How celebs turn their face into millions $$$

This week, the Brandfathers pulled back the curtain on campaigns that range from brilliant to bizarre. We hit Tony’s Chocolonely turning activism into virality, Supergoop taking a page out of Delta’s playbook by giving a celeb a job no one can quite define, and a lawsuit that could shake up influencer marketing as we know it.

Let’s get into it.

Tony’s Chocolonely’s x Kahlua

What Happened: Tony’s Chocolonely, the Dutch chocolate brand known for fighting slave labor in cocoa, dropped a collab with Kahlúa: a chocolate espresso martini glass featuring their signature pattern. Only available in-person at a single bar in London for a limited time.

The Fathers Take: This is a textbook example of earned media and straight out of Liquid Death’s playbook. Make something weird, unique, and just useful enough, and people will either love it or share it. Ideally, both.

It’s a low-cost way to drive conversation around your brand. The only miss? Limiting it to a single London bar for one weekend.

Supergoop hires Liza Koshy

What Happened: Supergoop announced they hired social media star and actress Liza Koshy as their “Chief Super Officer.”

The Fathers Take: These fake titles have become the go-to move when brands want to feel innovative without doing the hard work of actual integration. It reminds us of Delta’s groundbreaking hire of Tom Brady as their “Strategic Advisor.”

Realistically, he would’ve been better off just starring in an in-flight safety video. But then the C-suite wouldn’t have gotten to hang out with him and, let’s be honest, that was the real reason they “hired” him anyway.

Revolve Faces an Influencer Lawsuit

What Happened: Revolve is facing a $50 million lawsuit for allegedly hiding paid influencer partnerships.

The Fathers Take: We’ve officially entered the post-wild-west era of influencer marketing. If you’re not tagging your paid posts clearly, lawsuits like this are going to start popping up.

What makes this case messy is the gray area: what if an influencer wasn’t paid for that post, but has an ongoing relationship with the brand? Who’s liable the brand or the creator?

Either way, the FTC isn’t going to babysit the industry forever. A wave of enforcement is coming.

Final Sermon

From viral martini glasses to fake C-suite titles to lawsuits over “# ad,” this week showed just how blurred the lines are getting between branding, content, and culture.

And we didn’t even get to everything. Check out the full pod for conversation on Jimmy Fallon’s new marketing reality show, Ridge Wallet’s million-dollar MKBHD hire, and the chaos around China tariffs.

Blessings,

The Brandfathers