Sam Blumenthal

Brands’ original livestreams, as opposed to those created by influencers, have surged since 2019, as an increasing number of brands have mastered the popular medium to connect with Chinese consumers. Some companies have even invited celebrities or their CEOs and senior executives to appear on camera to answer viewers’ questions. Others, like Dior... See more

Bring Your Own Audience (BYOA) platforms focus on enabling value generation for creators who lead an existing fan base there.  BYOA’s core value is not top of funnel discovery, there is no algorithm creators have to dance around to get eyeballs. With BYOA, the creator’s job is to drive traffic to the BYOA platform, and the platform’s job is to... See more

In December, a fashion startup called Scarce started selling used luxury clothing in the form of mystery boxes, following in the footsteps of a British startup, Heat, which launched with the same concept in late 2019. Both companies claim they have managed to avoid a high return rate — one of the biggest potential pitfalls of a mystery box sales... See more

Tophatter’s games are reminiscent of the mini-games that have appeared for the past few years on Chinese e-commerce apps. One of the earliest examples is Alipay’s “Ant Forest,” which was launched in 2016, and gives users points that they can use to plant virtual trees each time they pay for, say, public transit. Most other mini-games, however, have... See more