By MARC WOLLIN
The idea of a crossover is simple: take a thing popular in one arena and meld it with one that’s a hit in a different sphere.
As opposed to an all-weather coat that keeps you neither warm nor dry, the hope is you get the best of both sides of the bargain. It’s an idea that has had success most spectacularly in the automotive market. There they crossed a passenger car with a pickup truck, resulting in a vehicle with a high cabin and a smooth ride, the ubiquitous sport utility vehicle, or SUV. From just 4 percent of the market in 2000, they now make up over 45 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States.
You see this approach as companies look for synergies both inside and outside their own industry. It might be brands combining the expertise each has to make a product optimized for both, such as an Apple/Nike watch or a Doritos/Taco Bell burrito. In clothing you have Adidas and Allbirds coming together to create a sustainable running shoe.
The movies have made an entire genre out of this strategy, banding individual superhero stories into one mega supersized mishmash. “The Avengers,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Justice League” are just some of the films predicated on the theory that if one guy with a cape is good, three or four are even better.
That entertainment crossover actually started in the TV world, long before “Friends”/“Mad About You” and “The Simpsons”/”Family Guy” crossovers.
In a mashup of “I Love Lucy” and “Superman,” Lucy didn’t want to disappoint her son at his birthday party after promising him that the Man of Steel would make an appearance. After Superman has to cancel, she dons a cape and crawls out on the ledge only to be joined by the “real” Superman. From the ledge he asks her husband, Ricky, the following: Superman, “Do you mean to say that you’ve been married to her for 15 years?” Ricky, “Yeah, 15 years.” Superman, “And they call ME Superman!”
The latest set of strange bedfellows melds the areas of beauty and food. At first blush (no pun intended) it wouldn’t seem that they are natural buddies.
And yet, inspired by Gen Z consumers, collaborations that reflect the indulgent eating of youth are combined with makeup products that reflect those flavors and colors. Forget beige, taupe and nude. Rather, it’s glazed doughnut nails, cinnamon toast hair and latte makeup. It might not be the same as basic black but it’s become at least as ubiquitous as leggings.
Just this past week, skincare brand Native joined the fray and went non-native. Advertised as creating products that are “clean and simple,” they offer a line of products including deodorant, body wash, shampoo and conditioner. Their definitions and mine differ, however, as to what constitutes “native.” For a while I’d be happy to find it — wherever I look in the natural world I can’t seem to find — an organic version of a cream-filled doughnut with chocolate on it. Yet that is part of their new collaboration with Dunkin’. Based on the chain’s popular wares, they are releasing each of the aforementioned products in strawberry frosted, vanilla sprinkle, blueberry cobbler, and yes, Boston kreme. And they are hardly alone in smushing together food that goes on your face as opposed to in it. Dove teamed up with Crumbl Cookies to offer similar products in lemon glaze, strawberry crumb cake and confetti cake.
Perhaps it’s not that much of a reach. Shampoo has been available for years from multiple manufacturers in coconut and apple scents, and deodorants come in fresh and sport varieties. From there it’s a short distance to “bakery.” The only thing different really is the co-branding, but that should hardly be a surprise in a world where the formerly Sport Humanitarian Bowl game is now known as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
One of the first episodes of “Saturday Night Live” had a bit where Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner argued over whether New Shimmer was a floor wax or a dessert topping. Chevy Chase, who stops the fight with “Hey, hey, hey, calm down, you two. New Shimmer is both a floor wax and a dessert topping!” He sprays some onto Radner’s mop and some onto Aykroyd’s butterscotch pudding. Aykroyd blurts out, “Mmm, it tastes terrific!” and Radner exalts, “And look at that shine!”
In that light perhaps you need to caution the kids that no matter how good it smells, your new body wash won’t make their milk taste like a doughnut.
Marc Wollin of Bedford loves doughnuts, the edible kind. His column appears weekly via email and online on Blogspot and Substack as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and X.