2PM - No. 742: My Favorite Hue

"My Favorite Hue..." / WWD: While no one could ever upstage Beyoncé and Jay-Z, together for the first time in an ad campaign for Tiffany & Co., it's fair to say there is a third star in the spots: a never-before-seen painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat in the jeweler's signature robin egg blue.

On Tiffany and H.E.N.R.Y.: Beyoncé Knowles Carter and her husband are no strangers to Jean-Michel Basquiat. In fact, they own one of his vaunted paintings. A prized possession while the late artist roamed the streets of New York, today his works play a larger-than-life role in the idea of black artistry, success, and commercialization. Before his untimely passing, the artist was often angered by his lack of recognition in his own city - one that claims him today as one of its prized engineers of culture. But there is a specific culture that holds his influence even closer. There is a direct line between Basquiat, hip-hop culture, and the influence of the Carter family. It's this pedigree, one of the most influential in all of consumerism, that the Arnault family tapped into for their reinvention of the Tiffany brand.

A never-before-seen Basquiat flooded Twitter feeds and, apparently, LinkedIn discussions on Monday morning. The reason for the release: a new Tiffany campaign starring Jay-Z and Beyoncé, who’s donning Balmain and the Tiffany Stone, posed next to the painting. The Basquiat’s backdrop is Tiffany’s robin egg blue.

The campaign sparked debate over whether or not the deceased artist would have supported his work being used in a luxury ad spot and in general generated buzz for the iconic brand, which was bought by LVMH last year and has been undergoing a rebranding to appeal to younger audiences. To do so, the company has leaned into hip-hop, hiring ambassadors like ASAP Rocky and tapping Nas to narrate ad spots already. The Bey and Jay campaign will last a year and mark a major new campaign for the brand.

Alexandre Arnault, the son of LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, was given the keys to Tiffany in January, becoming executive vice president of the company. At 29, his influence is critical in bridging the gap between the Tiffany of the Audrey Hepburn generation to the upcoming luxury consumer. There are some questions raised. Beyoncé and Jay-Z are among the biggest musicians in the world; they are not Gen Z-engineered TikTok stars but they do seem to own the keys to aspiration. And the reveal of a previously unknown Basquiat speaks to old money, not a new definition of luxury. But Gen Z is not necessarily the target, it’s the HENRY. As 2PM wrote in 2019, the HENRYs (high earners not rich yet) are an important demographic for brands to appeal to:

They gain from the association by maintaining relationships with valuable long-term consumers who may likely grow up-market. This directly and indirectly improves the lifetime value of the brand.

Evidenced by Tiffany’s campaign, which makes some strategic choices in switching up the jewelry brand’s approach without going too far outside of its comfort zone, the goal is not just to reach young people. It’s to reach "up and comers" with the means to become customers, if not now then very soon.

Hilary Milnes and Web Smith, 2PM

Business owners need to figure out holiday shopping yesterday

A. Holiday Shopping / Business Insider: Businesses are preparing for the holiday shopping season earlier than ever. Store owners are stocking up on inventory months in advance and encouraging customers to shop early. Manufacturing delays mean pivoting to new products that are more accessible. It's Christmas come early for entrepreneurs this year — very early, unfortunately.

For eCommerce logistics firm Radial, Christmas is coming early

B. Holiday Shopping / Wall Street Journal: At this point in a typical year, Radial might be checking in with retail customers about once a month on what they expect demand to look like at the peak of holiday shopping, Ms. Ritchey said. Instead, Radial is “checking in every week, and for particular clients that might have more volatility, it could be twice a week,” she said. “And we expect that to intensify,” with the near-daily demand checks that usually occur in late October and November also moving up.

Retailers' future still includes the store

C. Retail Real Estate / MarketWatch: The smart retailers are those who, rather than shifting most of their resources to unprofitable digital channels, realize that the only way to make the numbers work is to get people through their physical doors. While eCommerce might obviate the need to pay rent on a physical storefront, it entails other, more expensive costs. The most obvious is “last-mile” shipping.

If you are interested in stories A / B / C,  review our latest member brief (🔐).

What’s past is prologue, but only if there is a pause between it and the present. This is something different: It feels like a continuation of something that we thought would end. When businesses don’t know when things will change, it is difficult to prepare. Stores are emptying of available inventory, and not just because of high demand. We simply cannot make things like we used to.

Continue...

Can Amazon save department stores?

Retail Real Estate / Glossy: The company is opening several large-scale brick-and-mortar stores, beginning in Ohio and California, that are similar in format to department stores. The stores will be smaller than a typical department store — around 30,000 square feet, rather than 100,000 — but will operate much the same, selling clothes, home goods and electronics, largely from Amazon’s private-label brands.

Kraft Heinz tried to supercharge its eCommerce strategy

eCommerce / Business Insider: Selling more food online is a big focus for Kraft Heinz. But insiders say employees are leaving its eCommerce team thanks to a tense work environment. One analyst says there's a "clash of cultures" when Big Food and Big Tech get together. Kraft Heinz saw its sales on sites like Amazon skyrocket during the pandemic.'

Editor's Note: there are still advantages to being small and nimble. 

On the potential downside of design competitions

eCommerce / The Fashion Law: The Shein X 100K Challenge — which comes in the firm of a four-episode series that will be aired on the retailer’s YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages, as well as on its app — gets its start on August 22.

Updated August 23: Shein remains No. 1 for the sixth week. Cuts Clothing, NOBULL, Chubbies, and Summersalt continue their climbs. Outdoor Voices leaps 20+ spot to inch into the top 26 positions.

TikTok now has its own SiriusXM radio station

The Creator Economy / Input: Still, the fact that TikTok now has a radio presence at all — a medium typically reserved for very traditional media — is indicative of its immense impact on the music industry. We’d hazard a guess that many of SiriusXM’s subscribers are people who don’t spend much time at all on TikTok. Now they’ll have the chance to be exposed to TikTok’s creators and sounds without ever opening the app.

The quitting economy

Sociology / Quartz: What’s causing the Great Resignation? Here are several competing theories: A backlog of people stayed in jobs they always planned to quit, we’re rethinking the relationship between employers and employees, the rest of life seems more important now, burnout, a push for racial equality, people don’t want to go back to the office.

The rise of the meta-apes

NFTs / The Hundreds: As soon as you own an Ape, you get access to community boards, activations, and member-only exclusive drops. Not to mention the engaging Ape Twitter community. There have been multiple collectible projects inspired by BAYC features, non-affiliated BAYC merch stores opened, as well as multiple comic community projects aiming to give individual Apes their own stories. As the community says, Ape strong together.

New Memo: How Sanzo Won Marvel. A generation of young consumers deserve the credit for its role in how brands think about partnerships and messaging.

For today's retailers, authentic engagement and depth can matter as much as reach when it comes to partnerships. This has become common practice in the world of modern brands and niche media outlets. But something bigger is taking shape. If there ever was a "trickle up" effect, this essay will serve as an example. One of the largest and most powerful media conglomerates in the world chose sincerity over cash, reach, and distribution.

Continue...