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the good marketer logo and tagline

 
🪩 Volume 118 | January 7, 2026
 
Haaaappy new year, everybody. 
 
I don’t set resolutions. But if I were to it would be this: the filter is all the way off now. I’m in my feather ruffling era. 
 
​​SO WHAT BETTER way to start than with a rebrand that’s ruffling some feather???? 
 
For the record, I’m obsessed.
--
 
This week's read time: 3ish mins
For you skimmers: 1 mins (hit the bold headers and bullet points)
 
 

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image of play doh and a statement about how the best marketing keeps things simple

Tree Hut rebranded (on Christmas Day!!)!!!!! And they decided their logo should look exactly like how their product feels coming out of the jar.
 
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Sticky. Bright. Extremely fun.
 
That choice alone tells you almost everything you need to know about this rebrand.
 
This was a FULL visual refresh: bolder colors, playful fonts, slime-adjacent textures, and unapologetically online energy. The reaction was !!immediate!!
 
Some people hated it.
Some people called it childish.
Some people said it looked like a Five Below knockoff.
 
Meanwhile, tweens, teens, and Gen Z kept doing what they were already doing: buying it.
 
Including my 11-year-old niece, whose shower and bedroom counter currently resemble an Ulta store curated by TikTok.
 
This rebrand wasn’t designed to win universal approval - no.
 
It was designed to reinforce demand.
 
What didn’t change, at all (and why that was smart) 
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Tree Hut led this rebrand with reassurance.
 
They spelled it out plainly:
  • formulas you trust
  • scents you love
  • results you know
As far as we know (and what we're TOLD) everything inside stayed exactly the same.
 
Only the packaging changed.
 
The “Everything Shower” IS the strategy
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^This ad was SO CUTE, click here to see it (although the belly button talking was weird to me lol).
 
Anyway - this rebrand plugged directly into an existing behavior.
 
The “everything shower” already exists as a ritual:
  • It’s self-care.
  • It’s entertainment.
  • It’s identity.
  • It’s content.
No, Tree Hut didn’t invent it. They just visualized it, and are capitalizing on it with this rebrand.
 
The timing: precise.
Launching after the holidays was soooooooo strategic, in my eyes.
 
Kids received Tree Hut for Christmas. Familiarity was already established. The rebrand introduced novelty immediately after.
 
They literally launched the rebrand on Christmas Day. Which IMO, creates re-buy momentum without retraining the consumer.
 
The “it’s for kids” critique missed the whole damn point
Literally so many comments on social media about how “wow this looks like it's for kids.” LOL YES. AND THEY HAVE BIG BUYING POWER RN!!
 
Ok so if you live under a rock, the youth totally drives beauty culture right now.
 
Younger consumers discover brands earlier, influence household spending, and build loyalty faster than previous generations ever did.
 
Tree Hut leaned into that reality instead of resisting it.
 
In a market flooded with neutral, cool-girl sameness, visual boldness is how you stay visible. For Tree Hut… relevance has been preserved. ✨
 
What you can learn from this
 
1. If you rebrand, start with the product, not the moodboard.
Tree Hut visualized the physical reality of their product. The texture, the colors, the excess: all of it mirrors how the scrub actually behaves. When visuals reflect experience, branding feels intuitive instead of performative.
 
2. Protect trust before you chase attention.
They addressed what didn’t change immediately. Formulas, scents, results stayed the same. That single move prevented hesitation from becoming abandonment. Rebrands fail when brands prioritize aesthetics before reassurance.
 
3. Timing can do more work than messaging.
Launching after the holidays capitalized on familiarity and habit. The product was already in homes. The rebrand introduced novelty at the exact moment re-buy decisions start forming.
 
4. Your next growth audience might already be buying you.
Tree Hut leaned into the segment driving repeat demand and cultural relevance. Younger buyers aren’t a future audience, no no, they’re a current one. Brands that ignore that reality lose shelf space faaaaaaast. (cough cough, lululemon)
 
5. Visibility beats neutrality in crowded categories.
Ulta, Sephora, Target, and Amazon are saturated with “cool.” Tree Hut chose unmistakable instead. Bold visuals didn’t cheapen the product—they made it easier to spot, remember, and desire.
 
6. Fun is not a risk when it matches reality. HAVE THE FREAKIN’ FUN OK????
The packaging, PR boxes, TikTok content, and website all reinforce the same feeling. Loud, playful, indulgent. Consistency across touchpoints made the rebrand feel confident, not MESSY AF.
 
7. Backlash isn’t failure when demand stays intact.
Tree Hut wasn’t being purchased for elevated branding before; it was soooo outdated. Consumers of the product were buying because the product delivered and felt good to use. Branding alone doesn’t drive abandonment. A bad product does. 
 
 
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→ Very much appreciated some of the AI takes on Christmas with some brands; this gingerbread boat is CUTE.
 
→ Dying to know how Blake Lively’s haircare line, Blake Brown Beauty, is doing (I’ll be honest, the dry shampoo I tried ended up in the trash, it sucked). But I kind of really loved the collab she + Stoney Clover came together on. Looked like FUN. 
 
Quince has seriously been on my mind and stealing market share via Podcast sponsorships; 3 of the podcasts I listen to, they sponsor, and they got me. Luxury products at factory pricing. I’m about to replace all my suitcases, grab some organic undies, and a Dagne Dover duffel dupe. (Got the Turkish robe for Christmas, obsessed). 
🎁
Things I actually ended up doing over the break
  • Binge-read You Deserve Eachother and Wild Dark Shore
  • Scrolled LinkedIn when I missed business-speak; this post actually ended up in my “saved for later” Slack channel
  • Caught up on Landman and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
  • PURGED roughly 4 contractor bags of things from our home (is it just me or does something about taking down Christmas also mean dragging half your belgonings with it???)
 

How'd you like this week's send?
 

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