K-Pop Star ROSÉ for Skims + more new product launches this week
Plus, Substack bundles, Lunar New Year activations & other brand moves
It's a weird time to be writing about product launches when America is both on fire and having apocalyptic snowstorms.
And yet, here I am, tracking the breadcrumbs of consumer culture while oligarchs duke it out in D.C. Maybe there's something telling about how we're all just carrying on, buying moisturizer and mouth tape while Rome burns.
All that aside, I like keeping tabs on product launches because they're breadcrumbs telling us where brands think the consumer and market is heading. Plus, sometimes the most interesting inspiration comes from peeking over the fence at other industries—you never know what might click.
Here’s all the new-new I’m seeing on my side of the internet this week:
Skims launches their Valentine's Day collection today at 12PM EST. Campaign features K-Pop star ROSÉ, who’s been having a very successful solo album promo period. Cute; I’m definitely interested.
Tower 28 just released a Red Bean Mochi LipSoftie. I've noticed they're one of several brands doing CNY launches this year, including Lush with their Lunar New Year bundle. The food/beauty crossover continues to be a thing.
Byredo's Lunar New Year collection features snake motif designs by Chinese artist Wei Yijuan on their Blanche and Desert Dawn fragrances. The campaign's intimate shots of Wei's family cooking and lighting sparklers in the Dongping mountains feels more meaningful than typical CNY marketing. Having grown up in Asia with some peripheral exposure to Lunar New Year all my life, I find myself wondering about the data behind these global luxury CNY campaigns—what kind of numbers make this a worthwhile investment for Western brands?
Big fan of the imagery in this campaign - must not have been easy to produce, which is why I'm super curious about the numbers in this market! Glow Recipe partnered with Leon Bagels NYC for their Cloudberry moisturizer launch. I appreciate how they thought through the event marketing here - limited-edition Cloudberry Jam Bagels at the Mulberry location, going beyond standard influencer gifting. I think we'll see more brands take this route with launches— creating physical moments versus mailers. This tactic is more complicated to organize and trickier to get right, but when you nail the intersection of product, place, and who your customer wants to be seen as, it works brilliantly.
Schoolhouse added new SKUs to their Forma collection. I've been watching their growth since they were acquired by Food52 - they seem to be ramping up product development and expanding their catalog while impressively keeping their core design aesthetic. Their trade program and social strategy have been getting loads of effort put into it, too (I love their behind-the-design content), which makes sense given the investment infusion.
Schoolhouse Electric has expanded their collections by A LOT in the past year. They’ve also started doing more on Instagram and recently launched a home tour series on YouTube. 
I recently signed up to be a paid subscriber on a certain Substack newsletter, and the platform’s upsell prompt was… bundled subscriptions: meaning, they’d give me an extra discount if I upgrade another subscription I have into a paid one. Between this and seeing writers like Casey Lewis projects her newsletter ad revenue will double to 20% by 2025 (brought to my attention by Ochuko), it looks like newsletter monetization is growing industry-wide. With brands eyeing Substack as a marketing channel amid social media instability, “I don’t see people being willing to leave that extra revenue on the table,” says Ochuko.
Loftie released mouth tape for sleeping. They're obviously jumping on this trend (though I haven't tried it yet - seems like one more thing to remember to do before bed). Wonder if this will actually move product for them.
Framebridge x Chris Loves Julia launched a gallery wall collection. Nothing groundbreaking, but solid execution for their target market.
Got tips on new launches, campaigns, or marketing moves you're watching? DM me or drop a comment - I'm interested in any industry (wellness, beauty, tech, sports, home goods, B2B, whatever). Always looking to expand this roundup beyond my usual beats.
See you next time!
Arriane
P.S. If you're in the mood for something more long form, here are my latest deep dives:
AI is coming for your content strategy
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"Maybe there's something telling about how we're all just carrying on, buying moisturizer and mouth tape while Rome burns." Lol and 🙃 at the same time. 👏
I loved this roundup and I’m excited about Substack newsletter growth! Hoping I’m not too late to the game haha