Parallel

Erin Cabrey at Retail Brew talked to Jocelyn Florence about Parallel’s strategic approach to helping brands identify game-changing talent partners. Our goal is to put forward talent that surprise, delight, and excite–and that takes a bespoke creative strategy unique to each client’s goals and audience. “As [they’re] creating a potential list of names of talent to work with, [they’re] running focus groups to test the ideas out. Parallel has a team of “culturemongers” who are tapped into culture “across different disciplines,” to create a list of names many of which the brands don’t know.” Read more about our process for approaching talent-brand partnerships below.

We don’t typically do response pieces, but when it comes to the “Influencer” vs. “Celebrity” debate, we tend to get a liiiittle fired up 🤷♀️ Our hot take? The terms have lost most of their meaning. In this month’s edition of the Parallelogram, we’ll guide you towards better questions to chew on when determining your talent stack. And when when you’ve had your fill, we thought you might want a cold drink, so we’re heading to the cooler to talk with former NBA performance director and BARCODE® PERFORMANCE WATER founder Mubarak Malik about the innovative strategies he uses to form his talent team. Make sure you read to the end—this month’s caboose is a partnership with genre-bender Lil Yachty and STUDS jewelry that we’re pretty sure could convince your 26-year-old fort-night loving brother to get his cartilage pierced. Link here (https://lnkd.in/gN3B2K6N) to check out this edition.

In the attention economy, most brand moments don’t occupy a consumer’s mind for long. Marketing teams have to be on their toes, ready for the next opportunity to bring their brand to the forefront of cultural conversation. Talent partnership announcements can be a useful means of grabbing attention, but what about in the days, weeks, months afterwards? At Parallel, we are always curious to see if these partnerships are able to sustain their momentum over the long-term. Check out some of the strategies we use to make sure our clients get the most out of their talent partnerships below, and if you haven't sign up for our monthly newsletter (https://lnkd.in/gN3B2K6N) for more. #talentpartnerships #creatoreconomy

Celebrity brands are dying. ...at least the ones that have relied solely on their celebrity’s influence to carry their brands. Celebrity brands are just brands, after all, and as anyone remotely familiar with the start-up world knows, starting a successful brand is hard. Gone are the days where slapping a celebrity on an IG post was enough. Luckily, consumer disfavor with shoddy cash grabs has led to a reckoning in the space, and celebrity brands that intend to last are being forced to step it up. Catch our take on The Celebrity Brand Reckoning and our COAST framework for how celebrity brands can come out on top.

Watching paint dry is only boring if you are. At least that’s what we’d imagine Charli XCX saying in our dream partnership between the queen of niche herself and Behr Paint Company. Check out this week’s edition of The Brain for confirmation that brat summer is never truly over. Check out edition 5 here --> https://lnkd.in/g-w2mhWc

Ever wonder why so many celebrity brands fail? This month’s edition of the Parallelogram deep dives into the Celebrity Brand Reckoning (and why we’re very into it), provides a framework for assessing a celebrity brand’s winning potential, and offers strategies for activating a long-term talent partnership to avoid ending up in the celebrity brand graveyard. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gN3B2K6N and get it in your inbox tomorrow!

Tomorrow is election day, and everyone has something to say about it… including, inevitably, creators. And although their brand partners might grimace, we actually see this as a positive. The thing is, creators are… people! And most aren’t going to mute their political convictions and morals because a brand might come a-knocking. Particularly in an election year like this one, creators might face criticism from their audiences if they don’t say something, and losing that trust is likely more costly for them than landing a brand endorsement. Besides, brands can't say they want authenticity from talent except when things get real.  So, sound off, creators! And… don’t forget to vote!

Cool girls have Eczema–including TikTok’s favorite stay-at-home mom Nara Smith. While her fairy tale may seem impenetrable, she got real with followers last year when she opened up about her struggles with eczema and the products she uses to find relief. We see a partnership that goes beyond topicals and into the physical environments Nara creates to manage her skin, whether at home or on her travels (aka how Canopy products help). Check out this week’s edition of The Brain, and as always, let us know what you’d like to see next.

Dedicating all your marketing spend to performance marketing is a quick way to kill your business. We get it—it can be tempting to focus most of your efforts on bottom-of-funnel conversion, especially with all the shiny data that ad platforms provide to de-risk your spend. But companies that can also understand the importance of brand-building and investing in emotional connections with their customers will be the ones that go the distance. Check out our POV on finding the right balance for your marketing strategy and subscribe to our newsletter the Parallelogram for more! (https://lnkd.in/gN3B2K6N)

Breaking news from Pawnee Parks and Rec Deputy Director: Waffles aren't actually a food group 🗣️ 🧇 Check out this edition of The Brain: Blast below for our dream partnership between Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Little Spoon to find out why Leslie's making a pledge to replace her daily waffles with Little Spoon meals for a year.