Drybar Founders Enter Massage Market, Tonal CMO Interview, Why You Have No Time, Target DTC Swimwear Leader, DTC Furniture Startup Teardown, Jack's Bet on Crypto
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The Team That Built Drybar Is Back With Massages
The team that built Drybar into a $100 million national brand is back to take on massages -- and make them better.
SqueezeIn 2010, Michael Landau, Alli Webb and her then husband Cameron mustered together enough capital to open their first Drybar location in Los Angeles.
The flagship location in Studio City, which opened in 2019, reflects their teal blue branding in the physical space; the outside and inside are adorned in this calming but noticeable shade.

Nate Bosshard is the Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer at Tonal, the world's most intelligent fitness system: an at-home digital weight machine with personal training built in. Nate dives into Tonal's Fitness Business, Smart Gyms, and the Future of Fitness. Before Tonal, Nate invested at Khos

Three Theories for Why You Have No Time
Better technology means higher expectations, and higher expectations create more work.
In the 1950s, a British civil servant coined the term Parkinson’s Law to explain the phenomenon that “work expands to fill the available time.” The rule first described the seemingly infinite busywork of government bureaucracies.
The economist Valerie Ramey chalks it up to a “rug rat race” led by middle- and upper-class parents devoting more hours to prepare their kids for competitive college admissions and a cutthroat labor force.

In the DTC era, Target is gunning to be the swimwear leader – Glossy
Competition in the swim category has been building in the last few years as more digital-first companies pop up on social media, but Target has slowly been building a swim empire. The retailer's latest collection includes 1,800 styles across five of its private-label lines.
Target’s triumph in this category (as well as the influx of DTC swim companies) seemed to kick-start with the decline of Victoria’s Secret’s swimwear business.
“To compete with the Instagram brands, Target should focus on building awareness of its swimwear on social and leverage the platforms as a way to [use] customers’ feedback.”

Money-Losing Companies Mushroom Even as Stocks Hit New Highs
A combination of forces has pushed the percentage of listed companies in the U.S. losing money over 12 months close to 40%, its highest level since the late 1990s outside of postrecession periods.
While Tesla and GE couldn’t be more different, they are exemplars of two trends driving the rising number of loss makers.
Tesla shows a desire by investors to back disruptive companies as they build their sales.

As retailers spar over expedited shipping, Amazon is spending billions to get the upper hand.
Walmart may be Amazon’s biggest contender with its physical dominance of over 5,000 stores nationwide and its free next-day delivery for eligible items over $35 in select markets without a membership fee attached.
“Fast shipping keeps Prime members happy so retention rates are unbelievably high,” said Micheal Levin, partner and chief financial officer of CIRP.

Why brands are using in-house agencies for Super Bowl work - Digiday
Verizon, Volvo and Procter & Gamble's Secret Deodorant staff are using in-house agencies to help manage Super Bowl campaigns this year. Doing so might help lower their costs.
The carmaker made the decision to use the in-house team for reasons of speed, according to Jim Nichols, Volvo Car USA’s senior manager of product, tech and brand communications.
Procter & Gamble will air a pregame spot for its Secret brand on Super Bowl Sunday that was conceptualized, written and cast by its in-house creative team.

Market research: A glance into the strategy of DTC furniture brand Article
Director of Marketing Duncan Blair talks about the allure of podcasts and the brand's approach to fostering loyalty.
While online platforms and communities helped many digitally native brands spark their initial round of growth , some are now turning away from the lure of social media and returning to more tangible methods of communication.
However, a recent report from Media Radar found that across the retail industry, TV ad spend topped $400 million in the first two weeks of November 2019, a 5% increase from the year prior.

Bitcoin Pops Over $9,000 After Twitter’s Jack Dorsey Makes Bold Bet
Bitcoin adoption has stalled and crypto trading volume has crashed—but that's not stopping Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey who's convinced bitcoin is the future...
Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey has previously declared his love of bitcoin but is trying to ... [+] give adoption a boost.
"Because we are a consolidated team of open-source developers, we are in a strong position to coordinate on major projects that individuals may not have the time or resources to tackle," Square Crypto added.
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