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[00:00:00] Suzy Davidkhanian: Atmosphere TV is the largest streaming TV platform purpose-built for shared social spaces like bars, restaurants, gyms, and airports. Atmosphere TV is the creator of CHIVE TV and thirty plus mesmerizing audio-optional channels that entertain over a hundred and fifty million monthly viewers. Built for business, made for fun, Atmosphere TV.

[00:00:28] Suzy Davidkhanian: Hi, everyone. Today is Wednesday, October 28th. Welcome to eMarketer's weekly retail show, Reimagining Retail, an eMarketer podcast made possible by Atmosphere TV. This is the show where we talk about how retail collides with every part of our lives, and I'm your host, Suzy Davidkhanian. On today's episode, we're back with our unofficial monthly retailer awards.

[00:00:49] Suzy Davidkhanian: Yes, the RMRAs. I tried to make it Halloween-themed, but I'm not sure that it worked out, so we'll see Is that okay?

[00:00:59] Becky Schilling: It, it, [00:01:00] it didn't work out.

[00:01:01] Suzy Davidkhanian: It didn't work out at all. Is that okay? A little

[00:01:04] Becky Schilling: mixed bag.

[00:01:06] Sky Canaves: Yeah, we, uh, we each have one trick and one treat. I,

[00:01:09] Suzy Davidkhanian: I- Well- I threw that out there ... oh, that's a good way. Yes.

[00:01:11] Suzy Davidkhanian: I like the way you said that.

[00:01:12] Becky Schilling: Exactly. Yes.

[00:01:13] Suzy Davidkhanian: So you're hearing their voices now. Joining me this month, we have podcast regulars Becky Schilling. Hi, Becky.

[00:01:19] Becky Schilling: Hello. I'm ready for battle.

[00:01:21] Suzy Davidkhanian: I'm so glad. Two months in a row. Be ready. Sky Canabas joining us from Texas.

[00:01:27] Sky Canaves: Hey, everyone.

[00:01:28] Suzy Davidkhanian: Hey, Sky. And Zach Stanborg joining us from Chicago.

[00:01:32] Zak Stambor: Hello. I'm happy to be back.

[00:01:34] Suzy Davidkhanian: We are so happy. We haven't had you on in a long time, Zach. Thanks for coming back. I know. Okay. So as a reminder, here's how this works. Each month we're handing out awards to the retailers we think really nailed it in a few key areas. So we've got three categories: most impactful campaign, best in real life initiative, and the greatest under the radar move.

[00:01:55] Suzy Davidkhanian: Becky, Zach, Sky each brought a nominee for October, [00:02:00] and as Sky said, it's one trick and two treats. Is that right? I don't know. I'm putting words in your mouth. Let's keep moving. You guys tell us who the nominees are, and I get to pick the winner based on how convincing your case is. So let's get started.

[00:02:15] Suzy Davidkhanian: Award number one, most impactful campaign. This is the marketing idea that broke through the noise. It resonated, it was memorable, and it hopefully drove performance. And the nominees are, Becky, I'm starting with you.

[00:02:29] Becky Schilling: So I'm picking Bealls, and they are the fourth largest off-price retailer in the country.

[00:02:34] Becky Schilling: You may not have heard of them if you're not from the South. They have 650 stores in 23 states, and they launched their first ever national brand campaign. They've called it For the Haul of It. It's all about the treasure hunt, and they have different shopper personas with these haul persona- personalities.

[00:02:50] Becky Schilling: They've got the deal seeker, the planner, the fashion lover. They're also launching an app at the same time. It's aiming loyalty and bringing in new customers. [00:03:00] Their head of marketing basically said they want more people to see them and remember them and come in. And when you're going into new markets, they're going against TJX and Ross, and so awareness is the name of the game.

[00:03:11] Suzy Davidkhanian: For me, I think it's clever maybe, 'cause it's the holidays and the hauls, and they're leaning into so many cultural things and moments.

[00:03:19] Becky Schilling: And they've got different- But it's off-price ... campaigns for every month, so, like, they've got, like, a, a Halloween theme and then, like, a fun Christmas theme.

[00:03:26] Suzy Davidkhanian: So do we feel like if you're off-price and the whole thing is about treasure hunting, you can deliver that on mobile?

[00:03:35] Becky Schilling: I think you can on mobile. I think it's the same as, like, what Ross is doing, and may be successful or not. But the fact that they haven't had a newly done app, and they're really trying to expand just out of a store presence, um, and go into different states and different markets, you've gotta be able to be omni-channel.

[00:03:53] Becky Schilling: And to not be able to have that online presence, uh, is not going to help you move into those [00:04:00] new markets.

[00:04:00] Suzy Davidkhanian: You know, it's a good point about Ross. I, I always think about the mobile app as a shopping component, but it might just be a loyalty tool. Like, most off-price retailers don't have any sort of real e-commerce business.

[00:04:15] Suzy Davidkhanian: Is this, is this app not ... It's not meant to be e-commerce, it's just meant to be, like, a tag-along into the store sort of situation?

[00:04:24] Becky Schilling: I think for them the start of it is more of a component, and whether they move it to move into e-commerce is to be seen.

[00:04:32] Suzy Davidkhanian: Okay, Sky, tell us who your nominee is.

[00:04:34] Sky Canaves: Okay. I picked Fenty Beauty's October 6 livestream on TikTok Shop featuring the one and only Rihanna, along with some special guests like comedian Leo Gonzales.

[00:04:45] Sky Canaves: According to the brand, over a million people tuned in over the course of 12 hours, and the stream drew a total of 53 million impressions, thanks to TikTok's algorithm, of course. And I think this is just a preview of [00:05:00] what's to come for TikTok over the holidays, because they've just announced that their Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions are going to stretch over the course of something like three weeks.

[00:05:10] Sky Canaves: And I think that's really to accommodate more livestreaming, because they wanna be able to push streams into feeds and make sure the big brands each get their chance to have the spotlight without having to go head-to-head in competition against each other for viewer attention. And this is going to then spill over into next year, when I think livestreaming is gonna have a lot more impact, not just on TikTok, but its other main rival in the US now is, is Whatnot.

[00:05:36] Suzy Davidkhanian: I'm all in on livestream shopping personally, and have been for the last five years. Nobody has caught up to me yet. But what I don't know is, is this a symptom of Rihanna, or is this a symptom of livestreaming, these amazing results?

[00:05:50] Sky Canaves: I think it's both, because Whatnot, they've reported that they grew from about 8 billion global GMV, with which much of that in the US, um, in [00:06:00] 2025, and they've exceeded that in the first half of 2026.

[00:06:04] Sky Canaves: And I think that's just gonna accelerate as we get to the end of the year. They just launched their first national ad campaign, uh, with a TV commercial with this football player that's really kinda cute, and it's just promoting this concept of live as being fun and entertaining. And you go for the show, and you end up buying stuff.

[00:06:21] Suzy Davidkhanian: Well, and if, like the cute football player, I mean, she is founder-led brand. Mm-hmm. So it does go into these sort of cultural moments and fandom and authenticity that certainly for a subset of the consumers that are on TikTok Shop, that really hits home.

[00:06:37] Zak Stambor: Yeah. And it's like a point of differentiation, you know?

[00:06:41] Zak Stambor: Like, like when so much of online shopping is just commoditized, this is a way of, like, really distinguishing yourself- Yeah ... and getting consumers invested in the brand.

[00:06:52] Sky Canaves: Like, when I think about off-price, maybe that's something the off-price retailers should do, is get associates to livestream from their [00:07:00] stores and show, like, cool stuff you can find, and go on the treasure hunt with them.

[00:07:04] Sky Canaves: I think there are already creators who are doing that, um, to great effect.

[00:07:09] Suzy Davidkhanian: It's true. There is something about the live streaming and the connectivity and the, like, what feels like proximity even though it's very far away. Zach, who do you have?

[00:07:18] Zak Stambor: I have Pringles.

[00:07:19] Suzy Davidkhanian: Guys, I love this one.

[00:07:21] Zak Stambor: I, I do. Here you go again, Chris

[00:07:23] Suzy Davidkhanian: Frio.

[00:07:23] Becky Schilling: It's Susie.

[00:07:24] Zak Stambor: So Pringles has their Once You Drop campaign, and the spot opens with a TikTok star, Dan the Funeral Man, revealing that Fredric Baur, who is the inventor of the Pringles can, was buried in his own invention, or his ashes were buried in his own invention. So then he goes on to introduce a promotion that offers one lucky fan the opportunity to win an original Pringles urn Uh, and along with a 200-year supply of Pringles chips.

[00:07:57] Zak Stambor: Um, so you enter by signing [00:08:00] a last will and taste-ament. Um, so what I love about this is that- Isn't it so

[00:08:06] Suzy Davidkhanian: cute?

[00:08:07] Zak Stambor: It has like a real- It's like dad joke

[00:08:08] Suzy Davidkhanian: galore.

[00:08:09] Zak Stambor: Yeah. It has, like, a real backstory. I guarantee you will remember that the guy who invented the Pringles can was buried in a Pringles can, and it connects to the brand.

[00:08:21] Zak Stambor: It makes you think about the brand. It gets people talking about the brand. There's so much earned media that I've seen around this campaign that I ... It was just incredible. And it ... So it makes you wanna talk about it, it makes you wanna share it, it makes you want to engage, and maybe even have, uh, some Pringles.

[00:08:39] Suzy Davidkhanian: It is so clever, I think, and the Halloween sort of-esque theme too helps, because who gets chips for Halloween? Like, who gives out ... You know- They do

[00:08:48] Zak Stambor: have them ...

[00:08:49] Suzy Davidkhanian: they, they have little ... They're backpacks, like- They do sell the, the,

[00:08:51] Zak Stambor: like, little

[00:08:53] Sky Canaves: Pringles cans. There are mini ones, yeah. Yeah, mm-hmm. But I haven't seen them, and I don't know that I would

[00:08:57] Sky Canaves: That my kid would be raving about [00:09:00] them.

[00:09:00] Suzy Davidkhanian: The mini chips Pringles things?

[00:09:02] Sky Canaves: Yeah. I- Maybe, maybe the parents would prefer them.

[00:09:05] Suzy Davidkhanian: Right? And I ... Well, and, and for the way I was thinking about it, although all of this, uh, comes together, is that usually it's chocolate bars, right? And so, like- Oh, yeah ... it's so great to insert chips and salty snacks and other sort of non-candy, like, traditional sugary candy as part of Halloween.

[00:09:22] Suzy Davidkhanian: I love it. Mine too, I had one for this one that was also much earned media. I don't know if you guys saw this one. Someone at a conference, I don't know if we can say her name, Lena from Commerce Next, was telling me about this, and then we spent a lot of time looking at TikTok. It was the Wet Ones. Did you guys hear about this?

[00:09:40] Suzy Davidkhanian: So Wet ... It is amazing, and you should look it up.

[00:09:43] Zak Stambor: I like this one.

[00:09:44] Suzy Davidkhanian: So Wet Ones went cheeky, and they had some consumer insights that said many people use the Wet Ones, which are hand wipes, uh, for other parts of their body. And so they did a whole hand, uh, campaign that said, "This is just for your hands." And then there are people [00:10:00] that are using their hands but making different sort of movements, not even gestures, like the way that they're putting their fingers together looks like other parts of your body.

[00:10:09] Suzy Davidkhanian: And then their ... One of the taglines, probably of many, is, "This one is for hands, no ifs, and, or butts about it." And it had some very unexpected visuals, all clean fun, and I thought that was very good. Lots and lots of earned media. Zach, did you see them too?

[00:10:24] Zak Stambor: I did. I thought it was so clever, so fun.

[00:10:26] Suzy Davidkhanian: It's so fun.

[00:10:27] Suzy Davidkhanian: It was my

[00:10:27] Zak Stambor: backup, actually.

[00:10:29] Suzy Davidkhanian: Well, I'm so glad that you did- Yeah ... the Pringles one was amazing also. Oh, I have to pick a winner. Is it now or do I surprise everybody at the end?

[00:10:37] Becky Schilling: I think we know what you're gonna

[00:10:38] Suzy Davidkhanian: pick. It's Pringles,

yay

[00:10:40] Sky Canaves: Pringles.

[00:10:40] Becky Schilling: Yes. Yes.

[00:10:42] Suzy Davidkhanian: I love it. Okay, award number two, best in real life initiative.

[00:10:46] Suzy Davidkhanian: The in real life move that got people off their screens and into stores, creating an experience worth checking out. And the nominations are: Sky, let's start with you.

[00:10:55] Sky Canaves: So I didn't know that this was a thing with fancy EVs, but Rivian has added [00:11:00] special seasonal effects to its cars. And for Halloween, it's collaborating with Sony Pictures, um, to bring the Ghostbusters universe to its vehicles for a couple of weeks.

[00:11:10] Sky Canaves: So it has Halloween mode now, which brings all the lights and sounds and spooky creatures into the driving experience. And so I think this is a real draw for potential buyers who will be wanting to come into showrooms at this time of year to test drive the cars with these special features, especially as demand for EVs is now increasing given the, the ongoing high fuel prices that we're seeing in the US.

[00:11:33] Suzy Davidkhanian: Guys, I love this one too. Zach, I beat you to it. I

[00:11:36] Zak Stambor: loved it. And did you see the Ghostbusters commercial with Bill

[00:11:41] Sky Canaves: Murray? With Bill Murray- Yeah ... of course. Yeah. Yeah. Delivering- It was fantastic ... uh, some pizza.

[00:11:45] Suzy Davidkhanian: The whole, it's like a really 360. We talk a lot about like complete, and it, it's like not only are the cars, the pictures I saw, did you see them?

[00:11:52] Suzy Davidkhanian: It is so cool. There is the in real life extension which is at the showrooms. There are all these other sort of [00:12:00] components to the campaign. I love it.

[00:12:01] Becky Schilling: Well, it's smart because if you think about holidays, that's when a lot of car advertising starts coming up. Mm-hmm. And so to do something before then to, to get into the white space and get people primed, it, it's a good idea.

[00:12:14] Sky Canaves: Yeah, and I wonder what they'll have in store for Christmas too.

[00:12:17] Suzy Davidkhanian: Oh my gosh.

[00:12:18] Sky Canaves: Special season.

[00:12:19] Suzy Davidkhanian: It, it'll be Santa on a sleigh, hologram-y.

[00:12:22] Sky Canaves: I hope they, Snoopy I'm hoping.

[00:12:23] Suzy Davidkhanian: Oh. Peanuts gang. Yeah. Oh, that's cute.

[00:12:25] Sky Canaves: The-

[00:12:26] Suzy Davidkhanian: Uh, Zach, who's your nominee?

[00:12:28] Zak Stambor: Yeah, so mine is Rhode. Rhode was, um, launching in more than 500 stores across 19 new European markets.

[00:12:37] Zak Stambor: And rather than just like put out a press release, they made the expansion feel like an event. They opened Cafe Rhode, a five-day pop-up at a Paris bistro, and they served Rhode-themed drinks and pastries. And they gave visitors, uh, branded postcards and custom Rhode metro cards. And what was interesting about the cards is that they weren't an actual transit pass, but [00:13:00] actually, uh, a card that could be redeemed at a Sephora store for a skincare sample.

[00:13:06] Zak Stambor: And so I like that they drove that connection, that rather than, um, just use the cafe to, to sell products, it created a destination that then captures attention and drives consumers ultimately into the store

[00:13:21] Suzy Davidkhanian: It's interesting, those, like, redeemable. I wonder if there's, like, a component of, like, tying it to your Sephora loyalty program or some other way to identify who the people are.

[00:13:30] Suzy Davidkhanian: Like, is it a data collection or it's just very clever-

[00:13:34] Zak Stambor: It's a good question. I, I actually don't know, but I would hope that there was a connection.

[00:13:40] Suzy Davidkhanian: I mean, it's definitely an Instagrammable moment, and that they're sending people to Sephora after is also very cool.

[00:13:45] Sky Canaves: That's 'cause they're launching in Sephora, right?

[00:13:47] Sky Canaves: The, it's like

[00:13:48] Zak Stambor: their-

[00:13:48] Sky Canaves: Yeah ... their big

[00:13:49] Zak Stambor: expansion. Exactly, right. Yes.

[00:13:51] Suzy Davidkhanian: Right. But the, that it didn't stop at the coffee shop pop-up- Mm-hmm ... sort of

[00:13:54] Zak Stambor: situation. Right. Yeah. Right. There's so many, like, things where it's like, "Here's an [00:14:00] experience," and then it just stops. This, like, drives consumers into the store and, and builds that connection and goes beyond, you know, the five days that the cafe is open.

[00:14:10] Sky Canaves: Yeah, that's really savvy, 'cause that's where they have their big expansion now, since they were acquired by e.l.f. Cosmetics. They used to have, like, these massive viral events where people would just show up for the pop-ups, but then everything was still online and D2C from the brand. So now they have these opportunities connect, to connect what they already had to their much larger store presence through Sephora distribution.

[00:14:33] Suzy Davidkhanian: And, you know, to your point, to both of your points, like, we talk so much about these in real life moments that are Instagrammable, fun, cool, culturally relevant, but we don't always see the tie-in to sales, and that Metro card to go to Sephora and maybe do a sample or get a discount or whatever it is that they had really does close the loop in an really cute way.

[00:14:54] Suzy Davidkhanian: Becky, who's yours?

[00:14:55] Becky Schilling: So I gave Target a hard time last time, and so I am going with [00:15:00] Target. They have a new campaign called Inside Out. It's built around their red bag, and it's called Bag Spotting. And they have teams in Boston and Chicago that are stopping people who are carrying Target bags, and they're giving them quick challenges and gift cards.

[00:15:14] Becky Schilling: There's a social series, um, man on the street interviews, so it's tying back to social media. It's all about people walking around with these bags. It's not necessarily about getting people into stores, because Target doesn't have an awareness problem, they have an image problem right now. And so seeing people out there with a bag, and it subconsciously kind of tells other people, "Hey, these people found something to buy at Target.

[00:15:36] Becky Schilling: Maybe I will, too." And that message is helping get those other people into the store. And so that is why I picked Target this month. And

[00:15:44] Suzy Davidkhanian: it does go well with, uh, for those who didn't listen last time, it was about the Target employee uniforms that, which is, that were designed by Mizrahi, which is also very cool.

[00:15:54] Suzy Davidkhanian: I don't know. I, I know that those bags are iconic and definitely, like, free [00:16:00] advertising. Feels very narrow, Chicag- like, why did they pick Chicago and New York?

[00:16:05] Becky Schilling: Uh, Boston.

[00:16:06] Suzy Davidkhanian: Sorry. They didn't even pick New York.

Because

[00:16:08] Zak Stambor: they're હતા... in New York, that's

[00:16:09] Suzy Davidkhanian: why. They didn't even pick New York.

[00:16:11] Zak Stambor: Of course you're gonna pick Chicago.

[00:16:13] Suzy Davidkhanian: Yeah, I agree. Chicago's in Boston?

[00:16:18] Becky Schilling: I'm, I'm not gonna hate on Boston. I mean-

[00:16:23] Suzy Davidkhanian: Uh, for me it's interesting, right? This idea that Target is trying so hard to figure out how can they become cool again, and by trying to do all kinds of cool things. And I guess probably it's two cities 'cause they're trying to see if it works, and if it works and drives traffic, then maybe, maybe it's good and they'll do more.

[00:16:39] Becky Schilling: Yeah, I mean, I think Target needs to get out of their stores right now to get people in, if that makes any sense. Uh, uh, people, again, know Target. They're very well aware of the brand. They're very well aware of the challenges that they are facing, and those challenges are what keeping people from maybe going to that store.

[00:16:55] Becky Schilling: And so I think getting out there in, in real life, so to speak- Yeah ... i- is a [00:17:00] really good smart push for them.

[00:17:01] Suzy Davidkhanian: Especially with the surprise and delight moments. I love it. And the winner is, can you guys guess? Rivian. I love the Ghostbuster. Love.

[00:17:13] Sky Canaves: Me too. I can't wait to go test drive one.

[00:17:16] Suzy Davidkhanian: Or drive Alexis- ... at her upcoming trip.

[00:17:19] Suzy Davidkhanian: Oopsy. Okay, so on to award number three, greatest under-the-radar move, the smart play that didn't make headlines, but quietly moved the business forward. And the nominees are, Zach, starting with you.

[00:17:32] Zak Stambor: Yeah, so I wanna talk about Universal Standard. And the reason I wanna talk about it is because they're sticking with inclusive sizing at a time when, like, so many parts of the fashion industry are backing away from it.

[00:17:44] Zak Stambor: And so they just rolled out their latest capsule collection with designer, I'm gonna butcher this name, Abisola Omole Sounds good? Yeah. Okay. Um, and it spans- I had to look her up ... it spans sizes zero [00:18:00] to 40, and the early results show that it's, like, really resonating. Um, nearly 60% of first week unit sales happened in the first 48 hours.

[00:18:08] Zak Stambor: Almost 90% of the units were sold. It were in, uh, sizes 14 and above. And, you know, there's so much attention on GLP-1s and weight loss and how that's transforming everything, but the reality is, you know, there's numbers like 11% of US adults are currently on these medications. That means that 89% of adults are not on these medications, and a whole lot of people are not being served.

[00:18:34] Zak Stambor: And so this is a brand that is still focused on this very large audience. So I just, you know, wanted to high- highlight it.

[00:18:42] Suzy Davidkhanian: I love that they also talk about the clothing as technically sound, and that it's cool and nice. And-

[00:18:49] Zak Stambor: Yes,

[00:18:49] Suzy Davidkhanian: 100% ... I don't even know who, who's helping who more here, 'cause it sounds like this, um, creator, influencer is really quite well known in her market, in her niche [00:19:00] market.

[00:19:00] Zak Stambor: Yes.

[00:19:01] Suzy Davidkhanian: Just throwing it out there. The other thing I think is really cool, like you said, Zach, it's this tension around size inclusivity- Mm-hmm ... but is everybody losing weight, and they're, like, really capturing a moment that is critical, and that there's not a lot of noise around it, right? There aren't a lot of brands that are saying, "Wait, people of all sizes still.

[00:19:20] Suzy Davidkhanian: Not everybody's losing weight."

[00:19:22] Sky Canaves: Yeah, for some brands I think it's just been a way of cost-cutting and, like, trying to rationalize how much they're producing and what they're producing. So they're moving into fewer products and fewer sizes because it costs less to produce, rather than having that longer tail of sizes where you have fewer buyers at any one size.

[00:19:41] Sky Canaves: But there's still a market that needs to be served.

[00:19:44] Suzy Davidkhanian: With that, a market that needs to be served, it's perfect for Becky. Who's your nominee?

[00:19:49] Becky Schilling: My nominee is 7-Eleven. They launched, uh, Selección Seven. It's a line of Hispanic-inspired snacks, baked goods, and candy. It's under its own store brand. There's a [00:20:00] 70-million person market in the US, so one in five Americans is Hispanic.

[00:20:05] Becky Schilling: Uh, and a lot of them skew younger as well. And so private label is a big part of how 7-Eleven is trying to get more money per store. They're planning 220 new store brand products this fiscal year. Uh, this is a big part of that. Lots of merchandising, lots of really fun products, uh, exciting, cool things that not just for the Hispanic, uh, population, but, uh, a lot of other people would enjoy as well.

[00:20:28] Becky Schilling: So it's a C store, uh, with massive footprint, using its own brand to go after a growing consumer base.

[00:20:34] Suzy Davidkhanian: I mean, it's smart. It's, like, good for your margin. It's, like, good for loyalty. If it's private label, it's the only place that has it. If you produce products that people love, they're gonna keep coming to you.

[00:20:46] Suzy Davidkhanian: It's interesting, I think, for me, that convenience stores have been trying to figure out how to evolve beyond that quick I'm going to get gas and now I'm just gonna buy a Coke sort of, uh, trip mission. So it's very interesting to see how they're trying to build [00:21:00] new shopping occasions. Did you also have 7-Eleven with the pizzas and stuff?

[00:21:04] Suzy Davidkhanian: What, we- I feel like we talked about that one too.

[00:21:06] Becky Schilling: I think I was on, but I don't think that was mine. Maybe it was mine. Maybe, uh, no, I think it was mine. Am I on a 7-Eleven kick?

[00:21:12] Suzy Davidkhanian: Maybe. Target, 7-Eleven. We see the pattern. Skye, who's yours?

[00:21:17] Sky Canaves: Uh, my pick is Liquid Death, which is so well-known for its creative marketing savvy, and now they're reportedly branching out to make ads for other brands as well.

[00:21:27] Sky Canaves: According to a report from Semafor, their in-house creative agency, which is appropriately named Death Machine, is now willing to create edgy, high-impact campaigns for brands, a select few brands that really align with their ethos and are willing to cross some lines. They're, they say they, they don't, they're not doing it for the money.

[00:21:50] Sky Canaves: They don't need the money. But it's a way to kind of expand their impact by doing more of something that they do best [00:22:00] in addition to selling canned water. So I think it's really interesting because we usually think of brand expansion in terms of products for consumers or services for consumers, so this is kind of a B2B approach that is really novel and could help it grow its business in a, in a different way.

[00:22:18] Suzy Davidkhanian: I mean, it is interesting to turn a cost center into a revenue center, but my question is, and I don't know if you know the answer, what if brands don't wanna be so risky and edgy? Like, do they have co- consulting sessions before they take on new clients?

[00:22:32] Sky Canaves: Yeah, I think the clients they're looking at are going to be very much willing to go with where Liquid- Not risk averse

[00:22:39] Sky Canaves: Death or Death Machine is going to take them. So I saw one collaboration that was actually between Liquid Death and Travis Kelce for Garage Beer, and it was very colorful. It was kind of in line with an edgy SNL parody ad, and it makes sense because they work with writers' rooms and comedians to put these [00:23:00] together in, in what essentially I think is giving them a lot of leeway and free rein.

[00:23:05] Suzy Davidkhanian: I mean, it's interesting. It'll be... W- we'll definitely have to follow this because will this take away attention from their core business, which is selling water and other sort of CPG goods, or will it be helpful for them as they learn more, or maybe it'll give them deeper pockets

[00:23:24] Sky Canaves: Yeah, I think ultimately it can amplify their brand because it's like, oh, this is Liquid Death is behind this, or it's, it's kind of spreading their version of joy, um, into advertising and marketing.

[00:23:39] Becky Schilling: But then does that... Does it at some point dilute the power that Liquid Death's branding has? If, if more and more brands are using that same style, um, in their advertising, at what point does it dilute it in-

[00:23:50] Sky Canaves: I mean, I think it's ultimately humor and edginess, which there's always room for. I think there's always room for more.

[00:23:58] Suzy Davidkhanian: Oh, that's a great [00:24:00] place to end. More, more of Liquid

[00:24:00] Becky Schilling: Death?

[00:24:01] Suzy Davidkhanian: More of humor and joy and surprise and delight. This was a hard one. I don't know if you guys want me to tell you that you convinced me otherwise from my biases. The winner is Zach.

[00:24:15] Zak Stambor: Oh my goodness. Wow.

[00:24:17] Suzy Davidkhanian: Well, because at first I was like- Thank you

[00:24:18] Suzy Davidkhanian: these are brands that I don't think are part of our everyday world. But it is really interesting to see how they're leaning into... They have found a white space opportunity that is very emotional, and they are leaning into it and are sort of going counter the grain, and I think that's really good for all of them.

[00:24:35] Zak Stambor: Yeah, totally agree. I mean, that's why I wanted to highlight it.

[00:24:38] Suzy Davidkhanian: I love it. So the winners are for our most impactful campaign, Pringles. Becky's giving me a look.

[00:24:45] Becky Schilling: No, there's no look. She just telegraphed that one.

[00:24:49] Suzy Davidkhanian: So the winners are for most impactful campaign, Zach's Pringles nominee. Yes. The best in real life initiative, Rivian, brought to you by Sky.

[00:24:59] Sky Canaves: Thank you. [00:25:00]

[00:25:00] Suzy Davidkhanian: And for the greatest under the radar move, Zach again with Universal Standard.

[00:25:06] Zak Stambor: Yes.

[00:25:06] Suzy Davidkhanian: That's all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us, Becky.

[00:25:10] Becky Schilling: I'm happy to be here.

[00:25:12] Suzy Davidkhanian: With me in the studio. Thank you. In the

[00:25:13] Becky Schilling: studio, yeah.

[00:25:14] Suzy Davidkhanian: Uh, thank you, Sky.

[00:25:16] Sky Canaves: Thanks, Suzy.

[00:25:17] Suzy Davidkhanian: And thank you to Zach for bringing...

[00:25:19] Suzy Davidkhanian: for all of you, for bringing on such great nominees.

[00:25:23] Zak Stambor: Yeah. No, I'm gonna take my hardware home. I'm very excited.

[00:25:26] Suzy Davidkhanian: I know. Two out of three, not bad. Yeah. Thank you to the team who edits the podcast, and of course, to our listeners. I'll see you next Wednesday for more Reimagining Retail, an eMarketer podcast made possible by Atmosphere TV.

[00:25:39] Suzy Davidkhanian: And we'll be back with the UMRA's at the end of November. And on Friday, you can join Marcus for another episode of Behind the Numbers.