The NEW NEW
On April 8th and 9th, Scott Elias orchestrated a series of conversations with leaders from different industries, all along the lines of disruption, transformation and re-imagination. The guests that participated in these conversations were really diverse and innovative in what they do, and they represented Thrive Capital, SoulCycle, Johnson & Johnson, Mountain Dew and SKDKnickerbocker.
The New NEW kicked off with Chris Paik from Thrive Capital, who has invested in Instagram, Twitch, Warby Parker and Spotify, among others, and also conceived and incubated Oscar Health. As he discussed what makes a company successful and worth investing in, he mentioned two important factors: customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value. The customer acquisition cost is the money spent to get a first time customer to try the product, yet there are also organic customers that try the brand without having been targeted by a paid tool. This way, organic customers lower the blended customer acquisition cost, making the product more profitable. Stronger brands tend to have organic customers and are therefore more profitable. Lifetime value is the quantitative manifestation of consumer loyalty: the net value of all the person’s spend in the brand in the future.
“As long as you spend less than the lifetime value of a consumer, you can do anything you want” - Chris Paik, Thrive Capital
Paik also stated that category leaders are always great brands, and that is not a correlation but a causation. These brands have a lower customer acquisition cost and a higher customer lifetime value. Today, the most valuable members of a company are those who understand the art and science of marketing, who can do brand marketing and performance marketing- and they are incredibly difficult to find, they are the “Marketing Unicorns”.
Spencer Rice, the CMO of SoulCycle, shared the secret to their success: an obsession for details. They created a fully immersive experience that goes beyond simple fitness, by committing to service and hospitality, understanding and listening to their customers and really knowing who they, are and what they are looking for, and focusing on the training of their employees, as their “front-desk culture” is the key to their business. They created a premium fitness and lifestyle experience, by paying extra attention to the talent acquisition and empowering the instructors to be inspirational, to build relationships and to be authentic.
“Authenticity creates connection and vulnerability, and that’s what makes the brand so powerful” - Spencer Rice, Soulcycle
The most important trait that got Soulcycle to be the successful brand that it is today, is the sense of community they create in their customers. What people of all ages are seeking in this life is connection, and Soulcycle is the place for that connection to happen.
“Everybody’s basic quest in any meaningful relationship is to be heard, understood and appreciated. That is why:
- We listen to our riders obsessively
- We rely on our riders to do our marketing for us
- We don’t want our riders to feel the transactional side, we want them to feel the relational side” - Spencer Rice, Soulcycle
The second session of The New NEW started with Adrian Chernoff, who is the head of R&D and Innovation at Johnson & Johnson, working primarily with health care related products. His professional life has taken him through different positions at different industries and has given him the ability to become a bridge across the different parts of an organization, considering how any decision that is made affects the whole ecosystem. This ability to think in more than one discipline is key when looking for ways to innovate.
Stinson Parks III, Mountain Dew’s Digital, Social and Branded Content Lead discussed how he manages the brand from a content and from a digital framework. In terms of content, he works with a pyramid framework, where the top is the Hero, the middle is the Hub and the bottom is the Hygiene. The main content that is especially produced and designed is the Hero, the regularly scheduled, small-piece content that supports the main content is the Hub, and the everyday, more snappable content is the Hygiene.
As for a digital framework, Mountain Dew defines three areas: Now, Next and New. The Now platforms are the ones that have been tested and proven, or as Stinson put it, “things that we’ve figured out”, like Facebook or Twitter. The Next platforms are those with the potential to become a new tactic, enter the Now, capitalizing on an emerging trend, such as Snapchat and Twitch. Finally, the New platforms are those that are still untested and have not been used before, like virtual reality or new influencers.
The series of conversation ended with Nicole Gill, who working with SKDKnickerbocker achieved one of the greatest advocacy campaigns of all time: the approval of Gay Marriage. This contributed to the variety of the discussions held, adding value by touching on themes such as public opinion, communication and politics, and the communication of sensitive social issues.
“We’re not trying to disrupt, we want to meet you where you are and slowly walk with you” - Nicole Gill, SKDKnickerbocker
Going through this eye-opening journey showed us how innovation and creative thinking apply to any area in any industry, and are key traits in building the future of brands.
“The best way to predict the future is just to invent it”- Scott Elias
