Sale strategies, new brands are old now + how to get into retail
Just because its euro summer doesn't mean you shouldn't be locked in
Oren here this week, reporting from Euro summer, where the lads are heavily participating in online Aperol-sponsored culture. Clayton is documenting the fits of Paris, I am sharing straightforward art direction ideas from Positano.
But in commerce world, it’s also Prime Day, which takes an interesting form this summer. The event is now 4 days long, up from two, and promoted with a blockbuster campaign featuring Lebron (?).
Why four days? Prime Day has always been dedicated to creating a branded Black Friday event, on their own terms, in the summer. Now they can replicate the full Black Friday to Cyber Monday four day period.
And for Prime Day, who day few if any outside of Amazon employees can rattle off from the top of their head (sometime in July is something at least those who work in industry can name) - they need time for the internet to catch up.
Monoculture still exists with incredible power, but it can get lost in the shuffle. Consumers need time to realize it’s Prime Day, then see a curated Instagram post or two with relevant products for them, then log in and participate. Instagram especially (and LinkedIn significantly) has recently moved to show less content over an initial 24 hour period, and new content now competes with endless old successful recycled content posted to Trial Reels. Four days is an ideal time period.
Brands know it, and are participating, promoting, and recruiting creators to help curate Prime Day. I’ve been seeing wide ranging consumer content success recently with my weekly product review series on TikTok and IG, and had dozens of brands reach out about Prime Day. I’ve decided not to commercialize that series at any point so it can maintain its objectivity, but it was fascinating to see the volume of interest from brands thirsting for paths to big views this week.
And retailers and brands. are recognizing the desire for deals and building their own promotions. One of my favorite ideas I’ve seen is from House of Errors, who will have a “market crash” (recurring theme of the brand) fluctuating sales at the end of this week where prices will adjust rapidly and unpredictably.
Watching the savviest, most aggressive platform in the world build out their cultural moment longer… is a signal worth noting.
On that note, into this week’s HYPER.
Why do all the new brands want to look old?
It used to be we wanted brands to look fresh and new, a new generation alternative to the boring brands before. But now, brands are launching at higher price points to get enough margins to sustain the sheer amount of marketing, quality of product, and reduce the potential risks of tariff or economic flux changes that could effect their operations. To do this, they’re coming out with prestige looks that make them seem familiar, that they have heritage, even if they’re new.
I explore this phenomenon and the idea of “heritage maximalism” in a new full length Youtube video discussing the aesthetics of Buly, Burberry, Marvis and a crop of new brands.
The emails of 1803 Buly
Is there such a thing as luxury email? One of my favorite approaches is from the amazing (and controversial) Universelle 1803 Buly (acquired by LVMH in 2021).
They have no length requirements, there is no such thing as too text heavy, their products are in there amongst endless lore of the stories of French paintings. They aren’t emails, they’re dispatches from a brand world.
Check them out on Milled. If you’re focused on building a brand versus quick sales, remember that you want your email to be a joy that consumers want to open, not just a reminder to buy. This is a perspective that builds luxury perception.
In the video above I walk through all this in video, with a bit of how to learn email automation in Omnisend (who sponsored the video, thank you!!) as well.
How to get your brand into retail
We (Ashwinn, Jordan Rodgers and I) interviewed Nichole from PLTFRM, a company that helps brands launch and scale inside of retail stores (and one that actually managed Amazon and Walmart for us when I ran marketing at Gel Blaster). We focused specifically on how to get started at retail, and then how to actually make sales and grow if you’re in retail but need momentum. It’s a super tactical, actionable Brandfathers episode, and we also put together a full written report with playbooks and case studies, available for free here (see the contents below)
Retail 101 is in podcast format, plus YouTube below:
Activewear made easy
Our friends at Crease Group recently dropped a new wholesale men’s activewear catalog, where they’ve made colors and styles of common singlet, shorts and polo styles (and more) in various blends, all able to be customized with color or design for brands that want to enter the category. Perfect for gyms, studios, or brands that want to evaluate the activewear vertical without building something fully custom.
You can see the full catalog here.
Parting shot
Private company economics breakdown of Jolie Skin, including AOV, retention and more from Drew. A gem I feel most brand owners can benefit from the analysis of:
Hyper Reports
Check out our market reports. We spend many hours researching markets, categories, and brands & products within the consumer space so you don’t have to.
I watched the video about new brands looking old. It's exactly what I want to do with my luxury leather goods brand. Could you possibly do a post on here/video on YouTube going over step by step how a fresh brand starts, from day one, establishing heritage, building high trust in the luxury fashion market, and making their brand in such a way that immediately creates high desire around their products? Everybody talks about what the big brands are doing, but nobody ever talks about what to do to go from first starting to making consistent sales. Thanks!