Hey! It’s Nicole from Hue.
Here’s what’s new in retail, tech, and culture.
🌐 Grüns dominates holiday marketing, Duel and Hue get honest with mothers in retail leadership on how they are balancing it all, Andie Swim sees a +5% revenue lift on site from UGC, and Wicked breaks records with number of IP brand collaborations.
We’re Janvi, Sylvan, and Nicole - cofounders of Hue and Harvard Business School grads with 30+ years across global brands and enterprise tech.
We’ll keep up with the news so you don’t have to. Think of this as your retail tech industry cheat sheet. 🔮
🐻 The Grüns Who Stole Your FYP
EGC LEADERS (Employee Generated Content) - Garage and Foot Locker
Grüns is on a holiday hot streak! The perfect example of how tapping into culture at the right moment pays off. Here’s what’s driving their success:
🎄 1. Holiday Partnership with the Grinch For the debut of their holiday gummy, Grüns teamed up with The Grinch and developed a creative campaign that leans fully into their signature tone. The content is vibrant, cheeky, and unapologetically fun, mirroring the brand’s own identity.
💃 2. Leveraging Dancing with the Stars + Val C. Grüns jumped on the momentum of DWTS pro Val Chmerkovskiy, who’s currently teamed with TikTok star Alix Earle, a perfect cultural crossover. They're tapping into the DWTS audience, Alix Earle’s massive TikTok following, and the broader cultural moment as the season heads into its finals.
🐻 3. Capitalizing on Starbucks’ Bear Cup While Starbucks’ bear-shaped holiday cup had coffee lovers in a chokehold, Grüns saw an opportunity. The unconventional coffee cup resembles their bear logo, and they leaned into it with quick, clever content tying Grüns into the trending discourse.
Shoutout to the Grüns team: Derek Lauermann (Director of Paid Media), Connor Dault (Chief Marketing Officer), and Chad Janis (Founder & CEO) for all the incredible work you’ve all put in on these campaigns. We’re big fans here at Hue. 😍
👶 The Q4 Survival Recap for Leaders at Home and at Work
This week, 11 women in retail came together to share what helps them stay grounded and get through the final stretch of Q4. The conversation was honest, hilarious, and full of real sentiments and tactics.
Here are the Highlights:
Mom Guilt is Universal (especially at kiddo’s bedtimes).
Four Burners Theory (David Sedaris): You can’t keep all burners on. Communicate your capacity and save energy for people who fill your cup.
Top Hacks: partner calendar invites, magnetic to-do boards, Sunday family planning, 2–5 PM no-meeting block, energy mapping, and 20-minute workout resets.
Travel + Breastfeeding: pumping on planes, spilled-milk heartbreak, and the hero product of the night… the Mom Cozy Cooler.
Identity Matters: it’s important to express and take care of yourself in a way that fills your cup… try facials, haircuts, small wardrobe upgrades, a nice meal.
Mental Health Tracker: We use this mental health tracker over here at Hue, and it has made a huge difference. The check-in only takes a few minutes. You’re well-being is worth it - HERE
Thank you to everyone who showed up and shared so openly. And a huge thank you to the Duel team: Lauren Sawyer ☀️ (Sr. Field Marketing Manager) and Verity Hurd (Head of Brand Marketing) for co-hosting this experience with Hue.
🩱 Andie Swim: +5% Revenue Lift From Real UGC
🏆 “This video row definitely outperformed other product and layout tests we’ve run.” - Jordan Mack, Sr. Manager of eCommerce
Q1 marks the start of the retail swimsuit season! Yes. Starting in January! Gearing up for next year, Andie Swim A/B tested Hue’s shoppable UGC video module on three best-selling one-pieces: Malibu, Amalfi, and Mykonos.
The A/B test results?
💰 +5% Revenue Lift
🔥 +4% Conversion Rate
🛒 +4% Transactions
✨ No drop in AOV
Why it worked:
PDPs enriched with relatable, size-diverse content help customers make confident fit decisions, a major driver of apparel performance.
Size diversity and authenticity reassures shoppers (especially in apparel) that the product will fit their body and needs.
Now Andie Swim is scaling the module across more PDPs - and they won an Oprah Daily 2025 Award.
Huge congrats to the team! Melanie Travis (Founder and CEO), Charlotte PaffePaffe (Vice President of Ecommerce & Digital Product), Jordan Mack (Senior Ecommerce Manager), and Brenna Logan (Sr Social Media & Influencer Manager)
📈 See the full case study → HERE
💚🩷 Wicked’s 400+ Brand Collabs: How Can Your Brand Stand Out?
When the Barbie movie launched with 150+ collab partners, the industry thought we had reached peak IP. 🧹Then Wicked said: “Hold my broom.”
With 400+ brand collaborations, Wicked: For Good is proving that cultural obsession can drive massive cross-brand storytelling.
But when everyone is releasing a limited-edition tie-in… how does a brand avoid getting lost?
Ashley from “Stuff About Advertising” breaks it down with Martin Kessler from The Martin Agency on a podcast episode. Martin says: ✨ The winners are the brands that insert themselves into the movie’s world - not just slap a logo on pre-existing products.
Examples getting huge praise: 🌸 Ariana Grande’s r.e.m. beauty × Wicked Products look like items Glinda would actually own - not just Wicked-branded versions of existing SKUs.
🏡 Pottery Barn × Wicked Furniture and decor that feel like they belong in Glinda’s home, seamlessly blending world-building with practicality.
This is the new playbook for IP collaborations: Build brand extensions that feel like storytelling.
Branding Opportunities with Movies predicted to come out in 2026:
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Avengers: Doomsday
The Odyssey - Christopher Nolan
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Minions 3: Mega Minions
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Toy Story 5
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Dune: Messiah (2026)
Credit to Ashley from Stuff About Advertising. 📺 Watch her breakdown - HERE
📈 TikTok Trends to Watch
💃 Dancing with the Stars Walking Lift The “Walking Lift” from Daniella Karagach and Dylan Efron’s Dancing With the Stars routine has turned into a viral TikTok challenge. Couples, friends, and even co-workers are attempting the core-intensive move, where one partner lifts the other horizontally while they pretend to walk.
Most attempts come with plenty of humor and bloopers, and the trend is peaking as the show heads into its final weeks.
🕊️ RIP [Name], You Would Have Loved… The “RIP [Name], you would have loved…” trend is a humorous TikTok format where creators pretend to memorialize someone just to dramatize how much they would’ve enjoyed a current product, moment, or trend.
It exaggerates excitement in an ironic, over-the-top way, making it perfect for reacting to pop-culture or retail moments.
Brands being mentioned in the trend:
🐶 Evil Doggo The “Evil Doggo” trend features a cute chihuahua (or other small dog) paired with mischievous or villainous on-screen text like, “I might be late to work… but I’m leaving on time.” The joke is the contrast between the tiny, adorable dog and its imagined chaotic inner monologue.
It’s a light, funny trend creators use to express petty, unhinged, or dramatic thoughts through a dog’s point of view.
📚 What We’re Reading and Listening to:
🧾 Report: Glossy x Hue The State of Shoppable UGC Video report - HERE
📊 Guide: Hue’s How to use Video for AEO Guide - HERE
Culture moments to consider in your marketing, at your own discretion:
Chat GPT, apologizes for overusing em dashes
Andy Richter (Comedian) and Whitney Leavitt (Secret Lives of Mormon Wives) have been eliminated from Dancing with the Stars
Met Gala 2026 theme was announced – Costume Art
6-7 continues to dominate Gen Alpha slang
K-Pop Demon Hunters is nominated for 5 Grammys
📆 Don’t Miss These Events for Leaders in Retail
🏙️ Conference: Retail Summit in Los Angeles for health and beauty brand builders and digital commerce leaders. Thurs. Nov 20th (Message us for complimentary tickets)
🎧 Industry Mixer: Hosted with Roster Radio in NYC. Join us for a fun round of Glossy x Hue State of Shoppable Video Bingo! Connect with founders and marketers who are shaping the next wave of retail through UGC. Thurs., Dec 4th | 6 PM EST (Register HERE)
Want to become a Hue Client? Talk to partnerships to learn about Hue's all-in-one UGC platform for eCommerce and retailer.com.