Good afternoon and welcome back to Detours! It’s our first newsletter of 2026 and our first interview spotlight since 2024.

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Good evening and welcome back to Detours!

The earliest players in non-dairy milk carried the weight of explaining why consumers should reconsider cow’s milk at all, then convincing the lifestyle change — investing in awareness, audience education, and business development just to normalize the idea of plant-based alternatives in the refrigerated aisle. Once that mental category was built and shelf space was carved out, incoming brands could focus less on “why non-dairy” and more on “why this brand.”

The category’s story has been built and the marketing now concentrates on differentiation. There is observable data on what resonates that help these brands bring their product in and do better.

Advantages and disadvantages often depend on perspective. While you may not be first, there’s still opportunity to come in and dominate.

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Newsworthy Detours:

Who’s bringing influencers on to their cap table?

• Sauz, a Los Angeles–based pasta sauce brand, just closed a strategic round led by Bulletpitch, bringing 20+ influencers with a combined social reach of over 40 million directly onto its cap table as equity holders. This is Bulletpitch Plus’ first food deal, and their media-first approach thesis is that pairing a growing brand with a cohort of creator investors turns marketing spend into ownership, giving those influencers long-term upside with skin in the game interest, instead of the normal fee-based sponsorship income. More in the article.

Podcasting is being added to the Golden Globes.

• The Golden Globes is introducing a Best Podcast category for its 83rd ceremony. It will be its first time formally recognizing audio shows alongside film and TV. The category will shortlist 25 eligible podcasts each year and narrow them to six nominees.

Brands are hiring cultural strategists.

• Cultural strategy roles are becoming more prevalent in marketing, especially inside agencies and brands serving clients and customers who need constant translation between online subcultures and commercial briefs. Job listings for “cultural strategist” or “creator & cultural strategy” now emphasize social listening, trend forecasting, qualitative/quantitative research, and working closely with influencer/creator teams. This signals that culture fluency is becoming a more respected strategic function rather than an ad hoc skill mainly carried by social media and public relations professionals. The same goes for storytelling — many of these skills in demand are those occupied by the divas and divets with communication degrees.

This opera house in Italy is insane.

• After a devastating fire, Teatro Regio Torino was rebuilt in 1960s by architect Carlo Mollino. Using reinforced concrete, glass, and stone, the theatre was created on a curved oblique plan with eight levels. Besides my own personal intrigue from growing up with a parent in this space — one of the reasons I try to make it a point to include architecture projects in Detours is because phenomenal architecture reminds us that movement between moments must be designed, not skipped — and I can’t see how that wouldn’t inspire people creating stories or hosting immersive events in some way.

Phoebe Philo sales top $40 million.

• LVMH-backed Phoebe Philo is projecting more than $40 million in revenue for 2025. The brand roughly tripled sales in its second full year of trading.

American Airlines changed its basic economy benefits.

• American Airlines dialed back the value of basic economy — for tickets bought on or after December 17, 2025. Passengers with this fare will no longer earn AAdvantage miles or Loyalty Points toward status.

I haven’t seen Marty Supreme, but I’m loving this message!

Upcoming Album Releases:

• Jill Scott

• A$AP Rocky

• Ari Lennox

• Lexa Gates

• Jordan Ward

Western Astrology:

Happy Birthday Capricorns!

• New moon in Capricorn on January 18

• Neptune enters Aries until 2039 on January 26

• Full moon in Leo on February 1

I hope your year is off to a great start — whether you’re choosing to hibernate until Spring, starting something new, or building momentum on existing goals. My only “resolution” is to become funnier. This isn’t a meritocracy babe, we have to work our angles!

Talk soon,

TRK

A few news Detours at the end. Thank you for being a subscriber this year <3 Love y’all!

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Good afternoon!

Is there an accurate way to measure the current tolerance for uncertainty and our resistance to desires? Probably. But it seems as though th…

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Good afternoon! Read on to the end for news Detours.

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Good morning and happy Thanksgiving!

The “Marty Supreme” promo is operating like a DTC product launch with celebrity-led demand generation.

The film is like the content IP that justifies and extends the recent merch drop, using luxury streetwear and meme-able tactics like the Zoom “marketing meeting,” blimp, and celeb seeding to turn the movie into a cultural fashion and lifestyle moment rather than what we normally see in a traditional movie release.

I’m personally intrigued by the fashion merch marketing as the engine of that strategy.

The capsule was designed by NAHMIAS alongside Timothée Chalamet and his stylist Taylor McNeill. It was promoted through celebrities (Kylie, Kid Cudi, Tom Brady, etc.) and limited NYC pop-ups that sold out quickly, along with long lines and a bit of resale discourse — all while A24 had already been building an internet-native buzzy campaign. We even have fashion commentators like Recho Omondi from The Cutting Room Floor lightly (organically?) promoting the film after attending a private screening.

The windbreaker retailed for $250 and now has pricier resellers on eBay. Scarcity and price point creates more desirability, and owning the jacket is a pre-commitment for a movie ticket in December.

Instead of paying for awareness via ads, the campaign gets paid via merch while generating awareness. Merch isn’t new to A24, but this level of promotion is. If the merch line continues to be iconic beyond 2025, it’ll be proof that the IP can support future A24 collaborations, capsules, or character‑driven sub-brands.

Not taking yourself too seriously and having some creative fun is the way to go and they picked the perfect actor to test the creative and cultural boundaries of the movie’s IP prior to release. Who cares if Timothée thinks our childfree lives are bleak? Dare I say…dream big.

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Newsworthy Detours:

This Substack writer claims The Row killed a WSJ story about her love for the brand.

• Neelam Ahooj built her platform talking about The Row and its products, but last month she wrote an open letter to the brand here on Substack linked below.

Neelam Noted

Open letter to The Row - we need to break up

Five years ago, I was just a girl on a bench in her room, talking into a mic. Then you arrived, all quiet luxury and runway invitations, and it felt like love at first sight. You courted me, welcomed me into your showroom, made a fuss over me in-store, and handed me VIP access to sample sales. You swaggered, and I swooned. You seemed like the perfect pa…

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10 months ago · 1278 likes · 189 comments · Neelam Ahooja

Chanel opened a library in China.

• It’s called Espace Gabrielle Chanel and it is mainland China’s first public library located on the third floor of the Power Station of Art. Japanese architect Kazunari Sakamoto designed the interior as a horizontal landscape of ramps and shelves, creating a “valley of books.”

Everything that’s going wrong with architecture…

• “The architect’s influence has been further fatally undermined by the rise of project managers, who now take on many of the roles that previously gave architects their authority. It has led to a general impression of impotence, the figure of the architect being bumped ever further down the hierarchy so that the one thing they thought they had - status - has disappeared in the face of much better paid but less well trained consultants and managers.”

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are the primary sponsors of the 2026 Met Gala.

• The Met Gala has historically been sponsored by luxury fashion houses, so this is a big change in tradition. While we’re on the topic, MacKenzie Scott, Jeff's ex-wife and Toni Morrison mentee, recently donated $276 million to five more HBCUs.

1 in 4 men believe no one will ever fall in love with them.

• The State of UK Men independently surveyed over 2,100 UK men and women between 18 and 45 years old. 48% of men agreed with the statement “I would have to change too much about myself.” You can find more findings at the Dazed link above.

Looks like Topicals may be planning to drop pimple patches.

• The founder appeared on their regularly scheduled live to discuss an upcoming trip giveaway (love that they’re giving away free trips) with pimple patches of similar product branding as the Faded Brightening Serum.

South Korea developed a patch that regrows teeth.

• South Korean researchers have developed biodegradable dental patches and gels that release bioactive molecules to activate stem cells in the tooth pulp. This will prompt them to naturally regrow dentin in damaged areas instead of relying on drilling and fillings. Early studies are suggesting that this approach could preserve more natural tooth structure and could be priced at roughly $300 per tooth. It’s still in preclinical testing.

Michael Burry predicted the AI boom will collapse. Here’s what happened since then…

• The man who predicted the 2008 financial crisis before anyone else just bought 1.1 billion of put options betting against tech companies riding the current AI boom, like Nvidia and Palantir. A put option gives its buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell a specific asset at a predetermined price before a certain date — basically betting that the asset’s price will go down. Since then, Nvidia reported record sales, hitting a record $57 billion to the relief of investors.

Vine is coming back as diVine.

• The rebooted version of Vine will be financially backed by Twitter co‑founder Jack Dorsey, and will restore a large archive of original Vines. diVine plans to detect and block AI‑generated videos.

The Scalp-Care Brand Selling Out Quickly

• Rhute is a dermatologist-founded scalp care brand launched by Dr. Aamna Adel. Its flagship Density and Repair Scalp Serum sold out three times within two months of its debut, with the first drop selling out in under an hour.

Emotions That Don’t Exist in English

Albums on Rotation:

• The Sword & The Soaring - Navy Blue

• The Pilot - MAVI

• Insyde Out - Flwr Chyld

• Woman of Faces - Celeste

• Vie - Doja Cat

• Okinawan Wuman - Awich

Western Astrology:

Happy Birthday Sagittarians!

• Saturn goes direct on November 27

• Mercury goes direct on November 29

• Full moon in Gemini on December 4

• Neptune goes direct on December 10

• New moon in Sagittarius on December 19

Talk soon,

TRK

Good morning!

Without any direct spoilers, I think it’s safe to say Apple TV’s new series “Pluribus,” pushes the limits of society to maximize happiness and harmony. However, …

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cultwoo is now Detours. Welcome back.

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cultwoo is now Detours. Welcome back.

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The newsletter formerly known as cultwoo has a new name: Detours.

Nothing else is changing. Same vibe, same mix of culture, business, and the occasional tangent. It’…

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Good morning!

I’ve missed you all! For quick access to culture and business news only, scroll all the way down :)

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Good morning!

Make no mistake — The Cutting Room Floor is a fashion media company. Which is why many found it a bit ironic that The Cut, a media outlet, said the following:

Ultimately, …

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This post may get cut off in your inbox, so you might need to open it in your web browser or the Substack app for the full newsletter.

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Good afternoon!

I previously touched on the unemployment issue early last month, and while I believe we will overcome this — as we always do — there are still many women in our community facing financ…

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Cultwoo is now Detours.

Good afternoon!

"Shifting Patterns of Social Interaction” was published by MIT researchers after analyzing 638 minutes of video footage from the late 1970s and around 2010, taken at the same locations. Building on William Whyte's manual observational work to understand the changes in pedestrian behavior spanning 30 years, they combined AI methods with historical and recent-ish video footage from common public spaces in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. They found that people are now walking 15% faster, lingering less, and having fewer group interactions in these spaces.

A study by Cornell suggests that seating types and their placement influence whether people choose to sit and how long they stay which affects the liveliness of public spaces. Besides our phones’ ability to make planning meetings ahead more efficient, there may be some correlation to the growing scarcity of available free public seating that encourages more private taxed options — like coffee shops. We love a coffee shop walk here in Dallas.

Anthony Po was really on to something when he started the lookalike contests in 2024. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future more businesses start partnering with urban planners to position their brand universes as local hubs, or invest in more community programming that spontaneously brings people together in public spaces. I’d say Telfar is doing a great job with this.

After all, real community seems to be what the people want.

Let’s get into the woo!

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“Round About Baths”

• Leopold Banchini Architects transformed a fountain located at the center of a busy traffic roundabout in Logroño, Spain, into a temporary public bathhouse called "Round About Baths" for the Concéntrico design festival. A timber structure encloses the fountain basin to create a communal ‘bath’, alongside steam rooms and changing areas. It redefines an otherwise inaccessible space into an intimate, social experience. One of the earliest known public bathhouses was the "Great Bath" in Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley civilization — used mainly for ritual or religious ceremonies rather than swimming or recreation. Public bathing culture was further developed by ancient Greeks and Romans as social hubs as well as places for cleansing and the tradition continued after the fall of the Roman Empire.

What is Project 3?

• Kendrick Lamar just launched Project 3, a new creative agency under his company pgLang. The agency will offer services like creative direction, content creation, and brand strategy for industries such as fashion, sports, and art. Project 3 was formed through pgLang's acquisition of the global creative studio Frosty. Frosty’s founders will remain as executives.

• The influence Project 3 will have in the creative industry on cultural storytelling is something I’m looking forward to. I think acquiring Frosty instead of starting completely from scratch was a wise move for pgLang because it sets a sustainable foundation with Frosty’s experience in high-profile brand campaigns — which allows pgLang to continue to expand commercially while utilizing their own agency’s brand strategy for the pgLang roster, in addition to servicing other industries and creatives.

Skims launched the Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap.

• Skims launched its first beauty product — the Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap that’s designed to lift and sculpt the face overnight, using the same fabric blend as its popular bodysuits. The TMJ pain divas were in the brand’s comments excited about this Skims drop, but should they be? As someone who has been literally clenching their jaw all day, I too was intrigued despite this not being a new invention.

• When we take Skims out of the equation, the concept of a chin strap has been intended and used for post-jaw surgery and to prevent the mouth from opening during sleep. It doesn’t provide the oral protection or cushioning necessary to fight bruxism or to keep the teeth apart. And just so we’re clear — Skims hasn’t made any claims about TMJ benefits or pain relief.

The future of food delivery may be…robotic.

• Restaurants in the U.S. are facing challenges with food delivery as they receive more takeout orders, like cold or incomplete orders and increasing delivery costs. This has influenced heavy investments — about $3.5 billion since 2019 — into robotics and AI technologies to improve speed, reliability, and cost efficiency. Drones and autonomous robots with sensors and machine learning are already delivering meals and AI-powered scales are verifying order completion before dispatch. These companies like Coco Robotics, Zipline, and Wing are expanding in cities like Chicago, Charlotte, and Los Angeles.

• For workers, this automation could mitigate some of the repetitive tasks, but wouldn’t it also lead to job displacement? It’s likely that it’s not going to be the same people operating and maintaining these technologies. If this is going to become more widely adopted, maybe more food delivery workers should be looking into the career opportunities beyond engineering at these companies and transitioning now to start developing the relevant skills to position themselves at the forefront of this evolving sector. Would you use a robot or drone food delivery service?

Adwoa Beauty is holding off on fundraising.

• Adwoa Beauty, headquartered here in Dallas, faced a pretty big product launch setback with its Melon Berry Hydrating Texture Foam which resulted in a $3 million revenue loss due to delays that almost put the company out of business. Despite raising $4 million in 2022 from Pendulum, the founder Julian Addo has decided to hold off on further capital raises. She believes the rapid growth expected and pressured from investors is unrealistic given the brand’s current stage and market dynamics.

• Taylor Bryant is such a diva for reporting on this so I highly recommend reading the free article in full to find out what caused the product setback and what she’ll be focusing on next and how. And mini spoiler: it’s culture. (Slightly unrelated sidenote: When it comes to culture’s impact on business, the current and former PR divas know what they’re talking about! I hope to see and connect with more strategic comms and journalist founders and yes I’ll be touching on this in the near future.)

• I hope everything works out for Adwoa Beauty. Its products are also available in Sephora.

I’m loving the production of Sarah Bahbah’s Can I Come In video projects.

Skai Blue Media just expanded its reach.

• Rakia Reynolds, who leads Skai Blue Media, just joined Actum as partner. The partnership is intended to amplify cultural influence and drive innovation by combining Skai Blue Media's award-winning strategic communications expertise with Actum's global roster of senior strategists. Rakia will be able to expand Skai Blue Media’s reach and capabilities while maintaining its leadership under her direction.

Have you seen Adidas' Santa Fe running track?

• In collaboration with design studio Playlab, Adidas created a temporary 200-meter running track carved from gypsum earth near an active gypsum mine in a remote desert area near Santa Fe, New Mexico. With the installation, the brand launched their EQT footwear collection, in which they used locally sourced raw materials and water-based pigments to design.

Hayley Williams dropped new music through an audio player, then it disappeared.

• Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore, released 17 brand new songs exclusively through an audio player on her official website. To access the tracks, listeners needed a special code obtained by purchasing any product from her hair dye company, Good Dye Young. The album or collection called “Ego” disappeared from the internet just over 24 hours after its release. I’m noticing a trend here.

• As for Good Dye Young — using this as a way to boost brand awareness and future sales among her loyal fanbase is obviously a good idea, but as for the future of music distribution? The problem is today’s music listeners are inundated with constant releases, notifications and viral TikTok sounds — making it harder for any single unconventional tactic to become a standard without some sort of sustained engagement. As beloved as Hayley’s music is, I can still see the hype of this surprise release quickly fading if it’s not supported by ongoing campaigns.

• In the spring I talked about Yasiin Bey & The Alchemist (Forensics) distributing their album via code through Bandcamp purchases.

Marc Jacobs is up for sale.

• LVMH is in talks to potentially sell the Marc Jacobs brand, with interested buyers including Authentic (Reebok owner), Bluestar Alliance, and WHP Global (Vera Wang’s parent). LVMH’s Chief Financial Officer stated, “we will not keep brands if we believe they are not a good add-on, or we are not the right operator to operate them.”

Is society more outraged by affairs than domestic violence? ()

In a kiss cam crisis, call Gwyneth Paltrow.

• Astronomer hired Gwyneth Paltrow as a "very temporary" spokesperson to help manage the public relations fallout. The reason why this is kind of iconic is because Gwyneth was previously married to Chris Martin, Coldplay's lead singer. If you’re like me you’re probably asking, who’s the PR team? Well, it’s Maximum Effort — a production and digital marketing agency founded in 2018 by Ryan Reynolds and George Dewey. Unexpected, yet so perfect.

Speaking of PR, let’s talk about Haley and Justin Bieber for a second.

• It’s been interesting to see all the discourse surrounding them with people being ‘concerned’ about Justin’s potential drug use — often blaming it on Haley — due to paparazzi photos and an odd clip of Justin singing during a SZA concert.

• I always thought it was interesting how strategically timed it all felt with Elf’s billion dollar acquisition of Rhode and Justin sharing photos teasing his new clothing brand and studio selfies preparing for his next album — especially considering paparazzi in this era is often called or tipped off intentionally unless there’s a major event happening. Could it be that they’ve been fueling and capitalizing on the parasocial narrative that Justin “hates his wife” this whole time? I think so.

JT’s random af cameo in this video is why I love JT. I won’t explain further.

Western Astrology:

• Full moon in Aquarius on August 9

• Mercury retrograde ends on August 11

• Virgo season starts on August 22

• New moon in Virgo on August 23

Haven’t listened to much music this week, but when I have, it’s been the same from the last few newsletters and mainly Kamasi Washington! I’m hoping to continue sharing cool shit with you weekly, but I can’t guarantee it for the fall and winter months. I’ve started to voice-record my thoughts on the spot for the newsletter, and I’m finding that helps a ton with time.

For those who genuinely fwm, I want to thank you for continuing to be a subscriber as I make changes to improve cultwoo to my liking. I really wanted to encourage people to think for themselves and form their own opinions in all of the noise on the internet and biased news reporting, consequently becoming less opinionated, less inspired, and slightly boring because of it. Through finding comfort in my voice and interests translated in writing, and encouragement from my mentors, I’m embracing these beloved air placements again. Let’s hope I don’t get canceled!

{*Thinks in PR* Well, actually that might…}

I don’t expect praise for work I haven’t put in. I’m simply committed to the plot of loving and believing in myself before and after the success (freedom) I will inevitably obtain through personal development, hard-work, and dedication. So I’m finding joy in the process because I know eventually I’ll get there, and I don’t mind clapping for others en route.

To never regretting our godspeed tattoos,

TIA

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The internet has revolutionized how people explore and express their identities, but it has also introduced new frameworks that confine those identities into clearly defined styles of digestible life…

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Good evening!

I too have fallen victim to the cult of sardines in recent weeks. I prefer them to always be paired with jalapeños no matter what else is on my plate.

Telling myself we can worry about t…

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Good evening!

Just saw someone complain about people wanting to watch “The Bear” while there’s a genocide happening. So we can’t watch tv now?

No I haven’t seen The Bear’s new season yet, but speaking…

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