We don’t need to wait for “Summerween,” or Halloween, to shamelessly gorge on candy. We’re apparently leveraging the sweet thrill of confectionery as a social catalyst whenever we want, and candymakers love it.

“Consumers are using the candy bowl to build community and signal their status as a favorite house on the block,” Timothy LeBel, president of sales with Mars Snacking and also its “Chief Halloween Officer,” told Bagable.com, along with a group of reporters, while unveiling the company’s 2026 “Tricks, Treats and Trends Report.”

Notably, this is happening even when we’re nowhere close to Halloween, as in July, he said.

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American shoppers spent nearly $4 billion on Halloween candy last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Halloween, no doubt, is still the Super Bowl of annual candy purchases.

But more recently, as the growing popularity of “Summerween” indicates, younger consumers don’t want to wait until the fall to splurge on candy. They want to experience that same fun, excitement and sugar rush of Halloween whenever they feel like it.

“The path to candy purchase is being completely redefined,” LeBel said, while describing the shifting rules of popular candy-centric celebrations.

“Nearly 60% of Gen Z are already aware of, or are celebrating Halloween, all summer long,” he said, citing findings of a national survey conducted in June of more than 3,000 US adults (18 and older) by market research firm Morning Consult. “This isn’t just a quirky internet trend. It’s a real consumer behavioral shift. As many as 66% of consumers have said they would buy their favorite Halloween candy all year if they could.”

This evolving in sentiment triggering a fundamental change in the way people shop and snack, “giving people new treating permissibility.”

While 67% of those surveyed said seasonal events, such as Halloween, are a “permission slip” to enjoy foods they normally wouldn’t, there’s a parallel movement building that views candy as a “powerful social currency,” LeBel said.

People are curating candy as an expression of who they are and also using a shared candy bowl as a simple tool for fostering a personal connections, he explained.

What kind of candy are we craving?

Gen Zers are in the driver’s seat when it comes to signaling to candymakers what they want and expect from their sweet treats.

This means bigger and bolder flavors, for which we can thank Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s obsession with flavor and texture mashups.

“Consumers are getting adventurous and 58% of adult shoppers are actively looking for bold, even extreme flavors that push boundaries,” LeBel said.

With Halloween just a few months away, what can we expect to find in the candy pipeline this year?

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M&Ms and Skittles are perennial favorites and will continue to maintain their dominance, LeBel said. At the same time, Mars Snacking, the world’s largest maker of candy and chocolate, is introducing a few new surprises.

Among them is “Skittles Pop’d Creepy Crunch,” a freeze-dried version of Skittles with new flavors, such as blackberry and apple.

There’s also a new “Twix Skull,” a reimagined skull-shaped version of the classic Twix bar, and a new “Snickers Pumpkin,” which is essentially a Snickers bar shaped like a Halloween pumpkin.

Returning for the spooky season this year from Mars are “Twix and Snickers Ghoulish Green,” “Skittles Shriekers” and “M&M’s Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Pie.”

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Madison Butler just celebrated a milestone work anniversary. The 23-year-old hit her one-year mark as an entrepreneur about a month ago and said she couldn’t be happier. So much so that she’s already working on plans to quickly expand her business.

At 21, Butler became a franchisee of New Orleans, Louisiana-based Color Me Mine, a nationwide chain of paint-your-own-pottery studios where customers of all ages can personalize their choice of unpainted ceramic pieces — plates, mugs, bowls, figurines, etc. — with their own colors and designs.

”I love talking to my customers, just the process and the routine of it all,” she said in an interview with Bagable.com. Butler’s Color Me Mine studio is located in Arlington Highlands, an open-air lifestyle and shopping center located in Arlington, Texas, and only 20 minutes away from her home.

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Her store gets a mix of adults and children, “but we sway way more adults,” she said. “We have some people who come in on their own, or in friend groups, and we also do date nights and team building events,” Butler said.

Like herself, many of her customers are Gen Zers who are actively seeking out fun analog IRL experiences to counteract their digital fatigue. Ironically, they still need the digital push to unplug, she explained.

“A lot of people come in because of social media. Our TikTok bio has our phone number. They call and ask about the experience, and how it works,” she said. “Or they check out our TikTok and Instagram for inspiration.”

Butler said she’s been working on a fruit pattern series and posting her designs online.

“I painted a plate in baby yellow color with blueberries and that video kind of took off. So we decided to make more videos like that. It’s cool when customers come in after spotting our videos and want to remake what they saw,” she said. “They make their own videos, tag us, and that helps spread awareness about our location.”

This quintessentially Gen Z approach to marketing is working for Butler.

“Our traffic has grown so much over time. We’re a walk-in studio but we have people coming in all day long. We receive about 1,000 to 1,500 customers a month,” Butler said, adding that her first studio, which has a staff of eight, is already profitable in its first year.

That’s not bad for a newbie entrepreneur who didn’t initially plan on becoming a business owner. “I started as a part-time employee at a Color Me Mine in Plano, Texas when I was going to University of Texas at Dallas,” said Butler, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

At work, she quickly found her footing. Within four months of being hired as an entry-level associate, she was promoted to the next level, and five months after that, to a managerial position.

It’s the on-the-ground real life experience she needed to ultimately figure out her career path. “I wanted to pursue art therapy, but I loved my work experience at Color Me Mine. It was my mom who suggested that I look into ownership if I liked it that much,” Butler said.

Butler co-owns her Color Me Mine studio with her stepfather. “We both invested financially, about $80,000 together,” she said. She hopes to open a second location in the near future.

Young adults want to be their own boss

Gen Zers, like Butler, are showing a keen interest in starting their own businesses.

While more than one in four Americans (27%) say they’ve seriously considered starting a business in the past 12 months, that number jumps to 51% among Gen Zers, and far higher than the next most-likely age group, millennials, according to a recent LendingTree report.

An uncertain job market and wanting more control over their financial future are among the catalysts driving young Americans to pursue entrepreneurship, the report said.

Butler relates to this and knows peers and friends who share this sentiment.

“Do you want to put in time for someone else’s company or do you want to put in time for yourself, towards your dream?” said Butler. “I feel like a lot of young people are thinking about their long-term goals and passions and pursuing them instead of falling into a nine-to-five job just for the paycheck.”

Teresa Johnson, CEO of Color Me Mine (owned by parent company Twist Brands LLC) said she’s seeing a rush of interest in Color Me Mine both from younger customers who are turning to crafting options as a means to socialize offline and from young aspiring entrepreneurs.

“I can tell you what you can’t do when you’re painting pottery, with a brush in one hand and a ceramic piece in the other. You can’t be on your phone,” Johnson said in an interview with Bagable.com.

Johnson owned a handful of independent paint-your-own pottery studios in the early 2000s before she became co-owner and CEO of Color Me Mine in 2021 and a co-owner of Twist Brands.

“Early on it was such a family business. When I opened my first one, my daughter was seven,” Johnson said. “When she was 15, she opened her own brick-and-mortar pottery studio and went to college on a scholarship to study entrepreneurship.”

She describes Color Me Mine as a “multigenerational concept.” “The customer that I had 20 years ago, the 25-year-old mom with a seven-year-old, that child is now 27 and bringing their kids. It’s very nostalgic and sentimental,” she said.

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More recently, Johnson is striving to expand the business beyond its predominantly mall-based locations to other options, such as outdoor lifestyle centers and urban neighborhoods. The business currently operates 146 locations in the US and Canada.

“We’re growing and I have a goal to get to 300 units in the next four years,” she said. “The [franchisee] demand is coming from our customer base who enjoy the experience and go back to their corporate jobs and think maybe I should think about owning my own business.”

These customers are millennials, and increasingly, Gen Zers. Johnson notes Butler as among her youngest franchisees.

“I met another one recently, a young married couple in their early 20s. One went to law school and decided that work was not for her,” she said. “There’s also a lot of couples with young kids who want to teach them about small business from the ground up.”

“We don’t want our franchisees to just have a new job,” said Johnson. “We want them to live a life that involves their family, and involves doing what they love.”

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Expect brighter, bolder colors and designs that pop, such as snake patterns on vases, frames, plate sets and wool throws and new gold versions of Adler’s iconic pill-shaped pop art decor.

The Marseilles collection features eye-catching black-and-gold designs inspired by abstract French 1950s faces.

One super cute product we can’t help but gush over is the Jonathan Adler X Ninja coffee maker collab. It launches in November and will definitely be a work of art on any kitchen counter.

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Expect brighter, bolder colors and designs that pop, such as snake patterns on vases, frames, plate sets and wool throws and new gold versions of Adler’s iconic pill-shaped pop art decor.

The Marseilles collection features eye-catching black-and-gold designs inspired by abstract French 1950s faces.

One super cute product we can’t help but gush over is the Jonathan Adler X Ninja coffee maker collab. It launches in November and will definitely be a work of art on any kitchen counter.

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Is there a brand audacious enough to market a $100 smoothie kit? Yup. And it comes on the heels of the same brand’s equally brazen marketing of a $20 smoothie.

IYKYK. Erewhon’s at it again.

Unapologetic and confident that consumers actually want to pony up real money for its expensive fruit drink, the Los Angeles-based ultra-expensive grocery store is doubling down on its pricey smoothies.

Erewhon is a celebrity and influencer hotspot, where a 24-pack of canned Erewhon spring water costs $80, a two-pack bundle of soup in a jar sets you back $50, a store tote bag is priced at a hefty $143, and a currently sold out Erewhon Hoodie costs $170.

Then there’s Erewhon’s viral smoothies.

Erewhon’s $20 Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie debuted in 2022 to coincide with the launch of Hailey Bieber’s Rhode skincare brand in the same year. Bieber’s signature drink was crafted with almond milk, organic strawberries, bananas, avocado, collagen peptides, hyaluronic acid and sea moss gel, among other high-end ingredients. It triggered a TikTok frenzy. Since then, a slew of other celebs have attached their name and personalities to their own Erewhon smoothies, including Barbie.

Erewhon is now spreading the love for uber pricey foods and drinks far and wide through its smoothie kits, which it launched in late 2025 to ship nationwide for anyone who wants to recreate its $100 smoothie at home.

The company just announced a third new smoothie kit —the Malibu Mango —to join the two previously launched Coconut Cloud and Strawberry Glaze Skin kits.

The Malibu Mango Smoothie Kit includes pre-portioned premium ingredients to prepare four 20-ounce smoothies, plus a carton of Vita Coco Farmers Organic Coconut Water, instructions to make the smoothie, and four original Erewhon cup lids and straws.

The kits are available while supplies last.

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Crayola is leaning in hard on ensuring that grownups remember just how much fun, relaxing and social a simple activity from their childhood can continue to be for them, no matter the age.

The brand, which dates back to the early 1900s and beloved for its wax crayons, recently unveiled its Crayola All Grown Up product line to inspire adults to get back to coloring.

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"We believe imagination evolves with age, and this collection helps adults reconnect with their creativity in a meaningful, rewarding way,” Pete Ruggiero, president & CEO of Crayola, said in a statement.

Sure enough, Crayola is best positioned to tap into a growing need among adults - including older Gen Zers through baby boomers — to find analog activities that provide a respite from daily digital overload. A return to coloring even inspired a thriving #colortok adult community on TikTok that champions relaxing, joyful, destressing and inexpensive ways to battle digital fatigue, especially among grownups.

The collection launched this summer on Amazon and also rolled out into Walmart, Michaels Stores and a variety of office supplies and grocery stores.

It includes:

• Adult coloring books (priced at $8) with drawings in relatable themes, such as “Cozy Cottages,” “Plant Lady,” “I Feel Old,” “Stay Hydrated,” “Vibing,” “Witchy Woman,” “Mercury in Retrograde,” and “Flower Child.”

• Dual-ended alcohol-based markers for smooth blending and shading that also feature some fun names like “Merlot,” “Wisteria,” and “Arctic Breeze.” Each marker features a fine tip for detail coloring and a brush tip for sweeping strokes. The 8‑count color palette options ($10) come in pastel shades, including pinks, greens and lavenders, Sand & Sea set with blues and sandy neutrals, or the Garden Harvest collection with rich earth tones. If you want to go all-in, pick up the 20, 40, 60, 80 and 120-count sets (priced from $25 to $105 each).

• Acrylic paint markers ($15) available in 10-count bullet-tip and brush-tip marker sets which can be used to color cork coasters, reusable water bottles, flowerpots, and whatever else in your daily life that needs a little bit of vibrancy added to it.

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Want to keep the post Fourth of July celebrations going? Here a good excuse: prices at the pump are down.

For many households across America, this means a little extra money back in the wallet to spend on daily necessities such as food and household products.

Ahead of the Independence Day weekend, the national average for regular gas in the US was down nearly 50 cents from a month ago, at about $3.80 for a gallon of regular gasoline, according to data from AAA. While that number is higher than last year, it’s still down from the national average peak of $4.56 reached on May 21, driven lower by a retreat in crude oil prices.

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Although overall gas prices still remain the highest they’ve been in four years, the recent retreat since late May should come as a welcome relief, especially for families on a tight budget who are already anxiously planning for the next big wave of spending that’s coming up — back-to-school shopping.

According to consulting firm PwC, families are expected to spend close to $1,000 this year on clothing, tech products, supplies, books and other needs before the start of the upcoming new academic year in the fall. Almost half (47%) of families said they plan to spend more than they did last year for their children’s school needs.

Spending on clothes and shoes for most families is forecast to average $278 per household, or more than twice what they spend on actual school supplies (such as backpacks, notebooks, binders, pens and pencils). Tech purchases are expected to round out to about $222 per household, according to PwC.

Michael Gunther, senior vice president of research and market intelligence with Consumer Edge, said historical periods of elevated gas prices have shown that discretionary spending takes a hit because consumers have less money left over after filling up their tanks.

The impact is disproportionate, with lower and middle-income households impacted the hardest because they allocate a greater portion of their wallet to gas on a regular basis, he said.

But what happens with spending when gas prices pull back in a sustained way?

For insight, Gunther turned back the clock to four years ago, specifically 2022, when an international conflict - Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — caused the national average gas price in the US to jump and peak near $5 in June 2022, and then fall back down to well below $4 by the end of the year.

When that happened, Gunther told Bagable.com that Consumer Edge US data surfaced which specific brands saw a meaningful increase in consumer spending, and in some cases, those increases even outpaced overall spending in the brands’ specific sectors.

Although the consumer backdrop is different today than it was in 2022, Gunther suggested that a historical analysis could still provide a useful roadmap of which brands and retailers stand to benefit as gas prices ease.

For instance, several athletic footwear brands and clothing chains, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods , Foot Locker, Under Armour and Nike , saw a surge in direct-to-consumer spending on the back of falling gas prices in 2022.

“To really assess who benefited (when gas prices eased), each of the names on this chart saw a bigger acceleration in year-over-year growth in spending than their respective sub industry,” Gunther said in an interview with Bagable.com. “In the case of Dick’s Sporting Goods, the increase was a very meaningful outperformance versus the overall retail sporting goods sector.”

Elsewhere, Gunther said off-price retailers, including TJ Maxx , Marshalls and DD’s Discounts as were notable gainers as well “likely reflecting renewed demand from lower-income households and middle and higher-income bargain hunters as budgets loosened.”

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Quick-service, casual dining and select grocery names saw meaningfully improved trends, although some of that may have also been price-driven amid volatile food inflation in 2022, Gunther noted.

Among restaurants that saw demand snap back when prices at the pump cooled were Jack in the Box , Chili’s Grill & Bar, McDonald’s , Dunkin’ Donuts and Pizza Hut. Ikea likely experienced shoppers coming back for delayed purchases, he said. The same reasoning could explain a pick up in spending at art and craft supply, and hobby stores such Michaels Stores and Hobby Lobby.

“This look back isn’t necessarily a prediction of what we can expect this time around, but it can give us clues as to which brands and stores are poised to grab more discretionary dollars as gas prices keep coming down in the second half of 2026,” Gunther said.

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By contributing writer Frank Kavilanz

I just got back from a sweltering hot week in Cannes in the south of France and I traveled there and back to New York City without taking one essential item with me — my smartwatch charger.

I did this on purpose, and not because I forgot it. I wanted to see whether a smartwatch designed for serious athletes could adapt just as well to the needs of a busy business traveler.

For nearly a century, the world’s most celebrated watches have been purpose-built tools. The Rolex Submariner was engineered for divers. The Rolex GMT-Master helped Pan Am pilots track multiple time zones. The Omega Speedmaster became the first watch worn on the Moon. The TAG Heuer Monaco earned its place in motorsport history.

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Ironically, most collectors who covet these watches have never explored the ocean floor, flown a commercial jet, orbited Earth, or driven professionally. They collect these mechanical time-telling masterpieces because they admire their engineering, craftsmanship, and problem-solving innovations.

It made me wonder what that idea looks like in the smartwatch era.

So before flying from New York to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, I intentionally left behind at home the charger for the Amazfit Balance Ultra.

The watch was designed primarily for hybrid athletes balancing training, recovery, and everyday life.

I’m not that customer.

I’m someone who spends more time navigating airports, convention centers, hotel lobbies, and conference rooms than rigorous mountain trails. But I appreciate thoughtfully-engineered watches, and I wanted to know whether a watch designed for athletic performance could become the modern tool watch for a global business traveler.

For seven days, the Balance Ultra became my only watch and I put it to the test.

In that one week in Cannes, I walked incessantly to multiple meetings separated by 15-to-20 minute walks in the scorching Mediterranean heat. I power walked to a roundtable event at one hotel, then to a beachfront panel discussion, followed by several talks and more meetings.

The evening itinerary was just as active — rooftop receptions, yacht events, and dinners — where a watch has to look as comfortable under a linen blazer as it does with a polo shirt.

By the end of most days, I had logged over 15,000 steps.

During the day, I relied on the Amazfit Balance Ultra’s large round display for message previews and navigation as I hurried between meetings. At night, I found myself using features I hadn’t expected to appreciate, including monitoring the quality of my sleep.

Before leaving for France, I also used the Jet Lag Manager, which creates a personalized plan to help travelers adjust to a new time zone through recommendations on sleep, light exposure, activity, and caffeine timing.

After long flights and packed schedules, I even found myself checking blood oxygen levels—not as a medical tool, but as another way to understand how my body was recovering from the demands of international travel.

Then there was the battery.

Amazfit says the Balance Ultra can last up to 30 days on a single charge, so I left my charger at home. My VRBO only had two electrical outlets in my bedroom, and I had packed two travel power adapters. Unsurprisingly, my phone and laptop took priority.

My watch never required a charge. Seven days later, I flew home with battery to spare.

I already own a collection of mechanical watches and an Apple Watch. The Amazfit Balance Ultra isn’t about replacing any of them. It’s about adding another option.

In a sea of Rolexes and Apple Watches at Cannes, it was refreshing to wear something different—something that looked like a traditional watch, went with me on a dip in the Mediterranean and emerged unscathed, and never competed with another device for an available outlet.

The great tool watches of the last century weren’t defined by luxury. They earned their reputation because they solved real problems for people who depended on them. After a week in Cannes, this is a smartwatch that earned something arguably more difficult: a permanent place in my travel bag.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: For more than 25 years, Frank Kavilanz has worked for, and advised companies, across media, technology, and advertising industries. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Masterkeys AI, co-founder of Bagable Media, and a frequent business traveler whose work takes him to meetings and industry events across the U.S. and overseas.

As a long-time journalist, I can confidently says that my best stories have come from conversations with regular folks who take great pride in being members of their communities. They wanted to share everyday relatable anecdotes that changed the trajectory of their own lives, or spurred them to take a risk to help address an unmet need of others.

Still, only about one-in-four Americans (23%) have ever spoken with, or have been interviewed by a journalist, according to a report from Pew Research Center. In other words, most Americans have never spoken with a journalist.

The report, based on a survey of more than 3,560 adult respondents, found that people who feel more attached to their community are likely more willing to talk to journalists, or that talking to journalists helps people feel more entrenched in their community.

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At the same time, journalists often don’t randomly sample the population when they’re deciding who to speak with, meaning some groups may have more opportunities than others to interact with local media.

The groups of people more likely to have spoken with a local journalist, according to the report, include:

• Adults with more formal education: Three-in-ten college graduates say they’ve spoken with a local journalist, compared with 17% of adults with a high school diploma or less.

• People with higher family incomes: 31% of Americans with higher family incomes say they have spoken with a journalist, compared with 18% of those with lower incomes.

• People who feel more attached to their local community: Among those who say they are very attached to their local community, 34% say they have interacted with a local journalist. Smaller shares of those who feel somewhat (23%), not very (20%) or not at all attached (13%) say they’ve interacted with journalists.

Here’s the exciting part: Just imagine the treasure trove of amazing stories still waiting to be told, that really deserve to be shared.

These are stories of inspiration, of human ingenuity, of problem-solving and innovation, of carrying the human spirit forward.

Let’s find them!

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Both of these ladies are global pop culture icons, and now one of them is honoring the other in her signature way. Get ready for the Miley Cyrus Barbie doll.

Mattel , the toymaker behind Barbie, said the doll is meant to celebrate Cyrus, who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May, as a trailblazing and award-winning artist and performer, and an advocate for self-expression.

“Seeing my Barbie for the first time is a dream come true. We spent so much time really digging into the details. That’s something that wasn’t just important to me in designing the Barbie, but it’s also very important to my own creativity and the way that I represent myself,” Cyrus said in a statement.

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“We did not miss any marks when it came down to the design of my doll from the look, the hair, the accessories, the makeup, and the structure. Every detail was purposeful, and we spent a lot of time perfecting her—not to be perfect, because that wouldn’t be representative of me, but to really get down to the details of this golden Burning Sun look,” Cyrus said.

The Miley Cyrus doll, which is part of the Barbie Signature Collection and available online and in major retailers for $60, draws inspiration from Cyrus’ look in the “Golden Burning Sun” music video and wears a faux-leather two-piece pant set, complete with a hooded jacket, pointed-toe black pumps and a microphone in hand.

Cyrus’ doll joins the ranks of other celebs who have their own Barbie doll, including Kylie Minogue, Aaliyah, Stevie Nicks, Gloria Estefan, David Bowie, Elvis Presley and Elton John.

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“Miley has consistently redefined what it means to be an artist and performer, using her platform to champion individuality and empower others to do the same,” said Nathan Baynard, vice president and head of Barbie, Mattel. “We are incredibly excited to honor her fearless approach to self-expression and celebrate her authentic spirit with a Barbie for fans around the world.”

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Whatnot, the live-streaming shopping platform, has come a long way from only selling these little toys called Funko Pop when it launched live shopping in the summer of 2020. Fast-forward six years later, the business just hit one billion orders across hundreds of product categories — from toys, fashion and coins to handbags, sneakers and even live plants.

“One billion orders is a huge moment for Whatnot, but it all comes back to our community,” Eric Shemtov, vice president of category management with Whatnot, told Bagable.com.

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“Every order starts with a seller hosting a live show, and buyers connecting with them through shared passions. As our community and platform have grown, we remain focused on helping more sellers build businesses here, and providing Whatnot users more reasons to keep coming back,” he said.

Whatnot, in a recent company blog post, said the platform sells 20 items every second. Fashion is its biggest category by order volume, and that buyers who flock to Whatnot are eagerly shopping across product categories, a behavior that it noted is up 170% over the past year.

According to Whatnot’s “2026 State of Live Selling Report,” which pulls data from thousands of live sellers across the US, UK, France, and Germany, the company said the live shopping market reached an estimated $22 billion across North America and Europe (with Whatnot accounting for as much as 60% market share).

Last year, Whatnot sellers pulled in $8 billion in live sales, the report said, more than double from the prior year. On its platform, one in eight Whatnot sellers operates full time, up 20 percent year over year, and sellers who go live three to four times a week log an average of more than $13,000 in monthly sales.

Among its fastest-growing categories are lifestyle products that cater to fashion, beauty, electronics, and jewelry buyers.

“This is just the beginning and we’re looking forward to bringing the power of live shopping to even more categories and markets,” said Shemtov.

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While several major retailers are once again competing with Amazon’s annual Prime Day summer shopping deals, one rival platform has found a clever way to attract attention for sellers on its marketplace during the annual midyear shopping bonanza.

Etsy , whose platform is primarily used by independent artisans and crafters selling their creations, launched its “Shop from non-billionaire Jeffs” campaign to highlight sellers with the same name that alludes to a famous billionaire with a pretty clear connection to Amazon.

In a witty post featured on Instagram, and as a full-page newspaper ad, Etsy said:

“There are over five thousand independent sellers on Etsy named Jeff. Real people, making real things, who deserve to be discovered. So get to know the Jeffs on Etsy, along with millions of other sellers making original pieces just for you.”

There’s no mention of discounts, or grabbing the most-wanted viral products. Instead, Etsy seems to be appealing especially to younger consumers’ desire to make purchases that showcase originality, and are more meaningful and sustainably-produced rather than the cheapest priced.

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Etsy highlighted three “Jeffs” in the campaign. Among them, Jeff Brown, designer & owner of Jeff Brown Pottery who has been making handmade pottery since 1977. Based in North Carolina, Brown and his partner, Michele Hastings, craft functional ceramics designed to bring beauty and artistry to everyday life.

There’s Jeff Zabriskie, founder of Luxgen, a family-owned woodworking studio in Tahoe Vista, California. Zabriskie learned the craft alongside his father, and creates handcrafted solid wood furniture and home décor using sustainably-sourced hardwoods and reclaimed urban trees.

“I personally touch every single product that comes out of here. I wrap every single piece that goes out. I make sure that every single piece is absolutely perfect,” said Zabriskie. “It takes me about a full day to make a set of two or three shelves. We put a ton of care and love into them. If I don’t like the littlest thing about a piece, I lose my mind. It’s a perfectionist thing. But, it’s something I care about deeply.”

Another “Jeff” is Jeff Risinger, co-founder of BootsNGus, a handmade lighting studio based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Risinger turned a hobby into a full-time business creating distinctive lighting fixtures for homes and businesses.

“My process started with thrifting—finding an object and turning it into a light fixture that can be useful for somebody. To me that’s amazing,” said Risinger. “People buy stuff just to buy stuff. But, you know, when you can have a unique one-of-a-kind item that nobody else has, why not?”

Etsy’s campaign concludes with the message - “These Jeffs are makers, not moguls. Craftspeople who put a little bit of themselves into every piece they make.”

“Consumers increasingly want their purchases to mean something by reflecting their values, their taste and the people they want to support,” Etsy’s chief marketing officer, by Brad Minor, said in a blog post earlier this month. “And yet, convenience has become the loudest voice in the room, making it hard to hear much else over it. When the conversation is dominated by speed and price, we’re reminding shoppers that there is an alternative.”

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Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé are the globally recognized superstars of FIFA World Cup 2026. Let’s also make way for at least one unexpected ‘viral’ sensation emerging because of soccer’s biggest event.

Ok, maybe two — the synchronized “Viking Row” celebration by Norway fans at the World Cup, and also American ranch dressing.

Let’s focus on ranch dressing in this post.

American palates already love savoring ranch — as a dip, a salad dressing or as their favorite flavor of Doritos. Now, international visitors coming to the United States for the World Cup are understanding what the fuss is all about and falling in love with ranch, too.

Social posts dedicated to these travelers’ newfound obsession with the condiment have exploded on TikTok and Instagram in recent weeks, with many first-time ranch tasters from overseas declaring that they plan to keep a bottle of ranch by their side as they travel from match to match, and maybe even take a few with them when it’s time to fly back home.

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Not so fast, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chimed in via this IG post last week:

“If you’re visiting for a very large sporting event & you happen to discover RANCH while you’re here… pls pack it in your CHECKED BAG on the way home. Thank you.”

The TSA added, “If you’re traveling within the U.S., make sure to keep your carry-on sauces to 3.4 oz or less and place any larger containers in your checked bags.”

In other words, a standard, 16-ounce bottle of ranch won’t fly with TSA, unless it’s in a checked bag.

Step in Kraft Heinz , one of several food manufacturers with a ranch dressing offering in its portfolio.

Smelling a clever marketing opportunity, the company’s Kraft Sauces unit announced on IG last week that it was preparing to offer a first-of-its-kind limited-edition bulk supply of Kraft Ranch packets packaged in a clear, TSA-friendly quart-sized bag that could be taken in-flight or checked in.

It’s not immediately clear when the Kraft Ranch packets will be available but the TSA cheered the news with the comment, "It’s about time 🥲.”

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“She’s one of only five women ‘Master Cicerones’ in the world.”

That introduction clearly sets Shelley Smith in a league of her own, and it made me lean in just a little bit closer to get a better glimpse of one of the foremost experts in the global beer industry as she recently took the floor to talk about beer innovation and trends, and the ultimate beer-food pairings.

Smith and her team at Boston Beer Company, where she’s associate director of R&D brewing and operations, are the masterminds behind the recently launched Brewer Patriot Collection from Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Company’s flagship brand) that was inspired by the authentic beers of the country’s original brewers and released to mark America’s 250th anniversary.

“We actually did look at the historical recipes because we wanted to be authentic and accurate with how Colonial brewers would have brewed these back in the day,” Smith told me in an interview for Bagable.com. “We used that as a starting point of how we wanted to bring that idea to life again. So we did some digging and went back to the archives.”

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Even after a thirteen-year run with the Boston Beer Company (which she joined after several years at Anheuser-Busch), Smith can’t disguise her excitement when she talks about her work after I asked her to walk me through a typical day on the job.

“I don’t know if there is a typical day,” she laughed. “The part about my job that I love the most is the ability to work with a bunch of different teams,” she said. “I work with the brewing team on recipe development, thinking about how we want to test different iterations of flavor, how we want to bring a flavor to life in terms of specific types of ingredients we’re exploring.”

She gave an example: “If we want lemon in a beer, do we want to use lemon peel, lemon juice, lemon purée. We want to be really thoughtful about not only how we want to bring that lemon flavor but also how we want that flavor to show up in the beer and perceived from a sensory perspective. So we work with the procurement team on making sure we can procure the ingredients that we need.”

Once a new product is ready, the creative engine shifts into another gear. “We then work with the brand teams to understand what’s the story and the market opportunity and how do we want to position it,” she said.

Innovation is always brewing in the company’s two taprooms — one in Boston and the other is in Cincinnati.

“The taproom in Boston has 20 taps and we’ll have constant evolution and rotation through recipes so we can see what pops, what does really well, what consumers resonate with,” she said. “The information can help guide us towards what that next beer release is going to be.”

For example, one of the new beers in the recently-launched limited-edition Star Spangled Variety Pack for the summer includes Samuel Adams “American Light.”

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“It’s a beer that was started at our Cincinnati taproom and it did really well,” she said. “We kept brewing it, it kept selling, we kept brewing more. It took that spark of an idea, we developed it more, made some tweaks and then released it on a national scale.”

Sometimes the experimentation can get a little bit wacky, too. “We’ve brewed with some wild ingredients like kelp. We’ve also created some pretty intensely smoky beers that are fun and innovative but probably have less mass appeal,” Smith said. “For us, it’s about balancing innovation with approachability so that we’re creating beer that a consumer is going to seek out.”

Chemical engineering led to beer making

As Smith was finishing up her degree in chemical engineering at Iowa State University, she attended a career fair where she learned that her skillset was valuable in beer production.

“When I learned that I could make beer for a living, I thought that sounded fantastic. Let’s do that,” she said. It was a complete pivot from what she thought she would pursue after graduation.

“I was actually interested in medicine initially, but I was also really interested in food production because of its mix of creativity and science. You get to use both sides of your brain,” Smith said. “But I also love going to restaurants and trying new foods.”

Today, not only is Smith a beer connoisseur, she is one of only five women to have earned a prestigious Master Cicerone title. This places her among a small and select group of beer experts in the world who have reached the highest echelon of industry knowledge and skill.

“To reach this ultimate certification is very intense. It is the fourth and final level of the Cicerone Certification Program,” she said. “The exam is two days, about nine hours each, three hours of essay writing and multiple oral exams with industry experts. You do this all over again on the second day. It was something that was very important to me. I love beer, I love to learn about it, and this was a challenge I set up for myself and was determined to meet it. And I got to try a lot of beer along the way.”

At Boston Beer Company, Smith credits founder Jim Koch for sparking the American craft beer movement with Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

“He’s someone who pushes us to think creatively and differently, and push the boundaries,” she said.

That type of innovative spirit is crucial to keep up to speed with the evolving tastes and preferences of younger consumers, including a preference lately for fruit-forward beers. “It’s why we put Blueberry Lager in the new Star Spangled Variety pack,” Smith said.

“I see this huge bifurcation of trends with younger consumers. On the one hand is the low alcohol or non-alcoholic preference trend, which is definitely real,” she said. “It’s why we’ve also developed drinks that meet the need for non-alcoholic beer but still wanting it to taste like beer. That segment is seeing a lot of growth.”

At the same time, she said the market is also seeing demand pick up for alcoholic drinks “these 9% plus (ABV) options, all format sizes are also really growing,” she said. “We see these extremes of both sides growing.”

“I don’t believe the younger consumer is fully moving away from alcohol but they are focused on being more health aware and more thoughtful and mindful about what they’re consuming, and brands and stories behind them,” she said.

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E.l.f. Beauty , maker of the affordable makeup and skincare brand e.l.f. Cosmetics, is coming for your hair.

The company on Monday announced the launch of e.l.f. Hair, its first-ever collection of products to glam up the hair. The brand said its expansion into haircare was in response to repeated requests from customers. But it has dipped into the hair category before when it launched a limited-edition styling hair gel and wand earlier this year as part of its Power Grip line.

True to the brand’s commitment to ensure accessibility of its products to all consumers, the collection is priced at $10 and under.

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The products include:

• Gloss Mode Treatment Oil ($10): This vanilla-scented oil (made with carrot root extract, citrus lemon peel oil, Jojoba seed oil) aims to reduce breakage and split ends and provide heat protection up to 450°F heat protection.

• Anti-Frizz Styling Spray ($9): The heat-activated anti-frizz treatment (made with Lotus extract) is designed to fight humidity and frizz.

• 3-in-Wonder Magic Styling Cream ($9): This lightweight, moisturizing cream with a citrus scent provides a flexible hold for hairstyles, primes for silky blowouts, and gives a soft definition for curls.

• 3-in-Wonder Magic Styling Cream Wand ($6): It’s a cream + wand duo to smooth frizz, tame flyaways and edges, and enable a soft, flexible hold for touch-ups on the go.

• Never Thirsty Moisturizing Shampoo ($9): The moisturizing shampoo contains Provitamin B5 and Argan oil and is suitable for all hair types.

• Never Thirsty Moisturizing Conditioner ($9): Containing a vegan protein blend, Provitamin B5, and Argan oil, this fruit scented conditioner hydrates and helps to detangle and soften hair.

E.l.f. is a favorite of Gen Zers and Gen Alpha for its high-quality “dupes” of expensive skincare and makeup products at a fraction of their cost. While it did raise prices by $1 last year in response to inflation and tariff pressures, as much as 75% of its offerings still remain under $10.

At the same time, the company has added prestige higher-priced offerings to its portfolio that include its acquisition of Hailey Bieber's skincare and cosmetics brand Rhode in a $1 billion in 2025, and Keys Soulcare, a beauty and skincare brand created in collaboration with Alicia Keys.

“What I love about E.l.f. is that we represent that value. You can buy a couple of lipsticks or our lip balms and still have money left in your pocketbook,” E.l.f. Beauty CFO Mandy Fields said in an interview with Bagable.com last November. “I think that we are accessible to everyone who wants to participate in beauty, whether you want to participate in mass or on the prestige side, our portfolio of brands really offers you an opportunity to do it across the board.”

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As 2026 FIFA World Cup officially gets going on June 11, all kinds of consumer brands — fast-food chains, jewelry sellers, toymakers, snack and beverage producers and fashion brands are creatively jockeying for ways to cash in on this major global marketing event that promises to grab a big chunk of the world’s attention over the coming weeks.

How big? More than 4 in 10 adults worldwide will follow the World Cup, according to YouGov, a market research and data analytics firm.

The Soccer World Cup is the most-watched single sporting event globally and this year’s tournament will have 48 teams from around the world compete in more than 100 matches involving over 1,000 players in total. The matches will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico with the final match taking place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19.

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On the eve of FIFA World Cup 2026, check out these eye-popping stats in a report from Bank of America Global Research:

• The tournament is projected to engage more than 6 billion people globally, up from 5 billion in 2022.

• A FIFA-WTO study estimates that the 2026 World Cup could add about $41 billion to global GDP and support more than 800,000 jobs, including 185,000 jobs in the US.

• The final match of the tournament could consume up to 7% of global internet traffic.

• Sectors best positioned to benefit from World Cup-driven demand include travel & lodging, beverages, sportswear, restaurants, broadcasting, social media, and online betting.

For brands across all of these sectors, and others, the gigantic marketing opportunity that comes with a tie-in to the World Cup can’t be ignored.

To that end, here’s a sampling of how brands are capitalizing on this year’s World Cup fever:

FIFA is sparking World Cup fandom on Roblox: FIFA is chasing young and adult soccer fans during World Cup 2026 with the launch of “FIFA Super Soccer on Roblox.” FIFA, and gaming and media company Gamefam, have partnered on an activation that brings the biggest sports event of the year to life on Gen Alpha’s virtual platform, Roblox. As the official home of FIFA on Roblox, FIFA Super Soccer features all 48 participating national teams, a FIFA World Cup 2026 stadium, gameplay quests, exclusive player rewards and connections to the tournament including live standings and scoreboards. The action in FIFA Super Soccer will also extend across five other games.

World Cup 2026 Squishmallows: Thank FIFA for a fresh spin on the viral Squishmallows plush toy that first appeared in 2017, and has sold more than 485 million worldwide. The three 8-inch plush toys inspired by the FIFA World Cup 2026, and its host countries, include Clutch the Bald Eagle, Maple the Moose, and Zayu the Jaguar.

Add some sparkle and patriotic fervor to watch-day fits: If ever there was an event tailor-made for adding some sparkle to game-day excitement it’s the Soccer World Cup, and one viral beauty brand is all over it. Fazit, maker of glitter freckle makeup patches, has partnered with beauty lounge franchise Blushington (that provides hair blowouts, professional makeup applications and other services) to provide Fazit’s Team Soccer Collection Patches as an exclusive $15 add-on service available beginning June 11th, the opening day of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, across Blushington’s lounge locations in New York City, Houston, and Boca Raton.

“At Blushington, we’re always excited by the intersection of beauty and sports, and the way those worlds come together through culture, identity, and self-expression,” said Nicki Maron, Co-Founder of Blushington.

Chipotle wants to look the part: Chipotle will launch a “Matchday BOGO” on June 11, giving fans who wear a soccer jersey after 3 p.m. local time on Thursday a buy-one-get-one entrée offer in the U.S., UK and Canada. The fast food chain also unveiled a limited-edition soccer jersey of its own inspired by soccer culture and streetwear that is available for its loyalty program members. The back of the jersey features the number 53, representing the number of Chipotle’s ingredients in its dishes and the fact that only 53 jerseys in total will be made available.

Charmed by soccer: Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry company, released new soccer-themed charms that celebrate the sport’s biggest event.

Gap embraces World Cup mania:

Gap has launched two exclusive collections for the football fandom, in collaboration with Ouigi Theodore, founder and creative force behind The Brooklyn Circus. The football-inspired clothing and accessories collection pays tribute to soccer’s style influences. Products from both collections are available on gap.com and in select Gap $stores across key host cities. The OuiGap collection is also available internationally, including in the United Kingdom, Turkey, China, Vietnam and Mexico and Japan.

Score a McDonald’s limited-time FIFA World Cup 26 meal: McDonald’s is giving fans a limited-time FIFA World Cup 26 meal and Happy Meal, with a chance to score collectible keepsake cups featuring global soccer stars and one of 23 Squishmallows plushies, including the official mascots for FIFA World Cup 26, representing the three host countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Target brings World Cup energy to its parking lots: Target is transforming select Target store parking lots in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston and Clifton, New Jersey into interactive play spaces with mini soccer pitches, games, giveaways, hands-on activities and family-friendly experiences. Visitors even get to walk through a players tunnel on their way inside.

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The popup, open until June 20, offers limited-time pickled bites like hot dogs with pickles, pickle grilled cheese, pickle cocktail on select dates, and fun merch that includes exclusive pickle-inspired slides.

Eddie Andre, Grillo’s Pickles very first employee and its vp of branding, told us about how the brand launched in 2008 by selling pickles made with a 100-year-old family recipe out of a wooden cart in downtown Boston.

Today, Grillo’s Pickles is available nationwide at grocery stores, including Whole Foods Market, Target and Walmart locations.

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Dear reader: Bagable.com is turning the spotlight on our fav products

The sun is hot in a crystal-blue sky and we’re dreaming about a walk in the sand. It’s definitely time to dress up with our trendy summer nails 💅

At Bagable, we’re loving Nails.INC 4-in-1 polish that gives a gel-like longwear finish without the need for a UV lamp. The 4-in-1 formula includes a built-in basecoat, treatment, color and topcoat in a single bottle.

We tried a bunch of colors and even hopped on the “jelly nails” trend with Nails.INC x Smucker limited-edition collab on a nail polish line inspired by the Smucker’s fruity jelly.

It’s been a few days and we’re waiting for the color to chip! We’re putting these in the bag 🛍️

Set in a Founding-era tavern brought to life, Bagable.com was invited to a unique tasting of the new four-pack beer lineup (priced at $18) that was inspired by the authentic beers of the country’s original brewers and were once poured in Colonial American taverns and enjoyed by the nation’s Founding Fathers.

The beers include George Washington Porter, James Madison Dark Wheat Ale, 1790 Hard Root Beer and No. 3 Ginger Honey Ale, and are now available for a limited time, while supplies last on GiveThemBeer.com.

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