Avatar Creators & Ozempic Clothes

AI humans and GLP-1-fueled shopping sprees

Author

Sammi Cohen
June 19, 2024

Articles of the Week

On Monday, TikTok announced a new set of tools that will allow brands to create ads using avatars generated by artificial intelligence that look like real people (I literally got chills as I was reading this). Brands can choose from an array of stock avatars “created from video footage of real paid actors that are licensed for commercial use,” or they can opt for a customizable avatar that could be designed to look like a specific creator.

Chanel is taking its marketing efforts to new territories — and a new format. The prestige beauty powerhouse is the first luxury fragrance brand to take to Sphere, the Las Vegas landmark that opened in 2023. The activation is comprised of a 90-second spot, which will air multiple times daily, for a limited-edition incarnation of No.5 L’Eau. It started Friday, and will conclude Thursday (June 20).

The US Surgeon General came out with an Op-Ed in the NYT on Monday, asking for a warning label on social media. Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours (+60%).

The US government is suing Adobe for allegedly hiding expensive fees and making it difficult to cancel a subscription. In the complaint filed on Monday, the Department of Justice claims Adobe “has harmed consumers by enrolling them in its default, most lucrative subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms.” I’ve personally tried to cancel Adobe products before, and can attest to how difficult it’s been to cancel.

Many people dream of becoming social-media stars and assume that massive amounts of cash come hand-in-hand with high follower counts (they’re wrong). In fact, more than half of Gen Z thinks they can ‘easily make a career in influencing.’ Last year, 48% of creator-earners made $15,000 or less, and only 13% made more than $100,000.

Gen Z Leads Revival in Finance Masters Courses

27% of Gen Z prospective students (born since 1997) are now ­considering a masters in finance, compared with 13% of millennials, according to a survey carried out by the Graduate Management Admission Council, which runs the GMAT entrance exam. Cue “I’m looking for a man in finance, trust fund…”

While blockbuster drugs like Ozempic that lead to significant weight loss have dented demand for diet plans and caused food companies to prepare for people eating less, clothing sellers are finding that millions of slimmed-down Americans want to buy new clothes.

Adobe Subscriptions are (Very) Hot

This chart highlights the power of subscription revenue for Adobe (regardless of how hard it has been to cancel their subscriptions; see linked article above). They’ve also been able to leverage their generative AI tool called Firefly, which enables users to create using features such as text-to-image and generative fill effects. I personally use Adobe Express for a lot of my creative (I love Canva as well, but I’ll save that deep dive for another post), and the Firefly features are incredibly helpful and save me a ton of time.

Adobe has done a fantastic job of moving away from its old school license model. Subscriptions are now up 16x over the past 10 years(!) with no sign of stopping. Adobe is now a $200+ billion company.

Deep Dive: Abercrombie

Abercrombie is BACK, baby! The company’s Q1 revenue came in at $1.02 billion, which meant that it was the highest revenue for a first quarter in their history (last year they did $836 million in Q1). Abercrombie also owns Hollister, so Hollister seems to be falling in line with Abercrombie’s resurgence. Hollister brands were up 12% in Q1.

The CEO of Abercrombie, Fran Horowitz, is one of the best in the business. She’s been able to take a company that was riddled with scandal and dying sales, and she’s turned the ship around to become a favorite amongst Gen Z and millennials. The brand’s resurgence comes amid a trend of mall retailers (like J.Crew and Victoria’s Secret) finding their footing again by reestablishing their fashion credibility.

Abercrombie also spoke to the success of launching "The Wedding Shop" during Q1, which Horowitz described as a "curated set of dresses and other apparel to outfit out customers for bachelorette parties to honeymoons to the big day itself." By no means was Abercrombie the first retailer to launch a wedding day capsule or collection, but this does show that they are listening (and responding) to what their customers want. In this video, I covered the launch of The Wedding Shop and how Abercrombie partnered with Pinterest to create the launch event.

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xx Sammi

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