Introducing Attachments
Week of 11/20: Dating culture, a terrific brand collab, and my latest hyperfixation
Hi everyone! I’ve wanted to find a way to differentiate between newsletters for a while now. Some weeks I feel compelled to write long, personal essays while other weeks culture-forward gazettes about what’s exciting me in the zeitgeist. I’m sure a handful of readers enjoy the suspense that accompanies my cryptic subject lines, but for those of you who like to know what you’re about to open any given week, I’m happy to introduce Attachments, a sub-brand ~or~ imprint1 of Left On Read.
Nothing is changing content wise—twice a month I’m still reporting, synthesizing, and offering perspective on four themes, subjects, or stories that I keep coming back to. Except now I have a nifty new graphic and I’m going to roughly categorize each topic as Culture, Entertainment, Media, Brand/Business, etc. Cool? Cool.
CULTURE
Turkey trotting down the aisle… or dropping back on Hinge
I personally know of four couples who got engaged last weekend. Genius timing—a cute proposal story is the ultimate shiny object2 to wave in front of family to neutralize a tense holiday dinner table. Yet for every bejeweled finger spotted on Instagram this week, a bare one is redownloading Hinge behind the scenes. You may be out of college, but you’re never truly safe from a turkey drop.
Because I will always be interested in this topic, let’s look at the discourse around dating this month:
A number of frustrated TikTok creators wonder if these holiday engagements are the last of dating app success stories, given app oversaturation and the greener pastures mentality of users. One creator says of luckily engaged app couples today, “They caught the last chopper out of Nam.”
Gen-Z prefers IRL meet-cutes, partially because of techlash, and partially because they’ve witnessed the dating app disillusionment of older generations and want to opt out
Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd unexpectedly stepped down as CEO
Looking hot on Tinder is not enough—you need a personality now. The app introduced ice-breaking prompts similar to Hinge and Bumble
Heterosexual women are berated by academics to marry, but has anyone asked them about their awful dating stories?
No surprise given the above: investors are falling out of love with dating apps
Very curious to see how dating evolves in 2024. I’m preparing for more matchmaking, speed dating, and bespoke app experiences that make online dating feel less like a dreaded numbers game. More diamonds next Thanksgiving, fewer drops.
BRAND
Good collab alert
A while ago I kvetched about the bonkers number of unnecessary brand collaborations the past few years. Today I want to highlight one that I think absolutely nailed it: Vacation Sunscreen x AriZona Tea lip balms.
This is cool for a few reasons. First, The Vibe: Vacation and AriZona are really complementary in terms of brand identity. AriZona was founded in the early 90s, Vacation (founded 2020) has been widely praised for evoking that same era with its distinctive branding. The lip balm product is the perfect marriage. Would I find this balm in the center compartment of a dad’s Beemer as he cruises down Camelback Road circa 1996? You betcha.3 Also, the logo switching on merch is something I haven’t seen much of, despite the hundreds of collabs out there. I like it!
Second, AriZona earned a lot of good will last year when outlets reported that the company was committed to keeping retail costs at 99¢ per canned beverage. The company famously doesn’t advertise, so it makes sense to partner with a brand that garners a lot of press and attention, especially among young consumers who are looking to support businesses with strong values and transparent practices. For Vacation, it’s a union that legitimizes their aesthetic and speaks to their desire for longevity.
Third and final, this collab is brilliant from a timing perspective. No one is thinking about sunscreen or iced beverages during the winter. Launching now gets them some buzz during the holiday season. These balms are the perfect stocking stuffer.
MEDIA
Major publications as the new social networks
Kyle Chayka, a staff writer at the New Yorker, took to Twitter (🤢/X🤢) last week to talk the future of media publications, noting that “the only things successful publications are going to concentrate on now are loyalty and habituation, subscriber benefits, making a consumer feel special & paid attention to.” He tweeted that publications will be the new social networks and asserted that “a single newsletter or podcast, particularly if it's personality-driven, can create 80% of the loyalty feeling that the entire NYT subscription creates.”
It’s worth reading the entire thread because this is an interesting and pretty accurate assessment of where publications could go. I think of the OG women’s lifestyle blog Cup of Jo as an example. Started by Joanna Goddard in 2007, the blog attracted an audience of smart, kind, and funny readers who were quick to share advice and geniality in the bustling comment sections of featured articles. The editors recognized the singularity of CoJ’s readership and today the site has tied much of its value proposition to this idea of community. From the site: “Known industry wide for its large and deeply engaged readership, CoJ encourages visitors to ‘come for the blog, stay for the comments.’”
Some of the best newsletters today are adopting a similar strategy: foster a community of likeminded (often paying) readers and create environments for them to interact online and in person.4 There’s something really cool about creators becoming trusted custodians of these communities—they’re creating value without defaulting to influencing.
REALLY ATTACHED: HYPERFIXATION OF THE WEEK
Drama Queens
I struggle with podcasts. When it comes to auditory learning, I have exactly twenty five minutes before I slip into daydreaming mode. My one exception is Drama Queens, a One Tree Hill episode recap podcast hosted by the soap opera’s three female leads. I’ve listened on and off through the years (I was a fan but not a super fan during the show’s original run), but last week something snapped in me and I mainlined thirteen episodes over the course of a week. My daily walks, lunches, and drives were scored by the voices of Hilarie Burton, Sophia Bush, and Bethany Joy Lenz, three compelling and articulate actresses in their 40s. Drama Queens is their way of reclaiming their popular television series after publicizing their negative experiences behind the scenes. They approach their recaps and storytelling with wisdom and humor and so much empathy for their younger selves while demanding change in a complicated industry.
Maybe other women feel this way or maybe it’s just me, but I wish I had more women in my life, approximately ten years older, to offer this perspective and be like, “Yeah I made mistakes, yeah this was shitty, yeah I’m still figuring it out most days, but I know my worth now and I want my stories to help you.” Especially creatives. Especially women who aren’t All Career or All Motherhood. Women in the messy middle. Idk it’s like Adult Babysitters’ Club and I feel so energized after listening.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend! Some good shopping advice I learned from TikTok today (lol): If you didn’t know about the product before you saw it on social media, you definitely don’t need to buy it.
See you next week!
Depending on which era I entered your life: Sarah the MBA or Sarah the Book Publisher
Literally and figuratively!!!!!
I bet you money that Bonne Bell Lip Smackers was mentioned somewhere in this creative brief
I especially LOVE when these communities develop their own niche vernacular or shorthand