Yes, style vibe.

Well, most people don’t really have one.
But brands? They do. Or they try to.

It’s that little unspoken thing that makes you feel: is this xyz brand?

❌Not logo.
❌Not colour.
Just a hard-to-explain-in-words aesthetic.

Brands keep switching it up to see what sticks until they find their ‘vibe’.

And Calvin Klein has sooo found their vibe.

In fact, they found it in 1980, locked it in, and threw away the key.

There’s a lot to unpack here. So shall we get into it?

Before we start, an important plug-in:

Nominations for The Mommys ‘26 are open! If you work in marketing, submit your post / campaign on this link!

#1: Let’s strip back CK’s vibe

CK’s entire deal is: create desire.

When most of your marketing is about intimates, it’s not the easiest brief to crack without it feeling crude.

Or just straight-up thirsty.

Or, god forbid, forgettable.

But CK has found a little recipe:

👉🏻 Foreground trumping background
👉🏻 Minimal styling or props
👉🏻 Everything in soft focus

It’s provocative, sure. But never loud about it.

Sit with it, and you notice something interesting: restraint inside the provocation.

And that restraint? That’s their whole vibe.

In fact, CK has cracked this concoction of seemingly opposite things:

➡️ provocative, but restrained
➡️ effortless, but intentional enough that everyone draws one consistent message
➡️ intimate, like you’re seeing something NSFW, but invoking public chatter!

#2: Why does it work?

CK is definitely not the first brand to try NSFW imagery. They’re not even the 458th brand. So why do their campaigns always, always work?

It’s because it isn’t visual. It’s psychology.

1️⃣ What they suggest
2️⃣ What they crop
3️⃣ What they leave out

They don’t actually show desire, they are consistent about making YOU generate it.

Fun fact - yes, this is straight up a fact:

CK is famous for catering to the male, female and queer gaze! It’s not easy to do that, and do that with every single campaign!

#3: Plus they have cheat code: timing

CK has this knack for casting the right people at the right time.

(Let’s just say Calvin Klein walked so SKIMS can run. IYKYK)

Exhibit A: Jeremy Allen White

The Bear mania was peaking in 2024.
Season 2 was a massive hit.
Season 3 was underway.
An Emmy win looked inevitable.

CK dropped his campaign justtt then.

A few days later, he did pick up an Emmy. And CK rode that wave too. They got $75M in earned media with just that!

Exhibit B: Bad Bunny

Justtt as Benito’s ‘Debí Tirar Más Fotos’ album hit 1B Spotify streams - boom! CK dropped a Bad Bunny campaign ft. his song EoO.

You bet his fans did the rest.

Exhibit C: Jennie

BlackPink dropped their ‘Born Pink’ album. A few months later, they started their global tour. Aaand at the peak of that global tour, yes, you guessed it - CK dropped its Jennie campaign.

Their new Dakota campaign is a bit of an anomaly that way.

It’s not like Dakota is about to go “viral”. But I think what they’re banking on is her familiar yet unpredictable sort of brand.

➡️ She has a dry, chaotic energy in her interviews. (pls watch her on Fallon if you haven’t)
➡️ She’s meme-able even today (pls google Dakota Johnson lime bowl if you don’t know what I’m talking about)
➡️ And she inevitably has attention even though her presence is quiet

So my theory is that CK went for intrigue this time. And it’s paid off. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Surprise!

Here’s some more fun mini stories that I think you’ll enjoy :)

• Toddler raves are a real thing now
  

• A guy is selling ad spots on his forehead!
  

• Colour marketing for movies: what is happening?

So important that I will tell you twice :P

Nominate your work at The Mommys! 💪

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

Calvin Klein was instrumental in making Kate Moss the 1990s icon we know today.

The story behind her casting is super interesting.

One particular person relentlessly pushed to cast her. Do you know who?

Hint 1: There’s a very famous show about her love story trending right now!

Hint 2: Politics.

- The Mommys 2026 is here! If you work at a brand or agency, this is for you :)

- If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you liked what you read, you can subscribe to ‘The Chitthi’ by clicking here. It’s free, and we send only one mail per week.

- The quiz answer - Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. Yep, JFK Jr.’s wife. Hit me up if you’re curious, I’ll send the bonus story to you!

See you next week,
Sid

Let’s start with an annoying truth.

For anyone running a brand, every cultural moment comes with an unspoken pressure: to “use” the moment.

You know what I’m talking about.

Festival? Cricket match? Olympics?
How do we make it about us 🙃

Here’s the thing about cultural moments:
👉🏻 They create opportunities you can’t plan for.

No matter how much money you throw at ads, you just can’t manufacture genuine virality.

You can’t force people to care.

But when it happens organically, it’s pure magic!

The 2026 Winter Olympics gave us two perfect exhibits of this.

Let’s get into ittt.

#1: The great stoat shortage of 2026

Did you know that the Olympics has a little tradition. Every medalist gets a gift alongside their medal.

Some years it’s handmade knit flowers.
Some years it’s sculptures.

This year, it’s two plushies: Tina and Milo 👇🏻

They’re a pair of scarf-wearing, super adorable sibling stoats.
Yes, stoats.
They’re like weasels, but cuter?
I had to google it :P

Anyway, Tina & Milo are the official mascots for this year’s Winter Games.

➡️ Tina rocks the Olympic side of things
➡️ Milo, born without one paw, represents the Paralympics

Here’s where it gets interesting.
Or slightly bananas.

Depending on your appetite for plush-based domination. 😛

Tina and Milo have unleashed a plushie phenomenon around the world, particularly in Milan.

And I say phenomenon with journalistic responsibility. :P

People are absolutely losing it over these things.

👉🏻 They are waiting up to two hours in line at the Olympic megastore in Milan
👉🏻 Even that doesn’t guarantee you’ll actually get one
👉🏻 Forget t-shirts, cups. The stoats are the only collectible everyone wants
👉🏻 It keeps getting restocked and keeps selling out!

There are 2 million+ people visiting for the Olympics.

Since the plushie demand is far more than supply, fans pivoted.

The scramble became about getting a photo with the official stoats.
Proof of proximity.
Evidence they were in the presence of The Stoats.
To think that i didn’t even know “stoat” was a thing until this happened 😭

If you think this is bizarre – you’re right.

But also? Not really.

Olympic mascot plushies have a long and proud history of derailing otherwise rational adults.

(Anyone recall 2022’s mascot? The fluffy panda?)

Plus in a world of labubus and mirumis (also a thing), it only makes sense that this plushie has got everyone hooked.

Surprise!

Before I tell you story #2, here’s some more fun mini stories that I think you’ll enjoy :)

• Is there another SKIMS story that might happen?
  

• A Japanese toilet company is going to benefit from the AI boom!
  

• Why on earth is Draco Malfoy trending in China?!

#2: “Wait, my lipstick!”

A really delightful moment happened at the figure skating medal ceremony.

Alysa Liu won Gold.

Right before stepping onto the podium, she turned around and said:
“Wait, my lipstick!”

Which lipstick did she pull out?
Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty.

She touched up.
Stepped on the podium.
Took her photos.

Also unknowingly gave Rare Beauty a massive boost of organic media attention!

Headlines immediately started asking: Was this staged?

Spoiler: It wasn’t.

Selena herself acknowledged it, saying “she’s just like me fr.” 😂

Now, look: Rihanna once pulled out Fenty Beauty at the Super Bowl with millions watching.

That was strategic. Calculated. Brilliant.

But this story is another reminder that nothing creates brand love like an honest, human moment!

Important plug-in :)

The Mommys are back!

If you work in marketing, here’s everything you need to know to win that shiny trophy 💪

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

Which CEO once famously said that their biggest competitor was sleep?

- The Mommys 2026 is here! If you work at a brand or agency, this is for you :)

- If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you liked what you read, you can subscribe to ‘The Chitthi’ by clicking here. It’s free, and we send only one mail per week.

- The quiz answer - Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix! While said as a joke, it was bang on. This was back in 2017 when streaming wars weren’t as intense as today. PS. recommend a show to me?

See you next week,
Sid

Which of these is more ~you~?

👉🏻 Roll with things, ok to wing it
👉🏻 Make plans where you list out what plans need to be made

Any guesses where I sit? :P

Anyway if you’re the first type, this chitthi will be very comforting to you.

Because it turns out that some of the most successful people in the world? Right at the start, they also didn’t quite know what they were doing!

Today, we’re talking about:
Two people
Who built multi-billion dollar empires
Accidentally.

Shall we get intentionally inspired from these accidental stories?

#1: The woman who really wanted to wear white pants

Let’s go back to the year 2000.

Sara Blakely was 27 years old and absolutely NOT living the dream.

👉🏻 She was selling fax machines
👉🏻 Door-to-door
👉🏻 Wearing pantyhose (staple as part of her saleswoman uniform)

One night, she was getting ready for a party and decided to wear white pants.

Seems like a non-event?
Well it turned into an extremely frustrating experience.

First, she wore regular underwear. But it showed visible lines.
So she got pantyhose to smooth the lines.
i.e., one of these things 👇🏻

But that made her feet sweaty and uncomfortable in open-toed shoes.

(Seems fair at this point to note that men have absolutely no idea about certain woman experiences 👍🏻 )

Anyway, Sara was determined to wear her white pants.

So she did what any DIY queen would do: Cut the feet off the pantyhose ✂️

It worked. Perfectly.

And she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
WHY doesn’t this exist in the market?

This is how Sara Blakely came up with Spanx.

Her journey was absolutely unhinged.
(and I mean that in awe).

➡️ She wrote the patent herself ‘cause lawyers were expensive
➡️ Cold-called hundreds of manufacturers who all said no
➡️ Until one said yes ‘cause his daughters liked the product
➡️ She got into Neiman Marcus by demo-ing Spanx in a bathroom (!)
➡️ Then Oprah called!
➡️ Spanx ended up getting featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things
➡️ Sales went 🚀

Then the vultures - uh oh typo, investors - came circling.

Sara said no to all of them.

She owned 100% of Spanx for 21 years.
👉🏻 No investors
👉🏻 No outside capital

She bootstrapped the whole thing.
Just reinvested profits and kept going.

(Meanwhile, every VC bro watching this unfold: 👁️👄👁️ )

By 2012, she became the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world.

In 2021, she finally sold a majority stake to Blackstone for some more easy billion dollars.

#2: The man who failed at making a video game

Let’s move to 2011.

Stewart Butterfield launched a video game: Glitch.

It was this game about a strange world
Where you could craft things.
You could collab with other players.
More philosophy, less violence.

It was quirky. It was creative. It was…
completely ignored by gamers everywhere. 🤷🏻‍♀️

In a year, he pulled the plug on Glitch.

But something beautiful happened while they were shutting down!

See, the Glitch devs worked remotely before remote working was cool.

Engineers in Vancouver.
Designers in New York.
Contractors everywhere.

Building a multiplayer game with a distributed team back then was hard.
Like, the right tools just didn’t exist.

So they had built their own internal communication tool.

It was called “Internal Chat” or something equally uninspired.

But the point is it worked. Like it was REALLY good.

Which is when inspiration struck!
👉🏻 What if the boring internal tool was secretly a billion-dollar baby?

So they:
➡️ Kept a team of just 8 people
➡️ Cleaned up the interface
➡️ Added features
➡️ Added integrations (GitHub, docs, all the nerdy stuff)
➡️ Gave it a new name: Slack

They launched a preview for some corporate suits in August, 2013.

Everyone who tried it loved it.
They told more people.
Who told other people.
Soon it was everywhere.

Slack became the default. The verb.

By 2019, Slack went public via direct listing. Market cap: $23 billion on day 1.

Two years later, Salesforce bought it for ~$28 billion!

All from a failed video game :)

Important plug-in :)

The Mommys are back!

If you work in marketing, here’s everything you need to know to win that shiny trophy 💪

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

While not an accident, this was definitely an unlikely move.

This actor turned investor! Not casual hobby, legit serious investing.

He made early bets on biggies like Spotify before they became household names.

He’s now one of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley, with over $1B in assets under management.

Who am I talking about?

- The Mommys 2026 is here! If you work at a brand or agency, this is for you :)

- If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you liked what you read, you can subscribe to ‘The Chitthi’ by clicking here. It’s free, and we send only one mail per week.

- The quiz answer - Ashton Kutcher! He runs Sound Ventures.

See you next week,
Sid

What’s a thing you know absolutely nothing about but still pay attention to?

For me, it’s American football
aka Super Bowl
aka the halftime show with a side of sports.

I don’t really know what a quarterback is or what a tight end is.
But what I do know?
Super Bowl is MASSIVE.

👉🏻 For culture
👉🏻 For conversation
👉🏻 For caaash ($7M for 30-sec ads!)

I’ll spare you the whole why the Super Bowl is brands’ Super Bowl speech (you get it).

What I want to do is get into this year’s marketing inspo. Because there’s loads. So lessgo?

Inspo #1: Strange can be a powerful tool for recall

Liquid I.V.’s ad featured a lot of… singing commodes.

Yes, commodes. Belting it out.

The song was catchy (don’t @ me), but the ad itself was sorta unhinged?

It basically encouraged folks to look inside their pots.

You can watch this and think:
Why are they doing this?
On the Super Bowl?
For millions of dollars?

It’s simple:
💡 Unhinged can still work.

Let me unpack that.

➡️ Every brand was doing safe, on-brand communication.
➡️ Some brands started to do unhinged.
➡️ People loved it, loved the authenticity.
➡️ So then every brand started to do it.
➡️ Unhinged started to feel… hinged.
➡️ So people sorta got over it.
➡️ And now we see brands reverting to safe, on-brand communication again

BUT.

If your true, on-brand voice is unhinged? Mama mia you’ve struck gold!

Think Liquid I.V. Or Duolingo. Or RyanAir. You get the drift?

That’s why this hella bizarre ad worked so well for Liquid I.V.

Inspo #2: How to use celebrities in 2026

Pringles got Sabrina Carpenter onboard.
And they nailed it.
Not just because they got Sabrina.
But because of how they went about it.

What is Sabrina’s whole shtick?

She’s playful.
She’s in her era where she’s tired of men who refuse to grow up, or - to quote her - a “manchild”

So Pringles created Pringleleo - a “true man” made out of Pringles.

It works so seamlessly.

But peel back another layer and it gets more intentional.

1️⃣ Pringles is rebooting and they’re coming for Gen Z
2️⃣ That meant finding someone who could pull off playful and unhinged
3️⃣ Someone whose wit is sharp enough to hold her own

Enter Sabrina Carpenter. Perfectly cast, perfectly timed.

Oh and she’s apparently a genuine Pringles fan too. And there’s no subtitute for that. Gen Z loves, and spots, authenticity.

Inspo #3: You do you, unabashedly

Can’t talk Super Bowl this year without talking about Benito aka Bad Bunny!

First, context:
Before this performance, there was a LOT of noise. Hot takes. Debates on debates on debates.

Basically, America’s political climate doing what it does best: being loud. 🙃

Pre SuperBowl, Bad Bunny did the “ICE out” speech at The Grammys.
And the skeptics got… more skeptic.

They had already written the headline:
👉🏻This will be divisive
👉🏻This will be anti-American

Except he showed up and did the exact opposite!

He brought love. He brought culture.

It was a rich and spirited celebration
👉🏻Of Puerto Rico
👉🏻Of family
👉🏻Of just… joy

All pulled off with so much heart it made critics look silly!

Which, frankly, is its own kind of statement.

Food for thought #1:

When you have a platform, the boldest statement you can make is staying true to who you are. 💡

Food for thought #2:

There’s something so electric about artists repping their cultures, right?

Bad Bunny this year, Kendrick Lamar last year.

Just goes to show: art is, and always has been, political.

My only complaint? DtMF deserved more. Justice for that banger! 😤

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

This 2018 Super Bowl ad has pretty much gone down in advertising folklore.

It featured a chaotic little lineup: Gordon Ramsay, Cardi B, Rebel Wilson and Anthony Hopkins.

Which brand pulled this iconic ad off?

- The Mommys 2026 is here! If you work at a brand or agency, this is for you :)

- If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you liked what you read, you can subscribe to ‘The Chitthi’ by clicking here. It’s free, and we send only one mail per week.

- The quiz answer - Amazon! This was an ad for Alexa. Watch it if you haven’t, it’s so fun.

- Did you reach here? Here’s a little reward for reading all the way to the end: bonus content! Some more fun ads from this year’s SuperBowl:

👉🏻For Brooklyn99 fans: Hellmann’s
👉🏻The ad everyone’s loving: Bosch
👉🏻FRIENDS meets Good Will Hunting: Dunkin’

See you next week,
Sid

Let’s do a pop quiz:

➡️ Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
➡️ Eat breakfast because it’s the most important meal of the day?
➡️Use mouthwash every now and then?

Congratulations.
You’ve bought into ✨ marketing ✨

None of it is real.
Well - it’s real now.
But it wasn’t always.

And that’s what today’s Chitthi is about:

Marketing campaigns that worked SO well, they just became… life.

Let’s get into it?

1) Marketing invented ‘forever’

In 1930s America, an engagement ring could be anything.

➡️A family heirloom
➡️A sapphire if you’re fancy
➡️Maybe no ring at all 🤷🏻‍♀️

Enter De Beers.

They pretty much owned the world’s diamond supply.

Tiny hiccup though: No one particularly wanted diamonds.

This was the Great Depression.
People had, you know, actual priorities.

De Beers couldn’t win on logic. So they turned to psychology.

They came up with:
“A Diamond Is Forever”.

❌Not a diamond is pretty.
❌Not a diamond is valuable.

Diamonds are forever.
Permanent. Like your love should be.

Then, they took this up a notch.

👉🏻 First, through movies and songs
Remember Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend? M-a-r-k-e-t-i-n-g.

👉🏻 Then, good ol’ peer pressure
They legit invented a “rule” that a man should spend 2 months’ salary on the ring

Btw, marketing later bumped this up to 3 months. Because even romance isn’t immune to inflation.

It worked. Stupidly well.

By the 1990s, 80% (!) of engagement rings had a diamond.

They convinced generations of people:

1️⃣ That diamonds are the only acceptable option
2️⃣ Bigger the carat, bigger your love
3️⃣ Opting out is like a romantic failure

Now THAT, my friends, is marketing.

#2: The invention of “breakfast”

Why is breakfast essential?
Because… it just is, right?

Your mom said so. Your doc said so.
It’s common knowledge.

Except it’s not. It’s a cereal ad from the 1920s.

Say hello to John Harvey Kellogg.
He invented corn flakes.
They were bland and boring.
And supposed healthy.

The problem was that nooobody cared.

Kellogg couldn’t sell the cereal
So they sold the meal itself

Kellogg (and later, other cereal brands) started pushing one message: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

They repeated it.
Everywhere.
In ads. In pamphlets. In schools.

They positioned breakfast as something responsible parents MUST provide.

Not feeding your kids breakfast?
What kind of a parent are you?
Guilt. Obligation. Fear.
Classic marketing moves. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The irony?

Science isn’t 100% convinced about breakfast being mandatory. In fact, intermittent fasting is a thing that suits some people. But we’ve heard it so many times, for so long, that it FEELS like fact.

Side note: It’s like I’m hating on breakfast but personally, I love breakfast lol.

#3: The invention of “halitosis”

Listerine used to be an antiseptic. Doctors used it to clean wounds.

But then someone had a ✨thought ✨:
What if we sold this for people’s mouths?

One problem:
Nobody thought they needed mouthwash.

Bad breath existed, sure.
But it wasn’t a thing per se.

So Listerine pulled the UNO reverse card:
Create the problem.

They couldn’t call it “bad breath”.
Too casual, too forgivable.

They took the Latin word for breath (halitus)
and added “-osis” (to make it sound like a disease).

Then came the ads 👇🏻

Every ad had the same concept:
A charming person can’t figure out why they’re single / unemployed / failing. And the reason turns out to be ‘halitosis’

Listerine made halitosis sound like a social death sentence.

They created this pitch:
➡️You can’t smell your own breath.
➡️So you can’t prove you don’t have bad breath
➡️Others won’t tell you to your face
➡️So why not just be safe
➡️And buy Listerine
➡️And use it everyday
➡️Maybe twice?

It worked like a charm:
👉🏻 1920: $115,000 in revenue
👉🏻 1927: $4 million

Created a problem. Then sold the cure.
As one does. 🙃

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

Speaking of psychology tricks…

Cigarettes used to be seen as a feminine accessory. But after 1954, cigarettes became a symbol of rugged, American masculinity.

Which brand pulled this dramatic reversal?

- Share this link with your friends who would enjoy the Chitthi!

- If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you liked what you read, you can subscribe to ‘The Chitthi’ by clicking here. It’s free, and we send only one mail per week.

- The quiz answer - Marlboro! Look it up or reply back and I’ll give you a bonus story!

See you next week,
Sid

How into sports are you?
Football, cricket, F1, tennis - I love it all.

Can you guess who all I root for?

Let me give you my hint for tennis:
He is *checks notes* the best in the world right now.

Ofc I’m talking about Carlos Alcaraz. 😌
(Sinner fans, unclench pls, I come in peace).

I’ve been watching his rise with two sets of eyes.

👉🏻 One fan’s, screaming at risky volleys.
👉🏻 One marketer’s, utterly baffled.

Why, you ask?
Two words: Wasted opportunity.

I have a lot of feels.
So, Vamos!

#1: Tennis is a marketer’s dream right now

Let’s accept it: the ‘Big 3’ era is over.

In steps Alcaraz with:
➡️ A grin that can power a small city
➡️ Cross-border, cross-gen appeal
➡️ Real, unserious joy, which is so rare in elite sport

Add to that his fresh, fiery rivalry with Sinner.

It has completely monopolized tennis, winning every single major since ‘24.

The opportunities here are doing jumping jacks, screaming at every brand manager on Earth.

BUT WHY IS NOONE CALLING BACK 😭

#2: Most marketing around Alcaraz has been… whelming

Everyone’s working with the old playbook from the 2010s.

Exhibit A: Nike

They have Alcaraz on a $20M-a-year deal
But he still doesn’t have his own shoe.
Or logo.

Even weirder?

He plays in a custom version of the Nike Vapor 12 that fans literally cannot buy.

It feels transactional rather than a creative partnership.

In fact, this is the trend with other players, too.

Everyone is doing the standard thing:
➡️ Show up in the kit (Sinner x Gucci, Swiatek x On)
➡️ Stand with the trophy (Alcaraz x Rolex)
➡️ Post the congratulatory graphic
➡️ Rinse, repeat

Do these partnerships work? Sure.

➡️ They get visibility
➡️ They get that positive association
➡️ They check the “ambassador” box

Are they interesting though?
Ehh.

#3: Look at the exceptions and you’ll see what’s possible

This is where it hurts, because the good stuff is sooo good.

Exhibit A: Louis Vuitton x Alcaraz
👉🏻 It was shot in Karl Lagerfeld’s former Paris mansion
👉🏻 They created a personalized LV trunk for him
👉🏻 The trunk archived his memorabilia
👉🏻 And had replica versions available for fans to order

You don’t even need to do all this.

Just one right move can get the brand inseparable from a moment in the player’s story.

Exhibit B: Nadal x Nike

Minutes after Nadal won his record 21st Grand Slam, this lit up across Times Square 👇🏻

The genius of this is in the simplicity & timing. Sublime.

Exhibit C: e.l.f. Cosmetics

You know of the Battle of the Sexes? It was the first women vs men match. Billie Jean King vs Bobby Riggs

It changed the game for women, and became a rallying cry for equal pay.

For the 50th anniversary of this match, e.l.f Cosmetics went big with
👉🏻 A drone show advocating for equal play, equal pay
👉🏻 A $50,000 donation to the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative

It’s the power of understanding that sports is bigger than just the sports of it all.

#4: What’s being left on the table is painfully obvious: good storytelling

With Alcaraz alone, there’s so much:
1️⃣ The shift from “Rafa’s heir” to his era
2️⃣ Unserious bits like playing Teamfight Tactics between matches
3️⃣ His spanish identity

And ofcourse, Sincaraz!

Imagine Nike launching their first dual-athlete campaign with them.

Think of the ‘Fire vs. Ice’ lines that could explore their personalities.

Or even exhibition matches on a hybrid court (Federer-Nadal half clay, half grass vibes).

The opportunities are endless.

P.S. Alcaraz just became the youngest man to win majors on all surfaces. Why oh why did no brand have a campaign ready to flex that!?

P.P.S. Steffi Graf holds the record for being the youngest player to win all four slams AND an Olympic gold! She did all this at just age 19!

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

In 2025, NYC commuters were invited to do the unthinkable: scratch and sniff armpits on billboards!

Sniffing it revealed real deodorant samples. The stunt worked so well it cleared shelves.

Which brand pulled off this bold marketing stunt?

PS. Lowkey I am pretty weirded out by this stunt even though it worked 🤢

- Share this link with your friends who would enjoy the Chitthi!

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- The quiz answer - Billie! They put up posters of underarms - and straight-up dared people to “Scratch and Sniff the Pit”.

See you next week,
Sid

Are you a coffee person? Chai person?

Or are you a ✨matcha✨ person?

Matcha - or that green grass-y stuff - is hot property these days.

In fact, we’re looking at an actual global supply shortage very soon.

Whaaat is happening?
How did we get here?
How did it all start?

Is this real or is this just matcha-do about nothing?

(sorry I had to)

#1: Matcha is NOT new

In fact it’s been around for 1000+ years! Yes, 1000.

It might be a “cool” drink for “cool” people today, but it started out with monks and samurais.

You would think matcha = Japan.

But it actually was first made in China back in the 7th century.

It was made by combining tea leaves and bricks!

No wonder it tastes so good 🙃

Sass aside, it came to Japan some time in the 1100s. Myōan Eisai, a Buddhist monk, returned from China to Japan, and brought with him tea seeds and a ‘zen’ method of prepping it.

Matcha was treated like this ceremonial drink. Only for the elite.

Cut to 2025 and matcha is in everyone’s hands. From Brooklyn to Bandra to Koramangala to Dubai - it’s everywhere!

#2: The world is lapping up matcha like never before

Let’s talk numbers.

➡️ In the last 10 years, Japan has tripled how much matcha it’s making
➡️ They made 4000+ tonnes last year
➡️ They exported 50% of this
➡️ In 3 years, matcha is expected to be a nearly 6 BILLION dollar market
➡️ Demand is so high that Japan producers are putting caps on bulk orders!
➡️ And the costs are going up up up

Everyone wants matcha and we’re legit looking at an global shortage!

Everyone who’s someone has making matcha a part of their personality. From Gwyneth Paltrow to Gigi Hadid to Emma Chamberlain.
Read the three names again.

They literally speak to 3 generations of people!

How is one product appealing to the ‘it’ girls across generations?!

#3: WHY is everyone obsessed with matcha

You’d think the answer to why people are drinking something is the taste. Excuse my millennial behaviour but to that I say: lol

Matcha is a rage because -

One, it’s a symbol of wellness

Many things are healthy.

That doesn’t make them trendy.
But if you’re associated with “wellness”... 💰

Two, it’s become a sign of an aesthetic lifestyle

Not rich.

Just aesthetic. Well curated.

The kind you think everyone wants to be and so if you are then your fried dopamine receptors are happy. Sorry, I got too real, my bad.

ANYWAY.

Matcha has somehow become a sign that your life is sorted. That you make good choices.

#4: Matcha is influencing culture

Here’s everything that’s happening:

➡️ A matcha drink now sneaks in photoshoots.
➡️ In lookbooks.
➡️ As an accessory at the back.
➡️ Creators are using it to show (sell) a personality.
➡️ It’s part of brand pop-ups.

In fact, ‘Matcha green’ as a colour palette overall is hot and trending. Remember BRAT green? Think of matcha green as the effortlessly cool, less edgy, more chill version.

➡️ Matcha nails
➡️ Matcha bags
➡️ Chanel’s 2025 collection had matcha tones!

Everyone’s obsessed with matcha.

So brands are getting in on it.

So that’s making it more popular.

It’s one virtuous, matcha green cycle!

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

We’ve been talking about green but let’s switch gears to blue.

This brand holds exclusive trademark rights to a particular shade of blue.

Hint: the shade is called “____ Blue” where “____” is the brand’s name.

Which brand?

- Share this link with your friends who would enjoy the Chitthi!

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- The quiz answer - TIffany! Tiffany Blue is iconic. They registered it in 1998.

If you want to nerd out a bit more: In 2001, the brand codified the official shade as Pantone 1837. 1837 is the year the brand was founded!

See you next week,
Sid

This is probably your first Chitthi, and I am so nervous (and excited) for you to read this. Please please please give me your feedback after you read this. I want to get better and better.

Ps. Just for context, Chitthi is a Hindi word which means a “heartfelt handwritten letter”. So here goes!

Today’s story is perhaps the hottest marketing trend right now. So you better get that coffee / chai / matcha (why) and wake up.

We’re talking about brands and experiential marketing.

You know how…

Every corporate employee wants to start up
Every celebrity wants to start a brand
Every brand owner wants to be a celebrity

Yeaaaah so in the same way…

Every brand wants to do “experiential marketing”

What is it?

Why does it work?

Who’s doing it? How?

Let’s get into it all 🤓

Subscribe now

#1: What really is experiential marketing

It’s basically just moves that make people directly interact with your brand and product - like physically.

You know the simplest way to describe it would be: it’s the new version of what used to be a “brand event”.

Except the brand integrations are not just logo placements and free product trials.

Today, brands are legit creating whole worlds where people can tangibly be one with them.

➡️ It’s about creating a space
➡️ That is like real life
➡️ You experience moments
➡️ You make memories
➡️ You feel special
➡️ You flex it on socials
➡️ But all with one catch
➡️ The brand is engrained at every step!

Let’s talk examples and make this real.

#2: Drive-thrus x brands

This is the hottest trend in the US particularly.

Picture a drive-thru space where you go get food, except it’s fully brand-coded and super aesthetic.

Brands have gotten so creative with this. It’s not some one-trick hack that everyone is copying. People are putting their own spin on it.

➡️ SKIMS started this trend and their pancakes trended for months
➡️ Olipop created an all things soda drive-thru to launch their new soda flavour
➡️ Fenty Beauty mixed coffee and shade consultations, and it was every make up lover’s dream

💡 Why does this work?

One word: nostalgia.

Drive-thrus have a big, big nostalgia quotient in America. So this isn’t just an empty brand moment. It’s giving people a slice of the good ol’ days but with a modern, brand twist. You know what that means right? You can post about it.

Yes, everything comes down to that 😭

#3: Beach Clubs x Brands

Off topic, but I’m lowkey dreaming about being horizontal on a beach club bed right now instead of sitting (slouched tbh) and writing this chitthi.

Back to the actual topic. Brands are not placing ads in beach clubs - they are fully taking them over.

Seats. Cabanas. Cushions. Towels. Drinks. Everything.

This is very much a new thing.

Valentino, Christian Dior, Gucci, Fendi.

Each of these brands have taken over a beach club this summer!

Look at Gucci’s takeover of a beach club.

Everything down to the TT racket is Gucci.

👇🏻

💡 Here’s why this is working

Beach clubs see high spenders. People doing luxury vacays. It’s the perfect spot for luxury brands that want to reach such people.

There’s a kicker.

When these people post vacay photos,

Guess who sneaks in the photos? The brand.

Guess who sees the photos? More rich people

It’s not just reach for the heck of it, it’s RELEVANT reach.

And in 2025, relevant reach is everything.

Did you enjoy the chitthi?

If yes, please share this with someone who might value content like this. It will mean the world to me! ❤️

Quiz Time!

____, DKW, Horch, Wanderer.

These three names + a missing fourth is interconnected to make one of the most famous brands in the world.

Hint: the name of the brand translates to “listen”.

Which brand?

- Share this link with your friends who would enjoy the Chitthi!

- If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you liked what you read, you can subscribe to ‘The Chitthi’ by clicking here. It’s free, and we send only one mail per week.

- We love to hear from you. If you have any thoughts on this chitthi, please reply to this mail and share your thoughts with us.

- The quiz answer - Audi. Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer are the 4 rings of Audi’s iconic logo. They are four portfolios that basically got together to become the Audi that we know. And yes, Audi is Latin for “listen”!

See you next week,
Sid

Can we talk about Stranger Things? I promise you the chitthi is about marketing.

But about the show. I’ve been watching it since 2016 and full disclosure:

I’ve cried over fallen heroes
Hurled abuses at demodogs
Spent an absurd amount of time wondering if I could pull off Steve’s hair

Answer: no. But a man can dream :)

Also, the finale? I have… feelings.
A lot of feelings.

(Don’t worry - no spoilers still)

But the chitthi ain’t about the show.
It’s about unravelling some truly iconic marketing moves around the show.

For Season 5, Netflix’s marketing was a solid eleven out of ten 😉

I have lots to tell you! Sooo… shall we d(r)ive into the upside down?

#1: Netflix knows one thing better than most: how to validate a fandom

They didn’t just do teasers.
They didn’t just do events.
They got the Stranger Things audience on a spiritual level.

What do I mean by that?

That they understood just how much people LOVE the universe of Stranger Things.

So they found brilliant ways to blur the line between that world and the real world.

#2: They did this around the world!

I literally mean it when I say they went around the world.

28 cities.
21 countries.
6 continents.
That’s serious on-ground commitment.

👉🏻 You could walk through the Upside Down - vines and all - in Mumbai.
👉🏻 You could sit in the Byers’ living room under the alphabet wall in Mexico City.
👉🏻 You could lose yourself in retro arcades in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

Yes, immersive pop-ups aren’t new.

But Netflix got two things incredibly right:

1) Every detail was obsessive.

Because hey, when your fans can spot a continuity error from S2, you should not cut corners. :P

2) They didn’t lose nuance for the sake of scale.

Every move was about making Hawkins feel local to that country.

No matter where you were, you could
👉🏻 Touch
👉🏻 Feel
👉🏻 And live inside the world you loved.

Hell they even created a whole Stranger Things play on Broadway!

It’s not easy to surprise and delight fans who have seen it all, but the show’s marketing managed to do exactly that every step of the way.

#3: Perfect collabs 🤌🏻

There’s a reason why I’m calling it perfect.

Every collab took some element of the show’s success formula: nostalgia + mystery + riddles

Exhibit A: Target

They didn’t just launch a Stranger Things collection type situation. Nope nope nope. They did wayyy more than that.

They recreated an as-authentic-as-it-gets ‘80s Target store!

How? By raiding Target’s archives to nail every detail.

👉🏻 Vintage signage
👉🏻 Red shopping carts
👉🏻 Even retro cash registers!

They filled shelves with everything from Nintendo consoles to snacks from the 1980s. And in the OG old school packaging.

Honestly:🫡

It was immersive and it was so Hawkins!

Exhibit B: The Kinder Joy AR Puzzle

Kinder Joy eggs hid QR codes inside.

👉🏻 Scan it
👉🏻 Unlock a Vecna-inspired challenge
👉🏻 Uncover hidden layers of the story through your phone

It was like being part of Hawkins Lab (minus the questionable ethics).

Exhibit C: The KFC “Hawkins Fried Chicken” Hotline

They planted secret ‘80s-style phone boxes across the UK.

👉🏻 The phone rings.
👉🏻 You answer.
👉🏻 Someone gives you an actual riddle.
👉🏻 If you crack the code,
👉🏻 You get free food delivered to you!

Netflix understood that a true Stranger Things fan will love feeling like Dustin cracking a Russian transmission. And so they made it happen!

Was it all super interactive? Yes.
Was it larger than life? Yes.
But is that why it was so awesome?
Not necessarily.

This season’s long wait and build-up warranted that fans get more than just the show itself. And that’s what the marketing delivered on.

It made saying goodbye feel like one last, great adventure 🥲

P.S. Let’s address the demodog in the room: #ConformityGate.

What are your thoughts on this whole imaginary bonus episode situation? Hit me up with your delusions 😂

Subscribe now

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ♥️

Quiz Time!

Decades after its launch, Running Up That Hill hit #1 in 16 countries thanks to Stranger Things. But here’s something you might not know.

The song had trended back in 2012 as well. In the UK, specifically.

Why?

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- The quiz answer - It played in the Closing Ceremony at the 2012 London Olympics! The whole momentous vibe around it brought it back on the charts locally for a while.

See you next week,
Sid

1️⃣ Do you love a good movie?
2️⃣ Are you a sucker for great fashion?
3️⃣ Do you geek out over marketing?

I’m big on 1 and 3 (obv), and I am kinda sorta into 2, not truly big. I’d secretly love to be though!

Anyway. These three things overlap in one super interesting concoction:
fashion-as-movie-marketing.

Yes yes, fashion and films have always been linked… but the way it works now?

It’s a whole other game.
Sharper, smarter, louder.

Wear your best fit and let’s get into ittt

(not me writing this while wearing the most basic H&M hoodie)

#1: I have to start with Zendaya

She basically invented a thing that everyone now does: “method-dressing”

Translation: actors dressing like the vibe of their movie during promos.

Exhibit A: Spider-Man: No Way Home

She showed up everywhere in

👉 Web patterns
👉 Red + black colour schemes
👉 Architectural suits mirroring NYC

Exhibit B - and this was the biggest fashion-as-marketing moment: Challengers

She became tennis for the entirety of the press tour.

And no, that does NOT mean literally wearing tennis outfits. Even my basic fashion brain knows that that would be so costume-y 🙊

She interpreted tennis through fashion:
👉 Vintage Ralph Lauren tennis whites
👉 Green and white colour palettes
👉 Loewe tennis ball heels

(unserious behaviour, I love it)

Exhibit C: Dune: Part Two.

It’s a sci-fi epic set on a desert planet. And so Zendaya became futuristic.

Think sandy, desert tones, robot suits, metallic armor pieces.

Her playbook is clear: Hyper-specific storytelling through fashion 🤌

And it’s genius for so many reasons:

One, it feeds the audience.
A trailer is an “ad”. But these movie-inspired looks are “content”.
People like content. Not ads.
It gives them something easy and fun to talk about. 💡

Two, it feeds the media.
Content grabs audience attention.
So media and paps cover it for free.
Result: Tons of free eyeballs. 💡

Three, it feeds creators.
These looks are a solid content bait.
Break-downs, opinions, recreating looks, or even making funny memes.
Result: More free eyeballs. And engagement. 💡

#2: Devil Wears Prada 2

The movie is releasing next year.
There’s no official trailer.
And STILL… massive buzz.

Main reason? fashunnnn.

Paps are hunting down the movie’s shoot locations. And “leaking” all the looks. And then every media house is giving their take on what the cast is wearing.

So is it all an accident?

Hmm.

Think about it. Most movies do the opposite.

They go to great lengths to avoid paps. They want to keep their looks a secret, create build-up.

But Devil Wears Prada 2 is filming in super public places. Fashion weeks.
Streets. Locations where paps have easy access.

So imma ask you again. Do you still think the “candid” photos are an accident? 😂

This movie about fashion is being marketed through fashion.

It’s so beautifully meta.

#3: Marty Supreme

If you’re chronically online (sigh) or if you’re generally what kids call cool, you’ve for sure seen this jacket 👇

Marty Supreme is releasing later this month. A24, the producers, have pulled a fashion marketing move.

They made these varsity-style jackets and got them on literally EVERY cool person.

Timothee Chalamet (obv), Kylie, Kendall, Justin, Hailey. Kid Cudi. Tom Brady. Even Frank Ocean.

Frank Ocean has a massive fandom and he doesn’t do social media. So when he pulls marketing stunts, it wakes up a new type of hype.

After the celebs made it cool, A24 put up these Marty Supreme jackets for sale.

It sold out in 15 mins. More hype.
And now it’s reselling at $4000 🤷

But the end result ain’t about the jacket sales. It’s the massive hype it’s created around the movie.

Way more than a trailer could!

Screenshot your favourite bit of today’s chitthi and share it on IG! Or Linkedin! Don’t forget to tag us. So we can like it share it love it get all our validation from it thank you very much in advance ❤️

Quiz Time!

This 2012 Bollywood film featured 130+ designer looks sourced from across the world.

In fact, the director revealed that the wardrobe budget alone was higher than the entire cost of one of his earlier, award-winning films.

Guess the movie.

- Reply to this email to advertise with us. I’ll find a cool way to showcase your brand, promise!

- Share this link with your friends who would enjoy the Chitthi!

- If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you liked what you read, you can subscribe to ‘The Chitthi’ by clicking here. It’s free, and we send only one mail per week.

- The quiz answer - Heroine!

See you next week,
Sid