Losing the Oscar was probably a tough loss, but a bigger blow to Timothée Chalamet’s ego might have been the overwhelmingly negative response to his declaration that ballet and opera were dead in the water—after which the UK’s Royal Ballet and Opera thanked him, since his controversial comments helped increase ticket sales.

Timmy isn’t the only reason people are paying more attention to ballet and the performing arts lately. Across advertising, the aesthetics and performance of ballet have appeared in campaigns like NikeSkims x LISA and home decor company Lulu and Georgia’s film-forward campaign.

One of the biggest spring shoe trends is the “sneakerina,” a ballet sneaker that had, according to the fashion search engine Lyst, seen a 1,300% YoY increase in interest as of Q1 2025. In entertainment, Prime Video promoted its ballet-themed thriller, Pretty Lethal, at South by Southwest, with tutu-wearing representatives handing out movie posters, while pop star Olivia Rodrigo was recently spotted filming a music video surrounded by ballerinas.

The art of ballet may be centuries old, but it seems to be enjoying a breath of new life—a phenomenon that could be a response to the rise of AI and our digital lifestyles at large, according to Jaimee Estreller, VP of platforms, algorithms, and culture at VaynerX. And for brands paying attention, tapping into ballet and performance art could yield results.

“I call it rage against the machine of the automation, the AI, the algorithms that have inundated our feeds,” Estreller told us. “Ballet and the craft of performance art has been growing only because it’s softer. It shows craft and deep expertise, and it’s also a romanticization of a slower pace of life that is different than what we’re used to in scrolling.”

Continue reading here.—JN

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) finds itself at something of a pivotal moment.

Season 14 is well underway, which is nothing to scoff at in women’s sports years; the Professional Women’s Hockey League and Major League Volleyball started in 2024, while the 3-on-3 basketball league Unrivaled and League One Volleyball debuted only last year.

That being said, the NWSL is less than half the age of the WNBA, which is celebrating its 30th season, has the institutional backing of the NBA, and arguably occupies more of the cultural conversation in women’s sports than any other pro league. This year, though, with North America hosting the men’s World Cup for the first time in more than three decades, interest in soccer has been kicked up a notch.

NWSL execs have a plan to capitalize, including a recent shakeup in leadership. After the quiet departure of Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Julie Haddon last year, the league announced two new hires to fill her shoes in April: Rachel Epstein as CMO and Brian Kelly as chief commercial officer.

Pulling from two different lanes of sports marketing experience—Epstein from ESPN and Kelly from boxing promotion and production company Top Rank—the duo already have ideas that could help push professional women’s soccer in the US into its next era. And that could mean big opportunities for brands eager to collaborate on new sponsorship strategies—and for the league looking to turn momentary interest into habitual fandom.

“The opportunity…is to build the narrative, do more storytelling, create culturally relevant content with frequency that helps to engage casual fans and creates entry points for newer fans,” Epstein told Marketing Brew.

Read more here.—AM

Amorepacific might not be as well known in North America as L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, or P&G, but K-beauty’s second wave is quickly carrying the 80-year-old Korean beauty giant’s brands overseas.

The company, founded in 1945 and home to South Korea’s first cosmetics lab, operates a slew of K-beauty brands—including Laneige, COSRX, Innisfree, and Sulwhasoo—that’ve been FYP mainstays in the latest TikTok-driven rise in K-beauty popularity that pushed sales up 37% to $2 billion last year, per NielsenIQ.

With the size of its North American business nearly quadrupling in recent years, Amorepacific named Giovanni Valentini, a beauty veteran who spent more than 20 years at Unilever and L’Oréal on brands like Dove and Lancôme USA, as North American CEO in 2024. Its Americas business revenue jumped 20% YoY in 2025, and 11.2% in Q1 2026, the company reported last month.

While eye-catching ingredients like snail mucin and PDRN (which is derived from salmon sperm) have helped the company’s brands go viral, Amorepacific is working to convert the second wave into a movement through new brand launches, innovations, and retail partnerships with Amazon and Sephora.

Continue reading on Retail Brew.—EC

The week’s biggest Marketing Brew stories, now in quiz form. Test yourself on the latest headlines in brand strategy, social media, influencer trends, sports marketing, and more in a quick, competitive challenge built for marketing pros. Challenge your coworkers and see how your score stacks up!

Real jobs shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Marketing Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board.

• Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Clumio at Commvault
• Manager, Regional Social Media Marketing & Community at SanDisk
• Marketing Manager at Deluxe
• Senior Social Media Manager at Unity Technologies in New York
• Senior Social Media Manager at Unity Technologies in San Francisco

Stories we’re jealous of.

• Inc. dug into Sweetgreen’s comeback plan.
• The New York Times profiled lifestyle and family creator Nabela Noor.
• The Verge wrote about audio erotica platform Quinn and how it is capitalizing on fandom through its work with up-and-coming stars.