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Bonjour Millionaire, 

I went to Toteme. I bought a leather jacket. The sales associate sent me on my way with a free scarf, her treat, because of my loyalty to the brand.

I then went to drinks with my friends and gave them the scarf to unwrap. They had helped me shop so felt right to give the scarf a new home.

We opened it.

It was NOT a scarf. It was a little pisher of a branded pencil, some paper with holiday messaging (it's September), and a little branded dice situation.

Cute, normally really exceptional, but NOT a scarf.

Had we had time, we would have gone back and warned her that the thing corporate told her is a scarf is not a scarf, is not at the same level of quality, and importantly, not a scarf!

Even the best brands, with the best of intentions, have gaps in communication. My friends can borrow my jacket but sadly, no scarf. Enjoy the pencil though!

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TOOL OF THE WEEK:

Sponsored by Roku

This ungated cheatsheet about how to run shoppable streaming ads is my Tool of the Week. 4 reasons to grab your existing creative and read it:

1️⃣: Streaming TV hours peak at the SAME TIME as holiday shopping.
2️⃣: People are 118x more likely to press "OK" than scan a QR code. RIP QR codes. Again.
3️⃣: Action Ads mean people BUY with their remote. It's your Shopify catalog, their payment + shipping pre-filled.
4️⃣: Interactive ads have 3x lower CPAs, higher purchase intent, and more brand awareness lift vs. social.

Also inside: 3 types of shoppable ads, a holiday strategy guide, and examples. Like how Jen Aniston's LolaVie anchored a campaign using them, and saw a 40% lift in sales and 53% more new customers YoY.

GET THE HOLIDAY STREAMING AD GUIDE

GO-TO-MARKET TIP OF THE WEEK: 

Eye Patch Packaging Gate™️ was fun to watch but a lesson in moat. Form factor is not a defensible, long-term strategy to win category.

AG1 powder was challenged by Gruns gummies who is now challenged again by AG1 who now is in gummies.

Liquid I.V. is carried by Costco and now look at what Costco released:

Costco really said fuck your 30 servings. 40 on the Kirland version. Because if you're not 1st to market you know exactly what to copy and tweak.

I'm not telling you to copy the competition. I'm also not suggesting there is room enough for everyone (There is NOT).

I'm saying, yet again, to run at it FAST if you have the money to. PUT IT IN GROWTH. Scale with urgency and speed up. You can't win alone for long. But, if you're far enough ahead, particularly in a business that can gain subscribers, you can win the marketplace. Competing against a brand on Amazon that has a lot more subscribers than you is pain cave territory.

EVENT OF THE WEEK:

I'm scaling one of my all-time favorite channels right now, because waiting until November means testing cold during the most expensive week of the year.

Come through on 10/8 and I'll walk you through how I'm warming up my pixels and getting creative approved before Cyber hits.

Let's get Black Friday ready together.

ADDED TO MY WISH LIST THIS WEEK:

🥀: On my mind
🎤: 5 signs you're in too deep*
💎: My new Jacques Marie Mage
🥀: I keep seeing Eadem. Do I try? What shade?

*I wrote this with Anrok, about knowing when to send an SOS

BRAND OF THE WEEK:

Cartier: Because some stores are the types of places you really, really hope to go on your birthday. The American Girl Doll of this age group.

I shop a lot. There is no more consistent of an experience than at Cartier. Except for at Harry Winston. But there are fewer of those and it's a different level so Cartier is who we will focus on today.

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK:

Wonder Valley: It's been too long since I showed you my favorite about us page on the internet. 🌌

MEME OF THE WEEK: 

AU REVOIR!

This weekend my son is getting a hair cut (his 2nd, it's going to be so cute I hope he gets to sit in a little car while they do it) and I am getting new sunglasses and I hope Daniel doesn't read this far down.

Love you, 
Ari