Reels to sales: Are Justin Bieber & Kusha Kapila setting a new trend?

Before launching her innerwear and shapewear brand UnderNeat, Kusha Kapila somewhat shifted in her content building. The jokes were still there, but suddenly she was talking a lot about bras. Fit issues, weird cuts, embarrassing moments. There were no flashy brand tags or discount codes—just her being her. But if you were watching closely, it was obvious: something was cooking.

By the time she finally dropped the name UnderNeat, her followers were already in. They didn’t just watch the product, they had been part of the product buildup. Nine reels with zero paid promotions and still, her brand's Instagram crossed 170K followers on the day of its launch. 

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A post shared by Kusha Kapila (@kushakapila)

That’s called content seeding.

A marketing strategy where digital content is strategically placed where the target audience is likely to see it, with the goal of maximising engagement and reach. 

Moving on to Justin Bieber.

He was spotted by pap wearing bright, baggy sneakers that no one can name. A few days later, Hailey posts a mirror selfie in matching loungewear with no context and no tags. Then one random day, he drops a logo “@SKYLRK” like it’s always been there. 

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A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)

SKYLRK didn’t need an ad film or an ambassador. It just slowly crept into the feed. Kind of like what Kusha did. No campaign, just small regular conversation with the viewers. No hard sell, just soft clues. And by the time people realised what was happening, they were already paying attention.

Justin isn’t new to fashion. He co-founded Drew House years ago.  However, he recently announced he is no longer involved with the brand. 

So, is this a trend now?

Instead of launching a brand, creators are building a story around it. Instead of “Here’s what I’m selling,” it’s “Here’s what I’ve been living.” The brand just slips into the narrative.

And it makes sense. People don’t want to be sold to. They want to feel like insiders. They want to find the product before it finds them.

Maybe Kusha and Justin are just two people doing their own thing at the same time. Or maybe they’ve both figured out something the rest of the world is still catching up to.