Good morning. Today, old BuzzFeed sub-brands could be the start of something new for creators.

The former CEO of Kevin Hart’s production company has acquired two largely dormant BuzzFeed properties to serve as the foundation for a new house of creator brands, Katie Deighton reports exclusively for the WSJ Leadership Institute.

Thai Randolph’s Nile & Co. plans to expand As/Is from a body-positivity channel to a “whole-life platform” for successful women “who are done accepting the terms as written,” while Goodful’s focus will grow from health to “the intersection of wellness and wealth.”

Once they’re back up and running as media businesses in their own right, the plan goes, they can help promote other companies that Randolph intends to co-found with creators, athletes and other celebrities.

That promotional assist is a big part of the pitch to stars.

“I’ve really spent time in deep partnership with creators, I’ve seen the opportunity and how successful that can be,” Randolph said, referring to her work with comedians linked to Hart’s business ventures, as well as the artists she works with as strategic adviser to LL Cool J’s hip-hop media brand, Rock The Bells. “I’ve also seen how cumbersome that can be.”

Can multiple creator/celebrity brands smooth out the hits and misses?

Famous faces give brands a boost but can’t guarantee success.

Alix Earle’s new skincare line last week sold out online in hours, and Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand Rhode sold to E.l.f. Beauty last summer for $1 billion. But Gwen Stefani’s makeup line also shuttered in February, not long after Kate Moss’s Cosmoss brand entered liquidation.

The fluctuations of celebrity, creator saturation and corporate competition are all risks. 

Xcel Brands, founded in 2011 with a takeover of Isaac Mizrahi’s namesake fashion line, has since sold a controlling stake in the Mizrahi business and is signing up new partners like ​​TikTok chef ​​Jenny Martinez, YouTube baking-show host Gemma Stafford and “first digital supermodel” Coco Rocha.

More in celebrity brands: Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter vodka announced an expansion into drink mixes for skin health. [Food Dive]

Hailey and Justin Bieber introduced their first Rhode collaboration (“spotwear,” aka pimple patches). [Cosmetics Business]

Law firms seeking plaintiffs to sue Meta Platforms are losing a key advertising channel: Meta Platforms.

Meta this morning began removing hundreds of ads from Facebook and Instagram that trial lawyers and marketing companies have been running to find new clients, Erin Mulvaney and Meghan Bobrowsky write.

“We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful,” the company said.

Why now? Erin and Meghan point out one likely factor:

One ad showed a child riding a bike on one side and the same kid in a dark room looking at a phone on the other, accompanied by the text:

Disney is preparing to make sizable layoffs in one of the first big moves under new CEO Josh D’Amaro, Joe Flint and Ben Fritz report, many of them in the company’s recently consolidated marketing department.

The entertainment company is planning to eliminate as many as 1,000 positions in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, continuing a series of cuts that already includes 8,000 people laid off since D’Amaro’s predecessor, Bob Iger, returned as CEO in 2022.

Disney in January combined marketing for entertainment, experiences and sports under a single CMO, Asad Ayaz, for the first time.

Ayaz’s plan to unite the marketing group and reduce expenses is code-named Project Imagine—disturbingly cheerful branding for my taste.

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Meta Platforms announced a new large language model, its first major new artificial-intelligence model in more than a year. [WSJ] 

Ad-supported streaming service Tubi has made an app available for ChatGPT as part of its broader embrace of AI. [WSJ] 

AMC Networks rebranded as AMC Global Media to put more emphasis on its streaming businesses like AMC+ and Acorn and less on its cable TV properties. [THR]

Paramount President Jeff Shell is leaving the company amid a legal battle with a professional gambler who says the executive reneged on a promise to make a TV show. [WSJ] 

Three years after the previous owners sold Simon & Schuster, Paramount is returning to the book business to publish stories based on its existing IP and to develop new properties. [THR] 

Normally dusty billboards along the I-10 from Los Angeles to Indio are bursting out with their annual displays for Coachella performers. [Fast Company]

“Mormon Wives” star Whitney Leavitt was named chief creative and brand officer at Cool Sips, the New York dirty soda shop chain, which is adding a menu option called “The Whitney.” [Food & Wine] 

Apple’s latest move to soften its tech-elite branding is an adorable mascot called Little Finder Guy. [Creative Bloq]

How to make money running a gas station: Put a speakeasy in the back. [WSJ]