Chapter 1: on being a snack mule, fake celebrity meals and my #1 Instant Pot recipe
🎒 Always be iterating: what I’ve been up to over the past year
This all started at the beginning of 2021, around the time when my son Zaki was 10 months old. Gone were the days when I could pop him into a carrier and walk out the door without having to pack up half the house. I carried diapers, wipes, changing pad, a bottle, extra formula and water, extra change of clothes in the event of a blow out, toys, snacks, the list goes on and on. Add to that the stuff I had to pack for my 5-year-old daughter: snacks, snacks, water, more snacks, two stuffed pigs, a bag of plastic bracelets, an old twig for whatever reason. I felt like one of those mules that sherpas and climbers use to carry their gear to the base of Mount Everest.
The simple act of packing up for an outing at the nearby playground felt incredibly stressful. My diaper bag was bursting at the seams. Literally - the backpack straps were starting to detach from the bag. The worst part was that I would spent all this time packing up everything that everyone needed and then I could never find anything. I've spent too many hours hunched over my diaper bag, digging through all the stuff trying to pull out the one snack that my daughter desperately wants, feeling frantic and frustrated and leaving detritus everywhere in the wake of my scavenger hunt inside the bag. I kept asking myself - why is this so difficult? There has to be a better option than this. During long work conference calls, I started doodling and listing out the things a diaper bag needs to offer:
a system to keep things organized by category
lots of storage pockets
a way to to keep dirty or wet items separate from food items and clean things
ability to open and close the bag quickly and with one hand
quick access to personal items like phone, wallet, keys
simple and gender agnostic design that appeals to all parents
made from recycled, salvaged materials
I couldn’t find anything on the market that fit the bill and eventually asked myself - maybe I should go make this? My background is primarily in the personal and household care categories - I know nothing about the soft goods space. I started asking people in my professional network for their advice on how to take a concept to a finished product. I eventually got connected to Austin, a talented industrial designer with an impressive beard.
For the past 10 months, we have been iterating and fine tuning the design. In my spare time, I’ve gown a deep rabbit hole on every single element of the bag: everything from the exact zipper pull to the weight of the foam padding inside the backpack straps. A look back at the major steps of how the idea went from initial doodle to final design:
Step 1: Category and competitive landscape assessment
I did in-depth research on the diaper bag category plus adjacent general travel category. Key players - their product features, price point, brand positioning. Identified gaps and missed opportunities in the market.
Step 2: Consumer understanding and the problems they are trying to solve
Using myself as the proxy for the target consumer, I listed out all of the challenges of being a parent to two young kids and the issues with all of the diaper bags I’ve gone through.
Step 3: Product Brief
I spent at lot of my time at Method writing product briefs and know the importance of a clear and specific product brief at the beginning of an innovation project. A list of must-haves of features, design elements, performance expectations. A secondary list of nice-to-haves that can be cut if it can’t be fully achieved or is cost prohibitive.
Step 4: Product Ideation
Start broad and sketch out all of the potential options and directions based on the product brief.
Step 5: Narrow and Refine
Pick a path and start refining the product details
Step 6: Initial Product Sample, testing and more iteration
With a rough sample in hand, I used the product as much as I could. Used it on the weekends, took it with me on a three week trip to the East Coast. Asked friends for their opinions. This phase took the longest - I took detailed notes on what was working and what was not. There were a number of design choices that seemed great on paper, but in reality, did not work well.
Step 7: Another round of sampling, testing and more iteration
More feedback, more edits. It’s 80% of the way there!
Step 8: Finalizing the Tech Pack
The design gets distilled down to a 30 page document with precise details on materials, finishes, step-by-step instruction on the construction. This gets handed off to the manufacturer and becomes the blueprint for production.
Now I nervously wait for the 1st factory sample from the manufacturer. Looking forward to sharing it with you all!
🍕🍕🥤The Kyle Scheele Meale Fiasco: navigating the murky underbelly of Influencer Marketing
I was mindlessly scrolling through Tik Tok one night (as one does), when a big, pale, earnest face popped up on my FYP. Something about Kyle Scheele’s video style - the close crop on his face, talking directly to the camera in a casual, slightly irreverent and matter of fact tone drew me into his story immediately. It was also great timing. The controversial Tik Tok in question was published in mid-November, at a time when we were entering day 839 of Covid, the sun was setting at 4 PM and Adele was about to drop an album about her divorce. This was the story we all needed at that moment - a feel-good, goofy prank that then morphed into a bigger corporate campaign that was also raising money! For the children! Here’s the original Tik Tok in full:
I was charmed by the whole thing. It felt organic, random and full of serendipity. And Kyle is a really good storyteller. As a Marketer, I was really impressed. That Kum & Go was smart enough to quickly jump in and be a part of the conversation and was nimble enough to turn a supposed prank into an actual product in the span of 4 days. And then Red Bull entered the chat! It was the best way to make something go viral - participate in and support a user generated initiative and then get the hell out of the way. The Tik Tok videos about this prank got a combined 43.2MM views, a number that doesn’t even include all of the reposts and media coverage. Assuming a $25 CPM, that comes out to ~$1.1MM in media value…for free!
I can’t figure out how to embed a Tik Tok video, so click on this link to watch the second video.
But then, we found out that this whole thing was just another piece of #sponcon. Kyle Scheele and Kum & Go revealed, through an Adweek article, that everything was planned from the get go. (And in the process inadvertently disclosed that they blatantly violated FTC guidelines.) And people were piiiiissssed.
I’ve also never seen so many people name check the Federal Trade Commission. Kyle’s subsequent “I’m sorry you feel that way” apology video left a gross taste in my mouth, like when you eat a piece of fruit that tastes like an onion because someone didn’t clean the knife properly between use. I felt duped. A wholesome piece of content that felt spontaneous and genuine turns out to have been hatched and planned out on a corporate conference call.
Click on this link to watch his #ad apology video.
As a Marketer, I was irritated that they lied and ignored laws that other brands abide by. It erodes brand trust across the board. At Native, we spent 7 figures annually on Influencer campaigns and spent an inordinate amount of time checking to make sure we were abiding by FTC guidelines and including the proper disclosures. And the reality is that this also gave Kum & Go an unfair advantage. Because the video would have likely never gone viral the way that it did if it had #ad anywhere in the copy. Had Kyle Scheele said explicitly that this was an attempt by him and his client Kum & Go to make their version of the BTS Meal, people would have maybe had a small chuckle and quickly moved on.
Influencer Marketing has exploded over the past few years in large part because consumers have stopped responding to ‘push marketing’ - ads, content, info that brands pay money to put in front of you…on Instagram, on TV, on the side of a bus. Influencers/Creators devote their time to establishing their spheres of authority and building a loyal community around themselves. There are a couple of Influencers I’ve followed for so long that I think they are my friends. And they are most definitely NOT. When one person I’ve followed for 10 years announced that she was getting a divorce, I was shocked and weirdly devastated. But, but, they just renovated their garage and built a music room for the kids. I don’t understand!
At the beginning of the rise of the Creator Economy, when Influencers were just starting out and building their following, a lot of their product recommendations were truly organic. And as everyone knows, an endorsement by someone you like and trust is incredibly powerful. Like with anything that is wildly successful, it’s gotten really messy really quickly. Once brands started paying Influencers to talk about their products, it became really confusing. Does this person actually think this is the best night cream ever or is she just saying so because the company paid her? If I wear Skims underwear, will I have a booty like Kim?
The FTC has made attempts to rein in the wild wild west of this industry and enforce transparency around the financial relationship between Influencers and brands, but their 6 page long guidelines is nowhere near precise enough to effectively regulate this space. The definition of an Influencer is so broad that it’s hard to understand where it begins and where it ends. There are some influencer endorsements that are very cut and dry - if Khloe Kardashian is posing with a weight loss supplement, you don’t need to see #sponsored to know it’s an ad. However, based on the broad FTC definition, your friend with a referral code for Rothy’s shoes is also technically an influencer and should include proper disclosures.
There is so much more grey area between these two extremes. Because the FTC guidelines don’t distinguish between the different forms of influencer marketing and treats everything the same, it’s easy for brands to interpret the rules in a hundred different ways. And there is certainly incentive (and business pressure) to interpret it in a way that benefits content performance.
I’m going to give K&G and Kyle Scheele the benefit of the doubt and assume that they viewed this as an “organic” piece of content because K&G didn’t give Kyle a specific brief that dictated exactly he needed to do. And because Kyle had a lot of creative leeway, it was HIS own content and it’s not exactly an ad. Regardless, this stunt probably did more harm than good for both K&G and Kyle Scheele’s reputations. Some takeaways from this whole thing:
When in doubt, include FTC disclosures. There is nothing worse than having consumers think you lied to them.
Instead of planning stunts to try to engineer virality, brands should focus on doing things that are worth talking about: create great original content, launch excellent products, do something to serve the community or their consumers.
Two slices of pizza smashed together and a can of Red Bull does not sound appetizing, no matter how you try to spin it.
And we end this saga with Karl Scheele being subjected to the humiliation of having a stranger on the internet tell him to go eat a very large turd. What did you think after watching the Tik Toks?
🍝 Instant Pot Spaghetti Bolognese
I’m going to be up front with you - this recipe is not going to receive any Michelin stars. The noodles are the opposite of al dente. Maybe two levels above the consistency of oatmeal. But my kids love this dish. They are both extremely picky eaters and this is one of the few dishes that I know they will both eat without any complaints. Plus, it’s fast, easy to make and you can sneak in lots of veggies. I found this recipe online a long time ago, but I can’t find the original source. I’ve adapted it over time.
Ingredients:
1 jar of pasta sauce - any kind you like works. I prefer plain marinara.
1 carton of low sodium chicken broth
1 carton of dried spaghetti
1.5 pounds of lean ground beef
1/2 yellow onion, diced
finely diced veggies of your choice - I typically use 2 zucchinis and 1 container of mushrooms.
shredded parmesan
optional: ricotta cheese if you want it to have a creamier consistency
salt and pepper
garlic powder
olive oil
Instructions:
Get your Instant Pot out. I love my Instant Pot - it is the kitchen appliance I use the most. If you are thinking of getting one, I recommend the 8 quart size. Warning: it is a giant and hideous appliance. I’ve accepted it.
Start on the sauté function - add the onions, beef, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and pepper to taste. Sauté for a few minutes until beef starts to brown
Add the jar of pasta sauce. Make sure you scrape up any bits of beef at the bottom of the Instant Pot. This is KEY. If there is any charred food stuck on the bottom, the IP will not seal properly.
Fill up the empty pasta jar with chicken stock for measurement and empty the chicken stock into the IP.
Stir in your veggies
Add the spaghetti - if it doesn’t fit, break the spaghetti in half. Make sure the spaghetti is submerged in the liquid otherwise it will become dry and crispy
Put the IP lid on, put the lid on and turn the knob to seal function
Press the manual button and set cook time to 11 minutes
After 11 minutes is up, flip the top knob down to release the pressure. Stir the spaghetti bolognese so that everything is mixed properly. You may need to break up some of the spaghetti that’s still stuck together
Serve with parmesan and ricotta to your liking
