Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Peacock president is looking to capitalize on its Olympics success, Vice President Kamala Harris raised less money at the DNC than Donald Trump did at the RNC, and two founders are trying to disrupt a $34 billion industry for the next generation. Have a terrific Tuesday!
– Tween-ready. Plenty of brands have tried to innovate in the corporate-dominated menstrual products space, from 2010s direct-to-consumer darling Lola to spiral tampons Sequel to public spaces-focused Aunt Flow. Another one is Pinkie, a brand trying to become the go-to menstrual product for girls getting their periods for the first time.
Like other founders in the space, Fiona Simmonds (an ex-finance exec) and Sana Clegg (founder of a children’s sleepwear brand) were shocked that the category hadn’t seen much innovation in decades. They settled on a white space: fixing the problems they remember from getting their periods as girls, especially moments that felt embarrassing at the time. With five daughters between them, they saw that those problems hadn’t gone away.
“We tried to solve all the things that we hated about the experience when we were young,” Simmonds says. They designed their pads in smaller sizes than those sold for adult women, so wearing them didn’t feel like “you just got off of a horse,” Simmonds says. They wrapped the pads in loose-fitting packaging. “It doesn’t sound a bag of chips when you’re opening it in the bathroom,” Clegg says. And that packaging closes at the top, allowing for more secure disposal of used products.
The idea of specialized pads for tweens has at least one trend on its side: Girls are getting their periods at younger ages, according to the Apple Women’s Health Study published this year. Just as tweens are boosting sales at beauty giants such as Sephora, snapping up brands like e.l.f. and Drunk Elephant, they are now infiltrating the feminine hygiene aisle, too. Generation Alpha’s total economic footprint will reach an estimated $5.4 trillion by 2029.
But Pinkie also faces some challenges. Conventional wisdom in the $34 billion global menstrual product industry is that most women—as high as 80%—stay loyal to whatever brand their mom or caregiver introduced them to. For a brand targeted to tweens and teens, it could be a challenge to bring customers along into adulthood and take market share from Tampax-maker Procter & Gamble or Playtex-manufacturer Edgewell. Pinkie hasn’t started making tampons yet; that will be key to earning some of the category’s high brand loyalty.
Simmonds and Clegg are mostly focused on the needs of tweens; the founders see Pinkie first as a puberty brand and are most interested in expanding into other products for this age group. They’re targeting back-to-school season as a peak moment for the brand, which is distributed in some schools, sold on Amazon, and on shelves in 3,300 CVS locations.
“We have a consistent new user base coming in because every every day new girls are getting their periods,” Clegg says.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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The best stories of July and August from Fortune, including a radical overhaul at a private equity titan, a crisis for the First Family of poultry, and more.
— KKR’s co-CEOs want to reach $1 trillion in assets by 2030. To do so, they’re willing to make big bets and leave the PE firm’s old ways behind. Read more.
— John Randal Tyson was set up to run his family’s $21 billion chicken empire. His erratic behavior could change that. Read more.
— Jeff Bezos’s famed management rules are slowly unraveling inside Amazon. Read more.
— A 25-year-old crypto whiz kid went from intern to president of Jump Trading’s crypto arm. Then he became the fall guy. Read more.
— An inside look at a secretive investment firm that counts some of the wealthiest Americans as clients and some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures as advisors. Read more.
— Can you quit Ozempic and stay thin? These startups say you can—but doctors say that’s an unproven claim. Read more.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Taking flight. Kelly Campbell, president of Peacock, is aiming to make Peacock one of the “must-have streaming services,” building on the company’s success with Olympic coverage. “It’s like people are starting to get it, you know?,” she said. “I don’t have to explain to everyone what Peacock is. I can just say ‘Peacock.’” Fast Company
- Money, money, money. Vice President Kamala Harris raised less money at the DNC—$82 million—than the $85 million Donald Trump raised at the RNC. As for total funding, Harris has raised $540 million since she declared her candidacy. Trump’s campaign reported at the beginning of August that they had $327 million in cash. Fortune
- Not accepting defeat. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s election victory has been the subject of heavy doubt and dispute both from within the country and from international governments. María Corina Machado, the opposition leader who is in hiding, has said her party will continue to pressure and protest Maduro. Financial Times
- New heights. SpaceX was set to launch four astronauts into space this morning on a mission to complete the first commercial spacewalk. Among the group are Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who would have held the record for the furthest distance away from Earth that women have traveled if the mission were a success. But the launch was postponed after a helium leak was detected. Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Enterprise Mobility, a mobility solutions provider, named Bridget Long senior vice president of North American Operations. Previously, she led Northeast operations for the company.
BMG, a music company, appointed Celine Joshua as executive vice president of global marketing. Previously, Joshua was executive vice president of commercial innovation and artist strategy at Universal Music Group.
Kraft Heinz hired Marlene Creighton as chief sales officer for U.S. retail. Most recently, she was chief sales officer at Hershey.
ON MY RADAR
Maria Sharapova is investing big in egg freezing with Cofertility Vogue
Naomi Osaka is getting her game back and tallying up endorsements WWD
Zoë Kravitz needed a place to put her frustrations. So she made a movie New York Times
PARTING WORDS
“To be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women’s rights, is hugely important to me…I’m happy to help to prevent democracy from failing forever.”
— Singer Charli XCX on her viral post on X that pushed “brat” into the presidential election discourse
