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In todayâs email:
The Elf on the Shelf: A lucrative empire.
Chart: Canadaâs record year for syrup.
Slime: A surprisingly bankable business.
Around the web: The history of Christmas markets, a speed-reading tool, cat Festivus, and more cool internet finds.
đ§ On the go? Listen to todayâs 10-minute podcast to hear Jacob and Juliet analyze the Elf on a Shelf industry, maple syrupâs record year, news out of Netflix, and a whole lot more.
The big idea
The Elf on the Shelf empire
According to âElf on the Shelfâ lore, Santa Claus sends an elf scout to spy on children from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Each morning, it appears in a new place in the home for kids to find. Each night, it reports naughty and nice behavior to the North Pole.
The whole thing stems from a 2005 childrenâs book written by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell, and illustrated by Coe Steinwart.
Bell toldCNBC that Aebersold played a similar game with her and her twin sister Christa Pitts as kids, leading them to write and market the story with her as adults.
Today, the sisters are co-CEOs of The Lumistella Company, which housesâŠ
The massive Elf brand
Despite criticism that the elf is creepy and normalizes surveillance, the glassy-eyed dolls have become a full-fledged empire.
Now, parents are being encouraged to also buy pets, clothes, accessories, âmates,â and a carrying case (since youâre not allowed to touch the Elf lest it lose its powers).
The company hasnât released recent financial data, but Pitts toldFox Business that Lumistella employs 100+ people and has âadoptedâ out 22.9m+ elves, pets, and mates to date.
Pop culture loves Elf on the Shelf, too
Itâs become a popular meme format and an SNL parody â not to mention inspo for the Mensch on a Bench, a Hanukkah version developed by Neal Hoffman and featured on âShark Tank.â
TRENDING
New AI tool alert: OpenAI released Point-E on GitHub. It uses text prompts to render 3D models, which could eventually be useful in 3D printing, games, and animation.
SNIPPETS
AmtrakâsAiro trains, coming in 2026, have panoramic windows and upgraded seating. Some are electric-diesel hybrids.
Oops: H&M pulled a collection of Justin Bieber merch yesterday after the pop star told his fans that it was âtrashâ he did not approve.
âSouth Parkâ creators Trey Parker and Matt Stoneâs AI deepfake startup, Deep Voodoo, raised $20m.
The US Postal Service will replace its aging fleet of 220k+ vehicles with even more electric ones than previously planned as part of a $9.6B project.
Netflix and drills: The company will start streaming 30 hours worth of Nike Training Club fitness classes starting Dec. 30. Smart timing, with New Yearâs coming up.
Yikes: Two men were indicted for allegedly hacking Ring cameras to livestream swattings â making false calls to police to get them to send a swat team.
Update: AMC will not acquire Regal parent company Cineworld, which filed for bankruptcy in September.
Amazon could face up to $29k in fines related to 14 OSHA violations, claiming it improperly recorded work-related illnesses and injuries.
The blog squad built a guide to help you hack your way into the high-paying field of product management.
CHART
Olivia Heller
Maple syrup had its sweetest year ever in 2022
This has been a good year for Canadian maple syrup. The best ever, actually.
In 2022, Canada yielded the most syrup on record, dating all the way back to 1924. This year, producers made 17.4m gallons of the sticky stuff, a 53% jump from 2021, when warmer-than-ideal spring temperatures meant a shorter maple season.
In 2020, the industryâs second-most prosperous year, the gross value of that yearâs 14.3m-gallon yield was $413m.
To meet demand amid last yearâs poor harvest, with Canada responsible for 75% of the worldâs maple syrup production, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers tapped into its strategic reserve. (Yes, thatâs a thing that exists.)
The warehouse, north of Montreal, holds up to 94k barrels of maple syrup, or ~5.1m gallons â almost enough to fill eight Olympic-size pools.
Free Resource
How to make bank selling phone calls
We all know some good, gum-flapping contractors.
Across the estimated $657B home services industry, tons of them are willing to pay for clients, or even prospects. And phone calls are still one of the marketâs most valuable leads.
Our recent Trends report inspects the mechanics of selling phone calls to contractors, with three ways to narrow down your niche:
Real ones remember the rush of watching someone get covered in green slime on Nickelodeon.
Now, slime is having a renaissance on social media, per Fortune. The hashtag #slime has been viewed 78B+ times on TikTok, propelled by users devouring ASMR videos.
Serious business
But the goo isnât just for fun anymore: Gen Z and millennial creators are monetizing it for big bucks.
Some of the young moguls opened their online shops nearly a decade ago, only recently reaping the benefits of social mediaâs selling power. And sell they do:
OG Slimes receives 2k-3k orders/mo. and has surpassed $100k in monthly revenue for the last three months.
Snoopslimes, helmed by an 18-year-old founder, has 40 employees and is expected to hit eight figures in revenue for 2022.
Peachybbies operates out of a 5k-square-foot warehouse and sold 110k+ units in 2021.
The slimes they are a-changinâ
Gone are the days of shapeless putty. Todayâs slime is modeled after your favorite treats, from Icees and cookies to birthday cake and Starbucks drinks.
The recipe for prime slime usually starts with a mix of glue, borax (a common household cleaner, not a Dr. Seuss character), and baking soda.
So, even though itâs shaped like food, it wonât satisfy your cravings â but it just might improve your mental health.
AROUND THE WEB
đ On this day: In 1825, a fire at the Library of Congress destroyed several books and a pricey rug, leading Congress to look into flame-retardant materials for the US Capitol.
đ Thatâs interesting: Christmas markets are popular today, but they date back centuries.
đ Huh:Squirt is a browser extension that promises to help you read faster by displaying only one word at a time.
đïž Haha: A California cat rescue will celebrate Festivus a la âSeinfeldâ with cats performing feats of strength and airing grievances. Tune in on Instagram at 1:30pm PST.
