Monday Edge

Reading time: 5 minutes

September 9, 2019

Editor’s Note: The Monday Edge is taking a brief hiatus to soak up some sun and R&R on the Greek islands. We’ll be back in your inbox in October!

From Deepak’s neuroscience desk, the case for speaking different languages.

BRAND & MARKETING

Wharton’s George Day and Gregory P. Shea discuss what makes the difference between growth leaders and laggards – in particular, nuances in the way they attract, nurture and retain “innovation talent” to grow organically.
As the job of brand strategy expands from telling the brand story to building the brand system, experience strategists are the new brand guardians.
A look into how Moxy Hotels go about building buzz, leveraging everything from the trendy (influencers) to the non-negotiables (innovation in experiences, and critical trends).
John Kotter reiterates that while they each play a vital role, management and leadership are “radically different.”
Activate, NatGeo’s new six-part documentary series, was underwritten by global CPG company P&G and features a number of famous faces. While it’s meant to inspire global activism, it may also inspire an entirely new approach to marketing.
Vox explores whether, in the age of AI, big data, and algorithms, anyone is actually original or unique anymore.
Fitness has exploded into a $100 billion global industry, with boutique fitness the fastest-growing category, as more people become obsessed with their health.
A marketing executive argues that not recognizing the transformational power of significant demographic changes in almost every aspect of our society – and the impact they will have on business – risks “Multicultural Myopia:” a short-sided approach to marketing that doesn’t focus on consumers.
LL Bean turned to psychographics to fuel its latest strategy, looking beyond traditional demographics to identify a unifying mindset and its unique role in helping consumers to achieve it.
In the marketing department this week:
- Deloitte proposes how CMOs can build trust with the all-important millennial and centennial generations.
- A reminder of the importance of CMOs focusing on managing multiple brands, not multiple identities.
- How CMO trends drive the industry, and why this means their future role is as “a part of everything…”
- …however, as has been discussed before, the complexity of marketing in the digital age means that it’s increasingly difficult for brands to find a single person who has the expertise necessary to handle all aspects of its marketing activities, explaining why the CMO is dead in name only.

RETAIL, SALES & SHOPPER

Building on last week’s news of Lord & Taylor’s acquisition by Le Tote, a look at whether the move can – or will – actually save the retail icon.
- Consulting POV – This was an odd transaction and Le Tote’s plans for Lord and Taylor aren’t particularly clear. It is not unusual in this stage of the evolution of an industry for a new school small player to buy out an old school larger one. Sometimes it works (like when Capitol Cities bought ABC) and sometimes it doesn’t (like when AOL bought Time Warner).
CVS made another notable purpose-led statement last week, with a hefty donation to combat youth vaping as part of its “Be The First” campaign, which aims to create the first tobacco-free generation.
- Consulting POV – One of the quiet reasons CVS got rid of cigarettes a few years ago was they, as all retailers, were facing the onset of e-cigarettes as a category and simply didn’t want to go through the trouble of figuring it out. That stance then positions them well now to take an on-brand leadership position here.
Research from ServiceChannel’s State of Brick and Mortar Retail Report suggests three consequential reasons customers aren’t coming back to stores.
- Consulting POV – This article reinforces a point we frequently make (and in fact comes through a lot in IRG’s pillar on evolving experiences): creating a friction free, non-broken experience is often more important than creating a compelling positive one. This article highlights 3 “hygiene factors” probably more consequential for brick and mortar success.
Kantar’s Retail division just published its Breakthrough Insights 2019, curating the team’s most impactful retail-, sales- and shopper-related trends, predictions, and thought pieces of the year. You can listen to Bryan Gildenberg’s thoughts on key elements of the retail climate change discussed within here.
- Consulting POV – Worth a read/listen! “Weather or Not” isn’t just a pun, but the difference between “weather” (short term noise) and “climate” (more fundamental changes in the ecosystem) is a critical area we will be exploring at our Insight Forum in December.
Despite millennials’ skepticism towards and lack of trust in them, 92% of them are opting for private label brands, which are thriving; consumers are consistently choosing them and retailers enjoying significantly higher margins from them. A look at how to effectively compete with them, given they’re often not just cheaper, but likely also equally organic, natural, local, and aesthetic.
- Consulting POV – Ray Gaul, Tim Campbell and Ben Antenore and Tiffany Hogan have all recently put together great pieces on the evolution of private label around the world, but yes – these brands are becoming better packaged and more niched/targeted.
Sephora, the beauty retailer, continues to put (meaningful, thought-out) experiences at the heart of its customer loyalty program, which is rooted in not only transactional and bought loyalty, but also emotional loyalty.
- Consulting POV – IRG also cites Sephora as an example of a retailer doing exactly this – figuring out how to create great connection with its most frequent shoppers. Our research team put together a great summary of loyalty in beauty across retailers as well.
American Eagle plans to introduce a beauty business in time for the holidays. This comes after its evolution into CBS products.
- Consulting POV – Our view on CBD in retail is evolving; find our best summary of it in this piece. Beauty is becoming an increasingly fragmented and difficult category at retail, and not for the faint of heart.
Amazon is testing Orville, a payment system that identifies an individual human hand as a way to ring up a store purchase, slated for use in Whole Foods in the near future.
- Consulting POV – The future of payment is almost certainly moving beyond cards and devices. Check out our piece on the future of impulse purchase in a tech enabled world!

ON THE HORIZON

Kantar’s latest Getting Media Right research offers myriad insights and actionable tips for marketers to combat data short-sightedness and improve their chances of achieving sustainable growth by “mastering momentum.” One key learning: video campaign effectiveness is highly dependent on the context and platform in which it will be consumed.
And, a Stanford professor offers thoughtful and timely tips around how business schools can restore trust in capitalism.

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