Sri Raja Gopalan (3:20)

Well, last week in the Rift we actually covered American Echo, bringing Jason Kelsey on as a spokesperson, his brand, etc. This week, I have to say, unless you've been holidaying on Saturn as of late, you'll be aware that Taylor Swift is now and I mean Saturn on the planet. Just want you'll be aware that Taylor Swift is now engaged with Travis Kelsey. And truth be told, the news is probably also leads to Red Blend. So hey ho. This hasn't just lit up social media and made Swifties everywhere explored with excitement, it's reshaping online shopping trends. New analysis from Visual Shop actually shows a significant uplift in jewelry sales and searches since the announcement, with August actually delivering a standout performance for the sector. Jewelry and watch sales were up 22% year and year over year in August with a month on month increase of 23%. This is in sharp contrast to August 2024 when the sector fell by 18% compared to the previous month. Get the connection Peter Jewelry watches engagement weddings in 2025 sales have shown steady momentum across the summer months with positive growth in June +15, July +9 leading up to the August spike. Search data also reveals the Swift affect most yearly in 2025. Searches for rings climbed in August, up 7% month on month, while promised rings dropped by 14% compared to July. The shift strongly suggests consumers were influenced by the engagement announcement and began prioritizing engagement rings over promise rings visual subsets. On to you Peter.

Peter V. S Bond (4:54)

Indeed, that was going to happen. SRI One last story this week. I want to talk about Nestle and the CEO change, but we'll talk about my pet peeve topic. Trader Joe's store Expansion seven stores across the country. The loyal cult like fans are going to love this. All the new stores will be in states where Trader Joe's has already set up shop, although the Columbia location will help fill out its sparse presence. In South Carolina where the grocery only operates four stores, one of them is actually coming to hampden Connecticut sri, right in my neighborhood. So I'm, I'm looking forward to having it. Though I would like to have some e commerce associated with it, including in the seven announced this week. Trader Joe's has unveiled plans for 30 yet to open locations since the start of 2025. All right, folks, so that's our take on relevant presses.

Sri Raja Gopalan (5:47)

Peter, you wanted to talk about the Nestle CEO? Let's talk about the Nestle CEO, not just your best Pete, because we actually have the time. So let me bring up what the heck happened right straight from. Straight from New York Post. So Peter and I aren't dreaming this, right? Here's the headline article that was on New York Post on September 5th. Fired Nestle CEO Lauren Fresh mistress got him cheating with another subordinate in Swiss hotel. That's the report on New York Post. So former Nestle CEO was fired after his senior executive said to be his mistress, allegedly caught him in a Zurich hotel with a subordinate and then filed a complaint through the company's client anonymous hotline that triggered an internal investigation, according to an exclusive report. Peter, what was the other recent one that happened at a Coldplay concert? Do you want to elaborate?

Peter V. S Bond (6:33)

That was for a company called Astronomer. The CEO was caught at the concert on video with his head of hr, both of whom were married. So I think this just goes to show you, sri, you have to live the values that you set. If you're not going to do that at the highest levels, you can't expect anybody below that to do the same.

Narrator (6:55)

That's.

Peter V. S Bond (6:55)

That's the lesson here.

Sri Raja Gopalan (6:56)

30 years in corporate America, Peter. All my life in the, some of the largest brands that I've represented, we do everything from training programs on sexual harassment, training programs on ethics. How can the top dogs actually do this after enforcing ethics on the entire company? And I'm sure plenty of people, whether it's Astronomer or whether it's Nestle, have gotten let go over the years for ethics violations. So of course he's getting let go for ethics violation. So the company's doing the absolute right thing, like it should. But one rule for thou, one rule for the corporate America.

Peter V. S Bond (7:36)

I think it goes beyond corporate America, sri. In any event, that's our take on relevant commerce happenings from so many announcements this past week we thought were meaningful and could not be passed off on a riff. So we hope you enjoyed it. Please do click like our posts on all platforms and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and now YouTube. Thanks and see you next week for another edition of Commerce Rift by the CPG Guys.

Narrator (8:06)

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