Live shopping goes big, but ragebait goes bigger 😠
Walmart Live, Comic Con, CreatorIQ Connect and more
Hi friends!
If influencer marketing had a Dreamforce, it’s happening now at CreatorIQ Connect (well, starting tomorrow in LA). Our team will be there, feel free to wave if you spot us.
Meanwhile, live shopping continues to be all the rage. Fresh off the VaynerX Live Shopping Summit, which brought together brands, platforms, and creators to talk about the future of real-time retail, the momentum spilled straight into Comic Con NYC, where Walmart Live streamed exclusive drops right from the convention floor.
And speaking of rage, a new word is making the rounds in marketing circles: ragebaiting!
Let’s dig in.
(October 14th)
🎥 VaynerX Hosts America’s First Live Shopping Summit
Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerX pulled together platforms, creators, and brands in New York this week for the first-ever U.S. Live Shopping Summit, calling it an “inflection point” for global retail. Think less PowerPoint, more livestream catwalk: TikTok execs, retail giants, and agency folk all trading notes on how to make the U.S. finally shop like China.
🛒 Walmart Live Pops Up at New York Comic Con
Walmart brought its Walmart Live platform to Comic Con, streaming collectible drops straight from the convention floor. It was part fan service, part experiment in turning cosplay energy into commerce clicks. As our friend from Walmart, Justin Breton summarized it: “We’re bringing livestream shopping to the heart of fandom, letting fans see, ask, and buy what they love in real time.”
💄 Ulta launches online marketplace
Ulta Beauty just rolled out its own e-commerce marketplace, expanding beyond first-party inventory to include third-party sellers. The move follows Amazon, Walmart, and Target’s marketplace play, but this one is all about beauty. Expect more indie brands and influencer-founded lines to join soon as Ulta doubles down on being the digital department store for beauty shoppers.
👖 Gap Inc. Taps Creators as Its New Sales Force
Gap Inc. is launching a creator affiliate and advocacy program spanning Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta. Thousands of creators can now earn commission for driving sales, basically turning every #OOTD into an ad slot. The 55-year-old retailer may not feel very Gen Z, but this move might.
📎 WWD
🎤 Seller / Brand Spotlight
Haley Pavone: Turning a Dance Floor Injury into a $1M/Month Brand
Haley Pavone’s startup story reads like a TikTok origin myth. The 28-year-old founder of Pashion Footwear turned a sorority formal injury, a stiletto impalement, no less, into a patented heel-to-flat shoe that’s now doing $1M a month in revenue.
After footwear experts told her it couldn’t be done, Pavone spent nearly a year prototyping a convertible heel that actually works. But her real innovation wasn’t the product, it was the community that built it with her.
@haley_pavone Replying to @Elizabeth C it just makes sense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #convertibleheels #fashionhacks #customshoes #justmakesense
With 2M+ followers across TikTok and Instagram, Pashion’s audience doesn’t just engage, they co-create. Social polls decide color drops, DMs shape new styles, and viral transformation clips double as real-time market research.
Instead of running focus groups, Pavone just asks her followers what they want, and they buy it.
It’s a new kind of creator-led commerce: part product design, part performance marketing, part social listening engine. And it proves that in 2025, you don’t need to be famous to build a brand, you just need to make something worth following.
🔭 Trend Watch
Are We Really Doing Ragebait Now?
Ragebaiting is the new marketing buzzword
There’s a new word floating around marketing circles: ragebait. This year alone, The Ordinary, Skims, e.l.f., NYX Cosmetics, and, perhaps most famously, American Eagle have all been accused of it. The formula? Spark outrage, fuel debate, watch the views (and sales) climb. It’s the algorithmic version of poking the bear, and it works, until it doesn’t.
But it got me thinking: Is ragebait just another phase of engagement-hacking, or has it quietly become the default mode of attention online?
Why it might stick:
Platforms already favor high-engagement, polarizing content.
Creators know drama gets clicks, even when they don’t fully believe it.
It’s easy to lean into, especially when original ideas are hard.
Why it might fade:
Audience fatigue. Too many hot takes, too much noise.
Credibility hemorrhage. Outrage works early, but trust matters more later.
Platform backlash. Algorithm tweaks or policy changes could de-weight toxicity.
My bet? Ragebait becomes the new clickbait, powerful when fresh, but quickly overused. Expect a cycle: outrage peaks → fatigue sets in → the next stylized tension format wins. Until then, trust the algorithm to reward whoever yells loudest.
Ok, that’s it for this week, see you next week. In the meantime, Sell! Sell! Sell! 🫡