"Single-Identifying" and Trash Talking
after school weekend edition
Welcome back to After School Weekend Edition. Think of the Monday-Thursday letters as the CliffsNotes; this is the extended version for paid subscribers. Thanks for reading — your support makes this possible! 💫
Today we’re talking about:
Gen Z is changing the (sports) game
…and fashion is embracing athletes
Big Food taps into viral snack trends for brand campaigns
E.l.f. Beauty’s game for Gen Alpha girlbosses
From E.l.f. to Elf bars
Starface as social currency
Dating apps are down and out due to Gen Z
Tinder’s hoping to turn things around by partnering with…HelloFresh?
“Single-identify” humans
Shine bright like a promise ring
Goop’s Gen Z ambition
Cider’s really good influencer move
Puffers aren’t over, actually
“Uncanny valley” makeup
White boy winter
Medium-ugly guys
Gen Z discovers Airmail
And everything else that happened this week in youth culture.
I’m experimenting with a new format — very eager to hear what you think.
As usual, though, this email is very long, so you may need to click “view entire message” to read the whole thing.
Before we jump in, my favorite TikTok of the week:
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Gen Z is changing the (sports) game
Bleacher Report’s next big bet: athlete-led video podcasts. The company is tapping into one of the fastest-growing areas in sports media by giving top athletes the equipment and staff to produce video podcasts, and then helping distribute the content across its platforms. The deal gives sports stars an opportunity to engage with fans and develop their broadcast skills — both of which are highly appealing.
“More often than not, over the last decade, people have thought about internet video through the lens of VOD, which has been effectively kind of this expensive studio based video that was, you know, a large investment for very little shelf life of that content,” Spector says. “But what we found through live is that you can produce that content, quote unquote, very cheaply as live, and then downstream all of it.”
Overtime and the NFL are teaming up to reach Gen Z sports fans on social media. The partnership will allow the sports startup to expand its content and audience, and it’ll give the league a chance to reach new and younger audiences, which it has historically struggled with. (Research shows that Gen Z enjoys live sports less than any other generation, so meeting them where they are — on platforms like TikTok — is crucial.)