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Your ATTN Please | Friday, 18 July

Your ATTN Please | Friday, 18 July

July 18, 2025

Made a 2-minute phone call you’ve been putting off for 6 months?

Time to get yourself a little treat. Forced to fill up your car with gas? Better get a little treat. Because if we’ll never be able to afford a house, we at least deserve a daily iced coffee, amiright? Little treat culture, while slightly depressing for consumers, is a golden opportunity for brands. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve just finished writing this intro so it’s little treat o’clock for meeee.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

The milk X anime collab you didn’t see coming, Mac & cheese is for adults & The matcha girls are fighting

Big Milk X Crunchyroll was not a collab on my 2025 bingo card.

But I’m not complaining… it’s just that it's… unexpected. The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) is a USDA-backed non-profit that exists to increase the consumption of milk in the United States. And they’re tapping into Gen Z’s love for anime to do so.

The latest campaign, “Milk Can Help,” includes anime-inspired videos that explain how milk helps build muscle, strength, height. All that standard stuff. The ads will feature on Crunchyroll – to nab the audience right where they are. It’s a smart move, tbh. Platforms like Crunchyroll offer advertisers respite from cluttered platforms and fragmented audiences. And with 42% of Gen Z watching anime weekly, it’s just the place to find them.

This new brand of macaroni and cheese is winning market share and taking over shelves.

Free mac 'n' cheese from the shackles of being a secret snack. Yes, it’s a product generally marketed to children. But does that mean we adults cannot enjoy the spoils of a carb-loaded, unnaturally yellow, ooey-gooey cheesy box meal? Goodles says: we absolutely can. And they’ve thrown in some nutrients, fibre and protein to make us feel less sh*t about it.

The brand is flipping the script on the meal, and I’m so here for it. With flavours like Smokey Dokey and Here Comes Truffle, what’s not to love? “Tastes like your childhood, but eats like a packaged meal,” the website reads. FANTASTIC give me 14 of ‘em right now. And I’m not the only one giddy over Goodles, who sold out the first run of its new microwavable cups in just one night. A genius crossover of nostalgia and upward trend in “better for you options” that I did not see coming, but am so glad is here.

Matcha lovers are eating (drinking?) each other alive over global shortages.

If you have the time and energy to argue about fkn matcha on TikTok, go sit outside and have a long hard think about your life decisions. Please. The “Matcha Community” on TikTok is usually a place where fans of the drink go to share recipes, rate places for their milk-to-matcha ratio, and review different brands. But something's-a-brewing on MatchaTok, and it’s not the earthy green beverage.

The meteoric rise in popularity of matcha has triggered a global shortage, and a jump in price. And now the girlies are turning against each other for who's to blame. It's even gone as far as policing how many grams of matcha is acceptable to use in a latte, and criticising those who buy multiple tins at a time. Look, I get it, to an extent. TikTok has a habit of ruining the culture of things. But at the same time, what can ya do? Many such cases.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

DEEP DIVE

How brands can win in "little treat" culture

We all know how millennials looooove a “little treat.”

A matcha here, a Labubu there. A $20 Erewhon smoothie. It’s like a reward. For, you know, the horrors. But did you know this little treat culture we’ve created actually stems from a much deeper place? A place of economic despair and spiralling, babes. Cute!

Millennials were the first generation to start getting locked out of the housing market, which ironically left us with a fair bit of disposable income. So in the absence of being able to fulfil our white picket fence dreams, we created categories of “aspirational lifestyle brands” to splurge our hard-earned dollars on.

Skincare from La Mer, cookware from Le Creuset, luggage sets from Carl Friedrik. All stupidly expensive, albeit justifiable, right? That was, until the cost-of-living crisis.

Now? Even the small things we substituted for homeownership feel out of reach.

And what’s a hard-working girl to do??? Not reward herself??? Not get through the week without a nice little luxury distraction? I think tf not. The balm? The “little treat.”

A small, affordable everyday luxury to help us push on through. Persist. Not thrive, but at the very least, survive.

It could be a pastry + coffee combo from your fave little French place on the corner. It could be a mani/pedi. It could be a fuzzy little monster hanging off your bag, creating worldwide early-Bieber-level obsession.

Why? Because splurging on small things has become a way of asserting control in a world that feels like it’s spiralling tf out.

So, what does this mean for brands?

It means there’s a golden window to become part of these micro-luxury rituals. To earn your spot in the weekly serotonin line-up.

So, here’s how brands can enter (and win in) the “little treat” economy:

1. Price like a treat, not a commitment

Position your product at an “I deserve this” price point. That magical space between $5 and $50 where a customer doesn't have to consult their partner, their budget spreadsheet, or the ghost of Suze Orman.

2. Package joyfully, market emotionally

Little treats are as much about how they make you feel as what they are. Your unboxing, scent, colour palette, and copywriting need to say: “You earned this.”

3. Anchor it to the bigger burnout

Don't just sell the product, sell the pause. Market your oat milk chocolate bar, body scrub, or tarot sticker pack as an act of self-preservation. One tiny rebellion against the grind.

4. Make it collectible or shareable

Think seasonal drops, collabs, or playful design tweaks that make your product feel like it could start a group chat. You’re not merely selling a treat. You’re selling identity in bite-sized form.

5. Get in the habit loop

The treat economy isn’t a one-time thing. It’s weekly, even daily. Brands that make themselves part of a ritual (Sunday reset, payday splurge, Monday pick-me-up) will win on repeat purchases and loyalty.

It sounds manipulative. I’m aware. But really, that’s kinda what we’re in the business of.

So if your product gives a hit of delight, a flicker of fun, or the illusion that the world isn’t on fire… lean in. Because we may not own property, but we’ll own 12 variations of the same lip oil in limited edition packaging.

And that, my darlings, is opportunity wrapped in a tiny tube of late stage capitalism.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

“Well I hope not all the sl*ts.”

Today's trending sound comes from the show Superstore.

In this scene, one character says, “We should fire all the sluts,” and another quickly replies, “Well I hope not all the sluts.” The dry, sitcom-style delivery makes it perfect meme material; and it’s now re-emerging on TikTok.

The sound plays while creators overlay text calling out the moment they tried to blend into a group, trend, or culture that doesn’t align with who they are; and it’s, like, painfully obvious. For example:

How you can jump on this trend:

Overlay the sound with text describing a situation where you tried to fit in, but you're obviously not quite there.

A few ideas to get you started:

Trying to speak on Gen Z trends like I didn’t just learn what "mid" means
Trying to bond with our Gen Z intern like I didn’t reference Vine in the first 5 minutes
Trying to hang with the TikTok marketing girlies like I didn’t just learn what "hook, conflict, resolution" means

- abdel khalil, brand & marketing executive

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😲WTF: Annabelle Caretaker Dead?!
❤How wholesome: “i love your outfit”
😊Soooo satisfying: Food ASMR
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

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ASK THE EDITOR

What are some content/series ideas you would do for growing followership for a property investing company? Our human truth is the want for financial freedom, getting ahead, setting up generational wealth for future generations, etc. – Amelia

Hey Amelia,

Those are all solid human truths, but there is a lot going on there. If I were you, I would simplify your message a bit. Narrow it down and figure out what your one human truth you want to convey is first. For this kind of brand, one idea is to centre your content around the founder's journey. By telling the story of how they are building this business not just for others to get financial freedom, but for themselves, this could create some really effective content.

Another idea is to create content around client transformations. One thing to keep in mind: if you have another person who's your on-screen talent or face of the company, the human truth needs to be something that they can represent well.