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Vera Bradley Tries a New Strategy After the Last One Infuriated Customers; Newsletters Hit a Fever Pitch; How Meta Reels Became a $50 Billion Business
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Welcome back. This is Megan Graham filling in for Nat Ives. Today, Vera Bradley walks back its rebrand; newsletters are ruling the media world; and Meta's Reels have finally caught on.
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Vera Bradley is returning to some of its traditional silhouettes and patterns. Richard B. Levine/Zuma Press
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Vera Bradley, the maker of quilted bags and accessories, is changing strategy again following a rebrand that de-emphasized its signature florals and patterns—and left some of its loyal consumers fuming.
The latest direction builds on the company’s DNA instead of trying to emulate other brands, executives said on an investor call to discuss the business’s latest earnings, dubbing the latest plan “Project Sunshine.”
“We lost track of what made Vera Bradley special and unique and what customers loved about us,” said Ian Bickley, the company’s executive chairman, on the call.
The revamp introduced in July 2024 sought to “modernize for today’s consumer” with a new logo and ads starring actress and musician Zooey Deschanel. New styles included more solids and leather while the brand’s main website removed some of its classic styles.
“They changed the entire DNA of Vera Bradley—trying to get younger, trying to get more fashionable,” said Eric Beder, chief executive of Small Cap Consumer Research. “Unfortunately, the only net impact was that it infuriated the core [customers] of Vera Bradley…The heat was visceral.”
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Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
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CEOs Demonstrate Renewed Optimism, Focus on Resilience
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A fall CEO survey points to renewed confidence in the global economy coupled with measures to control costs and foster supply chain resilience. Read More
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Pop star Charli XCX and investor Michael Burry are among those who have created their own Substack newsletters. Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News
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A wave of musicians, writers, journalists, comedians and brands have launched direct-to-consumer newsletters, often mixing written words with video and audio, Alexandra Bruell reports.
New York magazine, the New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal’s opinion section and the Paris Review all added Substack newsletters in 2025, as did American Eagle and Shopify. Newsweek and Time moved their portfolios of newsletters to younger competitor Beehiiv, joining the likes of life coach Jay Shetty and celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose Arnold’s Pump Club health and fitness newsletter has more than 1 million subscribers.
Substack counted 5 million paid subscriptions in early 2025, up about 67% over the prior year. Beehiiv, a newer entrant, said it built its number of individual newsletters and sites by more than 60% in 2025, to 140,000, and revenue nearly doubled, to $28 million.
Media consumers are increasingly seeking information from trusted online voices. Newsletter platforms see significant growth opportunities in adapting the formats they offer to meet growing demand for even more personalized content.
“There is a stronger push on owning your audience and distribution,” said Tyler Denk, chief executive and co-founder of Beehiiv.
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Instagram’s average user is now spending 27 minutes a day watching Reels, according to a market intelligence firm. Facebook
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Five years ago, Meta’s Reels was a TikTok copycat with no revenue. Now, it is set to bring in as much as Coca-Cola and Nike—and the company plans to expand to more screens in 2026, Meghan Bobrowsky reports.
Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced on an October earnings call that Instagram and Facebook Reels had surpassed a $50 billion annual run rate, which means that the company is on track to make that amount of revenue in the next 12 months. By comparison, analysts expect YouTube to bring in $46 billion in advertising revenue this year, and the research firm eMarketer estimates TikTok will bring in $17 billion.
Zuckerberg credited the company’s AI recommendation systems, which he said have been delivering higher quality and more relevant content on its platforms.
“Video is a particular bright spot,” he said, noting that people were spending 30% more time watching videos on Instagram than they did the previous year.
It is a far cry from just a few years ago, when internal Meta research showed that Instagram was stumbling in its attempt to mimic TikTok. Caught flat-footed by the success of that video app, then owned by ByteDance, Instagram launched Reels in August 2020.
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$10 million
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The amount Disney was ordered to pay following claims over its data-collection practices with children
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Lululemon’s leggings developed a strong following among women. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Lululemon founder Chip Wilson launches proxy fight to overhaul board. [WSJ]
In memoriam: Brands we lost in 2025. [Modern Retail]
Former Carson Group CMO withdraws retaliation lawsuit. [Barron's]
The unraveling of FaZe Clan spotlights the creator economy's biggest risk. [Business Insider]
The year big events came back. [Axios]
Inside the 2025 rise of Labubu. [Glossy]
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