$40 Million Reddit Rug Pull

Reddit's stock takes a dive, an unlikely brand duo, and more.

Author

Kristin Kennihan
April 02, 2024

The Influencer Newsletter

Happy Tuesday! Thanks for tuning in, we appreciate you catching up with us. This week we’ll tell you why Reddit’s stock plummeted one week after becoming public and we’ll highlight two crazy brand collaborations. We’ll also give you some tips on fixing bad lighting in post-production and wrap it up with a little coaching from The Station. Let’s get right into it.

$40 Million Reddit Rug Pull

A bunch of Reddit’s top executives sold portions of their stock last Wednesday just one week after the stock went public. The next day, it plummeted. The executives sold over $41.245 million worth of shares and CEO Steve Huffman sold over 500,000 shares valued at $16.15 million.

So is Reddit in hot water? The answer is no. Reddit’s total market capitalization is $7.84 billion. Huffman owns over 4 million shares and had already publicly disclosed that he was going to sell some stock. However, the sudden pullout made shareowners quite nervous and led to a lot of stockholders selling their shares. The Reddit stock will likely rebound from this dive quickly.

Crazy Collabs

There have been two ingenious brand partnerships that stand out to us. While they’re not an expected pairing, these matches made in heaven have generated some buzz around their brands:

Click above for the campaign.

In a surprising partnership that turned heads, water brand Liquid Death and beauty brand E.L.F. joined forces for a cheeky commercial promoting "corpse paint" - a limited set from E.L.F. featuring eyeliner, white eyeshadow, lipstick, and more that flew off the shelves.

To add to the buzz, they enlisted Julia Fox to sport the "corpse paint" look for a day, sparking even more conversation. This bold marketing move aims to disrupt the market and it’s safe to say it worked. The campaign sold out in under forty-five minutes.

Click above for the campaign.

Lush surprised us last year with a collaboration with Universal Studios' Super Mario Bros Movie, and this year they are back with another unexpected partnership - this time with DreamWorks' Shrek.

Dive into the enchanting world of Shrek with Lush's latest collection, featuring bath bombs, face masks, and more to bring a touch of the swamp to your self-care routine. The collection launches April 9th on the Lush app and April 11th online. Could this campaign possibly be a teaser for Shrek 5 rumored to hit screens in 2025?

What other unique partnerships are you hoping to see this year?

Before diving into fixing your footage, it's crucial to assess its lighting condition.

Over-exposure occurs when there's excessive light, resulting in white 'hotspots' and loss of detail, especially noticeable in exterior shots. This happens frequently with natural light. The brighter the shot, the tougher the correction. Conversely, under-exposure arises from insufficient light, leading to overly dark shots with limited detail visibility, often found in low-light settings. The darker the image, the more challenging the correction process becomes.

  1. Utilize the Shadow/Highlight effect available in Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop. Simply add it to your clip in the timeline and adjust settings as needed for smooth correction.

  2. Employ the Lumetri Color Panel to address a range of color and balance issues in your footage. Adjust exposure, highlights, shadows, blacks, and whites to enhance the overall lighting. Experiment with curves to fine-tune light levels and use the Creative tab to adjust saturation and vibrancy for a polished look.

  3. Enhance your video's appearance with overlays, presets, and VFX. Overlays provide seamless effects, while presets offer a variety of styles directly accessible from your Effects Panels. Additionally, consider using VFX to salvage challenging shots, such as replacing blown-out skies.

Despite the challenges of poorly lit footage, mastering these techniques in Premiere Pro ensures a smoother editing workflow and allows you to transform mistakes into creative choices.

Crafting Quality Content

As a dedicated agency, we are committed to supporting both brands and creators in reaching their full potential. Recently, we've observed a noticeable increase in influencer rates and have some insight for creators when crafting content for brands.

When creators start getting offers from brands to make content, it’s tempting to accept as many offers as possible and make a ton of content immediately. But what’s going to help in the long run is taking the time and effort to create quality content. Creators who can promote products AND get a high number of views on their posts are the ones who get long-term deals from brands. This method creates a steadier stream of income. Focus on creating quality content while staying true to yourself and promoting the product at the same time.

Stay Informed - Join us for more insights, updates, and strategies in the world of influencer marketing.

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