BRANDING

What Not to Wear: Man Repeller’s Rebrand

If you’ve been itching for more info on the Repeller shutdown, pull up a seat.

If you have no idea what any of those words mean, here’s why you should care: Repeller is a small fashion publication that shut down this week. It’s also a case study for how not to execute a rebrand. 

• Repeller—formerly known as Man Repeller—officially shut its doors last Friday after executing a drastic rebrand less than two months ago.
• Just like Aunt Jemima and the Washington Football Team, Repeller’s rebrand was born out of the recent national reckoning with the Black Lives Matter movement. 

But unlike those other two brands, Repeller didn’t just do away with the aspect of its branding that rubbed its target audience the wrong way, like its name (changed) or its imagery (also changed). It revamped…everything.

Some backstory

Over the summer, Repeller founder Leandra Medine Cohen published an open letter proclaiming allyship with those protesting George Floyd’s murder. 

In the comments, both readers and former employees noted that multiple Man Repeller staffers of color were laid off during the pandemic, and questioned why that happened while the white employees kept their jobs.

• “As a former POC employee that was let go during COVID-19, this…is a slap in the face and honestly disgraceful,” wrote former employee Sabrina Santiago, per Vox. 

The men? Repelled

The readers and former employees wanted answers. What they got instead was a rebrand. 

• The article introducing the rebrand outlined the core changes to the publication. Gone were its pastel brand colors, the word “man,” the old logo, and the familiar UX, and some old voices. Stories on Repeller would now be told by “more people.” 
• A transparency report also promised more changes to come, such as collaborating with an unnamed diversity, equity, and inclusion firm and hiring more freelancers of color.  

But Repeller never had a chance to fully implement those changes. In a statement to The Cut on October 22, founder Cohen confirmed that “Repeller is ending operations…due to financial constraints.” 

• Like countless other digital media companies, it’s possible Repeller was simply the victim of financial hardship. But at the very least, the publication’s rebrand did nothing to reverse its fortunes—perhaps the rebrand even sealed Repeller’s fate, driving already disappointed readers and advertisers away.

My takeaway: When your target audience calls out something that must change with your brand (as many consumers did this past summer), you don't need to throw the kitchen sink at it. Keep calm, listen to what they're asking for, and start there. 

PLATFORMS

Twitches—No, Not The Disney Movie

In the history of our great nation, we’ve never spent so many hours watching people on (mostly gaming-focused) live streaming platforms. That’s a net positive for marketers. 

Audiences watched over 7.46 billion hours of content across all live streaming platforms this quarter, up 91.8% from Q3 2019.

• Twitch dominates the market share of hours watched on video game streaming platforms, at 4.74 billion hours watched in Q3. YouTube Gaming came in second place, with 1.68 billion hours.

The marketing angle?

Influencers: Last week, creator Michelle Phan hosted a “League of Legends” Twitch livestream for her cosmetics brand’s product launch. 

• Commercials for the new product and links to purchase appeared on screen during the game.
• 278% more units were sold this launch day compared to previous product launches, and 45% of Phan’s site traffic for the day was generated during the game, per Digiday.

+1: AOC recently streamed herself playing the game “Among Us” and nearly beat Twitch’s record for the most concurrent viewers, at 435,000 people.

Bottom line: Twitch has been an advertising platform understudy for a while now, but this lockdown engagement boost could accelerate it to a supporting role. 

SPONSORED BY EDELMAN

Put Your Trust in Trust

Seismic forces have affected society and consumers on a personal level this year, and expectations for brands are different as a result.

Edelman just completed a global study and uncovered something surprising: Trust is second only to price when consumers are trying to decide if they’re gonna buy stuff from your brand. Basically, people expect brands to do more and say more than ever before.

Edelman thinks this is actually a huge opportunity for brands. Specifically, to build trust capital. But while there are tons of tools that help marketers interpret consumer behaviors, there aren’t any that help brands understand the kinds of unique actions brands need to take to earn consumer trust.

You can probably guess where this is going: Edelman built one for you. Trust Management for Brands is a holistic framework that measures brand trust and helps your brand improve its standing.

Trust us, you want to check this out to see how helpful it can be for your brand.

CAMPAIGNS

Burger King Got Too Spooky

I imagine being from a city in Burger King’s latest “Scary Places” campaign would feel a bit like watching Midsommar while going through a breakup. I may or may not have personal experience with the latter...but horror that hits too close to home isn’t fun or spooky, it’s just a bummer. 

Agency MullenLowe’s “Scary Places” essentially dares its audience to visit abandoned rival fast food joints in cities such as Dayton and Birmingham, in exchange for free BK. 

Chargrilled takes

“I don't love Burger King's ‘Scary Places’ campaign about abandoned competitor locations in real communities. These businesses didn't fail because they sucked. They failed because of economic hardship in cities like my own,” tweeted Adweek editor David Griner. 

“Reality is that many (all) of these places were closed before the pandemic. The objective here is definitely not [to] make fun of hardships. Actually, most fast food brands are doing well and growing this year. But I see your point,” Burger King’s CMO tweeted back in response.  

My takeaway: In a time of unrest like 2020, it’s extra important to anticipate all the nerves your geotargeted campaigns could touch before running provocative creative.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Commonwealth//McCann announced some major leadership shifts yesterday, including naming Grant Theron as CEO. 
• TikTok broadened its ad ecosystem by announcing a global e-commerce partnership with Shopify.
• The New York Times launched its first Snapchat AR lens in preparation for the election.
• SAP is launching its CDP in November to front-end and back-end data.

SPONSORED BY VALIDITY

This benchmark will pump up your email campaigns. First, the bad news: One in six emails doesn't arrive in the intended inbox. Now, the great news: Validity has put together the 2020 Email Deliverability Benchmark. You’ll get the info you need to understand your delivery metrics—and the best practices you can implement to improve them. Trust us, this deliverability benchmark delivers. Get the info here.

JOBS GUIDE

A Post-2020 Guide to Landing a Marketing Job In-House

Did you know that, by 2021, Forrester estimates that 50,000 marketing and advertising jobs will be lost on the agency side of the industry alone? That stat is just one of 50,000 reasons why we decided to launch a four-chapter Guide to Getting a Marketing Job in a Post-2020 World. 

Whether you were one of those affected by 2020’s mass layoffs or are looking for a career change, our guide’s first chapter on securing an in-house marketing gig is for you. 

This chapter includes advice on navigating the strange new in-house landscape from Squarespace CMO Kinjil Mathur, marketing career expert Amanda Nachman, and a college student who managed to land internships at two in-house brands since March. 

Read the in-house chapter here.

AD ANTIQUES

Library of Congress

This ad for a Halloween contest back in 1936 is the most wholesome thing I’ve seen all year. 

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Marketing Brew stories from the last few editions.

• We recapped Cannes Lions Live’s best sessions
• The Black marketers entering the industry have some concerns
• What to expect for the state of Q3 ad spend