Your Funnel is So Cooked

‍E.l.f.-ing Everywhere. E.l.f. Beauty is continuing its quest to be everything, everywhere, all at once. The company recently launched a new Roblox “Glow Up” experience in which players work with makeup artists to prepare characters for life events. Choosing from a number of themes, players can use virtual cosmetics to create their looks, and even interact with other players’ creations using a “livestream” mode. Of course, E.l.f. Beauty was an early adopter of Roblox, so this new game merely adds to its portfolio of gaming formats and interactive experiences. It’s still based in play, but product experimentation and expression are the primary drivers of engagement. 

Earlier this week, the brand also launched its official Substack: Zero Distance. Chief Digital & AI Officer Ekta Chopra noted on LinkedIn that Zero Distance is “more than a philosophy.” The Substack will hinge on “real talk, real time, real people,” including leaders and a community of co-creators. Chairman and CEO Tarang Amin expanded upon this in the Substack’s welcome letter. The goal is to “spark meaningful engagement” and “genuine conversation without bells and whistles.” Brands like E.l.f. Beauty are joining Substack to capitalize on the “parasocial media” era, where the boundaries between creator and audience are nearly nonexistent. The brand has always been rooted in authenticity and storytelling, but the power of its platform will really shine through if it connects all content, stories, and moments of engagement to real people. 

Agentic Robbery. Small businesses are putting Amazon’s new “Shop Direct” program on blast, claiming that the Everything Store is maliciously using their IP to drive site and app traffic. “Shop Direct” lets consumers browse items from other brand sites via Amazon. Some items offer a “Buy for Me” option, allowing shoppers to opt in to have an AI-powered agent (controlled by Amazon) purchase the item(s) from other sites on their behalf.  

On the surface, this new feature may seem like a win-win-win. Brands get featured on Amazon, Amazon sees more traffic and engagement, and consumers have an easier shopping experience. But the clincher is that many of these brands, largely small businesses, have not opted into the program and object to having their products sold on Amazon. “We were forced to be dropshippers on a platform that we have made a conscious decision not to be part of,” Bobo Design Studio chief Angie Chua told CNBC.

Stranger Wares. Millie Bobby Brown has partnered with Walmart and Delta Galil USA to launch a new teen/youth fashion line sold exclusively at the big-box retailer. Mills by Millie Bobby Brown centers on her values of self-expression, confidence, and inclusivity and features 100 pieces, ranging from dresses and sleepwear to loungewear, intimates, and athletic apparel. The line hits the “inclusive” promise in two major ways: sizing and affordability. All pieces run in sizes XS to XXXL and are priced from $10.50 to $26.50. 

The Stranger Things star has been strengthening her core brand portfolio, Florence by Mills, which includes skincare, cosmetics, fragrance, sleepwear, luggage, and, oddly enough, coffee. Forming an exclusive partnership with Walmart, which has been aggressively building its fashion business, will bring her brand (and face) to a wider demographic and bolster her $20M net worth. Not bad for her post-Netflix era.

‍A Very VS Valentine’s Day. Victoria’s Secret is starting to see the fruits of its turnaround, and now, it’s tackling Valentine’s Day as its next big milestone. The lingerie and sleepwear brand fell short in 2025 across both marketing and inventory planning, but this year, CEO Hillary Super is encouraging her team to think bigger. Their efforts are starting now with a new campaign in which Hailey Bieber takes cues from an iconic Y2K-era campaign featuring Gisele Bündchen, recreating a legendary shot for its Think Pink fragrance. Vicky’s also plans to broaden its assortment and “buy with more confidence,” especially after seeing stockouts happening far too quickly in 2025. Valentine’s Day is just one piece of a broader strategy that includes new products for beauty and its namesake Pink line, which saw a nice boost after its 2025 fashion show. 

Get That Cheese. Good Culture has a new majority investor. L Catterton, which has invested in brands including Boll & Branch, Hydrow, and Kodiak, has valued the cottage cheese brand at more than $500M, giving it a surge of capital to increase production capacity and accelerate growth initiatives. Several other investors, including SEMCAP and early investor Manna Tree, plan to join this latest round alongside L Catterton.

The World’s a Game. Polymarket has inked a deal with Dow Jones to bring real-time prediction market data to various consumer platforms, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, and Investor’s Business Daily. 

In our latest round of predictions, Phillip named the prediction market the “media winner” of 2026 (for better or worse). With this new partnership, Polymarket data will be embedded into highly established and trusted media properties; on their homepages, market-related pages, and even select print placements. Polymarket will evolve from a niche app to a mainstream platform, which will inevitably make prediction betting evolve from a fringe behavior into an integral part of our society.

‍Microsoft’s New Pay(ment) Pal. PayPal will power Microsoft’s new Copilot Checkout, surfacing merchant inventory, branded checkout, guest checkout, and credit card payments starting with Copilot.com. Product catalogs will be shoppable via PayPal’s store sync, which is part of the company’s new agentic commerce services.