grads are both doing excellent with local content, one in Salem, OR and one in WInnipeg, sharing events, insights and options for their local community, and building newsletter businesses around them. It’s an interesting angle on building a creator business that ties into the innate design of everyone for community and things to do.

But I’m not just bullish on it for those reasons, but overall because I feel brands are going to become radically interested in Local in the coming years. The uptick in run clubs and social clubs, the success of popups that get documented for the internet, and the ability to use analytics to see key regions where you’re selling, and key regions where you used to sell but don’y anymore, will make the ability to activate local more important than ever.

This week I was in Boston, and fellow creators Ashwinn, Jordan Rogers and I invited our friends out to Tracksmith and their local run club for a lil Friday 5k - and it cemented home the idea of a brand that embodies a regional aesthetic that way Tracksmith does the vintage east coast collegiate, while also playing a role in its community. The storefront anchors it together, providing a glimpse into their lifestyle vision, while also being a hub for people young and old to share the endorphins of a run.

I’m looking at this too - thinking as a creator how can trips be more than photo dumps, and have been playing with little creative and design oriented tour guides. You can check out Boston’s here.

If you’re looking to learn hot to create on social for you, or your brand, or dive into local content, our next Cut30 starts tomorrow.

Packaging References

This weekend I released a video about scent packaging - a great reference point for unixex, feminine and masculine oriented packages, where form and name is a huge factor in even entering the conversation for a brand’s new idea. A catalog of some of our favorite references and the duality of their offerings below.

Creative Studios, Agencies & Freelance

I’ve been doing a series of longer-form videos on TikTok just discussing interesting creative topics, and one that resonated was talking about the idea of “creative studios” - basically smaller collectives that can do both their own products, and small agency work, but that aren’t full time projects that are designed to scale like a traditional agency. As it seems a lot of young creatives are looking for insights on setting up their freelance options, or thinking through their career, I broke down some of the benefits of the various business models (as someone who has done all of them), on Youtube.

Hyper Reports

Check out our market reports. We spend many hours researching markets, categories, and brands & products within the consumer space so you don’t have to.

• How to Source Blanks 101 — HERE — a guide to finding and producing your own merch

• Reports on Running, Golf, and Tennis — HERE — a guide to each sport, the market opportunities, and how to launch your own brand

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Oren & Clayton ❤️ you