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Your ATTN Please || Tuesday, 25 March

Your ATTN Please || Tuesday, 25 March

March 25, 2025

A$AP Rocky just updated his resume, adding “Creative Director of Ray-Ban” to his credentials.

But he’s not the only hip-hop icon to cross over into the fashion world. Pharrell, Tyler, the Creator and Lil Yachty have also joined forces with luxury brands—and it makes sense. I mean, if anyone knows branding, it’s these guys. And it looks like Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, Nautica, and now Ray-Ban have finally taken notice.

- Charlotte, Editor ♡

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Apple’s getting sued, Forever21 goes bankrupt & Billie creates the remedy to bad dates

Apple gets hit with a false advertising lawsuit.

Tech giants lying about stuff??? Absolutely unheard of. Anyway. Apple is the latest of the lot to be in trouble for doing so. The company is facing a class action lawsuit over delaying and therefore falsely advertising Apple Intelligence features on the iPhone 16. Filed last week, the suit seeks damages on behalf of those who purchased Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones. Because Apple still hasn't delivered on what they promised. (Which is totally fair given the AI features are meant to be a huge selling point.)

“Apple’s advertisements [cultivated] a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that these transformative features would be available upon the iPhone’s release,” reads the complaint filed by attorneys for the plaintiffs. “Contrary to defendant’s claims of advanced AI capabilities, the products offered a significantly limited or entirely absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance.” Awkward.

Forever 21 files for bankruptcy. Again.

The fast-fashion retailer will close all U.S. stores after allegedly facing steep competition by online retailers like Temu and Shein. But… when this is the second time in the last six years the brand has filed for bankruptcy protection, I wouldn’t be blaming Temu. Forever 21 has been seeking a buyer for the last few months, making contact with over 200 potential bidders. However, no viable deal has come together.

The internet is feeling “nostalgic” about the inevitable loss of the brand. But I genuinely don’t think there’s much to miss. Despite being “fast fashion”, the brand has never really had its finger on the pulse, nor was it "fast" enough to keep up with anything vaguely on trend. As Kaitlyn Tiffany of The Atlantic put it, “farewell to a beloved purveyor of trash.”

New Billie campaign takes the icks out of bath time.

Billie, a personal care brand with a mission of combating the pink-tax imposed on our feminine products, has released a new campaign surrounding the “icks” of bath time. You know when you go on a date so bad, you feel like you literally need to shower after? If you don’t, consider yourself lucky. In these moments, our bathroom is a space of refuge. A place to right the day’s wrongs, if you will.

In the ads launched for the campaign, “The Icks” materialise so they can be literally shaved away in a guided meditation. And it is so good. The spots stayed true to Billies’ “tradition of showing parts of women’s lives in a way that transcends how they are usually portrayed in marketing.” We love to see it.

Anyway, that’s all folks!

-Sophie, Writer

DEEP DIVE

Rappers know more about branding than you do—here's proof

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed that rappers aren’t only making music. They’re now running fashion brands.

Or they're at least receiving the title of “Creative Director.” Depending on the brand, this can mean anything from “actual decision-maker” to “glorified marketing stunt.”

Last month, A$AP Rocky became the creative director of Ray-Ban, adding another name to the growing list of hip-hop artists stepping into these roles. He joins Pharrell at Louis Vuitton, Lil Yachty at Nautica, and Tyler, the Creator at Lacoste—all artists who have long been influential in style but are now making it official.

So, why is this trend a thing? And what can brands learn here?

1. Hip hop doesn't follow trends, it sets them.

Hip-hop is fashion. Always has been. From Run-D.M.C. making Adidas cool in the 80s to Kanye single-handedly reviving dad shoes, rappers have dictated style forever. Unlike traditional fashion execs who study consumer trends from a distance, these artists set the trends in real-time, often without trying.

A rapper wearing a brand can do more than a million-dollar campaign. Just ask Rick Owens, whose entire cultural cachet in the 2010s came from A$AP Rocky name-dropping him in his breakout hit, "Peso". The visuals for Ye’s “Wolves” doubled as a Balmain campaign, putting the brand back on the map after years of collecting dust.

2. These artists understand branding better than most brands.

The best rappers do more than make music. They literally build worlds. Think about Tyler, the Creator—his music, clothing brand Golf Wang, visuals, and even the way he talks all feel cohesive. That’s branding.

The same goes for Pharrell, whose entire aesthetic—bold colours, statement pieces, unique textures and silhouettes —has carried through every project he’s touched, from Billionaire Boys Club to his current reign at Louis Vuitton. These artists instinctively know how to turn a style into a movement—which is exactly what fashion brands crave.

3. Authenticity is currency (and they have it in spades).

People can smell a forced collaboration from a mile away. (See: every out-of-touch luxury brand trying to “connect with the youth” by throwing a random TikTok influencer in a campaign.) What makes these rapper-creative director pairings work is that they actually make sense. Tyler x Lacoste felt right because his preppy-meets-skater style already had a country club-meets-weird-kid vibe.

Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton? A no-brainer given his decades-long friendship with the brand and former CD, the late and great Virgil. And ASAP Rocky designing sunglasses? The man is barely ever seen without them. It was inevitable. When a rapper steps into the role organically, it feels less like a gimmick and more like an extension of their already-established taste.

So, what can we learn here?

The best brand partnerships don’t sell products. They create moments. Rappers as creative directors are a natural evolution because fashion and music have always been connected. The difference now is that brands are finally recognising their influence. If this trend continues (and it will), we’ll see more artists stepping into these roles—but the real winners will be the brands that actually let them cook.

-Sophie, Writer

TREND PLUG

Oh please, you’ll only make it worse

Just when you thought Frozen had finally let it go (sorry, I had to), TikTok has brought it back.

Today's trend comes from the "For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)" scene where Elsa, fully spiralling, sings “I can’t control the curse.” Anna, way too optimistic for the situation, replies “We’ll reverse the storm you’ve made,” only for Elsa to shut it down with “Oh please, you’ll only make it worse.”

Now, creators are using this audio to highlight situations where well-meaning help completely backfires. Times like:

How you can jump on this trend:

Using the sound, pick a situation where someone’s “help” just made things worse. Lip-sync to Elsa’s dramatic meltdown and overlay text explaining the scenario.

A few ideas to get you started:

When your LinkedIn post flops and someone tells you to try adding more emojis
When you say you’re "happy to help" and suddenly you’re leading the whole project
When the client asks for "one last tweak" and now you’re reworking the whole campaign from scratch

-Abdel, Social Media Coordinator

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: When putting in the work doesn’t work
❤How wholesome: Incredible father-son moment
🎧Soooo tingly: Magic Cooking Pot ASMR
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Loaded Taco Fries

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST… REVIEW US ON SPOTIFY

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ASK THE EDITOR

As a founder, should I bother with written content or should I just focus on creating videos? -Andrew

Hey Andrew!

I would absolutely recommend making written content part of your personal brand strategy. You will reach a different audience on LinkedIn compared to a short-form video platform. Sharing not just your knowledge, but your founder's journey, will lend credibility to your brand.

It's ok to start small! Think of a challenge you've had to overcome in the last few weeks and write about how you approached it. Post about a book you've read recently and the learnings you've taken from it. Over time, it will get easier to come up with content ideas. For help getting started, check out our Comprehensive guide to nailing your written content & 6 ways to build thought leadership.