Boozing is lucrative🍸
This Week in Review ☕️: Dry January is trending | Big Tech continues to slash jobs given weak economic outlook | The most anticipated Art Fair to launch in Singapore | World-famous restaurant closes |
This Week’s Partner💡: The Average Joe
The Average Joe’s newsletter offers investment advice that’s organized and ready to tackle the markets.
Become a better investor via their free 4x-weekly newsletter that makes financial news concise, simple and fun.
Check it out here 📈
Quick Bites:
Alcohol 🥂: Dry January is trending as January health resolutions top people's lists once again!
In the UK especially, the number of Brits going alcohol-free in January has risen to 15% this year, according to a YouGov survey.
Instead of Dry January we're doing Why January. It's when we wake up every morning and scream WHY GOD WHYYYYYYY 😩
PS. We dk why people find it hard. So far, we've had a bottle of dry white wine, a pint of dry cider and a dry martini
However, the the rising trend of "Dry January" may not be all bad news for pubs and bars.
Many pubgoers are still turning up to their locals and ordering "low or no" alcohol options, with over one-fourth of pub visits becoming alcohol-free.
Infact in 2022 itself, the "low and no" alcohol segment grew by more than 7% across 10 key global markets, including the UK.
While the Brits are becoming more health conscious, the US is doing the opposite with an increasing number of alcohol brands hitting the market.
Celebrities, in particular, have hit a home run entering the alcohol business. As we self-medicate with booze, celebs & influencers are minting money, one hangover at a time :
💡George Clooney: Casamigos Tequila (sold for $1 billion to Diageo)
💡Kendall Jenner: 818 Tequila (named after the Calabasas zip code)
💡Dwayne Johnson: Teremano Resposado (We've tasted this one. Just another reason to love The Rock, after his precious dad content on IG ofcourse)
💡Ryan Reynolds: Aviation Gin (sold for $600mn to Diageo as well. PS. Aviation makes one hell of a Tom Collins)
💡Jay-Z: D'Usse Cognac in a JV with Bacardi
💡P Diddy: Ciroc Vodka
💡Drake: Virginia Black American Whiskey
Post Malone, Shay Mitchell, Kate Hudson, Dwayne Johnson, Drew Barrymore , Pharrell Williams, Fergie, Cameron Diaz.. the list goes on.
Tbh, from gummy vitamins to sweatpants to novelty smoothies at Erewhon, it can sometimes feel like these are, dare we say it, cash grabs.
BUT it also shows, you can leverage your stardom way beyond your main gig.
Our growing suspicion💡: every celeb will eventually become a VC. As more businesses look alike, Brand Equity is the name of the game.
The Royals 👑 : Prince Harry just gave a very public 90-minute interview, making a string of shocking claims.. per usual.
One day, Prince Harry wants privacy the next day he's written a tell-all about doing coke, shagging an old woman behind a pub, physical fights with Charles in college and his frostbitten d*ck
PS. Cheers to Prince Harry to be getting paid millions of dollars to share the kinda stories we tell strangers for free in the parking lot after one shot of sambuca
So, Harry hates the Royal family for getting in bed with the media... and is taking his story to ITV, Netflix, CNN, NBC. Got it.
No wonder the world is sh*tting on him right now👇🏻
Key Highlights from the interview:
💡Harry branded Camilla "the villain"; says his interests have been "sacrificed" to her "PR altar"
"Camilla was the third person in their marriage. The need for her to rehabilitate her image.. that made her dangerous"
💡He revealed he is still not speaking to William or Charles.
"Forgiveness is 100% a possibility because I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back. At the moment, I don't recognise them, as much as they probably don't recognise me."
💡Asked if William and Kate had not got on with Meghan “almost from the get-go”, Harry replied: “Yeah, fair.” Stereotyping had caused a “bit of a barrier”, he said, adding: “American actress, divorced, biracial.”
💡The duke claimed there was a "distorted narrative" that he and Meghan "wanted to leave to go and make money" when they departed as working royals.
💡He also claimed there was a "horrible reaction" from his family members on the day that Queen Elizabeth died, with "briefings", "leaking" and "planting"
💡"I'm sure some people always thought that Meghan would leave right, but I don't think they ever thought that I would leave as well."
Our Thoughts💡: We're using this issue to remind everyone of REAL issues in 2023 such as:
💡NHS Crisis
💡Cost of living
💡Sky-high inflation
💡Labor strikes by workers wanting bearable working conditions
💡3 unelected Prime Ministers in under a year
Priorities, people. Priorities 🙏🏻
Art 🖼 : Asia's most anticipated art fair to finally launch in the famous Marina Bay Sands in Singapore this week, ARTNews reports.
Following the success of the first Frieze in Seoul last September, the art world has now shifted its focus to Southeast Asia and its own inaugural art fair- 'ART SG'.
“As the world opens up post-Covid, Singapore has emerged as one of the most progressive economies, and we have observed that wealthy collectors from across Asia are increasingly settling in the city and using it as their base”
-Jonathan Crockett, chairman of Phillips Asia
Just this past year, Sotheby’s held its 1st sale in Singapore in over a decade.
This is majorly due to the city becoming the go-to place for big companies, especially due to Singapore's liberal Covid restrictions and its well-established reputation as a global finance hub, ARTNews.
Many businesses have left Hong Kong, which was always considered to be Asia's art market capital.
ART SG, in particular, differs from Frieze Seoul and Art Basel Hong Kong because while it has all the markings of a global art fair, it also highlights its geographical connection to Southeast Asia, which has some of the most diverse and dynamic art scenes in the world.
Big Tech 📈: Amazon cuts 18,000 jobs; almost double of the the original 10,000 cuts estimate.
Amazon saw unprecedented growth during the pandemic, leading it to hire thousands of people to meet demand.
However, the demand has since fizzled and paired with an uncertain economic outlook, the company has launched a "broad cost-cutting review", WSJ reports.
The cut represents about 5% of the company's corporate workforce.
Amazon is the latest to join in big tech announcing layoffs. Just last Wednesday, Salesforce announced it was cutting a whopping 10% of its workforce.
This indicates that the cost focus in tech companies is deepening.
Our Thoughts💡: Personally, we think that pandemic, manic growth spending spree is well and truly over.
Tech leaders are now battling to optimize every aspect of their business, from headcount to office space, as user demand dwindles and inflation rates keep rising.
Quicker Bites:
World-renowned restaurant 'Noma' in Copenhagen to close, citing its unsustainable.
California storm forces thousands to flee their homes and leaves 1 dead in “endless onslaught”.
Crypto exchange Coinbase to cut nearly 1,000 jobs.
UK and allies weigh sending Ukraine heavy tanks.
Bralizian rioters damage iconic buildings and historic landmarks.
US Safety Agency to consider ban on gas stoves amid health fears.
Afghan aid at risk from Taliban ban on women, warns UN.