Exploring What Most Fashion Brands Get Wrong About Experiential Marketing, and How to Get it Right
Business of Fashion recently examined Experiential Marketing in Episode 4 of their Retail Reborn podcast series. Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet, interviewed Matt Alexander of Neighborhood Goods, Rachel Shechtman, founder of Story and Ben Kaufman, CEO and co-founder of CAMP about their personal takes on the concept. The overall conclusion was that while Experiential Marketing swept through the fashion industry in 2019 as the savior of physical retail, most brands missed the mark.
Somewhere along the way, Experiential Marketing got contorted into a series of frivolous sideshows that did little for sales conversion and customer retention. Millions of dollars were wasted on pomp and pageantry when the industry could least afford it. Focus was misplaced on influencers and events rather than staff and merchandising. Marketing teams across the fashion industry failed to understand that Experiential Marketing should be a foundational value of all retail environments exhibited all the time, not just during orchestrated events and promotional campaigns.
While it may have been lost on most of the fashion industry, this conclusion came as no surprise to me. For years I’ve seen this fundamental misunderstanding play out in both my own job and the industry around me. Employees were hired and trained to execute antiquated KPIs rather than build intriguing shopping environments. The “experiences” were viewed as cookie cutter events and promotions rather than on a customer-by-customer basis.
As I listened to Stephens explore what makes good Experiential Marketing, I was reminded of the old J.Crew Liquor Store. Mickey Drexler, Todd Snyder, and Andy Spade created The Liquor Store in 2008 – nearly a decade before the concept of Experiential Marketing was even a thing. This venerable triumvirate of menswear set out to create a space where men could come to learn about new brands, geek out with other enthusiasts, and just feel cool. They succeeded beyond their greatest expectations, at least for a while.
The store showcased the cream of J.Crew’s mens line shuffled together with expertly curated import, heritage, and startup brands. The influencers were the staff – all sartorial experts – and fellow customers. The events took place daily when novices and experts alike would stumble across an item they absolutely loved or had a conversation that kindled their love for style. Common folk could rub elbows with celebrities. A fully stocked bar sat behind the cash register to service customers that played their cards right or just showed up at the right time (for free since they didn’t have a liquor license). Antique books, furniture, and trinkets decorated the store. There was even a tiny picture of a woman flashing in the bathroom. It was more of a hip club that sold clothes than a straightforward clothing store but there was never a line to get in, except during the occasional sneaker launch.
As with most great New York clubs however, The Liquor Store’s time came and went far too soon. Style writer Sam Schube eloquently sums up in this 2019 GQ article how, for a variety of reasons, this innovator of Experiential Marketing was gone before its time. In March of 2019, just as the marketing trend peaked, The Liquor Store closed for good. Ironically, J.Crew was one of the many retail giants steaming full speed ahead with Experiential Marketing while the intricacies that made The Liquor Store special had fallen by the wayside.
The thing that The Liquor Store got right and most other brands get wrong about Experiential Marketing is authenticity. The fashion industry has pandered to pop culture trends, constructed eye catching totems irrelevant to their products, and placed far too much stock in social media influencers. These disingenuous methods detract from the cultivation of authentic style. While they may garner immediate attention and social media “likes,” they do not grow and retain customer bases.
So what brands are getting it right? Stephens provides three examples in the podcast – which you should definitely listen to – but I have a few examples of my own. First there is Sid Mashburn. Sid has built a Southern sartorial empire based out of his HQ in Atlanta. He even holds a yearly outpost in New York, taking up residence in a hotel suite to host bespoke appointments. His entire business model is based on expert customer service on an individual level while providing goods of the highest quality. Few brands have adapted to the post-COVID world as well as Sid. His personable experience has migrated to a digital platform with weekly vlogs and daily informative social media posts. Even in these days of isolation, Sid has kept himself face-to-face with his customer base.
Faherty has nailed Experiential Marketing by building a family and community oriented shopping experience. The brand is run by the Faherty family – two brothers and a wife – and they have sewn their values into every aspect of the company while practicing what they preach. Their clothing is produced with transparent sourcing and manufacturing methods. Their stores are set up as community hubs where you can routinely hear live music, participate in yoga and meditation, learn crafts, and meet fellow conscientious shoppers. Most importantly, they have taken active initiatives in environmental protection since their inception. Faherty is a beachwear brand doing everything they can to make sure the beach is enjoyable for future generations.
Finally, there is Todd Snyder. A year after The Liquor Store opened, Snyder left J.Crew for a solo career. His brand lives primarily online and through wholesale but he opened a retail store on New York City’s Madison Square Park in 2016. This temple to menswear features a fully functional barber shop, a cafe, a bespoke tailor shop, and the level of expertly curated third-party goods that The Liquor Store was once known for. It’s staffed with true enthusiasts that make every shopping experience informative and charming.
In the fall of 2019 Todd Snyder took over the space in TriBeCa vacated by The Liquor Store. Remarkably, he managed to keep the name, only tweaked a bit to The Liquor Store by Todd Snyder. Other than a new paint job, the store looks much like it did a decade ago when Snyder helped create it. Years of neglect knocked the shop far from its former glory. Yet all the attributes that made The Liquor Store a success in the first place still hold sway in today’s market. Now in the capable hands of Snyder and his crew (ask for Walt or Ryan), The Liquor Store is once again a go-to destination for menswear not just for the clothes but for the experience.
A global pandemic may have changed the way the fashion industry does business but shoppers are still looking for an experience – both digital and IRL. None of the silly pageantry is possible any longer but the fundamentals of brand integrity, product quality, and informative customer service are stronger than ever. The pandemic has created an Experiential Marketing sieve where none of the bullshit can get through, only the brands that have or can find those constant fundamentals will survive. Successful Experiential Marketing is built in the staff hiring and training process so that the people your customers are interacting with on a regular basis are providing the experience, not gimmicks. There are a million tricks to get a potential shoppers attention but only an authentically intriguing shopping experience will retain their loyalty.
Honorable Mention: Three more young brands from NYC that are nailing Experiential Marketing are Freemans Sporting Club, The Armory, and J.Mueser (clearly bespoke suiting helps)