Dickies®’s Post

Foot Locker – a brand I enjoy following… It is a storied brand rooted in American culture, but my fascination in its simplest form is because Foot Locker has strong women at the helm with a diverse board. Mary 2023: Mary Dillon, CEO introduced the Lace Up Plan that including closing underperforming locations, enhancing brand partnerships, and the Store of the Future Ultimately, expanding sneaker culture and the sneaker community will help in deepening their relationships with their customers April 2024: Store of the Future was revealed in New Jersey with storytelling moments to encourage discovery, a Sneaker Hub with lacing customization, and other immersive experiences With approx. 2,500 across the world, the turnaround at Foot Locker is no easy feat - this journey can and has impacted a lot of people, but the light I see at the end of the tunnel… First quarter 2024 results were better than expected although still down to LY. Bright spots include +1.1% in comparable sales for Global Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker. Women control 85% of purchasing power and Foot Locker isn’t sleeping on the momentum women’s sports and female athletes, in general are experiencing. The women’s division is where there is significant opportunity for growth being supported by new marketing campaigns and two events hosted at the WNBA All-Star Game last weekend. I love the way Chief Customer Officer Kim Waldmann breaks down the approach in this Modern Retail article: Product, Marketing, and Experience. All 3 need to come together to support the customer journey. Back-to-school looks fun… Cheering Foot Locker on from the sidelines!! #retail #sneakers #sneakerculture #turnaround #femaleathletes #femalesports #opportunity

Some inspiration from VIVALDI_ LDN for you this Monday morning – a recap from our recent meet up and the topics we were debating in context of our work in brand, tech and creativity. 🦩 Lauren Hughes kicked things off with Marks and Spencer's refreshing "Pumped For Summer" campaign. She loved how the brand embraced a social-first approach to capture the essence of summer in a way that resonates with younger audiences. This is yet another step in their transformation over the past year in product and communication. https://lnkd.in/g7qDJ9D6 🐝 Bumble created quite a buzz with its recent rebranding, but did it land? While the cryptic teasers leading up to the reveal were undeniably intriguing, the overall created quite a lot of confusion. Tom Young highlighted the importance of a clear connection between a brand’s product or service and its marketing message, to ensure new identities resonate with existing users. 🦈 Priyal Kumar was impressed by Gymshark’s lightning-fast reaction to the Met Gala. Its "Sweat Gala" recreated iconic red carpet looks with the brand’s own apparel, showcasing its mastery of social media responsiveness. This is a perfect example of "moving at the speed of culture" to capitalise on trending moments. 🛒 A creative #OOH stunt by Waitrose & Partners caught Felix Gittins’ attention this week. With a more playful and trendy marketing approach, the supermarket launched a purposefully wonky billboard to communicate its falling prices, which was then cordoned off by the local council by mistake. Waitrose capitalised on the situation by engaging the council on social media, joining the growing trend of supermarkets using humour to spark conversation and stand out in a crowded market. Do you think the whole thing was a set-up, and does that even matter? 🏥 Kieran Salter highlighted FIGS Scrubs' heart-warming National Nurses Week campaign. Its focus on celebrating nurses as heroes and breaking stereotypes resonated with the team, who think it’s a refreshing reminder of the power of purpose-driven marketing. 📱Finally, Apple At a time when people are questioning the power of technology, does it promote the destruction of the human experience, or is it simply a spectacle to be enjoyed? Either way it has created conversation, which compared with some recent #blanding by tech giants may not be a bad thing in the long run. System1 testing seems to have born out that real people feel the dismay of many marketeers but spoiler not all the team agreed! What do you think? #creativity #campaigns #branding #socialmedia #marketing #MetGala #Bumble #Gymshark #Apple #FIGSScrubs #Waitrose #brand #fashion

(One of LinkedIn's "best posts" the week of July 30, 2023) -- Fresh off the heels of the Barbie film’s success, comes news that a key figure in Barbie’s exhaustive marketing cyclone (the very talented and movie-star-jawed Mattel, Inc. exec Mr. Richard Dickson) will become the new ceo of Gap. It’s exciting news for some, and another eye roll for those who have tracked GAP’s 20+ year history of brand-eroding missteps, in regard to leadership, vision, merchandise mix, collaborative partnerships, and retail footprint. I lived in San Francisco in GAP’s heyday, and had many friends and colleagues who thrived there. All of them see this appointment as another statement about how out of touch the brand remains, trying to fulfill a future that connects to new consumers and clothes the style-conscious actually want. Let’s step into the time machine for a moment. In the early 1990s, when GAP engineered an unprecedented bridge between mass #retail, cutting edge #fashion, personal style, #marketing (via iconic #celebrity advertising that built social currency), that collectively built a deep foothold in #popculture – the world was very, very different. However, this drug-like nexus remains the sole lens this brand sees itself through. And that will be their new CEO’s challenge: either recreating that (impossible, in under a decade) or renegotiating those expectations, quarter by quarter, for his teams, and with Wall Street (the latter which certainly won’t give him 10 years of rope). GAP’s issues are deep: · The brand made basics cool, but that was never ownable IP; and now other brands make basics at varying levels of quality and price, that fulfill the basics-are-cool vibe · Still slower concept-to-production-to-store timelines that often puts the brand, behind trend · A lot of real estate and mall-based properties (as I’ve said, greater mall-based retail, is dead) · A greater competitive landscape when it comes to fast or disposable fashion, where GAP still lives · A generational shift in taste and value, 20+ years since the brand’s woes began, that means the brand isn’t trying to recapture a customer they lost; they can only identify an entirely new consumer base, which requires extreme risk-taking in terms of brand and merchandise · And of course, the death of the marketing platform that made GAP so seminal in the 1990s: advertising that lived with you, that stayed with you, and informed your sense of self over time – the only platforms to achieve that are physical advertising and expensive omnipresence across digital, print, and multiple platforms I close with an image from one of GAP's iconic "Khakis Swing" TV spot, that set mood and built buyer urgency through style, movement and music. You've got your work cut out for you, Mr. Dickson. #retail #marketing Lisa Fickenscher

If you read the Dynamic blog, you know we write a lot about branding. (If you don’t read our blog – you are missing out…)

 This article about the Michaels Stores rebrand highlights a core sentiment about branding strategy, “People love going to Michaels and having that tactile experience, so we wanted to celebrate how ownable that is through the work.”

 Read https://bit.ly/3PiZf5e to learn more about the “Everything to Create Anything” Michaels tagline.   #retailin2023 #brickandmortar #knowyourcustomers #brandawareness

🙌 HNY to my LinkedIn community! What a year 2023 has been for brands all over the world; some of them really pulled out all the stops to keep consumers engaged. Collaborations and partnerships were bigger and better than ever and remain high on the list of strategies to keep momentum going in 2024. 💪   🏆I want to highlight some of my favorite brand collabs of 2023: 🧳🚘 Louis Vuitton x BMW Group: Two luxury brands combining their offerings displayed a great example of strategic alignment on purpose. Both LV and BMW aim to deliver consumers high-end appeal, and this collab did just that by combining the fashion house’s beloved luggage with the automaker’s sleek i8 model.   🍸🍅Absolut x Heinz: After launching its first range of pasta sauces in 2022, Heinz shook social media with the announcement of its partnership with Absolut. The two partnered to create a vodka sauce in a campaign that combined nostalgia and pop culture to become an instant hit.   💎👟Tiffany & Co. x Nike: Jewelry empire Tiffany & Co. teamed up with Nike to create a co-branded version of the athleticwear’s well-known Air Force 1 Low shoe. This collaboration celebrated the stylishness that both brands share while highlighting their ties to New York City.   🏀🩲 National Basketball Association (NBA) x SKIMS: The fashion brand known for its underwear and shapewear line made big moves when it announced its collab with the professional basketball league This showed how brands can mutually grow one another’s audiences and attract new, diverse groups of consumers.   I am excited to see what new (and unexpected) partnerships arise in the new year! 🤩   #BrandBuilding #BrandCollaboration  

From dollhouses to denim: Richard Dickson's move from Mattel to Gap as the new CEO is a masterclass in career versatility and brand rejuvenation. This pivotal shift signals a call for transformation that all of us–as changemakers and trendsetters–can take cues from. Let's embrace the opportunity every chance we get to inject fresh perspectives into our brands and reshape them for the future, as Richard Dickson has and continues to do across brands. https://smsng.us/3Kt83Cx

Gap is not Barbie, and the same playbook won't work twice... If I were in Richard Dickson's shoes, I would be focused on three counter-intuitive strategies to restore Gap to its former glory: 🏛️ Invest in STORES. Yes, physical stores. I know every brand needs to be omni-channel and digital, but when I worked at Gap, they were leaders in retail design, visual merchandising, and execution. Today, shopping is an EXPERIENCE, and Gap could lead the way in that arena again. 💁♂️ Don’t forget the male consumer. Female shoppers dominate the market, but men can be very brand loyal and consistent when you treat them with dignity and respect. Give them a shopping experience of their own… do not make them feel like are invaders in a women's space. This is especially true for Banana Republic... I yearn for the days of great BR sweaters and knits! 🖼️ Go beyond programmatic. Ecommerce has trained us to focus on CPC and CAC… but Richard is a storyteller at heart. Gap should invest in authentic, innovative, and story-driven marketing. They once led the way in these types of campaigns and can do it again. As a Gap alum, I believe deeply in the brand and its connection to consumers. I know Richard is up to the task. He's a brilliant marketer and team leader. What would you do to revive the Gap brands? #retail #leadership #barbie

CAN COOLNESS BE CENTRALISED? When it comes to sneakers, I’m a Camper man. However, this article by Suzanne Kapner in the The Wall Street Journal on how VF’s new CEO – Bracken Darrell – plans to turnaround the apparel giant makes for interesting reading on corporate strategy and the role parents play in their portfolios. Specifically, finding a balance between brand autonomy and central control, and how parents unlock value within and between its businesses. VF Corporation owns brands like The North Face and Timberland, but a key to fixing the company’s financial woes is reversing the fortunes of Vans, which represents a third of total revenue. Vans remains a big player in sneakers but has lost ground in key demographics – having lost some of its ‘counterculture’ image. ❌️ The problem: VF achieved success through a hands-off approach that kept corporate expenses low and allowed brand autonomy in product development and marketing. However, recent changes saw more power consolidated at the corporate level to boost innovation and collaboration. This limited brand independence and bloated corporate expenses. According to Darrell, “the corporate entity had become a gatekeeper of resources rather than a facilitator”. ✅️ The solution: 👷♂️ Get more hands on: - Darrell spends a lot of time at Vans’ HQ, visits stores to talk to customers, and even shares his mobile number with employees. 💡Get more creative: - Being too reliant on five classic styles, employees are urged to recapture the brand’s ‘outsider’ mindset. For this, there is a boost in investment in brand and faster product development that is more aligned with the latest trends. 💰 Find focus and invest: - Some funds will be freed up through cost cutting, but with a focus on reinvestment into the brands. And reevaluating corporate roles to ensure that brand presidents can spend more time on product innovation. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eAgSJaJf #strategy #leadership #corporatestrategy #strategicmanagement #ceo #turnarounds #decisionmaking Vlerick Business School Executive Education at Saïd Business School Stellenbosch Business School Executive Development Stellenbosch Business School Carine Peeters Martin Weiss Kurt Verweire Kerstin Fehre Esha Mendiratta Vlerick Strategy in Action Platform (SIAP)

2024 will go down as the year that the unicorns came down to earth and collapsed. Outdoor Voices is shuttering its retail doors and going back to a direct to consumer model. They were unable to see a path to profitability as many other DTC brands have been challenged. Even Mickey Drexler the genius behind Gap and J Crew was unable to find a strategy to course correct the company. It has had a revolving door of CEOs which probably reflects the challenges of the company. The activewear space has been so competitive as of late with lululemon Alo Yoga and Vuori being the market leaders. #storeclosures #retailing #activewear #dtcbrands