CEO-Maxxing
This week in brand news + my favorite scents
What’s good everyone happy Friday.
Tomorrow I am finally running the 31mi perimeter on Manhattan.
Undertrained? Yeah.
Unprepared? Totally.
Care in the world? No.
Luckily the best brands in the world have sent me some gear to help me out tomorrow, and I’m going to Soho tonight to buy the most expensive Nike running shoes I can find and gorge Upside Pizza. I’ll let you all know how it went in a newsletter + video next week.
In Today’s Newsletter
Starbucks Steals Chipotle’s CEO
Emma Chamberlain Becomes co-CEO of Chamberlain Coffee
The Most Expensive Sunscreen I Can Find
One Bottle of Dior Sauvage is Sold Every 3 Seconds and This Needs to Stop
Starbucks’ new CEO is catching a major bag. In addition to his $10M sign on bonus, $75M equity grant, and $1.6M salary, Brian Niccol will be able to work remotely from his Newport Beach, CA home. Niccol joins the company as Starbucks experiences a sales slump and diminished stock price. He was poached from Chipotle, where he was able to turn things around after a food safety scandal. You may be familiar with him from his PR campaign earlier this year in response to complaints the burrito chain was offering significantly smaller portions.
We’ll see if he’s able to turnaround Starbucks as well. I think the main issue with them is how much they’ve lost the plot with their menu offerings. What once was an innovative company that raised coffee standards in the U.S. has turned into a mobile ordering hub with cold foam lattes and vanilla frappaccinos. The in-store experience f*cking blows.
Emma Chamberlain is becoming co-CEO of Chamberlain Coffee. Its always the internal candidates who get the job these days huh? Kidding aside, this move makes sense. Chamberlain was previously the founder and Chief Creative Officer (A title I am hoping to have in the near future) and has been instrumental in growing the brand to $20M in revenue last year. The difference between celebrity backed brands who succeed and those that don’t is often a clear vision from the founder that aligns with their existing brand. Chamberlain and her team are geniuses at crafting campaigns that speak to her existing ethos.
This sunscreen costs $140. And the packaging is inspired by the founders Audemars Piguet watch. Founded by Antony Nakhla, a Newport Beach (getting a lot of love today) dermatologist, Eighth Day comes in at a significantly higher price than their competitors. But this is partially attributable to the ‘Peptide-rich Plasma’ Nakhla formulated, which apparently contains the same molecular structures already found in the skin. He started the brand after looking under the hood and realizing many overpriced skincare products lack science-backed formulas that really work.
If you buy a Lamborghini and you look under the hood, I can tell you why it costs this much. With luxury products and skin care, when you look at the ingredient list, there’s really nothing in there of real value.
If anyone from Eighth Day reads this newsletter… email me I have questions.
One Bottle of Dior Sauvage is Sold Every 3 seconds.
Since launching in 2015, Dior’s flagship mens fragrance has become the highest selling fragrance in the world.
Its sort of the normie go-to cologne, whose success stems from its mass marketing strategy and distribution.
But there are certainly better options out there so I want to share some of my favorite scents—
YSL MYSLF
I’m a bit bias because I am YSL Beauty family and was sent this for free, but its really become my Summer go-to.
Aesop Marakesh Intense
The first scent from Aesop remains its best. Its woody, spicy, and sexy.
Maison Margiela Jazz Club
Idc if its basic, this scent hits. Perfect for a night out getting copious martinis.
Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, designer, and writer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content strategy, creative direction, business development, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
Jazz club is their best scent, and I will not be taking questions at this time
Jazz Club is one of my favorite winter scents (I usually wear men’s cologne because florals give me headaches). I also love Tower Fall from Caswell Massey’s Yellowstone capsule. It’s an eau de cologne so it doesn’t have massive staying power. But it smells like sequoia bark does. Sequoia bark if you go right up to it and smell it when it’s warm in the sun, it has a fragrance like Cherry Coke but as an evergreen tree. I know that sounds weird but it’s good, I promise.