Yasmeen Perrin.
Carbs x Glow : 500 brioches, 200 products, massive buzz
In a world full of Brand Experiences, brands must constantly reinvent their experiential retail to capture attention and create preference.
To achieve this, they do not hesitate to use, and sometimes abuse, particularly effective lever: the collaborations.
But not just any one. Collab' daring, unexpected, sometimes downright WTF, but always consistent with the brand's DNA, capable of surprising without losing credibility.
This is demonstrated by the collaboration between The French Bastard and MERIT, which at first glance brought two worlds together opposites. The trendy bakery and the cosmetics brand have announced a collaboration gourmet & glamorous which was created at the TFB store on rue Saint-Denis, in Paris.
On the program : a 2-day takeover with 500 chestnut cream brioche and almond chips and 200 MERIT products offered for first time!
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Where beauty meets pastry: a multi-sensory experiment
The intention behind this operatio n?
→ Drive post-holiday foot traffic during a typically slow period for bakeries, leveraging scarcity and FOMO through limited product drops.
→ Reinforce trendy brand positioning by partnering with a name endorsed by Kendall Jenner.
→ Stand out from competitors by introducing a collaboration format rarely seen in the bakery sector.
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For MERIT:
→ Borrow credibility from a cult bakery whose customers are precisely the trendsetting Parisians YSL targets.
→ Differentiate in a hyper-competitive landscape.
→ Grow recognition in France, where minimalism isn't a trend, it's doctrine.
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Food and beauty : a love story that dates back to yesterday
The beauty-food crossover is nothing new. Rhode, founded by Hailey Bieber, previously launched a cinnamon roll-tinted gloss, a nod to the beloved pastry. The product played deliberately on sensory overlap : part visual treat, part edible fantasy.
By bridging seemingly distant worlds, these partnerships thrive on surprise, emotion, and sensory appeal. But beyond the initial 'wow' factor, a question lingers:
👉 Are bold collaborations the exclusive domain of culturally established 'cool' brands, or can they work as strategic tools for more traditional players?"
