In today’s newsletter we discuss Taylor Swift makes Jets tickets soar 46%, Peloton and Lululemon are partnering, NASA plans a fiery ISS deorbit, Mark Wahlberg flips home, Pudgy Penguin’s IRL merch sales soar, and Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner might be dating or just staring in a Gucci campaign.

Business

Peloton and Lululemon just announced a 5-year partnership to develop digital fitness content for Lululemon while they will become Peloton’s primary athletic apparel provider.

I like this deal for both companies, but I could actually see a better strategic fit for both of these companies to consider a merger. Both companies have incredibly loyal customer bases, and a tie up would be great for promoting complementary products and services. Maybe I should get into Private Equity instead of writing newsletters.

Peloton shares soar on digital content, apparel partnership with Lululemon

Tech-and-Crypto

No one knows the NFT market is dead more than me, but that doesn’t mean some brands aren’t benefitting during this tough crypto winter. Pudgy Penguins is one NFT collection of 8.888 NFT that has evolved into an “IP and brand development company” after the brand was acquired by 24-year-old Luca Netz in April 2022 for $2.5 Million. Since then the company has rolled out merch IRL at over 2,00 Walmart stores, and at Smyths which is one of the largest toy store chains in the UK, as well as Five Below, Amazon, Hot Topic and other retailers here in the US. The brand expects sales of $10 Million by the end of 2023, which if that happens represents a 4X return on Luca Netz’ investment in the 1st year.

Since its launch Pudgy Penguins has generated over $400 million in transaction volume, with the least expensive NFT for their collection going for 4.8 ETH, or $8,082.43 for those of you who don’t speak ETH) on OpenSeas at the time of writing this newsletter.

Pudgy Penguins’ approach may be the answer to fixing NFTs’ revenue problems

Space

The International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to be retired in 2031, but now NASA has come up with an ambitious $1 billion strategy to orchestrate the re-entry of the ISS back to Earth. No joke. I mean they’re not trying to land the space station or anything like that. More like a controlled crash into the Pacific Ocean.

What do you want to bet that Elon Musk’s SpaceX will come through with a plan to debit the ISS at a fraction of the $1 billion budget that NASA is envisioning with one of their new Super Heavy Starships

NASA initiates ambitious plan to bring the ISS back to Earth

Entertainment

I’m the last person who should be commenting on celebrities dating, but I can’t help myself with this one. For the record, what the hell do I know about dating in 2023? I’ve been married for almost two decades, and have no idea how people even meet IRL these days. For celebrities I’m guessing it’s even harder for them to find love with someone that isn’t just trying to get with them for their celebrity. So this rumors that Bad Bunny (who’s known for bringing his version of Purto Rician reggaeton and trap music to a wider audience), and Kendall Jenner (of The Kardashian’s fame and a supermodel in her own right) may be dating is making a lot of people’s head explode (I mean not me, I’m just gossiping here). The two stars are currently featured together in a campaign for Gucci’s Savoy collection.

Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner heat up dating rumors with joint Gucci campaign

Real Estate

Mark Wahlberg just made $2.5 Million dollars in less than a year by flipping a townhouse he bought in Las Vegas last year for $14.5 Million, and now selling it for $17 Million. Did he remodel the property before flipping? No clue, but his name does have enough swagger to suggest the buyers may have been interested in owning the property where Wahlberg and his family had been living after selling their Beverly Park, California for $55 Million.

Departed: Mark Wahlberg flips Las Vegas home for $17M

Sports

I hope you’re not Taylored out yet, because here at irl Media NEWS we are all Swifties, and it appears so are the Kansas City Chiefs and Sunday Night Football. For the Sunday Night Football NBC debuted a Taylor Swift-themed promo ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the New York Jets game. NBC called their market effort “going full Swiftie”, and that’s exactly what ticket prices for the game have done, rising 46.3% above normal prices. A ticket to the game would have cost you $428.70 before it was announced that Taylor Swift would be in attendance and doing a promo for that game, but as of Sunday afternoon they were going for $627.20 a ticket.

We’ve talked about the "Taylor Swift Effect" in this newsletter before, but this is uncharged territory. Ticket prices for NFL games usually only soar for incredibly popular play-off games. This kind of ticket price appreciation is typically reserved for the Superbowl. Speaking of which, someone over at Jay-z’s Roc Nation should reconsider having Usher perform at this years Superbowl, and instead book Taylor Swift!

Taylor Swift effect: Jets ticket sales soar as Travis Kelce visits MetLife Stadium

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris