So Many Dicks
Good Trouble for the Week of 6.6.25
Number one, like yourself. Number two, you have to eat healthy. And number three, you've got to squeeze your buns. That's my formula. - Richard (Dick) Simmons
This week:
What is the real significance of e.l.f.’s $1B deal for Rhodes?
Here in Miami, a weatherman finally tells the truth - he can (no longer) predict the weather
And skip to the bottom for good research from Warc / IPA to help argue for more brand & purpose $
You’re likely seeing a lot of coverage around e.l.f. beauty’s
$1B deal to buy Hailey Biebers makeup brand Rhodes
With many accolades and dissertations on how the model-turned-entrepreneur grew her DTC into a $200MM+ revenue and $1B valuation in just 3 years.
But how about some love for e.l.f.? This isn’t L’Oréal, Unilever, or Estée Lauder making a $1B buy. The company, founded in 2004, isn’t even in the top 20 largest beauty companies in the world. Yet e.l.f. has grown from selling $1 eyeliners into a house of purpose-led brands and one of the fastest-growing names in global beauty. Now making its own big acquisition.
It starts with a conviction
For every ‘eye lip and face’
“We are committed to creating a culture internally – and in the world around us – where all individuals are encouraged to express their truest selves, are empowered to succeed and where we do the right thing for people, the planet and animals.”
e.l.f hasn’t been afraid to put its money where its mouth is. Cultivating a loyal community from day one.
Constantly refining products based on real feedback, and scaling only when it can stay true to its values. The result: prestige-level, cruelty-free beauty that stays affordable, high-quality, and accessible to everyone.
There will be a lot of lessons taken from this one, but we shouldn’t lose sight of this one. A company that puts doing things right at the heart of its business model - just made a $1B acquisition.
Hopefully, there’s more to follow.
Quote I’m Pondering:
Products are compelling and profitable when the technological affordances (something tech can do) meet a human vulnerability - “MIT sociologist, Dr. Sherry Turkle”
This comes from a conference panel discussion moderated for the Center for Humane Technology and its podcast Your Undivided Attention between MIT Sociologist Dr Sherry Turkle and dating app Hinge CEO Justin McCleod.
The quote comes in the context of dating in the age of AI and in the midst of a ‘loneliness epidemic.’ In fact, the exact quote was given out printed on a t-shirt by a chatbot company to its employees.
Much of this isn’t new. Per the Center for Humane Technology:
“Over the last few decades, our relationships have become increasingly mediated by technology. Texting has become our dominant form of communication. Social media has replaced gathering places…
And now, AI enters the mix. If the technology of the 2010s was about capturing our attention, AI meets us a much deeper relational level…How will that change us? And what rules should we set down now to avoid the mistakes of the past?”
Listen to the whole discussion here:
Related:
From the Atlantic: Big Tech’s AI Endgame Is Coming Into Focus
One app to rule them all The mad rush to develop an ‘everything app’ is the
The Cost of a Predictive Engine
The brain is incredibly costly to run. At 2% of our body weight, the brain takes 20% of our energy to run. And that’s the average. But what about when we’re really thinking hard?
New research in Quanta Magazine answers How Much Energy Does it Take to Think?
The answer - +5%.
This doesn’t sound like much. But in the context of the entire body and the energy-hungry brain, it can add up. Which explains why, after a lot of cognitive activity or even a long day at work, you’re feeling fatigued.
It’s also why our brains have evolved to be predictive engines, planning for what comes next to conserve resources for when it needs really think - important to consider in any communication.
Long story short, if you want to get through, make it easy on their brain. Don’t “choke them out” by having to think too much.
Related:
85% of digital ads get less than 2.5 seconds of attention
This Gives Me Hope(?) GenAI is Our Polyester
What does that mean? Well at one time, polyester was everywhere. It was invented to solve a problem with cotton which required constant washing and ironing. Polyester didn’t have that issue. But eventually, polyester was everywhere.
Until it wasn’t. There was a cultural backlash and the polyester look faded into the background.
What’s the connection? Right now, GenAI, like other ‘synthetic’s, feels inevitable to be everywhere. But already you can see the cracks predicting its eventual retraction, like polyester (not fully gone away but still woven into real cotton for greater overall stability and flex).
“But the historical rejection of polyester gives me hope. Humans ultimately are built to pursue value, and create it where it doesn’t exist. ...Our generation's polyester salespeople are not deep thinkers and they don't care about the externalities of what they're doing. They’re here to sell us polyester. We don’t have to buy it, but more importantly, we don't have to feel bad about not buying it.”
You Digg?
“I think the average person has no idea just how much of the content they consume on social media, if it’s not an outright bot, is a human using AI in the loop to generate that content at scale, to manipulate and evade,”
Somebody asked what I wanted on my gravestone. I'm just going to put: 'Glad I Could Help.'- Dick Van Dyke
Other Stuff:
In a world first, Brazilians will soon be able to sell their digital data (Restoftheworld) Brazil is piloting dWallet, a project that lets citizens earn money from their data.
Companies that kept DEI commitments saw higher reputation scores in 2025 (Axios)
Also, While Target pulls back on DEI, Lush is doubling down (Retail Brew)
Am I worried? You bet I am! And so are hundreds of other scientists, who fear a “needless loss of life” as a result of the loss of staff and resources at NWS brought on since January
Miami weatherforecaster interrupts his weather forecast to deliver concern over the cuts to the National Weather Service (NBCMiami)
Young people have come of age during what feels like the gamification of everything. Day trading has become TikTok content! Crypto has become a presidential talking point! Any sort of hobby that you have can become a monetizable side hustle - and you better be monetizing, buddy! Sports betting is part of this transformation…The line between investment and speculation and entertainment has been deliberately blurred
“I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win,”
“A lot of the post-COVID era is learning what you lost, and I think the big one for me is I lost an industry, and all the good—and bad—parts that come with that.”Unhappy Hour: People used to relish getting sloshed with their colleagues after work. What happened? (Slate)
A Still from ‘Breaking the Ice’ How Hollywood is wading into the new phenomenon of soapy, low-cost 'mini-dramas' (BusinessInsider)
These are minute-long soaps featuring tropes like vampires and billionaire husbands
App tracker Appfigures counts 215 short drama apps in the US and estimated US spending on them more than doubled in the past 12 months, to more than $100 million a month in gross revenue.
A record 1 in 8 cars sold in America is now a hybrid, estimates show (Sherwood) NOTE: 78% of overall sales remain internal combustion
I don't set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them. - Dick Clark
“When your fans start asking for your bathwater, you can either ignore it, or turn it into a bar of Dr. Squatch soap,” - Sydney Sweeney
Nearly Half of HoldCo Agency Staffers Want Out, Survey Finds (Adweek)
‘We need new numbers’: Comedian David Cross cracks jokes to spread climate crisis awareness (The Guardian)
Music Producer Rick Rubin and Anthropic collaborate on "The Way of Code," a digital book fusing ancient wisdom with AI to promote intuitive coding. It presents coding as a thoughtful, creative act, allowing brands to connect with developers through culture. (Design Rush)
Instead of requiring coding skills, it presents ‘vibe coding’ which starts with personal thought or observation vs instruction. Users can change the visuals or behaviors in real time just by describing what they want to see.
Source: NYT Mondelez vs Aldi packaging Snack Maker Sues Aldi Grocery Chain Over Look-Alike Product Packaging (NY Times)
Resourceful:
WARC’s The Multiplier Effect: A Guid to Brand Building in the Performance Era
Why does this matter for purpose? Because
Often, anything purpose-driven gets slotted to brand within a company, usually the least funded and first to be cut. Therefore, to argue for purpose is to argue for resources for brand equity.
Then, if you pair this with an argument like this from IPA/Peter Field (MarketingWeek)
You start to get a picture of how purpose may further amplify performance marketing.
I can't write and I can't spell. It's a privilege of a first-class education. - Dickie Greenleaf, The Talented Mr Ripley