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As the retail industry navigates political and economic disruption, dampened sales and the rise of revolutionary technologies, how can brand leaders combine heritage and modernity to remain relevant and profitable? On Thursday 10 October, Vogue Business partnered with Emarsys to answer just that. By exploring how brands successfully blend physical and online retail, the Power to the Marketer festival arrived in London to understand how labels are tapping into a new generation of consumers without diluting their DNA.
The event, moderated by Vogue Business contributing editor Kate Bassett, took place at the city’s Corinthia hotel and brought together more than 150 executives across the fashion, luxury, entertainment and lifestyle verticals.
Sara Richter, CMO of Emarsys, reminded the audience that the stakes for personalisation are high; if a brand can’t provide a compelling, meaningful experience for its customers, shoppers will leave for a brand that can. “Our research shows that 80 per cent of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand with personalised offers,” she said. “And, according to Mastercard, when customers receive personalised offers, there’s an 18 per cent lift in spend and a 75 per cent reduction in churn.”
Tradition reimagined
In the opening interview, Fortnum & Mason CEO Tom Athron outlined how he’s leading the British heritage brand into the future. “I don’t want Fortnums to ever be ‘modern’, but I do want us to be contemporary, up to date and forward looking,” he said. “Our strategy is to become more relevant, to more people, more often — not just at Christmas.”
With a laser focus on “extraordinary food and drink”, Athron has done away with the menswear department on the third floor of Fortnum & Mason’s Piccadilly flagship and introduced a live-cooking studio as well as a gin distillery. “I think there’s space in our brand for a bit of tension,” he said. “Unexpected collaborations with partners like Rich Myers [aka Mr Sprinkles], founder of Leeds-based dessert brand Get Baked, work really well for us on social media and open up a whole new audience.”
Athron highlighted the growth of Fortnum’s online business, which now accounts for 30 per cent of sales, compared to 7 per cent pre-pandemic. “It has been a real engine for growth,” he said. “It’s not about trying to replicate the Piccadilly store experience online, it’s about giving more people access to Fortnums and snapshots of the brand.”
Evoking emotion
In a panel discussion on loyalty and longevity, Katharine Newby Grant, VP of enterprise marketing and data at Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), shared a sobering statistic: “Research shows that 75 per cent of brands could disappear overnight and most people wouldn’t care. It’s a great reminder that you have to continually delight customers.”
She pointed to ELC’s commitment to high-quality products and high-touch personal consumer experiences, both in store and online, such as the Jo Malone London Virtual Townhouse and Mac Cosmetics’s recent British Sign Language virtual makeup service. “We’ve learnt that if you can evoke emotion, you’re more likely to be remembered, be loved and drive repeat purchases.”
Belstaff chief brand officer Jodie Harrison has been at the forefront of the company’s brand revival. “When I joined, the business was in a chapter of irrelevancy,” she admitted. Her strategy began with a complete digital overhaul, from replatforming the website to redesigning social media and email campaigns. Central to this transformation was ensuring Belstaff’s product offering resonated with a younger demographic. “We started with the product and then built from there, layering narratives and emotional connections through storytelling.”
The British outerwear brand, which recently hit the 100-year milestone, launched a loyalty programme earlier this year called Circuit Master, tapping into its motoring heritage. “We offer our loyal customers unique experiences, from Formula One access to Manchester United games,” Harrison said. The initiative has delivered strong results, with a 10 per cent increase in repeat purchases year-on-year. “We make sure the old informs the new but doesn’t control it.”
Hanushka Toni founded luxury resale company Sellier six years ago and has since reshaped her entire business model. “We started as a tiny brick-and-mortar shop in Knightsbridge, relying solely on foot traffic. Then Covid hit, and we had to pivot to digital almost overnight,” she explained. This shift not only forced Sellier online, but helped define its identity in the competitive resale pace. “We wanted to be the Harrods or Net-a-Porter of resale with a tightly curated selection of super brands.”
Toni emphasised the critical role of omnichannel strategy in Sellier’s success: “Our TikTok brings in 200 million views per year, which is huge, while Instagram drives immediate sales by showcasing stock. We’ve also expanded our physical retail presence with stores in London, Monaco and in-store concessions in Flannels.”
Unlocking the power of AI
The next panel session focused on unpacking the all-important role of AI. Susan Jones, chief digital officer of Diageo, shared the company’s strategic approach to artificial intelligence, focusing on both productivity and innovation. “We’re using AI to drive efficiency with tools like our own version of ChatGPT and a platform to help marketers comply with our marketing code,” she said.
But Diageo’s ambitions go beyond streamlining operations. “We’re leaning into how AI can enhance the consumer experience,” she said, pointing to the success of Diageo’s ‘What’s Your Cocktail?’ quiz, an AI-powered tool that matches users with a perfect cocktail in under 15 seconds. “More than 45 million people have used it. The wealth of data and information that’s being brought to us is invaluable.”
Aaron Bradley, VP of technologies and innovation at Wella Company, also noted how AI has helped to boost workplace productivity. “AI removes administrative tasks like meeting arrangements and data reporting, freeing up time for creative work. We’re seeing huge benefits and we’re only just scratching the surface,” he said. Bradley also referenced the potential for hyper-personalisation. “We have such a range of different customers, from independent hair stylists up to big salons. It’s about treating them as individuals and providing them with the right services, the right products and the right tailored experience. That previously wasn’t possible at scale.”
Make customers happy
Huel CEO James McMaster is leading a mission to reshape how consumers perceive food, focusing on health, sustainability and affordability. “Obesity is a major global issue, and 30 per cent of the food we produce is wasted,” McMaster explained, highlighting the environmental impact of food production. Since 2017, under his leadership, Huel has gone from a 20-person startup to one of the UK’s fastest-growing food brands, selling over 400 million meals in 150 countries.
Huel’s success lies in its omnichannel approach, with a strong direct-to-consumer foundation. “Direct-to-consumer is amazing for scaling quickly. Early fans share and reference your brand, and social media amplifies that,” said McMaster. The company has cultivated a loyal community of ‘Hueligans’ through word-of-mouth recommendations and a popular refer-a-friend scheme. “If we make mistakes, we over-recover,” he said, stressing the company’s focus on customer satisfaction. McMaster’s long-term goal? “I’d love Huel to be a global billion-dollar brand.”
To watch sessions on-demand from the Power to the Marketer festival, click here.
Against a backdrop of inflationary pressures, a cost-of-living crisis and weakened customer spending, how can retailers combine tradition and transformation to stay relevant and competitive?
On Thursday 19 September, Vogue Business partnered with Emarsys to bring the Power to the Marketer global festival to Los Angeles for the first time to explore how brand leaders can attract a new generation of customers and turn shoppers into superfans.
The event took place at NeueHouse Hollywood, and brought together more than 100 executives across the fashion, luxury, entertainment, consumer products and lifestyle sectors.
“Marketers are constantly being asked to do more with less,” said Sara Richter, CMO of Emarsys. “If brands don’t give customers the experience they want, they are highly likely to leave. Personalisation is no longer just a nice to have; it is a competitive imperative — it’s the secret sauce.”
Cultural connections
The opening interview saw Vogue Business contributing editor Kate Bassett talk to Kristen D’Arcy, CMO of cult denim brand True Religion, which has returned to profitability after surviving two bankruptcies.
Tasked with engaging new consumers, driving loyalty with older fans and building brand love, D’Arcy said her role requires “a mix of maths and magic, in equal parts, every single day”.
Her first holiday campaign for the brand, Style is a Gift, featured rapper Quavo and influencer India Love. “Cultural connection is hugely important,” she said. “We knew that both India and Quavo had worn True Religion in the past. We don’t just pay people to rep us; we make sure they have a genuine and authentic love for the products.” Following the campaign, the brand saw a 98 per cent spike in engagement on Instagram, a 500 per cent increase in TikTok followers, a 60 per cent growth in web traffic and a double-digit lift in like-for-like sales.
Last month, True Religion announced a new cultural collaboration called Team True, a line-up of 25 “style players”, including actor Zay Wilson and Grammy-nominated R&B artist Kenyon Dixon. “We’ve found that customers are 80 per cent more likely to add an item to their cart when they’ve seen someone from Team True wearing it. We are onto something here and want to scale Team True to hundreds of people.”
Standing out
In a panel discussion on navigating business growth with technology and creativity, IMAX’s global head of creative, Kjetil Njoten stressed the importance of being bold, brave — and even divisive. “It’s better to create something that people hate than something that people forget,” he said. “We live in an age of average, where everything looks the same. Brands have to stand out. My creative mantra has always been: OK is the enemy’.”
Rare Beauty’s CMO Katie Welch zoomed in on the value of purpose. The mission-driven beauty line, founded by actress and singer Selena Gomez, donates 1 per cent of every sale to the Rare Impact Fund to support mental health charities, with the goal of raising $100m by 2030. “Selena wanted to create something bigger than makeup; she wanted to make a difference in the world,” said Welch. “That brand purpose is built into everything that we do, from the names of the products to our annual mental health summit.”
Wella Company VP Bianca Bolouri shared how the global beauty company is building brand loyalty through its new rewards app, which allows customers to earn points from their first dollar spent on Wella products. “On the data side, we have a really clear understanding of how people shop, which gives us the opportunity to be more personalised in our approach,” she said. “We see a real opportunity to provide customers with ‘edutainment’ on the app: exclusive engaging content that’s genuinely beneficial.”
The future of marketing
The next panel session unpacked the power and potential of AI. Sophia Tsao, chief digital and marketing officer at luxury resale platform Fashionphile, referred to a McKinsey report that shows a dramatic increase in the adoption of generative AI: “If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI, 2024 is the year that all organisations truly began embracing it,” she said. “The biggest users are the marketing and sales department, where reported adoption has more than doubled.”
Tsao believes the biggest obstacle to AI adoption is a lack of talent. “You need someone with marketing knowledge and tech capability. That’s a very rare ‘unicorn’ talent.”
Chelsea Kramaritsch, a marketing leader at eye-care provider Now Optics, says AI has “taken over the tedious work” in her team. “We’re using AI for customer segmentation and dynamic content. All our customers now receive unique emails, at a time when they’re most likely to open and engage with it. Not only are our open rates up 5-10 per cent and our click-through rates are up 0.1-2 per cent but AI has freed us up to spend more time on strategy and new ideas.”
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Mission sustainability
In the final keynote interview, Reformation CEO Hali Borenstein outlined her mission to “bring sustainable fashion to everyone”.
“Next year, we’ll be the first fashion brand of our size to be climate positive. And by 2030, everything we make will be part of a circular fashion system,” she said. “There is always a tension between purpose and profits but ultimately we know that consumers prefer to buy from brands with a sustainability focus — and they will stay with us for longer.”
She described Reformation’s brand personality as smart, funny and a bit snarky. “We’re like a friend who has a few too many drinks at a party but is always the most fun and interesting person in the room.”
Borenstein plans to launch new categories and expand internationally. “We currently have 49 stores across the US, UK and Canada and they are an incredibly powerful billboard for us: brand awareness goes up 21 points within five miles of a retail store.”
Reformation stores feature interactive screens where customers can build their dressing room and a “magic wardrobe” that holds each customer's selection of items. Customers can request new sizes or items through an iPad, set their own lighting and play their own music. “Our stores are really fun and engaging. Around 60 per cent of people who walk into a dressing room actually buy something, so we have a lot of data that you wouldn’t typically have in a retail experience.”
The event concluded with cocktails and networking on NeueHouse Hollywood’s rooftop terrace. To watch sessions on-demand from the Power to the Marketer festival, click here.
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