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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Sources:

• Annabelle Bolton (BF)
• Alice Jvidan (BF)
• Sona Aarian (Econometrics)
• Julia Collier (J Crew)