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Women’s lifestyle title Marie Claire is getting into the sampling business with the launch of Beauty Drawer. The first 5,000 members to sign up will receive samples of anti-aging cream from the launch partner, beauty brand StriVectin. With retail on lockdown "Working in skincare, samples are the number-one way to get people into a product."
Out-of-home advertising has slowly picked back up in recent months. But now DTC brands, who've long favored the sleek subway ads, are finding new ways to target potential customers as pedestrian foot traffic picks up in cities. Using LinkNYC kiosks allow new brands, like United Sodas, to modify campaign creatives based on daily factors "down to the weather, news cycle and even nearby restaurants," said CEO Marisa Zupan.
Over months of lockdown, many Facebook users have turned to the social media platform to communicate with the people in the next street, or even the next house. For ultra-small local businesses, usually run by a single individual or a few partners, these same groups have become a haven to communicate with customers, advertise their services and even run the business. For the customers themselves, often unable to travel to neighborhoods further afield, they’re a useful tool to connect with recommendations in their immediate area or support local businesses they know to be struggling.
Instagram has become a vital and affordable tool for local mom and pop shops, especially when it comes to live updates on hours of operation, product availability and reopening plans. With the pandemic’s quickly-evolving nature, the platform's casual posting nature better lends itself to this info than Google. Meanwhile Google's small business information is often outdated or incorrect.
United Sodas of America unveiled its line of 12 flavors of low-calorie soda last May, which came after two years of development. At the most recent Modern Retail+ Talk, co-founder and CEO Marisa Zupan said the compant surpassed forecast sales by 5x over the past month. “Learning about people’s behavior at their delivery preference was valuable during this period,” she said.
In 2019, the popular headline was that email marketing was seeing diminishing returns. Then, everyone was forced to stay home and everything changed. New data shows that open rates have risen dramatically and email engagement is also on the rise. While it's not terribly surprising, it does mean that brands are rethinking some of their older tricks.
Startups with products that have been in-demand during the stay at home orders over the past few months are using the opportunity to introduce their products to a national audience. It's a tricky time for retailers to advertise right now, but for those who are confident in their messaging, there's a better chance that they can get viewers to remember them as other companies pull back.
At this week's Modern Retail+ Talk Saucey founder and CEO Chris Vaughn spoke about how the company, which launched in 2014, has grown and evolved its philosophy on working with brands. In the early days, the platform tried to find any big name in alcohol that would work with it. Today, the service is available in 40 different markets around the United States and finds itself sometimes turning down campaigns.
As cities start to re-open, some out of home advertisements are starting to come back. Subway advertisements are still out, but DTC startups are taking to take a second look at launching new out of home campaigns in cities with lots of car owners -- as people start driving to more places again -- as well as in places near where people may be spending a lot of time outside.
Pinterest's retail partnerships team at Pinterest has been sharing data with participating retailers “on a weekly basis," said its head of retail. The social media platform has been giving brands ideas on the kind of content customers are searching for on the platform.
Just because CAC is down, it doesn't mean aggressive marketing is right for everyone, said Mike Duda at this week's Modern Retail+ Talks. He explained what the new landscape means for DTC brands' future and how to think about longterm growth.
For Bacardi, “For us this is part of our larger, long-term strategy," said Lorran Brown Cosby, vp of digital commerce at Bacardi North America.
With retail budget cuts and furloughs, PR spending has naturally been put aside for many brands. This shift in organic marketing is seeing a new era when it comes to agency retainers and dedicated in-house public relations.
Studies suggest around 80% of Gen-Zers expect to consume fewer animal-related products in the coming year, over 30% intend to be on entirely meat-free diets by 2021 and 44% think being vegan is cooler than smoking. But Gen Z’s culture and attitudes surrounding plant-based products are very different than those of their elders, and what’s resonated with Millennials isn’t going to cut it with a new generation of consumers for whom availability of non-animal-based products is expected.
Now that members of Generation Z are entering the workforce and beginning to flex their purchasing power, marketers want to better understand these individuals who were born from 1995 to 2012. Seven Gen Z marketers and entrepreneurs share their insights from the frontlines.
The global pandemic has accelerated the appetite for retailers to experiment with new distribution channels, moving quickly to build their own direct-to-consumer models.
If the last nine months did nothing else for retailers and brands, it made them realize that there are some downsides to being precious and exclusive about where to sell products. A Modern Retail and Glossy survey, in which we queried employees at brands and retailers, found that more companies this year plan to try out a variety of new digital sales channels they never did before. Here's a look at our most recent holiday related data.
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