Suzy Davidkhanian (00:05):

Hi, everyone. Today is Wednesday, April 29th. Welcome to EMARKETERs weekly retail show, Reimagining Retail, where we talk about how retail collides with every part of our lives. I'm your host, Suzy Davidkhanian and on today's episode, we're back with our unofficial monthly retailer awards. Yes, the UMRAs. Let's see who stood up this month. Joining me, we have from Chicago principal analyst in retail, Zak Stambor. Hi.

Zak Stambor (00:34):

Hi, Suzy. Happy to be here.

Suzy Davidkhanian (00:36):

We're so excited to have you. And we have Carina Perkins, senior analyst, also covering all things retail in the UK and Europe, joining us from the London area. Not to be confused with London. Hey, Carina.

Carina Perkins (00:48):

Hi, Suzy. Great to be back.

Suzy Davidkhanian (00:51):

Becky's laughing, but I was corrected that she's London area.

Carina Perkins (00:54):

I mean, I'm not really London area. I'm-

Suzy Davidkhanian (00:56):

See, it's even worse.

Carina Perkins (00:57):

... south coast.

Becky Schilling (00:57):

Just to be accurate.

Suzy Davidkhanian (00:58):

Yeah. It's even worse.

Carina Perkins (00:59):

Quite fun.

Suzy Davidkhanian (01:01):

My London area didn't even meet our needs.

Zak Stambor (01:03):

We're going off track already.

Carina Perkins (01:05):

West Sussex. Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (01:07):

And joining me in the studio, Becky Schilling, Senior Director of Media Content and Strategy. Hi.

Becky Schilling (01:13):

Hello. I'm so excited to be here.

Suzy Davidkhanian (01:15):

Me too. Okay. So as a reminder, here's how this works. For the UMRAs, each month we're handing out awards to the retailers we think really nailed it in a few areas. We've got three categories, most impactful campaign, best in real life initiative, and the greatest under the radar move. Becky, Carina, and Zak each brought a nominee for April, and I'll get to pick the winner based on how convincing their case is. So let's get started. Award number one, most impactful campaign. This is the marketing idea that broke through the noise. It resonated, it was memorable, it drove performance, and the nominees are ... Becky, I'm starting with you. Go ahead.

Becky Schilling (01:59):

So I picked JCPenney, and I know what you're all thinking, "JCPenney?"

Suzy Davidkhanian (02:04):

Yes, I was.

Becky Schilling (02:04):

I knew this, but yes, I picked JCPenney for a couple of reasons. It's for their Inside Lane campaign. And they teamed up with five women's basketball athletes to style everyday looks pulled from their existing inventory. And while everyone else is chasing the Caitlin Clarks of the world, and for good reason, JCPenney took a different approach and they picked some rising stars and they built this campaign around access instead of exclusivity. It's the third chapter in the retailer's Yes, JCPenney thesis. It followed the other Venice wedding and the Paris, Texas runway. And unlike other celebrity collabs, there's no wait list, there's no limited drop. The clothes are ready right now on the floor.

Suzy Davidkhanian (02:51):

It's definitely a reframing of aspirational luxury with folks who are soon to be, as you said, rising stars.

Becky Schilling (03:01):

Yes.

Suzy Davidkhanian (03:01):

So that's new and it does go really well with their whole anti-elitism themes.

Becky Schilling (03:07):

Yes, it does.

Carina Perkins (03:08):

I actually love this one, but I love anything that's kind of, you know, women, rising women up.

Becky Schilling (03:15):

Thank you, Carina.

Suzy Davidkhanian (03:16):

I love that Carina's helping you.

Becky Schilling (03:17):

Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (03:19):

It's her first time on the monthly award show.

Becky Schilling (03:21):

She doesn't know how it works.

Carina Perkins (03:23):

I'm confident I've got the win on this one, so we're good.

Becky Schilling (03:25):

Oh. Oh.

Suzy Davidkhanian (03:26):

Oh, yeah. I mean, you're right. It does tap into a growing cultural relevance that will help JCPenney, hopefully, but you have to hope that folks also know these rising stars. I am not so into basketball. Are they really rising stars or are they more or less risen?

Becky Schilling (03:48):

They're the rising stars. So they are not the everyday household names that people know. But I think that works for JCPenney because they're trying to get back to the, we are kind of that household brand and people have strayed from that brand a little bit. And so they're trying to get people who are just you and me, but maybe a little bit on the stardom.

Suzy Davidkhanian (04:09):

I mean, that's my favorite part. It's really aligning underdogs together.

Becky Schilling (04:12):

Yeah. I love that. That's a great line. They should use that.

Suzy Davidkhanian (04:15):

Oh my gosh. Thank you. Okay. Onto number two. Carina, who's your pick?

Carina Perkins (04:20):

Okay. My pick is Kit Kat who turned a real life chocolate heist into a global participatory marketing experience. So 12 tons, that's 400,000 bars of Kit Kat were stolen in transit between Italy and Poland, I believe. And the brand, rather than despairing, partnered with VML to capitalize on all the media attention they were getting. And they launched a Kit Kat tracker online, which basically invited consumers to scan their bars and check if they were part of the missing shipment. So effectively, they kind of gamified this heist, which they have insisted is genuine and did really happen and linked the campaign to kind of actual product interaction at shelf. And it was a bit of a snowball. Loads of other brands got involved on social media. Lots of, I think Domino's, there's a pizza company over here and over there, I guess, said, "We are really sorry to hear about all the Kit Kats. In totally separate news, we're launching a Kit Kat pizza."

(05:20):

It was perfect timing. It was chocolate, it was Easter, and it delivered absolutely massive impact. So 224 million in earned media in 10 days, 70.5 billion social reach and a 31% share of voice across 93 markets. And it's just a great example of fast, culturally contagious marketing.

Suzy Davidkhanian (05:39):

Also, I think it was funny, we laughed when you said it was real and they assured us it was real 'cause it was around April Fool's Day and all of a sudden everybody's Instagram is like, really we're tracking it and now you can see if you're eating stolen Kit Kat by ... And that's a data play too, right. Scan the QR code or whatever the SKU number is to see if you actually have a stolen Kit Kat in America and every brand piled on. I think it's very interesting. This is one of my favorite ones, I have to be honest, because everyone around the world, as you said, piled onto what could have been a catastrophic supply chain issue into this fun moment and so much is happening in the world, it's kind of fun to have these moments.

Carina Perkins (06:27):

Yeah. And I think they've done really fun stuff since. I don't know if you've seen the Kit Kat lorry being accompanied by all the police convoy-

Suzy Davidkhanian (06:33):

Oh my God, no.

Carina Perkins (06:35):

... and a kind of presidential convoy. And again, everyone's like, "Is that real? Is that just a photo shoot?" I think for this one, it's probably the latter, but they've just done a really great job at capitalizing on the moment and kind of seizing it back and just turning it into a bit of fun as well.

Suzy Davidkhanian (06:49):

Literally a PR payback in every way, shape or form. Cool. Onto number three, another really good choice. Zak, what's yours?

Zak Stambor (06:58):

Okay. So mine is American Eagle's Syd for Short campaign. So to take a step back, I think we all remember last year's Sydney Sweeney has good jeans campaign, which whether you thought it was clever wordplay or you thought it was something else, I think everybody had an opinion about it and everybody knew about that campaign. And that's exactly the point. American Eagle understands that we are in an attention economy and they are getting people's attention. So the last campaign drew billions of impressions, attracted hundreds of thousands of new customers, and most importantly helped reverse their declining sales of denim. Well, they're at it again, but they put a twist on it this time with centering the campaign around this 15-second spot that is just clouds and splashing waves and Sydney Sweeney wearing denim, wearing different outfits. And there's just a few words and those words are, "What brand am I wearing? Yeah, that one, American Eagle Jean Shorts."

(08:16):

And I think it just centers the brand so sharply around this very big star and is capturing attention. I mean, if you just search Sydney Sweeney ad campaign, there's so much earned media just blowing up about this campaign. So I thought that was really noteworthy.

Suzy Davidkhanian (08:39):

And it's amazing that they didn't run away from her, but instead they decided to lean into it. But I would've, it's interesting your pivot. I interpreted the pivot a little bit differently in that this is really a campaign about the clothes she styled. It's really about summerwear. It's much lighter and more "fresh" than the original campaign. So I thought it was like lean into it, but also pivot a little bit so that you can reposition.

Zak Stambor (09:08):

Yeah. I mean, you don't want to run the same play twice, but they recognized that what they did last time around worked, but if they do the same thing, it won't get the same attention. So they tweaked it a bit. And I like that. It shows real agility on their part.

Suzy Davidkhanian (09:26):

Absolutely. Okay. So that takes us to the three nominees, which are for the most impactful campaign, JCPenney, the Kit Kat PR moment from a heist and the American Eagle Syd for Short campaign. And the winner is, this was a really hard one for me, because I was all in one of them and then the discussion moved me into, oh, that's interesting 'cause it was not ... Though there is a lot of value in jumping on a moment, it's interesting that they are ... So the winner is American Eagle, and I am sort of fascinated by the fact that they could hang onto something, turn it into another moment. Now, we don't know what'll happen, but all signs point to an effective second campaign with the same person. And I think that's hard to do when it was so, so provocative and divisive the first time around. So the winner, Zak.

Zak Stambor (10:30):

Wow, it's my first win. I was shut out last time around, so I am very happy.

Suzy Davidkhanian (10:35):

Well, I'm so excited. So onto our next award, Best In Real Life Initiative, the in real life move that got people off their screens and into stores, creating an experience worth checking out. And the nominees are, this time I'm starting with you, Carina.

Carina Perkins (10:53):

So mine is sportshoes.com, which launched House of SportsShoes, which is a flagship experiential store. So it's an online retailer. It hasn't had a store until now. And it's launched a 5,000 square foot store in Shoreditch, which enables runners to test hundreds of shoes. There's a gait analysis, there's engagements with athletes and brand activations. And this is the bit I love about it. It operates on a frictionless model where customers can order in store and then they get it delivered the next day. So it's like a kind of flip on the click and collect model, which I really love. And they've got a lot of activations planned around the London Marathon, which is huge. And so it's kind of really designed as a retail environment, but also a hub for the running community.

Suzy Davidkhanian (11:38):

What I loved about this, admittedly, I was like, it's just a store, but they don't have any inventory. So that's kind of cool. They must have every size and color way available for you to try on, and they're not pegged to like a Nike or a Hoka. They are really brand agnostic. It's like a marketplace in real life, which I thought was pretty cool.

Carina Perkins (12:01):

Yeah, absolutely. People can try loads of different brands. And like I said, they've got that running analysis, kind of gait analysis, proper fitting. So it's everything, all of those frictions that you have if you're trying to buy from the store online, really get overcome by this physical space. And then you can walk away without having to carry a big heavy pair of shoes round with you for the rest of the day, you get it delivered straight to your house. And I love that kind of slightly different take on the click and collect model.

Suzy Davidkhanian (12:29):

It's interesting for me. I mean, you sort of answered my question, will people want to wait to get their shoes the next day? And I guess I don't know where the store is located, but I guess if you're in a busy downtown area where you're not near your house, maybe it's okay.

Carina Perkins (12:45):

Yeah, it's Shoreditch, right, so it's in London and it's going to be lots of activations around the London Marathon. So I think most people are going to be on the tube. They're not going to want to have a big heavy bag with them to carry around for the rest of the day. And running shoes, I mean, I think most people can wait for running shoes until the next day, unless you plan to go for a run home.

Becky Schilling (13:02):

I could wait for years for running shoes.

Suzy Davidkhanian (13:06):

Also, the way you just said that, it felt like it was just a popup store. It's not. They talked about it in January-

Carina Perkins (13:11):

No, no. Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (13:11):

... and it's there forever. It's just that there are going to be extra activations around the Marathon.

Carina Perkins (13:15):

Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (13:16):

Cool. Up next, Zak, this was a fun one too.

Zak Stambor (13:20):

Yeah. So Chili's Big Crispy Food Court. So Chili's has been crushing it over the past few years by offering deals that really positioned the brand as a direct competitor to fast food. And so they decided they wanted to highlight this message by staging a one-day pop-up, the Big Crispy Food Court, clever plan words because it was positioned as an actual court, not a food court, that just so happened to be next door to a McDonald's and consumers were invited to serve as the jury in the case of Chili's versus fast food where they could taste the evidence that Chili's offers the best value in the industry. And then they could share their verdict with a court TV reporter or anchor. I don't really know who it was. They also offered a virtual option where if you couldn't attend it, you could share your opinion or your verdict on X and get a chance to win a gift card.

(14:29):

What I like about it is that, Chili's is going right at what should be fast food chain's core strength value, and it's doing so, so effectively. And this isn't a one-off stunt. I mean, it's a one-day pop-up, but they did a similar sort of thing last year when they had, in the same space, something called fast food financing where they made it look like a payday loan retailer, because the cost of fast food was rising so quickly. And so I just love what Chili's is doing in hitting this note hard and repeatedly and delivering a very clear message that you can get for the same price as going to a fast food chain, you can just go to Chili's and get a good quality meal and sit down.

Suzy Davidkhanian (15:22):

And this was like all of that. And it's like a real world experience that covers everything from sample. It's like an activation done really well. There's sampling, there's participation. So you're talking to other people about it, you're getting some sort of vibe in community sense. It's social friendly. They've thought about all the people that are not in New York City that want to participate, but can't necessarily participate. For people who don't know Chili's, it's like Olive Garden style, right? It's like fast casual versus a QSR, like a McDonald's, right?

Zak Stambor (15:54):

Exactly. Right. It's like a sit-down restaurant. You can get burgers, you can get crispy chicken sandwiches, that sort of stuff. But yeah, so you think that the cost of going there would be more than McDonald's or Burger King or whatnot, but they're positioning, they're saying, "No, it really isn't."

Suzy Davidkhanian (16:17):

I love this one. And right now, value means a lot to a lot of different people, so it's a good one. Becky, what's yours?

Becky Schilling (16:25):

So mine is Walmart's partnership with La Roche-Posay. They launched in nearly 1500 stores and La Roche-Posay bestsellers are now on the Walmart shelves, but the IRL move is what's happening at the pharmacy counter. So Walmart is training its pharmacists to serve as specialized skincare advisors, including for patients who are dealing with skin side effects from their prescription medications. It's smart for several reasons. One, we know Walmart is seeing a lot of higher income shoppers, and by bringing in a premium skincare brand, they're speaking to those consumers, but they're also democratizing a luxury across all of their shoppers. And the second one is what I'm calling a Sephora-ification of Walmart, which is they started last year their beauty bar pilots and they're expanding that and they're in their beauty and their personal care aisles and making it feel more like a store with people who can help you and can help pick out things and personalize experiences for you in real life as opposed to some people's experiences at Walmart that feels less than helpful and less shopper-friendly and a little too chaotic.

Suzy Davidkhanian (17:35):

Well, it's interesting 'cause I was like, "Becky, this isn't new," but it's 'cause I shop it online. And so I know that it's already available online. So it's quite clever that they're bringing it in store with that sort of help you find the right product that you might not get because you can get that help too online, but now it's just so much easier. It's from a more trusted source. It plays into their whole, they're a pharmaceutical beauty brand, not a beauty beauty brand. I love this blending of health and helpfulness and beauty. It's definitely a premium brand. And like you said, it's bringing Walmart to that space. I love it. This one was a really hard one, the in real life moment. I think because I'm very literal and the word moment, getting people out of their, off their couches and their screens to a place, I'm giving it to Zak.

Becky Schilling (18:25):

Two for two.

Suzy Davidkhanian (18:25):

I know.

Zak Stambor (18:26):

Oh my goodness.

Suzy Davidkhanian (18:27):

Guys, like, this was not my original intention going in with my own biases. I had a whole different lineup.

Zak Stambor (18:36):

Wow.

Suzy Davidkhanian (18:36):

I know.

Carina Perkins (18:36):

I mean, that almost makes it worse. It means that we're so ... We're so bad at convincing you that you've decided to go with us, but now you're going with Zak 'cause he's so much better IRL.

Suzy Davidkhanian (18:49):

Oh my God. I'm sorry. You're right. I take it back. I knew this all along who I was going to vote for.

Zak Stambor (18:55):

I paid her off.

Suzy Davidkhanian (18:58):

It's interesting 'cause one of the other ones that we didn't talk about that for me was interesting was the Urban Outfitters and Vans. Vans is having their ... It's an anniversary for them. It's the 60th year and Urban Outfitters does these on rotation experiential in store concepts. And I thought that might've been one we would've picked, but you guys picked so many good ones. It was hard to finally decide who wins. Onto award number three. So Carina, you know what, the jury's out. You might be able to convince me that you're-

Becky Schilling (19:29):

But I'm just out?

Suzy Davidkhanian (19:31):

No, I'm just saying in general, you should be excited that you can convince me otherwise. So the greatest under the radar move, the smart play that didn't make headlines by quietly move the business forward and the nominations, Zak, starting with you.

Zak Stambor (19:46):

Yeah. So PacSun is bringing its PS Vintage secondhand fashion concept into its stores. And I like this for two reasons. One, it appeals to Gen Z's consumer's desire for individuality and unique items, which they can now find there. And the second is it's just getting them into the store and it invites people to return to the stores because you never know what you'll find in the store. So we've seen so many different retailers over, I don't know, the past several years roll up resale as kind of this side project, side other thing that they're doing. But this step makes, to me, feels like PacSun is making this a more substantial effort. It's launching in 16 stores to start. It plans to expand. And in doing that, like I said, it's making the store more of a discovery-driven experience because you never know what you'll find when you venture in.

(21:02):

And they're doing it at a pretty opportune time. In our forecast, we see resale sales and the number of people buying resale just up and to the right and up and to the right for the foreseeable future. And that's likely to continue as consumers are feeling squeezed and looking for value.

Suzy Davidkhanian (21:22):

So I love this and I agree with all the things you're saying. However, for me, this feels like it's a catch-up move and not ... It's almost that's why it's under the radar, because they're a little bit behind. There are so many other retailers that have already started mixing resale with full price merchandise. The idea that it's vintage is kind of cute, right. It's like a different way of talking about resale, which is true. Probably not exactly vintage, but I don't know. Interesting.

Zak Stambor (21:51):

Yeah, I think it's vintage-esque. I think it's like their core demographic wants this stuff. They're delivering it to them. They're doing it ... They're moving seemingly rather quickly. And so I thought it was interesting.

Suzy Davidkhanian (22:06):

Definitely interesting. Becky, what's yours?

Becky Schilling (22:08):

So I picked Chewy for its acquisition of Modern Animal. It's a 29 clinic tech forward vet chain with 24, 7 virtual care, and it's going to add over 100,000 membership families into the Chewy ecosystem. So overnight, they just added $125 million in revenue from them. Why it matters, Chewy already has 21 million active customers. They've got a pharmacy, they've got insurance, they've got telehealth. This adds that brick and mortar piece in there. And as a pet parent, whenever you can get everything collectively as one, it makes it incredibly helpful. And as a retailer, it makes it really helpful because then you can get them at every single point along your pet journey. And you also get all of that data and all of that that you can monetize through advertising and partnerships.

Suzy Davidkhanian (22:59):

I hadn't thought about the clinics are in real life. I thought they were the extension of telehealth, which is very clever since Chewy is not in real life. They can start putting all their things, like, to showcase examples and the foods and the games and whatever, the toys.

Becky Schilling (23:14):

Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (23:14):

That's clever.

Becky Schilling (23:17):

Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (23:17):

Interesting.

Becky Schilling (23:18):

And pets.

Suzy Davidkhanian (23:19):

Very interesting.

Becky Schilling (23:20):

Always win with pets. I mean, I don't understand how the chocolate didn't win, but that's okay.

Suzy Davidkhanian (23:25):

Oh, the Kit Kat?

Becky Schilling (23:26):

Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (23:26):

I mean, it was so close, so, so close. Carina, what's yours?

Carina Perkins (23:32):

Okay. Mine comes from Tesco in the UK. It is the UK's biggest supermarket, and it became the first supermarket in the UK to upgrade an entire product range to QR codes. So it has removed barcodes from its own labeled sausage range and has replaced them entirely with QR codes. And this is quite a fundamental shift in how products are managed in retail. So they can be used by the retailers to have a much better visibility of shelf life on products, which helps them order more accurately and improve the efficiency of stock control routines, which will hopefully reduce waste. And if there's any product recalls, then the QR codes will allow the retailers to identify the kind of specific batches impacted. So rather than having these really broad base recalls, they'll be able to recall just those very specific batches. It could also be used to provide additional product information to consumers, perhaps more around traceability, sustainability, things like recipes and competitions.

(24:34):

So it's a bit of a under the radar move. I mean, I know it's Tesco, so you'd think, "Is that under the radar?" But it is under the radar because it's not really a kind of consumer facing move. It's very much a backend move, but one which is quite fundamental and I think really interesting, especially if it does have the impact on waste efficiency and supply chain visibility that they claim.

Suzy Davidkhanian (24:54):

You know what I love about this is that it's changing no experience ... I mean, sorry, most people don't click on the QR code. So if you click on the QR code, for sure it's going to change your customer experience. But on the backend, it's really not changing the customer experience fundamentally 'cause it's moving from barcodes to QR codes. Most things already have a QR code on the packaging anyways, so it's really not that much of a change for the consumer. But oh my gosh, it's going to make a big difference for Tesco in the way that they plan their inventory, in the way, like you said, the sustainability play. I just think it's very cool.

Carina Perkins (25:29):

Yeah. And I think it's really interesting that they started with sausages. It's really kind of high volume, short shelf life category, but it's perfect for testing something like this before they scale it wider.

Suzy Davidkhanian (25:39):

It's very cool. One of the ones I thought maybe was going to come up, but it didn't, but I'm just going to say it in one second, is Costco, like every year is opening more stores, but now they've shifted their strategy a little bit and they're opening stores next to one another in a mile radius that wouldn't have otherwise merited a store because they're leaning into a better experience and there's so much friction now that more people are being value-driven shoppers, there's too much volume in some of the stores. So now they're going to open more stores near one another to try and alleviate that, which I thought was pretty cool.

Zak Stambor (26:11):

That is very cool because one of the most frustrating things is pulling into a Costco parking lot, parking 10 miles away, venturing into the store and just dealing with so many people. And so that could alleviate some of that stress.

Suzy Davidkhanian (26:27):

Oh my God, I think I just won.

Becky Schilling (26:29):

Zak, you can't choose that as yours now, because you know Suzy wants it. Yeah, no.

Carina Perkins (26:33):

He's just sucking up.

Suzy Davidkhanian (26:37):

Well, for the under the radar move, we had PacSun with the vintage stores bringing vintage to their stores. We had Chewy purchasing Modern Animal and we had Tesco's pilot with the QR codes on the sausages and the winner is Tesco.

Carina Perkins (26:56):

Ooh yay.

Suzy Davidkhanian (26:57):

I just think it's very clever. I think it's really good for their business. When it's private label, the margins are so thin anyways, this should really help them.

Carina Perkins (27:04):

Yeah, I think it's a great move.

Suzy Davidkhanian (27:06):

So the winners for most impactful campaign was American Eagle with the Syd for Short campaign. Our best in real life initiative was also Chili's. By also, I mean, it was Chili's also from Zak and our greatest under the radar move came from Carina in the UK, Tesco. That's all the time we have for today. Thank you, Becky, Carina, and Zak. And thank you to our team that edits the podcast and of course our listeners. Please leave a rating or review and remember to subscribe. I'll see you next Wednesday for more Reimagining Retail and we'll be back with the UMRAs at the end of May. And on Friday, you can join Marcus for another episode of Behind the Numbers. I love that we're in the room together.

Carina Perkins (28:00):

Don't say that 'cause then I always feel left out 'cause I'm never in the room.

Suzy Davidkhanian (28:03):

You know what? It's just Becky and I in one room-

Carina Perkins (28:07):

Yeah.

Suzy Davidkhanian (28:07):

... where it's fifty fifty. It's fine.

Zak Stambor (28:09):

Right. I'm in my basement.

Suzy Davidkhanian (28:11):

Yeah.

Carina Perkins (28:12):

Yeah. I have my dog.

Suzy Davidkhanian (28:14):

Oh.

Becky Schilling (28:14):

Aw-

Carina Perkins (28:14):

Yeah.

Becky Schilling (28:15):

... that's better.