Keep scrolling for the only review of Spare that matters.
How M3gan became Gen Z’s new favourite film
Michael Moses, the Chief Marketing Officer at Universal Pictures, joined Matt Belloni on The Town podcast to discuss how his team turned the camp thriller M3gan into a viral sensation.
M3gan opened to $45 million globally in its first weekend, with nearly half of the film’s audience coming from people under 25.
The film’s success has been largely credited to its viral marketing campaign, which combined traditional advertising, social, and experiential.
On marketing to Gen Z, Moses says it’s all about finding something the internet can "make their own". In this case, it was M3gan’s meme-worthy dance.
The dance sequences in Wednesday and Matilda, both distributed by Netflix, also helped make those productions a viral success with youth audiences.
To inspire action and avoid becoming just a meme, Moses notes it’s important to make Gen Z feel like your marketing efforts are “content they discovered”.
They did this by bringing M3gan into the real world via the press tour and in theatres during the premiere.
They also chose trailer songs that had a lot of pre-existing equity on TikTok. The first trailer released featured a Taylor Swift song, while the second featured a Bella Poarch song.
Listen to Moses’ full interview on The Town with Matthew Belloni.
In the realm of niche internet drama, Brittany Dawn’s foster baby saga is high on the list of most problematic.
Brittany rose to prominence in the mid-2010s as an Instagram fitness influencer. She was forced to leave fitness influencing behind after several customers filed public complaints to the Texas Attorney General’s Office in 2019 claiming she never delivered on personalised meal and exercise plans.
The state of Texas filed a lawsuit against Brittany’s company on February 1st, 2022 over deceptive business practices and misleading customers with eating disorders.
She rebranded as a Christianity influencer but was embroiled in controversy once again in October 2021 when her husband shot and killed their dog instead of taking him to the vet after he was injured in a hit-and-run.
She has also faced criticism for spreading conspiracy theories, including some QAnon talking points.
In October 2022, Brittany shared that she and her husband were expecting a foster baby.
By November, Brittany was putting together a stroller and installing a car seat in preparation for “the foster child in need that will be on the way soon” and claimed that her mother-in-law had planned a “foster care shower” for her and her husband.
A baby was placed in their home in early December.
Given how quickly they were able to become registered foster parents and how rare it is to be matched with a newborn baby, some have theorised that Brittany may have used money from a GoFundMe she set up in 2021 to purchase the baby from a Christian organisation that coerces mothers into giving up their children.
In April 2021, Brittany set up a GoFundMe for a homeless man named James who allegedly walked into her church to tithe $0.15. Brittany and her husband decided to change his life by taking him in and crowdsourcing money for James to help him get into rehab.
At the time, some felt that Brittany was exploiting this man to satisfy her own saviour complex. Nevertheless, the GoFundMe for James raised over $25,000 and Brittany eventually shared that he was sent to The Alpha House in Ohio— a faith-based addiction treatment center that is “FREE to the resident” provided they can afford counseling fees, according to the facility’s website.
Many people following Brittany’s foster care journey believe that James’ money went towards acquiring the child. Others theorise it went towards her wedding.
Several TikTok users claiming to be nurses and social workers in Texas have also noted that in an ethical system, newborn babies rarely get placed with non-family members, especially first-time foster parents.
Others are skeptical about how Brittany and her husband passed the background check to become foster parents given his history of violence and her history of scamming people.
On January 8th, Brittany shared that they “said goodbye to our first little one as reunification with family transpired.”
Read the full story via Centennial Beauty.
Former “Morphe Babe” Nicol Concilio speaks on the brand’s downfall
YouTuber Nicol Concilio shared her thoughts on why cosmetics brand Morphe appears to be struggling amid shifts in the beauty industry.
Morphe built a reputation with young makeup lovers through its partnerships with social media’s biggest beauty influencers. (“Use code JACATTACK for 10% off!” will forever be etched in our brains.)
Over the past few years, several Morphe-affiliated influencers were embroiled in controversy, forcing the brand to sever relationships with some of its biggest money-makers like Jeffree Star and James Charles.
On January 5th, Morphe announced it would be closing all 18 of its retail stores in the U.S. One week later, Morphe’s parent company Forma Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced it would be parting ways with Ariana Grande’s cosmetics brand, R.E.M. Beauty.
Nicol, who was previously affiliated with Morphe and cut ties with the brand amid Jeffree Star’s cancellation in 2020, took to TikTok to explain why Morphe has failed to capture the Gen Z consumer.
“During the pandemic, makeup dramatically changed. I wasn’t even wearing makeup as much as I used to. And the amount of makeup I was using is definitely a lot less. There’s something about the way that makeup is in 2023 that makes it just feel very effortless. And while of course, eyeshadow and colour is still involved, it’s in a very different yet natural way. Morphe still honestly feels to me like they’re stuck in 2017. And while I do think being true to your brand and who you are is, of course, important, there’s just nothing that excites me here.”
Nicol went on to note that Tarte Cosmetics had an “incredible comeback” in 2022, as they catered to current makeup trends without straying too far from their own brand.
Watch Nicol’s opinion on Morphe’s downfall via TikTok.
Are TikTok creators *actually* that influential?
A new piece by Lauren Meisner for Centennial Beauty explores why TikTok’s biggest stars are failing to influence their giant audiences to spend money.
Despite having millions of followers, some of the app’s earliest success stories, like Hyram Yarbro, Chase Hudson, Larray, and even Addison Rae, have struggled to maintain a deep connection with their audience.
This is largely due to the short-form nature of the platform, as well as the algorithm’s tendency to push fresh and trending content to the user’s feed regardless of who they follow.
There have been several examples over the past year of TikToker-led brands and sponsorships that have underperformed.
Most recently, Sephora announced that it would be removing Addison’s ITEM Beauty and Hyram’s Selfless by Hyram from its shelves.
Both brands were initially slated to be successes— ITEM thanks to Addison’s massive following, and Selfless due to Hyram’s reputation as an industry expert (despite having no formal qualifications…?).
“There is no doubt that young people are happy to invest time watching TikTok — over 40% of Gen Zs in the U.S. spend more than 3 hours a day on the app — but it seems that’s where the investment ends for a lot of users.”
“Though audiences might shell out a few dollars to try a viral product in a one-time purchase, the recent decision from Sephora to drop ITEM Beauty and Selfless by Hyram from its shelves suggests that hype culture is not a sustainable marketing strategy and TikTok followers are not a marker of influence.”
Read the full piece via Centennial Beauty.
Celebrity Memoir Book Club reads Prince Harry’s Spare. As always, co-hosts Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton give a thought-provoking and hilarious review of this highly-anticipated memoir, leaving us to wonder why celebrities are so desperate to share the most bizarre and intimate details of their lives with the public. If you’re not subscribed, you should be. (Promise this isn’t sponsored.)
Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.