Kristin Patrick, chief marketing officer of Marc Jacobs, says the biggest issue facing CMOs today is that “it’s really hard to stand out” because “every company is essentially doing the same thing.”
“Everybody is doing all the right things,” she explains. “They’re creating lots of digital content and using influencers. But everybody’s sort of using the same playbook. To really move culture and get consumer brand love, believe it or not, it’s just digging into good old fashioned consistency and making sure that you create an ecosystem where there’s one story, one point of view and that your brand codes are crystal clear.”
To stand out from the crowd, Patrick is sharply focused on defining these brand codes. “I’m keenly aware of making sure that our point of view is crisp,” says Patrick. “Until you have a brand that begins and ends with a clear point of view, you’re sort of lost.”
The Marc Jacobs brand is irreverent, joyful and inherently all about culture. “He’s always been great at not just tapping into culture, but creating shockwaves in culture,” Patrick reflects.
Patrick says that once you understand your brand vision, it should be the filter for all decisions made about the brand – from the store experience and activations to the website experience and digital marketing communications. “The brand DNA and what it stands for should be front and center,” she says. “It should act as a filter for where you show up in culture. It should act as a filter for what your store experience is. It should really start to guide even how you use AI.”
Prior to joining Marc Jacobs, Patrick held the C-suite roles at Claire’s, PepsiCo and Playboy. Brand Innovators caught up with Patrick from her office in Los Angeles to discuss the role of brands in culture, the challenges of working with creators and the digital ecosystem as brand theater. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What are the best ways that brands should show up in culture?
It goes back to the core of who you are as a brand and really understanding your consumer. I think about a brand, not trying to be everything to everybody, but having a very clear and distinct point of view on what I call lifestyle platforms. If my brand is action-oriented, I would look for lifestyle platforms that go really narrow in action-oriented activities. This includes sports by maybe it’s not just sports, it’s super turbocharged sports. It’s not about being all things to all people.
It’s finding and linking what your brand stands for to cultural moments that you really show up and own. That’s the key. Brands that have no business showing up at a tennis match, might really stand out. My core message is absolute and utter clarity on who your brand is for and from there, deciding which cultural events you want to canvas and which ones you can own.
You mentioned the challenges of working with influencers and creators, but these people are still connecting to consumers. What are the best ways to have an impact working with these partners?
I feel like this whole game is so overdone in a way. Every single brand is working within a creator system. They’re using celebrities. It’s the same playbook. At the end of all of this, it’s about humanity and finding a link to not just creators, but a link with your consumer that taps into their humanness and wins their heart. We were using creators and they were working with like 15 other brands and they were being paid a lot of money. I’m really thinking about how you surround your brand with creators but doing it in a way where they become part of your family and brand community. The deeper you build the relationship, the more authentic it becomes.
I think about our digital ecosystem as brand theater. Everything that you do to show up in that theater with your creators and your content all has to be connected under one umbrella, which is your brand’s DNA. I’m working on a 40 year-old brand with Marc Jacobs, the man at the center. He’s a prolific designer. He is still around. But it’s interesting because the commercial business shows up differently than the man does sometimes. So how do I streamline everything into one ecosystem? SinceI feel like everybody’s doing the same thing, my true north is my brand’s DNA. So even when I’m picking creators, they have to be part of the brand house that I’m in.
Can you talk about the ways you’re thinking about digital innovation?
I oversee the D2C channel. We have an e-commerce platform. And I think that whole world is changing because consumers shop within an ecosystem. They’re buying stuff on TikTok, they’re buying stuff from social. They’re really changing their shopping habits. I feel like every three months, everything is shifting and changing. One of the things that I’m really thinking about is a better mix across the funnel from a media buying perspective.
The consumer journey between your omni-channel locations and what happens in your D2C channel is really, really important. I’m also thinking a lot about the community and who the most loyal consumers are and really getting to know them. I’ve also been thinking a lot about differentiated products within all of the channels that consumers are shopping in.
How are you building loyalty?
Every three months it’s evolving. There’s a different play for us in organic social as well. It’s not just about likes and having this massive group of followers. It’s really a different set of KPIs in terms of driving to your e-commerce channel. Are you really driving revenue? That’s really top of mind for me, which is different than a couple of years ago in terms of organic social.
It’s having a clear understanding of who your most loyal followers are and giving them access to special things, whether it’s showing up at Art Basel and giving them an invitation. You have to understand what motivates them. Is it discounting? Is it access to celebrities, special events? And then it’s really letting them into your experiential world once you figure out what motivates those consumers.
What role does retail play in this?
Gen Z really loves the experiential piece of it. It’s incredibly important for brands that have the D2C channel as well as brick-and-mortar stores to make sure that that ecosystem and the consumer journey is seamless.
Can you talk about your approach to leadership with your teams?
As a leader, I really rely on my team and people that have different skill sets than I do. Any leader today, everything’s moving so quickly that they have to be able to be super reactive. And that can be exhausting to people working at the company.
It’s such a complex world that we’re living in and everything’s moving at the speed of light and change. What I’ve been trying to do lately is look for small, quiet moments with my team where we can take a breath together, reflect on what’s working and how we can support each other. That’s the key. It’s being able to find quiet moments where you talk honestly about what’s working and what’s not and then pivoting.
Can you share how your experience across different brands has shaped your perspective today?
My career has spanned multiple industries and I take learnings from each one of them and bring, hopefully, new ideas and thinking that can feel fresh and novel. When you jump from entertainment to omnichannel, fashion, retail, you bring a unique point of view. Certain industries are great at certain things. When you own a D2C platform, you have firsthand knowledge of the consumer. The fashion industry has always been really good at CRM because they have credit cards and their own stores. The entertainment industry has always been really great at doing massive media buys and thinking about creating a loud and large amount of noise within a designated six-week period. Every step of the way, I learned something, it’s helped me bring fresh thinking to whatever company I’m working at.
