Target's Isaac Mizrahi Employee Apparel Line, McDonald's Media Network, and More | Reimagining Retail

Suzy Davidkhanian (0:00)

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Hi, everyone. Today is Wednesday, September 30th. Welcome to EMARKETER's weekly retail show, Reimagining Retail, an EMARKETER podcast made possible by Atmosphere TV. This is the show where we talk about how retail collides with every part of our lives. I'm your host, Suzy Davidkhanian. On today's episode, we're back with our Unofficial Monthly Retailer Awards. Yes, the Umras. Let's see who stood out this month. Joining me, we have podcast regulars, almost all in the studio.

Arielle Feger joining us from Connecticut though today.

Arielle Feger (1:00)

A little far away, but still happy to be here.

Suzy Davidkhanian (1:02)

Well, we're happy to have you, Becky Schilling. Happy to be back. Sitting next to me and Rachel Wolff, also here in studio. Hey, Rachel.

Rachel Wolff (1:10)

Hey, I am fired up, ready to fight for my picks.

Suzy Davidkhanian (1:13)

Oh my God, I'm so excited. We did a little pep talk that this is not a game, it's for fun, but there's no winner, but there really is a winner.

Rachel Wolff (1:22)

There's a winner.

Suzy Davidkhanian (1:22)

Yes.

So as a reminder, here's how it works. Each month, we're handing out awards to the retailers we think really nailed it in a few key areas. Those three categories are one, Most Impactful Campaign, two, Best in Real Life Initiative, and three, the Greatest Under-the-Radar Move. Arielle, Becky, Rachel each brought a nominee for September, and I get to pick the winner based on how convincing their cases are.

So let's get started. Award number one, Most Impactful Campaign. The marketing idea that broke through the noise, it resonated, it was memorable, and it helped drive performance. And the nominees are, Arielle, I'm starting with you. I loved this one.

Arielle Feger (2:03)

I'm already ahead. This is amazing. My pick is Duolingo's, the phonetic collection for New York Fashion Week.

They basically created a capsule collection that turns pronunciation lessons into wearable design. So like they had a lime green first with the letters that spell out the phonetic pronunciation of Hermes. And they had a jacket that spelled out the pronunciation of Givenchy. So I just think it's really fun.

Suzy Davidkhanian (2:34)

Guys, it's so cute, no? Come on.

They had literally a product that was marketing both what they do, but also these fun brands during New York Fashion Week, which is a really big deal here in New York.

Becky Schilling (2:47)

It's clever. It's clever.

Suzy Davidkhanian (2:50)

But grudging. It's literally a buzzy move on a cultural moment. But do we think it actually drove app usage or it was just fun?

Arielle Feger (3:00)

I mean, I think it's in that brand awareness. I mean, not that Duel and Go really needs a lot of help with brand awareness, but what I liked about this is it wasn't Duo focused, which is Duo is the owl mascot.

I feel like they've done a lot of stuff with him. They killed him off or brought him back or whatever. So I like that this was a little bit different, and I just think it shows that they're still forward thinking in the marketing area.

Rachel Wolff (3:27)

I think I was Suzy on this one where it's a cute campaign, but does it move the needle for the brand? I don't know that it does.

Suzy Davidkhanian (3:33)

But it is definitely memorable, no? And I also think it's like, how do you take something that's purely digital, Duolingo, and tie it to something that is in the moment that everybody's buzzing around about?

Rachel Wolff (3:44)

Yeah, I guess my question is, how do you translate this campaign into actual downloads?

Suzy Davidkhanian (3:49)

Yeah, it's a stretch. But it's so cute.

Anything with New York Fashion Tech Week is cute. OK, on to you, Becky. Who do you have?

Becky Schilling (3:57)

I have Old Navy and Mr. Beast. So for back to school, instead of having a usual polished campaign with kids in classrooms and all that, they turned it to Mr. Beast, which makes a lot of sense if you think about who his audience is. It's kids. Kids have a lot of say in what they want for back to school more so than I did as a child. And so letting them get involved was a really neat idea. Mr. Beast surprised a Kansas school with free lunches, Old Navy outfits for every kid, gift cards, quizzes, made it gamified, made it really fun.