The Hustle Daily Show Before Spirit Halloween, there was Ben Cooper
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Oct 28, 2025 Halloween costumes used to be revolutionized by two giants: Ben Cooper and Collegeville. Hear how these companies transformed spooky festivities into a major business, making superhero costumes a staple thanks to TV licensing. Discover the behind-the-scenes of acquiring iconic licenses like E.T. and the unfortunate decline linked to the Tylenol murders. Plus, insights into the booming Buy Now, Pay Later trend for holiday shopping. Don't forget to check eBay for nostalgic vintage costumes!
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Costumes Became A Licensed Mass Market
- Ben Cooper and Collegeville transformed Halloween from simple costumes into a mass licensed business model.
- They introduced mass-produced plastic masks and licensed characters, shifting Halloween toward pop-culture costumes.
Use ML To Block Likely Party Bookings
- Airbnb applies machine learning to flag likely party bookings around high-risk dates like Halloween.
- Use proximity and timing signals to reduce misuse of short-term rental listings.
AI Chip Race Moves Markets
- Stock markets rose on hopes of a US-China trade deal while chipmakers jockeyed in AI hardware.
- Qualcomm announced AI chips to challenge NVIDIA, driving notable share gains.