There’s often a disconnect in the customer journey where the advert tells one story, and the brand experience tells another. How do you ensure cohesion for the customer in that journey?
When building out a customer journey, I start the process by establishing foundational brand pillars. What are the key messages and goals of a given journey (i.e. new product launch, splashy brand partnership), and how do we want to introduce and build on the message as a user moves through the funnel.
An ad needs to be thumb-stopping, so what are attention-grabbing visuals and copy that will achieve engagement, while also introducing the larger brand launch. Once a user visits the site, I’ll layer in additional detail to each step of the journey to drive the user deeper, and ultimately convert.
For a landing page, I’ll introduce more imagery and text to build on the story the ad introduced. For a PDP, I’ll evolve the message to a harder product sell, while continuing to layer in core brand assets. An important caveat—this journey is never static—A/B testing is critical to presenting the most optimized experience to the user. Testing will be a key focus during post-launch.
At Beyond Yoga you managed a $15M annual media budget. What changes at this scale? Is it still about efficiency and performance, or does the strategy shift into something else entirely?
Efficiency and performance remain a top priority, but this budget opened up opportunities for new channel testing, as well as additional campaigns within Meta. At Beyond Yoga, I continued to optimize core Meta and Google campaigns, and reallocated a portion of the budget for direct mail testing, which proved to be a very successful channel for us, and allowed us to scale in a new way, taking some pressure off of the core channels.
I also launched new Meta campaigns focused on non-core categories like dresses and maternity, which allowed us to reach new audiences. As we continued to scale, I would continue re-investing in media for additional channel and campaign testing.
You mentioned at Ruggable you tested 10,000+ creative ads over a year. How do you manage such high scale creative testing? Additionally, what’s the reason there isn’t a smaller set of repeatable formulas from past data? Is the volume a reflection of constant platform change, or is creative still fundamentally unpredictable?
The volume of creative was driven by our aggressive iterative testing approach. There were some key, core concepts that proved to be tried and true drivers for us, and the challenge for our team was to build on these winners to unlock new top performers.
For example, we had a strong static photo concept that was a consistent driver for us, and we tested layering in different types of animation on top of the image to amplify the concept and continue to drive scale. We also leaned heavily on AI to drive ad iteration velocity, so that our creative team could focus on new concept innovation.
You notably built out the influencer strategy and acquisition content strategy for 1000+ influencers at Fabletics. What do you look for in creators when entrusting campaigns to them, and what would your advice be regarding sourcing and building structurally in such a large scale program?
The goal at Fabletics was to expand our reach to new types of customers. We had over-saturated our ‘studio’ audience (yogis, pilates fans), and were seeking to connect with more high-impact workout audiences, as well as users who wanted our product more for everyday loungewear. We specifically targeted influencers who fit into these categories, and that drove our sourcing strategy.
In addition to finding influencers who are the right fit, based on the brand and business goals, it was also important to provide clear briefing parameters, while allowing the partner to lean into their creative genius to create the content. Knowing the partners have built an engaged audience around their personality and content, it’s important to maintain that authenticity and strike the right balance between the hard sell and a compelling piece of content.
Finally, it’s critical to establish success metrics around each partnership, based on the goals of the campaign. With Fabletics, we looked at efficiency metrics across organic and paid content for each creator, and enforced KPI benchmarks to ensure the most optimal mix of partners.
In the age of AI, how do you see storytelling evolving within a brand’s offering, particularly as the cost of content production collapses and tools give similar outputs?
I see AI as a strategic ‘partner’ in communicating a brand story. As I have onboarded AI solutions into organizations, I have stress-tested the balance between human vs AI-driven actions in building and evolving brand storytelling.
I think AI can be incredibly helpful in assessing and identifying messaging and imagery that move the needle, and can provide a shortcut to the most optimal mix of assets. However, it’s important to establish and enforce a brand sandbox, and ensure human oversight to maintain brand integrity.
It’s important to establish and enforce a brand sandbox, and ensure human oversight to maintain brand integrity
You notably helped Fabletics scale from $400 to $700 million revenue, what would be the areas you felt were most responsible for this growth?
The launch of our influencer channel was a massive driver in our ability to scale our reach, as I spoke to earlier. We also launched some key celebrity partnerships, including Demi Lovato, Kelly Rowland, and Maddie Ziegler, which allowed us to invest in more upper-funnel marketing, and opened up our brand to a broader audience.
In addition to these marketing efforts, we optimized our production cycle in order to read and react more quickly when it came to product replenishment. We operationalized a more nimble reorder process with our factory partners, and were able to bring back key styles within the same season to capitalize on consumer demand. Finally, we dramatically expanded our retail presence throughout the US, allowing us to scale a new revenue channel, while also driving more brand awareness by having storefronts in key markets.
As a seasoned VP of Marketing as the world shifts with AI, hype-cycles and changes in consumer behaviour, where are the most important areas to focus energy of a brand, and what do you feel brands are commonly not prepared for?
It’s critical to remind yourself and your team to get back to basics: who is our customer, what are we selling, and, most importantly, what do we stand for as a brand.
If there is a lack of focus on these areas, it can derail a business. AI, hype-cycles, and changes in behavior will continue to be ever-present, and every brand is navigating through these challenges. The most successful brands have a clear vision, a product they can stand behind, and a strong understanding of their consumer and how to best engage with them.
It’s also critical for brands to constantly be thinking ahead. What got you here won’t get you there. How are we innovating in our product roadmap? What do younger consumers value, and how can we bring them into the fold? What is the newest advertising channel, and how much can we allocate budget for testing? Where is content being consumed, and how can we be in the mix? While continuing to read, react, and optimize the current business, it’s essential to be one step ahead with the brand vision for the future.
It’s critical to remind yourself to get back to basics: who is our customer, what are we selling, and, most importantly, what do we stand for as a brand.