Lore's Launch Blueprint, Big AI News, Challenge Week 2

0:01This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+.

0:25Jasmine:before we get in the show i have a quick recommendation for you because i have been i was just spending so much time jumping between different content editing platforms we had something for clipping something else for making carousels something else for editing videos and vlogs and behind the scenes video content then something else for like scheduling it it was just honestly becoming incredibly convoluted and fragmented and all of the people my team needed a seat in these platforms and it was just a lot. And so we've managed to find one tool that does all of it and is also incredibly, incredibly easy to use.

1:00Jasmine:You can make all of those types of content, then you can schedule it as well. And it is called Adobe Express. It's also free to use. They do have a paid version, which has some plus ups that are really great, but you can get started completely, completely for free. If you want to try the platform, we've got the link and all the details for you in the show notes, or you can just head to adobeexpress.com. All right, let's get into the show. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Female Founder World. I'm Jasmine. I'm the host of the show. I'm Natalie. I'm a team member at Female Founder World and also the founder of Beach Street Swim.

1:34And I'm Paige. I'm the co-founder at Benny and a contributor here at Female Founder World.

1:39Jasmine:We've got a few things that we're going to be talking about today. First, we have a conversation about one of our favorite new brands that has just launched and all of the things that they're doing write in the lessons that we want to copy and paste from their blueprint. And we also have a conversation about some really important AI stuff that we all have to be across, particularly if you're using AI in content creation at the moment. And then finally, our Build in Public Challenge, we are going to be talking about week two and kicking off week two on this show today. But the first thing we want to talk about is Lore.

2:11Jasmine:Have you guys seen the launch of this new fragrance brand? Of course. I mean, of course we have. They have just done everything right. No, I feel like we'll get into the founding team is like A++, but if you are looking for great content inspiration, it really reminds me of like early days of Crown Affair when they were new on the scene. This like artist POV. Oh my God. I need to do the artist way again. Like how do we tap into that creativity? I have to say I was gifted as a creator when they first launched and that gifting really stuck out to me there were a lot of elements of that gifting before I knew of Lore and the founding team I was like there's something special about this gifting and yeah if I get something like a shade a flavor a fragrance more than one I'll usually keep my favorite and pass along the rest and I kept I was so greedy with Lore before I even like knew who they were and we can talk a little bit about it more if you want to know the details of the gifting but I definitely want to know the details of the gifting but let's just give some backstory for folks who aren't as like chronically online as we all are.

3:18Jasmine:LORE is a new fragrance brand and the I guess the founder that probably is resonating the most with us on their team is Melanie Bender. She was the CEO of what was she the CEO? Rode and before that she started Verst which was the beauty company that came out of Birdie and like Click Media that group and they went into Target and they scaled pretty quickly. And the other co-founders were previously at Youth to the People and they started that brand. So, and also the co-founder of Milk Makeup. So it's like a dream team when it comes to beauty and brand building that's launching this company. And you need to go and have a look at their website and their Instagram because it really is like, I think the best example of world building by a brand.

4:04Jasmine:And when we talk about the difference between building a brand and building like a brand world or making content, and building a brand world, sometimes it can be hard to actually like find the words to articulate what that is. But being able to point to an example is super helpful in externalizing that. And law is the playbook. Like they are doing this so well. A hundred percent. I feel like this world building, I've been seeing it so much on my feeds. I don't know if you guys have as well, like in this like marketing, you know, the content that we see, I feel like everyone is talking about that, like as the new kind of frontier.

4:36It's something we're always working on, but totally jasmine i think they nail it i think that a lot of brands get this wrong when they are building a world for too long or not long enough before they ask for a purchase from a customer but they're building a world in which comes from inspiration so like pinterest photos things they see on socials you know hopping on trends which is all that's all wonderful but they're not creating from scratch which is what lore does in such a meaningful way and I think we're going to see a lot more of that like they're really creating from the ground up

5:09Jasmine:in terms of like artistic um content yes and they clearly have a budget to do it because I've one thing that's been standing out to me is the way that they've been working with artists and I'll put the links in the show notes to these artists but one that they worked with is an Australian artist called Jasmine Dowling and I've been seeing these artists and photographers kind of sharing their work to their you know to their portfolios to their feeds and then it's coming up for me because the founding team like Mel, they're interacting with it. I'm seeing her comments on it. And they've clearly been briefed on what the brand is and then been given free reign to go and create the content.

5:45Jasmine:And instead of just working with influencers or content creators, actually working with people who have that creative point of view and are true creatives feels like such a clever way to stand out when a lot of content online is feeling really, really just same, same, finding that true creative talent to make your content online is a really interesting way to be doing it totally it almost is like curation I feel like Natalie like what you were saying this like pulling from Pinterest pulling from like other examples curation has kind of become like the playbook and like we do it too like I think most brands kind of are just curating across what kind of works for their brand and this is like such true creation and I think I even see you know the same brands working with similar artists now that it's like kind of a trend but laura's like stepping so outside of that so it's i'm curious like how do you guys keep your feeds relevant how do you tap into that creativity we were just chatting before jumping on the podcast and we need to get melanie on the female founder world show and do a full deep dive on like her inspiration because i think summer is a good time you know it's a little bit slower pace get outside get to an art gallery like tap into something real inspiration yeah yeah I think it's an interesting category to take this approach because fragrance is obviously something that is difficult to communicate like what it is online you can't see it you can't see it before and after you can't experience it and this artistic and creative approach to world building feels like the the best way to do that like I look at it and it's like people it's like those brand builders for whom brand and content is their art and their poetry and that's clearly what it is for Mel because she's done such an amazing job but the opportunity from a business perspective they are priced at $88 for a 50 mil bottle and when you think about where perfumes sit there's kind of that like super niche$300 plus fragrance and then there's that mass market scent for like you know$30, $50 and they don't have that same, you know, rich kind of experience as the high-end brands.

7:54Jasmine:And then I think what Mel and her team have seen is this opportunity to build something that feels really distinctive at that$88 price point where it's still, you know, they're priced at the level where you would still consider it for trying something new, but it feels more premium than, you know, like a little$30 cent. I do like the idea of keeping it at this price point because for me personally at this stage in my life it's a price point that I'm willing to pay to express myself if that makes sense yeah so I'm seeing the branding of Laura after I had actually tried the product which is ironic which is usually the reverse when I'm shopping as a consumer but I love the branding and the way it came packaged and then especially when I looked into them further I was like this is a way I want to represent myself and it's a price point at which I'm willing to do so and it's also not like a cheap price point but it's quite luxe but it's also not a$400 price point where it's like totally unattainable so it kind of sits at that perfect space it feels like one of those like if you know you know brands at the moment and it's that's one of those things where like it's so hard to to create that but they've done it really beautifully um she launched with four fragrances and the bottles are like actually hand formed glass by this French glassblower like they've clearly considered every single touch point and you look at the bottle and it is just so beautiful even the packaging is so beautiful the box that it comes in everything just makes sense like immediately you just get the brand and it feels really immersive I want to know what they did for the PR mailer Nat that made you think that it was interesting yeah first of all it came along with a magazine which is something I've seen before I'm not saying that that is totally unique but the magazine was something I actually kept on our coffee table because the artwork and the imagery was so beautiful.

9:44Usually I would just recycle it because it looks like a literal ad or a magazine. It wasn't very clear what the product was, if you were just looking at the magazine because it was just gorgeous art. So that I thought was really interesting. The second part was the packaging itself was really beautiful and it was actually wrapped in, I want to say like not quite a ribbon, maybe between like a cross, cross between a ribbon and a twine, like a thick nice wrapping that I actually kept because I'll keep little things like that for when I am wrapping gifts later on and I think if like your consumer or your influencer is keeping that you're doing something right it felt so chic it felt like something I wanted in my home and then especially when it comes to fragrances I like to have them on my vanity and if they're not really like the look I'm going for sometimes I'll like put them away and then I never even end up using them I have all my little minis on my vanity and I actually didn't know that they were glass blown so that totally makes sense um they have a really just beautiful shape to them so there are a couple of moments that stood out to me but also like the product is excellent I wouldn't keep the fragrances if I didn't you know if I had all those things but not the scent I liked so I don't know I just think that they're in such a crowded community of brands, but they are really sticking out.

11:10I like that you said, if you know, you know, because not a lot of people know them, I feel.

11:13Jasmine:Yeah. In my circle at least. It definitely feels like that. If you know, you know. Did you guys see what they did with these like shopping bags that they've done at events or like these gifting bags? Oh my God. You guys, I'm such a fan girl. Every single touch point of the brand, I think, has that like slow down and we put a lot of thought to it. will link out to their Instagram, I'm sure, but Creep their Instagram, they use these, like, irregularly shaped mailers, or not mailers, like, gift bags for their events. Oh, yes, mine came in that. Yeah, which is so elevated and cool. What do you mean?

11:45Jasmine:I need a photo. I have one, I bet. Yeah, not if you can pull it up. We can overlay. We will. We'll throw one up. Let's see if I can find it. Instead of it being, like, a hard, it's always so hard on podcasts, a hard edge, it's, like, a rounded edge, like, irregular, very lower, but it's just to me like I'm sure everyone listening can relate founder mode you're putting on fires all day you're doing everything as kind of fast as you can I think taking the time and the intentionality to think like okay we need gift bag mailer or we need bags for our events right like how can we take that a step further and like build the world I think those are the moments and they can live on in social they live on in real life and obviously Natalie they made such an impression on you in person they make such an impression on me digitally it's like a no-brainer to to do something like that it's so refreshing to see someone just take their time with this as well I think that you know exactly what you said we can feel so rushed and so busy and these decisions can feel not important it can just be oh it's just the whatever like just just get the get the cheap one from Alipapa or whatever but it does cut through and it does add value and I think that if you're someone that does have that creative vision like respecting it and giving yourself the space to see it all the way through and give yourself the time to execute on it like it's really important to value that skill within yourself makes me want to burn everything down and start again I know me every day I know me just deleting our website do you think she feels like that you have to ask her Jasmine if Melanie comes on the podcast does she feel like that because to me everyone feels that way but like is she just like so proud of what she's done or does she, does everyone hate it?

13:26We'll have to find out. Stay tuned. Yeah, we'll stay tuned.

13:29Jasmine:Okay, the next thing I want to talk about is New York's new AI disclosure law because it is super important and I do think it's going to impact everyone everywhere really soon. I think New York is leading the way in this category and it's going to impact all of us. So basically, if you are running paid ads in New York State and you're using any AI generated performer, we've spoken about AI influencers and creators and actors, you know someone who looks real but they're not real you are legally required to disclose that in your ad now and this is the first law of its kind in the US but my instinct is that this is going to be the blueprint that's rolled out in in states and countries all across the world and so we really need to know about it marketers are really calling this like a table setter for what the whole country will do and as someone who's now in Australia paid you're in Canada like I really do think this is going to be the blueprint for everywhere.

14:25Jasmine:So what it actually means, it means that advertisers have to disclose the use of what they're calling a synthetic performer in any advertising that runs in the state. And so that could be like a lead performer, people in the background, even like an AI generated hand model. If there's any instance where a viewer might reasonably think that what is in the ad is real, but they're not, you have to tell them and if you don't you could face a thousand dollars to your first offense five thousand for each subsequent offense I'm not sure whether that is like per time the ad is run or viewed or what but there's like financial risk with this and then obviously I think like the reputational risk as well I think that we're seeing a real tone shift around AI and brands using AI content and not disclosing it or even using it at all so I wanted to flag that for everyone as they're thinking about using AI in their content, the rules are changing and we need to be across this.

15:25Yeah, I think it's so hard. And thanks, Jazz, for bringing this to everyone because it's important stuff. It's so hard to want to take that as the shortcut to creating this like lore world building content, I find. But oh my God, I'm so curious how this will change. I also feel like this is just the beginning. I'm actually quite surprised it's only New York and I'm intrigued to see how quickly that will stretch especially when it comes to other countries I do think that synthetic performer is such a funny term because like you said if someone has any reason to believe it's real and it isn't like at what point do you determine those feelings or like yes I feel like it's not necessarily a digital literacy problem it's like brands are getting away with things problem you could be totally well versed and still like fall for it

16:20Jasmine:I guess without a disclaimer I think it's also like if you're selling a product and it's not on a real person like that is false advertising if you're selling me a skincare product and the person that you're using as a model isn't a real person like it feels really sneaky and you know I do think that it should be uh you should have to disclose it but then there's also that line where I've been seeing a lot of models that I follow saying that they've worked with brands before. Now they're not getting rebooked and the brands are using their likeness and just to create AI campaigns. And they're calling out these brands, big brands too, particularly fashion brands, when they're doing their product catalog imagery because they're using their back catalog.

17:02Jasmine:And so they're using the models that they're usually booking and then slightly changing their faces. It's so dystopian and weird. And using that to like recreate their future product catalogs. And it's so strange to see. And yeah, it's like what's the line there? Is it – what's the difference between like just retouching someone or like slightly tweaking someone and then it being a fully AI-generated person? Like it's – Oh, that's weird. I almost feel like that's even more strange, changing someone who you used in the past who's a real person and I know that it all comes down to budget not everyone has the budget to create a whole new world but brands have done it in the past like there's a way to still succeed and not fall behind I think people can do it creatively I almost feel like sometimes it's a shortcut but it can be used beautifully as well but I don't know I do think the reputational damage that will be more important than the fine so far I think you should be using it if you are going to use these tools for things that you just like can't you can't create or like it's just not within the realm of a of a budget for a small brand to be able to create like we're looking at backgrounds and worlds and things that feel otherworldly and it's clearly not real you know like other planets and drops and that kind of thing and using tools like Higgs field AI to create that um that's not something that I could shoot like that's not something that I could create.

18:34Jasmine:So I think that there's a time and a place to use it. But a really interesting statistic around this. So consumer enthusiasm for AI generated content dropped from 60 % in 2023 to just 26 % last year, which I think just speaks to what we're all seeing. Like it was very gung-ho, AI is the future. And now it's like, if you post about AI, you are some kind of like super villain. That's interesting. That's a big decline. line coca-cola they uh they um had like two ai generated holiday ads last year and they did actually use a disclaimer to say that they this is before any regulations were in place and they used the disclaimer to say that they used ai to create those images and i think that the big brands are seeing that this is like a murky area and their legal teams would be so on it with this kind of stuff yeah which i love i feel like it has to start from the top down it's almost like fast fashion it's like why is like the burden carried on these small brands without the budgets to like do the right thing in a way like I one of my best friends who is a founder loves female funnel world Michelle she has an apparel brand and she's been like sharing with me how frustrating it is like all of her competitors are out there using AI models on these AI like clothing and it's like not even the real product exactly what you were saying Jasmine about skincare it's like that's not even the product that it just sucks for the little guys to have to compete with these big guys that have the budget and like they're kind of carrying the burden the small brands to like do the right thing it's it's a tricky spot but hopefully this is you know the sort of good things I'm happy about this more of this yeah yeah me too me too okay the next thing I want to talk about is our build in public challenge week two you guys have seen this obviously we kicked it off with the solo episode last week.

20:21I have been following along. I am so excited about this. Seriously, this is the kick that I needed. This is so good. Personally.

20:28Jasmine:The feedback on this has been so good. So many comments, so many DMs, everyone saying, okay, I really need some accountability and some pointers around how to do this. This is a challenge that is basically taking you from wherever you are sitting now through to comfortably posting and building in public and being a forward-facing founder for your brand. And we don't have to talk. If you're listening to the show, I don't need to convince you why you should be doing this. I think we just need the tools and the blueprint and the accountability to make it happen. This is a partnership that we're running with Adobe Express, so it's completely free.

21:00Jasmine:And if you haven't used Adobe Express, I do think you should go and download it because throughout the partnership, we're going to be teaching how to use certain tools, certain functions within Adobe Express to actually create the content to look the way that you want it to look. And Adobe Express genuinely is this like very quick, easy to use tool. You can create anything in there and it lets founders like us create everything from our brand kits to scheduling and actually posting the content, generating presentations, clipping your videos, honestly, so much more. And we'll talk you through that throughout the challenge.

21:33Jasmine:But I wanted to see if there were any examples, first of all, that you guys have seen this week of people who are doing this really well that folks can go and check out the inspo as they're doing their own founder forward content. I feel like you shared some really great, Paige. Oh my god, I'm obsessed with this content and I think there's so many great examples and then some that just kind of missed the mark and I probably have been someone that has missed the mark many times so I'm excited to to follow along and participate in this but two kind of examples of people that I have loved following for a while this really really works for if you have an in person business these people both have in person businesses but I think it could work I'm talking about like a retail space like a physical space I think this could really work for any brand but Meadow Lane if you guys haven't heard about Meadow Lane like there was all these scandals earlier this year Sammy Neustorf their founder and CEO so Meadow Lane is this chic very elevated very expensive grocery store in New York but he does every month these like state of the union he calls them I can't even remember gourmet grocery board meetings and they're so good I literally they're probably 10 minute long TikToks of like what was their highest performing skew of the like month like how much revenue they did that month what was their profit that month um i watched them all in full and he gets like close to a million views on every single one of these there's another example which his name is joe i cannot remember his last name from cow dog coffee which is a coffee shop in vancouver nothing like super revolutionary about the coffee shop but he has done this super transparent like here's what my coffee shop made this month here was our profit and people are obsessed both of these people have built such a following their retail spaces have popped up in a huge way I want to try it for Benny but I would be like so scared some like finance bro would be like your numbers are horrible quit today like this is a mess no what Paige it's not gonna happen we'll see if I can convince Julie I love I love watching people in retail spaces because I feel like I'm watching my little like Paige has my shows on like my little my people in there setting up their shop for the day someone else in the retail space that I love to watch is Audrey Finociaro.

23:42I hope I'm not butchering her last name, but she's the founder of the Nitro Bar, which is in Rhode Island. And they've actually been around for a while, but she was really early on in this build in public before it even had a name because she really did just have like a tiny coffee shop with specialty coffees and lattes. And by her just showing what she was up to opening up the shop at like 5am sweeping up, she would tell occasionally like in terms of overlay like how she had quit her job and started this with whatever money and it was just like a very you you wanted to support her and so the nitro bar totally blew up and now they're actively opening up opening up a location in new york city i'm actually not sure when that opens but now i've been following along her journey from like taking it from a little shop in rhode island to manhattan and along the way they've done obviously loads of pop-ups collaborations but she does a really good job of like walking you through the process which I love and like she's just fun to watch and who doesn't love watching people make like fun specialty coffees so that's a good that's a great example as far as non you know like retail forward brands I don't know if you ever see Natalie Cotto I love her content and honestly okay it blows my mind I cannot remember the founder's name I will look this up it's funny because I was just looking at this the other day as well they came across my desk a couple weeks back and I was kind of in like my cottage cheese era and I was like wait a second this looks insane and then I started to see the founder content I was like wait awesome yeah it's cottage cheese dips if you haven't seen so her name is Kendall Kranz Kranz drop okay um go Kendall building Kato she's been documenting the whole journey I think honestly from when it was an idea on TikTok and with love to Kendall she doesn't have like tens of thousands yeah she honestly your average girl which we love yeah I think she had like 5 ,000 followers but I know from Meadow Lane's TikToks that she is like one of their top selling skews she's absolutely crushing it and I think a lot of it is this founder content she just won a$750 ,000 grant whoa which is in or like pitch competition I don't know insane um and that really motivated me honestly as someone that is not you know super viral every single time like I'm sure there's times where she's wanted to say like okay like this isn't like viral in the way it should be um or could be but she keeps posting and her community is super engaged I think really it's so cliche to be like oh consistency is key but I really do think it is I really do think it is.

26:22I'm just going to close out with one more person I'm thinking of that is more so online and not retail. It's Nat Lucy, which you've probably seen Paige. She has a brand called Lucy, which is... I have not. You should definitely check her out. She's actually been to our summit. We love her. She's always engaging in the female founder world community, but she builds pretty much online. She's actually doing like a 60 day thing. Oh, of course I have Natalie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course I've seen her. She's the best. Yeah, She has these, you know, like sleepwear, cute feminine sleepwear pieces. And I believe that she's pretty like small batch.

26:58She sells online D to C and she comes away with some really amazing tactical tips that are save worthy. So I think that's a really good person to look to. That's totally different from my nitro bar example. So I think like while building in public seems overwhelming, there are different avenues that you can take. And it's not going to look the same for everybody. So they have, if you go and look at both of them, they have a very different content and both of them really work. So those are some people you guys can check out while you take on this challenge.

27:30Jasmine:I also think that you don't need to be sharing just the behind the scenes of the business. I do think that sometimes just sharing business content attracts just other business owners. And you can be sharing other things that are a part of your brand. You can be doing, building in public can be literally living the lifestyle that like, that speaks to your brand. Like Nat, for example, you have launched a swimwear brand and you are currently in Montauk and like your feed feels like an ad for your brand in the most genuine, authentic way. And I think that is so smart. And I think a lot of people can actually look to you and what you're doing right now as a really great example of like starting from scratch.

28:10That's actually been my strategy. I originally thought I'm going to take everyone through the process of selecting colors, talking to manufacturers. And I actually decided I don't really want to do that because I wanted to build alone because that's kind of the way I like to do things. And once things actually were tangible and came to life, then I was like more forward facing. And I really like took it upon myself during the summer when I like come alive and I'm wearing my swim to just like be the advertisement. My friends like all go to the beach and organically are all wearing the swim. And so that's like my angle, which is a little bit more different.

28:49I love when Jasmine does her business advice and like her, you know, specific business point of views that attracts so many people that then find female founder world. And that's like another way to go.

29:00Jasmine:But like our business is, you know, our community, our customers are business owners. So that makes sense for us to create that kind of content. But I think that being someone who is the ultimate influence for your brand is going to be like the next way of building in public. It's not just going to be sharing your finding manufacturers, the ups and downs, the board meeting. Like I don't think that needs to be the approach that you take. And I would really challenge people to think beyond the box of what that means. And I think as like a first point of something that you should do, it's like tell the story.

29:32Jasmine:if this is new to you or you don't think you've done a good job of this before, tell the story of why or how you started in the beginning and try and find a way to visually communicate that. So for example, Nat, like when you did, and we'll link this in the show notes, when you shared your story about launching Beach Street, the visual imagery that your voice overlaid was you at the beach. It was like aesthetic lifestyle shots of like when you're on the West Coast, and out at like out east of Montauk and it felt it wasn't like you necessarily just like looking at fabric swatches and whatever it was like this aesthetic kind of I don't know mood setting world building world building yeah yes that you then overlaid your story and I would challenge people to do that like right like as your first post find that imagery that is tied to your brand lifestyle and that video and then do your story about why and how you started the brand as the the voice overlay on top of that and stitch it all together and I can I'm going to do a little separate video where I'll show you guys how you can actually do that in Adobe Express it's super super easy to upload your videos and merge that all together but um I yeah I just feel like don't just don't just share the behind the scenes like make it aesthetic and world build through the challenge I love that I feel like tying that in a bow to really like Melanie and Lore and Diana and Kranifer that we're talking about.

30:58Natalie, you're doing that. That's the best compliment I could ever get, guys. Oh my God. You are. Honestly, I take a lot of inspiration from places and architecture and I follow a lot of artists on Instagram. So I don't know, start small, but I would definitely just go outside and explore. So basically the takeaway for this week is week two of the challenge. We're going to compile a video that's not just like you're behind the scenes but it could be aesthetic it could be building your world showing your lifestyle anything that you feel like your brand would live in you can totally use that it doesn't necessarily have to be like every single step and process of building your business um and then overlay with audio about like why you started your brand what's the white space you're trying to fill did you have a problem you wanted to solve we want to know the origin story and then just get creative with the editing you know um we will have some sort of tutorial to teach you exactly how to do that on adobe express but tag female founder world so we can engage and like lift you up and share and like but yeah we want you to get love on your post jasmine's going to tell you exactly how to do that and we can't wait to see what you guys come up with so good luck this week all right page see ya bye jasmine

32:18Thank you.