BRAND STRATEGY

Morning Brew, Inc., Photos: Knix

Fae fans may not be able to visit Velaris, but they can now dress like a local.

Ahead of the hotly anticipated release of the sixth book in the wildly popular romantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR), intimates brand Knix partnered with the series’ licensing company IMG to release a line of character- and setting-inspired lingerie and other intimate apparel—fitting for a story loaded with steamy scenes and faerie relationships.

The partnership offered a chance for Knix to venture into the new lingerie silhouettes, marking a first for a brand that has been up until this point most known for leakproof underwear, Cyntia Leo, CMO at Knix, told us.

Knix is not the only brand tapping into the ferocious fandom behind the faerie romance series (more than 100 million English-language copies of series author Sarah J. Maas’s books have been sold around the world). Target released a merch line earlier in October, including book-inspired tumblers and jewelry, and fragrance brand Fine’ry rereleased existing scents with ACOTAR-themed packaging. But with great fandom comes great responsibility, and the team behind Knix’s partnership felt they had to deliver.

“We know that the ACOTAR community knows those books inside out and are incredibly enthralled in the world,” Leo said. “It was a bit of pressure to make sure we got it right, and it was so important for us to make sure that we got every single detail right.”

For more on how the partnership started—and the employee task force made up of ACOTAR fans that helped approve designs—continue reading here.—JN

      

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Well, the tea is that actually, the two could make quite the team.

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SOCIAL & INFLUENCERS

Morning Brew, Inc., Screenshots via @belliwellihealth/TikTok

What if your product was so beloved that customers would fight over it?

That’s the foundational concept for many of the online skits that BelliWelli CEO and co-founder Katie Wilson produces for the fiber supplement brand.

The videos feature captions like “Watch her have a MELTDOWN at Walmart”; “Watch her SNAP at Walmart today”; and “She was SO rude to him,” which seem designed to get viewers on social media to stop scrolling and pay attention to the brand’s short-form content. On TikTok, the brand has 1.1 million followers; it has 318,000 followers on Instagram and 44,000 followers on Facebook.

BelliWelli’s content strategy, according to Wilson, is based on creating “memetic content,” or, as she put it, “content that causes you to think, ‘What is that? What’s going on? Why do people want it? Why are they reacting this way?’”

“Anytime you can get somebody asking themselves those questions, it does convert to sales, believe it or not,” Wilson said.

The content often centers around customers dramatically jockeying for the fiber brand’s product in the checkout line, which Wilson believes encourages viewers to question why the customers in the skits are so passionate—even angry—about the product being taken from them. It probably doesn’t hurt that fiber is having a bit of a moment in broader conversations about healthy dietary habits.

The hope is that potential customers watching those skits might, after watching, have similar feelings that lead them to purchase.

“We’ve never been afraid of cringe,” Wilson said. “We know that cringe is what stands out and what gets eyeballs…as we can tell a story about it driving to retail, we’re not afraid of cringe.”

For more on BelliWelli’s content strategy and Wilson’s hands-on approach to filming, read more here.—KM

      

BRAND STRATEGY

NorthShore

On his website, Caregiverology, Derek Tanner, a registered nurse, offers a guide on how to properly change adult patients’ diapers. His first tip: Do not call them “diapers.”

“If they hear it being called an adult diaper, they’ll resent wearing one even more,” wrote Tanner, who recommended calling them “briefs” instead.

Many incontinence brands also shy away from the term, with Depend describing one of its more absorbent products with a tab-fastened diaper design as a “brief.”

NorthShore Care Supply, which makes incontinence products, used to avoid the D-word, too. But around 2018, the brand started using the term sparingly, and grew so committed to it that by the time it moved into new headquarters outside of Chicago in 2020, it emblazoned “Northshore Adult Diapers” on its building.

Adam J. Greenberg, the founder and CEO of NorthShore (and self-described “diaper king of Chicago”), said customers were already searching for “adult diapers,” and that even when his brand avoided the phrase on its website, NorthShore bought Google Ads based on those keywords.

“This is what they are,” Greenberg told Retail Brew. “Everybody knows these are adult diapers.”

While the stated rationale for not calling the products diapers typically is that it would make users feel stigmatized, Greenberg said a euphemism can, too. Plus, he said, it can confuse consumers.

“The No. 1 complaint we’ve had from Day One is people getting confused by the euphemisms of ‘briefs’ or ‘undergarments’ or ‘underwear’ and getting the wrong product,” he said.

For more on NorthShore’s marketing messaging strategy—and how embracing a term eschewed by other brands has helped grow the business—continue reading on Retail Brew.—AAN

      

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In and out

Executive moves across the industry.

• A+E Global Media’s president of marketing and digital, Juliana Stock, is leaving the company to assume the role of Hearst Magazines president.
• Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen CMO Matt Rubin exited the role after less than a year as the chain continues to struggle.
• Liquid I.V. tapped Poppi vet Jenny Danzi to serve as CMO, per Axios.
• Beast Industries, MrBeast’s holdco, named Feastables exec Michelle St. Jacques to the role of CMO.