A big year for men's fragrance

Plus: the launch of BIPOC CPG, OpenAI's rebrand, and more 🔗

Hi! Welcome back to

Brandscape

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There’s a lot of new people here after last week’s letter — welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. 👋

To start, I thought I’d reintroduce myself:

I’m Henry, a brand enthusiast and college student writing about the intersection of brands, culture, and design. I’m a fan of good packaging, vibrant brand communities, and consumer startups. Every Tuesday, you can expect to find brand news, commentary on consumer trends, and interviews with interesting people in your inbox. 📥

Let’s chat! - Connect with me on LinkedIn or email readbrandscape@gmail.com. 📧

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If you missed my interview with Margot, check it out here:

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My Brandscape bookmarks folder has been overflowing this week, so I’m going to dedicate this issue to some recent headlines in brand world:

• Jo Malone London’s Super Bowl campaign featured fragrance stories from NFL players. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Jayden Daniels, and Kyle Juszczyk sat down to share their thoughts on how fragrance impacts their confidence and sense of self. This follows a similar campaign they did last year with Sofia Richie Grainge featuring a testimonial-style video. Jo Malone plans to expand upon this campaign with more “Mr. Malone” stories down the line. I think this push for their mens fragrance line is smart since the global male fragrance market is growing very quickly. As this Vogue Business article cites, it’s projected to reach $22 billion by the end of this year (according to Euromonitor). And, we know that there’s a community of Gen Alpha/Z boys that are ditching the AXE and opting for luxury fragrances who might choose to pick up Cypress and Grapevine.

juju

A post shared by @juju

• French label Jacquemus plans to launch a beauty line following an investment by L’Oréal. Jacquemus, founded and led by Simon Porte Jacquemus, is known for bringing some fun to the luxury space. L’Oréal recently became a minority investor to help the brand expand into beauty. If we know anything about Jacquemus, their launch content on social will be top tier. Just take their recent partnership with Apple as an example.

• Check out BIPOC CPG, a new platform created by Tyler Ennis that highlights BIPOC-founded CPG companies. The site includes a brand directory and an AI search tool that helps you discover new brands while creating a shopping list. When I asked Tyler about the inspiration behind BIPOC CPG, he told me:

  “I've always been interested in CPG entrepreneurship, l've always found brand building and physical products really exciting. I worked in consulting and economic development after college and I was looking for something more inspiring. That's when I started to look around at consumer products from diverse entrepreneurs, and realized how difficult it was to find a lot in one place. That's when I decided to just build a really long list of brands. The platform of bipoccpg kept evolving from there.”

  

  BIPOC CPG’s Brand Explorer Directory

• OpenAI rolled out a rebrand. Their new typeface, OpenAI Sans, takes the center stage in the refresh as it’s the main design element users encounter when using ChatGPT/their other products. I think the design system is flexible enough to translate well as they expand their product offerings.

  

  Photo: OpenAI

• Brands are preparing for the release of White Lotus season 3 (on 2/16) with collaborations galore. Brand partners range from high-end retailers to grocery store staples.

  • Away launched a new colorway of their classic offerings.

  • Supergoop! released a suncare kit featuring a custom bag.

  • Bloomingdale’s launched a collection under their private label, AQUA.

  • Coffee Mate released Thai Iced Coffee and Piña Colada creamers.

Photos: Away via Refinery29, Supergoop!, Bloomingdale's, Coffee Mate via Food & Wine

• Adidas’s new line, A-Type, will offer high-end versions of their most beloved items. The items won’t be available for general release, so I’m assuming they’re working to attract avid GOAT/StockX users, not everyday Samba or Gazelle wearers, with this collection.

Thank you for reading this week’s letter!
- Henry

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Brandscape is a weekly newsletter covering marketing, brand, consumer insights, and design — all through the lens of a college student.

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