Summary of "The New Rules For Effective Marketing | #BoFLive"

Summary: The New Rules For Effective Marketing | #BoFLive

Presenters: - Annabelle Bolton, Senior Associate, Content Strategy, Business of Fashion (BF) - Alice Jvidan, Director of Content Strategy, BF, Co-author of the CMO Brief report - Sona Aarian, Partner, Econometrics (data science & analytics firm) - Julia Collier, Chief Marketing Officer, J Crew

1. Underserved & Emerging Marketing Channels

Channel Definition & Evolution: - Channels no longer need to be natively shoppable to drive conversion. - Media channels are fragmenting rapidly; by 2030, advertising may be fully addressable, shoppable, and accountable.

Key Untapped Channels Identified: - Sponsorships (especially sports): High variability in ROI but valuable due to live, appointment-based audience. - Retail Media Networks: Platforms with in-app transactional e-commerce capabilities are growing as advertising avenues. - Influencers & Creator Strategies: Moving beyond traditional influencer marketing to agile creator partnerships that tap into viral moments and cultural zeitgeist. - Community Platforms: Reddit, Discord, Substack as spaces for authentic consumer-brand interactions and relationship building.

Experimentation Framework: - Allocate a dedicated experimentation budget only after core marketing delivers predictable returns. - Scale investment incrementally in channels showing strong ROI until marginal returns plateau.

Measurement Challenges: - Short-term conversion tactics are measurable; brand equity and long-term brand-building effects are harder to quantify. - Econometrics’ full-funnel approach links brand KPIs (consideration, buzz, desirability) directly to sales impact, enabling like-for-like ROI comparisons.

2. In-Person Experiences & Events

Strategic Importance: - Physical brand activations build emotional connection, nostalgia, and brand immersion (e.g., J Crew’s 190 Bowery takeover). - In-person events serve as acquisition tools, buzz generators, and content opportunities for broader digital storytelling. - Retail stores are micro-experiential hubs where associates create personal connections, extending the event’s impact.

Success Metrics & Early Signals: - Early qualitative signals include unsolicited positive feedback (texts, DMs, emails), external interest (agents, media), and cultural penetration. - Quantitative example: J Crew’s roll neck campaign led to a 900% increase in Google searches over two weeks, signaling cultural embedment beyond direct sales.

3. Community Building

Community vs. Followers: - Community is not just social media followers but intentional, value-aligned engagement (e.g., Rare Beauty’s community focuses on mental health conversations rather than just Selena Gomez’s celebrity). - Brands use platforms like Gen Z-focused Geneva and community management tools (e.g., TYB) to foster high-touch, action-oriented engagement.

Measurement: - Community engagement often occurs in decentralized, brand-light environments and is challenging to quantify but valued for long-term payoff. - Focus shifts from eyeballs/reach to meaningful, sustained interactions.

4. Creative Strategy & Risk-Taking

Creative Risk & ROI: - 81% of creative campaigns fail to follow best practices; optimizing creative can nearly double ROI. - Brands must embrace risk-taking to avoid stagnation and maintain cultural relevance. - Internal alignment and dedicated budgets for creative experimentation empower marketers to take calculated risks.

Execution Matters: - Great creative + strong execution = high performance; great creative + poor execution = poor results. - Consistency in creative messaging over time often optimizes ROI (peak ROI sometimes occurs on the 2nd or 3rd run).

Localization & Surprise: - Localized content can boost ROI by 40-60%. - Surprise and delight tactics (unexpected creative elements) help break through saturated media environments. - Example: Calvin Klein’s early partnerships with rising cultural figures (Bad Bunny, Jeremy Allen White) yielded $8.4M media impact value in 48 hours. - Smaller budgets can leverage hyper-local creators with authentic voices for viral impact (e.g., Jacquemus’ TikTok creator campaign with 11M views in 48 hours).

5. Localization Strategies

Localized Influencer Engagement: - Brands like J Crew tailor marketing by geography, leveraging local influencers and store activations aligned with local demographics (e.g., college communities in Georgetown, style trends in LA). - Micro-influencers with smaller followings but high engagement can drive significant sales impact (e.g., fitting room TikTok videos leading to spikes in product sales).

Customer as Creator: - Customers increasingly create authentic content that influences brand perception and sales.

6. Analytics Unlocking Creative & Marketing Insights

Creative optimization is identified as the last major lever for ROI improvement.
AI and advanced analytics enable scaling of creative testing and optimization previously limited by cost and complexity.

7. CMO’s Role in Strategic Pricing

Pricing Impact: - Pricing and promotions can drive 20-40% of incremental sales, often exceeding media impact. - Price decisions require balancing cost, brand perception, product quality, and customer experience.

Why CMOs Should Be Involved: - CMOs bring the “voice of the customer” perspective to pricing decisions, ensuring alignment with brand promise and customer value perception. - Marketing and commercial teams often work in silos; integrated cross-functional collaboration is critical.

Price Elasticity as a KPI: - Reducing price elasticity through brand value and storytelling builds resilience against economic shocks. - Granular, product-level pricing and customer segmentation analysis enable more precise pricing strategies.

Customer Backlash & Communication: - Price increases can negatively impact brand perception if not well-communicated. - Transparent storytelling around value and pricing rationale is essential to maintain trust.

8. Value-Driven Branding & Storytelling

Storytelling’s Role: - Effective storytelling communicates value implicitly by heroing products and brand heritage. - Example: J Crew’s roll neck campaign combined product marketing with brand marketing, driving sales, cultural buzz, and ongoing demand without continuous marketing spend.

Internal Alignment: - CMOs need a seat at the table to protect “sacred” brand products (e.g., no promotions on core franchise items) and maintain consistent value messaging.

Successful Campaign Characteristics: - Deep cultural and macroeconomic awareness. - Multi-channel presence: traditional, digital, influencer, retail, talent partnerships. - Strategic talent casting that balances surprise with brand fit and authenticity. - Organizational agility to pivot or pause campaigns based on real-time cultural context.

Challenges: - Even perfect campaigns may fail due to uncontrollable external factors (news cycles, competing events). - Smaller organizations often have more agility to adapt quickly than large enterprises.

Frameworks, Processes, and Playbooks Highlighted

Full-Funnel Measurement Approach: Linking brand KPIs (consideration, buzz) to sales outcomes for better ROI clarity.
Experimentation Budgeting & Scaling: Secure core marketing ROI first, then allocate incremental spend to test new channels, scaling based on marginal returns.
Creative Risk Management: Internal alignment on risk tolerance, with dedicated budgets and clear objectives for creative experimentation.
Localization Strategy: Hyper-local influencer engagement and store-centric activations tailored to regional demographics.
Pricing Strategy Integration: Cross-functional collaboration with CMOs as customer voice in pricing decisions; price elasticity as a strategic KPI.
Value-Driven Brand Storytelling: Combine product and brand marketing for cultural resonance and sustained sales impact.

Key Metrics and KPIs

Media Impact Value: $8.4M in 48 hours (Calvin Klein x Bad Bunny campaign)
Google Search Increase: 900% rise for “J Crew roll neck” post-campaign
Creative ROI Improvement: Potential to double ROI by following best practices (YouTube/Econometrics study)
Localization ROI Boost: 40-60% increase through localized creative content
Incremental Sales from Pricing/Promotion: 20-40% potential uplift

Actionable Recommendations

Dedicate a clear budget and framework for marketing experimentation after securing baseline ROI.
Invest in data-driven full-funnel measurement to link brand-building activities to sales.
Embrace creative risk-taking with leadership support and clear success/failure criteria.
Leverage local influencers and store activations to tailor marketing by region and demographic.
Integrate CMOs into pricing strategy discussions to align pricing with brand value and customer perception.
Use storytelling to communicate value implicitly and protect core brand products from discounting.
Maintain organizational agility to adapt marketing campaigns to changing cultural and macroeconomic contexts.

This session offers a comprehensive, data-informed playbook for CMOs and marketing leaders in fashion and beauty to navigate the evolving landscape of channels, creative, community, and pricing with strategic integration and customer-centricity.

Sources: - Annabelle Bolton (BF) - Alice Jvidan (BF) - Sona Aarian (Econometrics) - Julia Collier (J Crew)