Extra Credit: Is Revolve the First Good Ambassador Program?

Plus, what Gen Z bought in 2021

Hello, and happy Friday! Last night, when I took my dog out before bed, an aspiring Gen Z influencer — pardon me, creator — was staging a photo shoot on top of a car hood in front of my apartment. It was 10 pm and raining. She had bleached eyebrows and fake lashes. Her photographer had a ladder and professional lighting.

There are a lot of upsides to the emerging creator economy, but, as I realized last night, there are some obvious downsides, too. Or maybe I’m just too old to live in Williamsburg.

Max Lakin @maxlakin

SoHo’s final stage will be the abandonment of retail in favor of luxury branding wallpaper, a haunted Potemkin village of hollow store-shaped real estate whose only real world use is as instagram backgrounds

I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “creator” this week. What’s the distinction between a journalist and a creator, or an editor and a creator, or a human merely existing in 2021 (by that I mean a human on Twitter and Instagram and TikTok, because isn’t that how it goes these days?) and a creator? Are Substackers, by default, creators? Am I a creator? (I’m not a creator, but I’ve spiraled a bit this week ruminating on that.) Am I really any different than the aspiring influencer with bleached brows and fake lashes posing on a car that she doesn’t own in the rain at 10 'o’clock at night?

I don’t have any answers, but I do have some more content (“creations” if you will) for you ahead.

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Today’s letter is brought to you by Day One Agency

Reading a daily newsletter about youth culture 🤝 creating award-winning campaigns that connect with Gen Z. My friends at Day One Agency are looking for creative thinkers and problem solvers to help leading brands earn Gen Z’s attention (see: the recent Chipotle X Roblox launch). If that sounds like you, drop a line at afterschool@d1a.com and be sure to check out their recently relaunched youth insights arm Ask Gen Z. 

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This week, we’re going to dig deeper into:

1. 👠 What we bought in 2021 (and what we’ll be buying in 2022)

2. 🛒 Young consumers plan to go all out on holiday shopping — but they’re going to be spending differently

3. 🤳 The genius of Revolve’s new ambassador program and why all brands should adopt a similar strategy