Parallelogram: Edition 1

Hi there! 👋🏽

This is Ciara, Lead Strategist at Parallel, here to welcome you into the first edition of the Parallelogram—a monthly newsletter about how celebrities and creators help businesses grow (or fail).

They usually keep me locked up in a basement strategizing for clients and trying to predict the next Kardashian brand, but I convinced them to let me into your inbox once a month to share a little about what I’ve learned over years of studying talent partnerships. Fresh air feels good… 😮‍💨

Each month, we’ll cover new partnerships, how talent deals work, interviews with the people who work on them, and fun stuff like our dream collabs. I’ll also bring in my colleagues to talk to you about the stuff they know best (Courtney, our VP of Partnerships and Biz Dev, has a lot to say about the 153+ celebrity booze deals…).

Alright, let’s jump in 🕳️ 🏃‍♀️! This month, we’re talking about how to know if your brand’s ready for talent 🤨, the scoop on how much ownership talent expects 💸, and our dream collab between two food justice activists 🥙✊.

In the oft murky worlds of entertainment and venture, we pride ourselves on giving straightforward answers to tricky questions. Here’s our POV 🥽:

First up: why talent might not be the right choice for your brand—at least right now.

The idea of talent partnership is exciting for many brand leaders, and it makes sense—the media is flooded with articles about celebrities creating massive exit opportunities and driving product sell-outs. That said, talent isn’t a magic solution, and these success stories are a result of careful considerations and well-executed strategies.

If you’re considering talent for your brand, here are some questions to ask yourself before committing:

Welcome to The Brain 🧠, a playground where our team comes up with fantasy talent partnerships for brands we admire.

This month, we dreamt up a partnership for A Dozen Cousins 💭 (If you know the founder Ibraheem and his team, feel free to send ‘em our way 😉.)

Talent: Rosario Dawson, actress/sustainability activist.

Brand: A Dozen Cousins, a ready-to-eat natural food brand of beans, rice, and sauces inspired by Creole, Latin American, and Caribbean flavors. 

Brand Vision: “For all Americans to live a healthy lifestyle, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much they make.”

Our assumptions: We’ll assume A Dozen Cousins is looking for a talent partner to expand their brand awareness with customers ages 25-40.

Why Rosario: Rosario grew up in a low-income family in New York City that depended on community gardens for fresh produce, and has channeled these experiences into partnerships with groups like Green America focused on encouraging people to grow their own food.  She’s also helped develop the documentaries Common Ground and The Need to Grow about creating sustainable food systems. To top it off, Rosario has an authentic tie-in to the brand flavors—she’s of Caribbean/Latin American descent herself!

Content Idea: Rosario produces a video series about the farmers behind A Dozen Cousins’ produce, as well as the underserved communities that A Dozen Cousins seeks to benefit—ideally centering gardeners in the local community gardens of Rosario’s childhood block in the East Village.

Shoot us any brands you’d like us to cover next—we’re happy to put our brains to work🫱🏻‍🫲🏽

We’re demystifying talent partnerships by answering the most common questions we get. Class = now in session 👩🏽‍🏫.

This month, we’re talking equity—and how much talent expects.

You’re a founder and you’re in conversations with a well-known athlete who asks how much equity you could offer. How much should you say?

We regret to offer you an annoying answer: it depends. Most of the deals we look at fall in the 0.5% to 15% range, but we’ve seen much higher (>50%) for deals when talent is brought on as a cofounder. So, yes, “it depends” and here are just some of the factors that it depends on: 

⭐️ Additional compensation levers: These deals typically offer a combination of compensation types: if, for example, the cash and royalties on offer are high, the expected equity will be lower. 

⭐️ Length of partnership: The longer the term, the higher the expected equity.

⭐️ Partnership category: If an offer requires category exclusivity, expect to pay more (particularly if the category is large/valuable).

⭐️ Stage of company: Later stage companies are less risky, so they’ll require less equity. Talent is taking a risk on earlier stage companies, so they’ll want a bigger stake.

⭐️ Deliverables: What are you asking talent to do? How much is required of their time and audience?

⭐️ Exit potential: Potential upside matters—for example, a tech company targeting a $1.5B exit wouldn’t be expected to offer the same percentage ownership as a snack food company aiming to be acquired for $200M.

Enjoyed the lesson 🤓? You can find additional material in our Talent Partnerships 101 deck.

We know you’re starved for facts, so we’re serving up data, hot n’ fresh ♨️!

According to Goldman Sachs analysts, the creator economy is currently a $250 billion market, with projections showing that it’ll grow to $480 billion by 2027 🗣️. Most of that growth is attributed to further investments in influencer marketing and ad-revenue share models.¹

¹Marta Biino, Business Insider, 2023

Enough from us–time for you to take the mic 🎤.

Which of the following recently announced talent brands/partnerships makes you want to try the product?

Here’s what we’re paying attention to 🔎:

🏛️ Creators are the new cultural curators.
📢 YouTube’s stepping on Netflix and NBC.
🥤 Busy Philipps is a sweetie bear (and a smart investor*)!!
💦 Celebs can make anything look delicious—even sweat…
📺 TV Personalities are going to need side hustles.

*p.s.—this is a Parallel partnership 💋

Future segment alert! Here’s the deal: you can send us a question about anything in the realm of talent partnerships, and each issue, we’ll pick one to answer. You could ask things like…

• “Do you think [insert talent partner] is a good fit for my brand?”

• “Why do you think [insert specific talent brand] failed?”

• “What’s the Parallel office drama?” (warning: it’s mainly mixed opinions on Hailey Bieber)

Consider it free consulting hours. We’ll keep it anonymous, so if your boss is reading, don’t worry–you’re in the clear 😌

That’s a wrap. See you next month!