Does Kylie Jenner Have Enough Brands?
Inside the fatigue of celebrity backed brands
Good morning everyone. Hope you enjoyed my review of Frog Club in yesterday’s newsletter. I am not a food critic by any means, but eating at nice restaurants is one of my favorite past times and gives you something to look forward to. I’ve made a habit of just booking reservations on Resy weeks in advance and making plans around them.
I also made a TikTok about Frog Club, which judging by the view count 12 hours after posting it, is a topic many people are curious about. The comment section is filled with tons of people saying the restaurant is trash. I am going to presume these people haven’t eaten there and don’t live in New York? Go chime in in the comments, its getting spicy—
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Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled newsletter programming. Today will be focused on BRANDS!!! Kylie Jenner is launching what feels like her 100th brand and I want to break it down and the fatigue behind the ever expanding universe of Kardashian and celebrity product bullrun.
But first some quick headlines—
Vacation is launching in Target. The incredibly well creative directed suncare brand is making its retail shelf debut. I’ve no doubt its going to sell incredibly well, as it really stands out amidst the lame vibes of other sunscreens currently on shelf. I can’t recommend the Chardonnay Oil enough. I’ll be rushing to pick up some before I attempt to catch a tan in Miami next month.
VYBES is launching in Japan in vending machines. The CBD and low caffeine energy drink maker is making its international debut in partnership with Japanese beverage brand Suntory. VYBES has created two regional exclusive flavors available in massive vending machines: Ginger and Cinnamon. I think VYBES is a beautiful, simple brand, and can vouch for the efficacy of the product. I spoke with their founder Jonathan Eppers in a newsletter earlier this year. Go read that.
Reddit is filing for an IPO. The social media company intends to go public in a few short weeks, marking the first big tech IPO of the year and the first social media IPO since Pinterest in 2019. Its performance could signal a thawing of the frozen IPO market and encourage other companies that the water is fine. I did find this chart from Morning Brew fascinating. Reddit drives a ton of revenue but its nothing compared to what Google makes every 24 hours.
Kylie Jenner is Launching a Vodka Soda Brand
While it may have seemed we reached peak canned vodka soda a few years ago with the rapid popularity of White Claw and a slew of new SKUs from major alcohol brands jumping on the hype, Kylie Jenner believes her new brand Sprinter can squeeze some revenue out of this category.
At first, I had to do a double take as I was shocked she was getting into the space considering her sister Kendall also has her own successful tequila brand: 818. KJ’s new canned vodka soda brand offers “premium vodka, real fruit juice & sparkling water.” and it launches online March 21st (just in time for Spring Break)
Kylie said in a statement, “Sprinter is my answer to the growing consumer demand for quality canned cocktails — we’re adding to a market dominated by only a few players with an incredibly delicious vodka soda in a can.”
The canned cocktail market is currently valued at $18B and is growing at a 6% CAGR. To me, it seems like Ms. Jenner’s business advisors saw room to enter this space, hired a creative agency to product some sort of fun branding, and launched it with a IG reel.
The flavors are not all that interesting or unique by any means: cherry, lime, peach, and grapefruit.
But despite Sprinter’s ability to generate some revenue, I do doubt it has room to grow into a full on brand people can connect to, and that is ultimately the issue with a ton of celebrity brands these days.
Brand Dilution and Consumer Fatigue
The issue being that Kylie Jenner has so many business endeavors, which is not a bad thing in it of itself (get the bag) but they become diluted and her core audience is growing fatigued by the onslaught of product launches and new brands.
For example, this week Kylie has announced her debut fragrance, Cosmic, which does feature an very cool looking bottle (reminiscent of this Comme Des Garcons bottle) and another drop from her clothing brand Khy.
This constant run of new products spanning different categories waters down her brand, and signals to consumers that she is not focused on creating quality and longevity with any one brand. They all seem like quick cash grabs, then on to the next brand. We barely even remember these after they’ve launched.
Compare that to Kim Kardashian, who has been able to build mass consumer appeal with her Skims brand (valued at $4B), by strategically focusing on the drops and making each one feel dedicated and special.
Consumers are growing tired of these low-effort, celebrity/influencer brands, and yes there will be a million TikToks of people trying Sprinter later this month, but I would bet money Sprinter will not penetrate the market or consumers hearts in the way Skims or 818 have. The reality is, consumers only have enough flexible capital, and even die hard fans are stretched to purchase a fragrance, a dress, and a case of Sprinter all in one week.
What do you think about Sprinter? Let me know in the comments if you think this brand will do well?
About the Writer
Jake Bell is a content marketing and creative strategist based in NYC. He specializes in content creation, branding, art direction, creative strategy, and making things cool.
To learn more about Jake visit www.jb.studio
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