Barbenheimer weekend has come and gone and blown all box-office expectations out of the water. Barbie made history, in fact, as the biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman, raking in $377 million since it landed in theaters on Friday. But as all of our pink and sparkly hangovers from the weekend starts to fade, we turn our attention onto the big beauty and business stories of the morning, including L’Oréal Professionnel’s break from its salon-only roots, a new retail tool that’s looking to help beauty brands bridge the gap between the e-commerce and in-store shopping experience, and Unilever making headlines for both its price increases and continued pushback on pulling out of the Russian market. You can read these stories and more in the links below.
L’Oréal Professionnel Heads to Sephora. The salon-only hair care brand will finally make its way into Sephora stores in August. (WWD)
Dove Maker Unilever Still Raising Prices as Volumes Slip. Unilever is a bellwether for the global economy and consumer sentiment, and the company has boosted prices again in the second quarter to make up for soaring commodities and other costs, in many cases preserving or increasing sales and profit margins. (The Wall Street Journal)
First-Of-Its-Kind Retail Tool Book With Tote Eyes Beauty Expansion. Book With Tote gives online shoppers the ability to set aside items they want to try while perusing a retailer’s website. Seeing great success in the women’s apparel and footwear categories, the company is in discussions to onboard its first beauty retailer. (Beauty Independent)
How Wirecutter’s Social Strategy Led to Increased Prime Day Affiliate Revenue. In its most recent podcast episode, Digiday chats with Leilani Han, executive directive of commerce at The New York Time’s Wirecutter, on how her team surpassed revenue expectations for this year’s Prime Day. (Digiday)
This Ken is CEO: An Interview With Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz. In the new Barbie film, Will Ferrell plays Mattel’s inept CEO. Vanity Fair speaks to the company’s IRL and very capable chief executive about being in on the joke, and wanting the movie to be a cultural event that would engage and touch consumers all over the world (goal achieved, we think). (Vanity Fair)
Meta, Microsoft Hundreds More Own Trademark to New Twitter Name. “X” is so widely used and cited in trademarks that Elon Musk could face legal challenges after his decision to rebrand Twitter as “X” on Monday. (Reuters)
Social Media Has Run Out of Fresh Ideas. From TikTok’s new text feature to Meta’s Threads app, it appears social media companies are experiencing a sort of identity crisis — copying each other in an effort to offer everything inside one app. (Wired)
Unilever Will Let Russia Employees Be Conscripted. In a letter to campaign group B4Ukraine, Unilever said it would comply with Russia’s conscription law, allowing the government to call up their employees to fight in its illegal war in Ukraine. (BBC)
