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Every beauty founder dreams of accomplishing what Rhode just achieved: a billion-dollar valuation, a cultural following, and a brand that seems to dominate every platform it touches. Of course, Rhodes explosive growth is rare. Not every brand can rely on a high-profile founder or massive social presence. But while Rhode may look like a celebrity influencer-driven success, the truth is, Hailey Bieber didnt just launch another product line; she created a thoughtful, curated brand rooted in an ecosystem of wellness, beauty, and simplicity. Backed by her authenticity and a deep understanding of her audience, Rhode stands for more than just beauty. Rhode is Hailey and all that she embodiesher fame, look, and lifestyleall of which resonate with todays consumers.The big question for e.l.f. is what happens next? What follows are some thoughts on how they might capitalize on their investment, as well as risks that brands often face in the pursuit of online momentum. The cost of chasing clicks Balancing momentum and meaning is key to maintaining authentic engagement. Momentum gets your brand noticed. Its about gaining traction, sparking conversations, and connecting with your audience. On the other hand, meaning keeps your brand loved. Its the depth of the relationship your customers have with your brand, built on brand identity, consistency, and cultural integration. The problem arises when momentum takes precedence over meaning. It is understandable that acquirers who have paid top dollar feel the need to take quick action. Who doesnt want to see an immediate return on their investment? This said, knee-jerk reactions to sign an influencer or flood the feed with user-generated content can leave ones core consumers feeling confused, even alienated. To avoid missteps, it is critical to socialize the new employees and third parties to the key tenets of the brand to ensure that teams lean more into play than playbook. Channel your efforts Once the narrative is clear and the actions defined, the next step is knowing where and how to deploy them. As a brand matures, it is important to show up for your community where they live, not just where they scroll. For direct-to-consumer brands, the question of optimizing ones website and digital platforms remains paramount. This said, one piece of advice I often give to young companies once theyve achieved a certain critical mass is to get offline as quickly as possible. Its psychological. TikTok screams, Were the hot, young thing, while physical stores, brand partnerships, events, installations, makeup artist appointments, and old world media say, Were here to stay, whenever and wherever you may need us. Acquirers have a tendency to shy away from these offline actions viewing them as low profit margin areas or even cost centers. However, by shoring up the brand across every channel and touchpoint, you signal to the market that the brand is solid and trustworthy. Authenticity wins Lets talk about what allows beauty brands to cut through the noise, because its not just another double cleanse. MILK girls do their make-up in the backs of cabs, is a tagline I still remember almost a decade later. Just when we thought it was impossible to talk about novel ways in which to apply cosmetics, along comes MILK with a bold campaign, replete with funky models and iconic product packaging, that reflected its edgy, downtown NYC ethos. Like everything MILK does, it was authentic to its roots. Year after year, this constant creativity and calculated risk taking has helped MILK to cut through the noise of what is arguably the worlds most saturated industry. Thats the power of investing early in strong positioning. Scaling smartly The temptation when scaling is often to try to do everything at once. Years ago, an adviser taught me about Igor Ansoff, the father of strategic management, and his famous Ansoff Matrix. With this simple tool, Ansoff outlines the four ways in which a company can grow: market penetration (selling more to your existing audiences), market development (entering new markets), product development (creating new products), and diversification (entering new lines of business). With Rhodes scale and cultural relevance, they can execute across all four. The key is doing so strategically and methodically. With the Ansoff Matrix in mind, e.l.fs has a clear path to structured growth. Top of Haileys to-do list will be to open up new markets. A wellness line feels inevitableperhaps at Erewhon, the deal negotiated over a Hailey smoothie. And given Rhodes neutral aesthetic, it could develop a mens line. First product, Crashed Ferrari? A Rhode capsule collection at Alo seems a no-brainer, and thinking laterally, how about a move into wellness and travel publishing (On the Rhode, anyone?), or designing the first Rhode retreat? Rhodes success is proof that standing for something beyond products pays off. So define that identity early and stick with it uncompromisingly. The balance between momentum and meaning isnt a onetime act; its a discipline, and its what will sustain brands for years to come. Geoff Cook is a partner at global branding agency, Base, and a strategic advisor to beauty conglomerate Waldencast.
Category:
E-Commerce
It’s not a great time to be a Tesla shareholder. While the stock was up 2.5% in midday trading on Tuesday, July 8, it remains down for the month and has lost nearly 25% of its value over the past six months. In most companies, such a performance would have senior executives tugging at their collars and glancing nervously over their shoulders. But Elon Musk, Teslas CEO, isnt showing any signs of concern, at least not publicly. Despite being the worlds richest man, Musk is not untouchable at Tesla. He is the largest shareholder, with a 12.75% stake, but that doesnt grant him voting control. (Compare that to Mark Zuckerberg, who owns 13% of Meta’s stock but holds 50% of the total voting power due to a dual-class share structure.) In theory, if shareholder and board patience wore thin, Musk could be ousted. Whether that would ever actually happen is another matter entirely. For now, Musks position appears secure, but investor patience is certainly being tested. On Teslas April earnings call, Musk promised to dedicate more time to the company after spending much of the first quarter engaged in political matters in Washington, D.C. However, his recent launch of the America Party and ongoing battles with President Trump have further agitated shareholders. (Tesla did not respond to Fast Companys request for comment.) Longtime Tesla bull and Wedbush analyst Dan Ives delivered an unusually sharp critique of the company on July 8, warning that Musks political distractions could cost Tesla up to $1 trillion in autonomous vehicle sales. We believe the board now has to take the bull by the horns, Ives wrote in a note to investors. He outlined three recommendations for the board: Assemble a new pay package for Musk that would give him 25% voting control, paving the way for a potential merger between Tesla and xAI. Include in that package a clear expectation for how much time Musk must spend at Tesla. Set limits on Musks involvement in political matters. Some general guardrails on this front would help everyone involved, including institutional investors, retail investors, Musk himself, the Board, and Tesla employees around the world, Ives wrote. Musk responded on X to Ivess note on Tuesday, writing simply: “Shut up, Dan.” Shut up, Dan— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2025 Ives isnt the only analyst raising concerns. On the same day as Ivess post, Morgan Stanley cautioned that investors should be prepared for further devotion of resources (financial, time/attention) in the direction of Mr. Musk’s political priorities which may add further near-term pressure to [Tesla] shares. Whether Teslas board will act is unclear. It has faced long-standing criticism for being too closely aligned with Musk. Critics point to the $56 billion pay package approved in 2018 and the board’s lack of action in response to Musks controversial behavior online and elsewhere. Musk’s personal ties to the boardwhich includes his brother, Kimbal Musk, and Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbiahave further fueled these concerns. Theres also the question of whether the board could act independently without near-unanimous shareholder support. A lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court over Musks pay package revealed that Tesla requires a supermajoritytwo-thirds of shareholdersto make significant changes at the company. That said, the idea of replacing Musk has at least been explored. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Teslas board had contacted executive search firms to initiate a formal CEO search process. Tesla denied the report, stating on X: The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead, according to Tesla chair Robyn Denholm. Regardless of whether that report was accurate, investors have reason to be uneasy. The companys market cap has fallen from $1.5 trillion in December to $945 billion, and Musks attention continues to be divided. “The biggest asset for Tesla is Musk . . . and they have never needed him more than today,” Ives said on CNBC on Tuesday afternoon. “They need to show, from an investor perspective, that there is a pilot on the plane.”
Category:
E-Commerce
Seven years ago, your grocers dairy section became visually fantastical. You might not remember how sterile it used to be: the shelves were once dominated by similarly drab, white Greek yogurt cups that delivered on practical, nutritional performance. But truckload by truckload, the shelves transformed into a ripely colorful, whimsical, and idyllic play land of Chobanis making. The company had just undergone a monumental rebrand under the direction of designers Lisa Smith and Leland Maschmeyer, and they doled out a new design world in thousands of 5.3 ounce portions. Who knew a product like high-protein Greek yogurt could turn design off minimalism? But soon, a cohort of expressive, personality-driven, maximalist copycats emerged. Cooper Black was the new black. Smith had never been averse to stylistic shake-ups, if a brand mission calls for it. Shed rebranded the Met while at Wolff Olins; later at the design agency JKR, she satiatingly rebranded Burger King. Following six years as global executive creative director JKR, where she also rebranded Mozilla, Fanta, Impossible, and Walmart, Smith is moving to the smaller, multifunctional creative studio Uncommon as its first-ever global chief design officer, with another simple but groundbreaking idea: to expand what branding encompasses. Here, Smith explains why holistic teams that include advertising and marketing creatives are the real way to push design forward, why handoff should happen after launch day, and how she plans to build a renegade team that goes beyond just delivering guidelines. Ive always been a little bit messy, she says. This conversation has been condensed and edited. [Image: Chobani] Fast Company: You just joined Uncommon as global chief design officer. How is this different from your role at JKR? I’ve been at JKR for six years, which out of anywhere I’ve ever worked, that’s the longest. I’ve deliberately chosen a path where I didn’t have my own agency. I don’t want that responsibility. I just want to focus on the work and working with talent. I’d had my eyes on Uncommon for quite a while. I got to meet Nils about four years ago when we were both judging Cannes Lions, and then the following year we were both presidents. So we got to meet a couple of times, and that was the beginning of me following what they’re doing, which is very much talking about brands in a much more contemporary way. More and more, the traditional way the branding agencies [work], it stops at guidelines and you’re out. JKR is a very rare, unusual company. That’s what kept me there the longest. When I joined, it was very famous, and was doing beautiful CPG packaging. A lot of people were like, why are you going to JKR? They’re a packaging agency. And I was like, no, people don’t realize they’re doing brand identities. Tosh [Hall] gave me a brief that we were the best kept secret, and beyond that, it was really to expand the identity beyond food and packaging into other categories, whether that was entertainment with Paramount or sports or the tech I was working on with Mozilla. So it expanded. When you start working on those, that’s almost another dimensionality in terms of brand identity: the skills you need, the team you need to curate. So I love that it kept me wildly busy for six years. I was really, really invested. [Image: Mozilla] But in truth, I was just hankering, like, how can I start to do things beyond just delivering guidelines and the traditional expectations of a rebrand, into experiences, environments, and product design? I felt a bit like I was treading water. I knew how to do it. I wanted someone to push me again to do things. I want to be pushed and make awesome stuff. I want to be able to curate weird and wonderful creatives from all aspects of design, not just traditional brand system designers. I want to be able to play with a lot more types of creatives and that’s very similar to what I got to do at Chobani with Kwame [Taylor-Hayford] and Leland [Maschmeyer]. So it’s taking that model and expanding it more.
Category:
E-Commerce
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