Speaker 1: So we caught up with this next guest just about
Speaker 1: one year ago, just as he and his team are
Speaker 1: embracing traditional TV advertising for the first time. He's a
Speaker 1: great voice for us on the retail seeing e commerce,
Speaker 1: fitness at leisure world. Uh so much. Great to be
Speaker 1: talking again with Brian Burger. He's founder and CEO of
Speaker 1: mac Weldon, the digital retailer, not just digital though, because
Speaker 1: they've got a store. I've been to it. He's on
Speaker 1: the phone in New York City. Um, Brian, good to
Speaker 1: have you back with us. How are you. It's great
Speaker 1: to talk to you, Carol, it's been too long. I agree,
Speaker 1: I agree, So what go ahead? And always I always
Speaker 1: follow the era space. Why is that? Well, listen, what
Speaker 1: I love about what I do is that I get
Speaker 1: to talk to people from all different worlds, and if
Speaker 1: I added up together, I get a clearer picture of
Speaker 1: what's going on in our world. So help me out here.
Speaker 1: What are you guys seeing? You're so tapped into the consumer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's um, you know, consumer consumer appetites has been really strong.
Speaker 1: I mean we talked last as we were kind of
Speaker 1: getting into the you know, to the to the pandemic
Speaker 1: and the quarantine, and we weren't really sure how that
Speaker 1: was going to impact our business. For a lot of reasons,
Speaker 1: we're fortunate and that we were kind of in the
Speaker 1: right product category with the right business model to sort
Speaker 1: of beat the customer where they were at the time,
Speaker 1: which was really all about comfort and loungeware and sweats
Speaker 1: and many of the products that we sell and you know,
Speaker 1: and and and similar the leads. We kind of come
Speaker 1: out of this and people guys specifically start thinking about
Speaker 1: you know, you know, getting back to you know, normal life. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, we're seeing similar levels of enthusiasm you know,
Speaker 1: with our our product line, which really cover runs the gamut.
Speaker 1: I mean, we like to um say that we're not
Speaker 1: a lifestyle brand, where where a brand for life, and
Speaker 1: so you really have products that run across the gamut
Speaker 1: of a guy's wardrobe. And so we're seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of enthusiasm from customers around categories like chinos and and
Speaker 1: and and and outerware and and things of that nature,
Speaker 1: in addition to all of our or you know, underwear socks. Well,
Speaker 1: having said that, Brian like, great, we all had to pivot,
Speaker 1: and I know you guys did too. During the pandemic.
Speaker 1: I think for most retailers, initially it was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, what's going to happen the world? You know,
Speaker 1: what a crisis. We're still in this crisis. It's obviously
Speaker 1: a different place as we work our way through it.
Speaker 1: But you know, companies, retailers, everybody adapted. You guys did
Speaker 1: as well. What have you learned over the past year. Well,
Speaker 1: we learned that we were able to get a lot done,
Speaker 1: um with minimal resources and and sort of not being
Speaker 1: together um. And we learned something that we I think
Speaker 1: we already knew on sub level, but really that you know,
Speaker 1: we had to be as dialed in as possible to
Speaker 1: our customer. That is something that you know, we practice,
Speaker 1: you know, all the time, but it was a time when, um,
Speaker 1: it was really really important to be very plugged into
Speaker 1: customer needs. Um, you know, at a time where people
Speaker 1: were feeling really unst and about a lot of things.
Speaker 1: And so that has been something that we relied upon
Speaker 1: in good times and certainly as we navigated the last
Speaker 1: year and a half and has been something that has
Speaker 1: guided us, um, you know, through that period and into
Speaker 1: into where we are now. Well, so let me ask
Speaker 1: you about those tv as. So how did that play out?
Speaker 1: Was it productive for you? For you all? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you know, we launched television advertising during the pandemic with
Speaker 1: basically no new no new creative capabilities. We've recycled existing
Speaker 1: creative that we had, um and we were able to
Speaker 1: test the channel during a time when all of our
Speaker 1: other advertising was performing really well um and and we
Speaker 1: really proved it out. And so more recently, uh you know, uh,
Speaker 1: actually last week we launched our kind of second iteration
Speaker 1: of television advertising, and it's really a completely different approach
Speaker 1: where we are looking at television as more of a
Speaker 1: top of funnel marketing brand awareness driver help hopefully uh
Speaker 1: for uh you know, better better awareness and better conversion
Speaker 1: across all of the type of market all the marketing
Speaker 1: touchpoints that we have. So this is a bit of
Speaker 1: a pivot off of that. Right, the television ads we
Speaker 1: did during the pandemic, we're very similar to the ad
Speaker 1: that we run on like Facebook, which is really like
Speaker 1: by this product that's really awesome. And then this is
Speaker 1: why the campaigner running now is called by some time
Speaker 1: and it really taps into the customer mindset of our guy,
Speaker 1: which is one where they really value time, they really
Speaker 1: value efficiency, they really value anything that enables them to
Speaker 1: make their life more productive. And we found that a
Speaker 1: lot of guys love our brand because we enable that.
Speaker 1: I think, you know what they're going to get when
Speaker 1: they come to us. So, Brian, you were talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, the second iteration of TV ads for you
Speaker 1: and it is a very different type of campaign. And
Speaker 1: I have to say I was talking with the Belvedere
Speaker 1: Vodka CEO earlier today and they too. You go back
Speaker 1: a few years, it was a very kind of sexy
Speaker 1: campaign with the vodka and now it's all about their
Speaker 1: natural and organic ingredients. It's all about going back to
Speaker 1: nature and and it's what consumers wanted to know, like
Speaker 1: what is what is your brand stand for? And it
Speaker 1: sounds like you two are kind of like, Hey, this
Speaker 1: is what we're all about. Yeah, it's all about time
Speaker 1: and efficiency and this concept of you know, leading you know,
Speaker 1: our guys, It's been a lot of time trying to
Speaker 1: understand our customers during the months you know, of of
Speaker 1: of of quarantine, and one of the things that really,
Speaker 1: you know, bubbled up to the top of that these
Speaker 1: guys are real efficiency seekers across all aspects of their life,
Speaker 1: this notion of leading a well designed life, and so
Speaker 1: for us, that really felt like a really good way
Speaker 1: for us to distinguish ourselves, you know, and our products
Speaker 1: and how we deliver them to our consumers. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: in a world where there's an ever growing sea of
Speaker 1: europure you know, competitors and so in similar types of
Speaker 1: value proposition. So it's early days, but we're very optimistic
Speaker 1: about you know, about about the campaign and what we'll
Speaker 1: do for the brand. And I was just thinking, like,
Speaker 1: how's it working, and I'm like, they just rolled it out.
Speaker 1: It's yeah. I mean, early signs are positive, you know.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the nice things about a business
Speaker 1: like ours is you know, the data is really very
Speaker 1: much at our fingertips, so we're able to look at
Speaker 1: you know, search volume, traffic to the side, you know,
Speaker 1: conversion rates, performance of other types of digital marketing campaigns.
Speaker 1: So early signs are positive. The other big shift for
Speaker 1: us Carrol campaign is um, you know, relates to how
Speaker 1: we're merchandizing products. Um, we're positioning all of our products,
Speaker 1: you know, as we've migrated from just purely underwear and
Speaker 1: replenishment basics and socks to more of a full uh
Speaker 1: you know, broader collection of of of apparel. UM. It's
Speaker 1: this idea that our products are all part of a system,
Speaker 1: and so anything that you buy from us is designed
Speaker 1: to go with other products. And so we're making it
Speaker 1: really easy for consumer is to UM not only find
Speaker 1: what they like, but to understand how that product fits
Speaker 1: in with other things that we make. And the idea
Speaker 1: there is again just to make it really easy for
Speaker 1: them to shop. And also, you know, for digital brand,
Speaker 1: it's important that we're able to tell a bigger story
Speaker 1: than just one product. Different if you have stores people
Speaker 1: can walk in and have a full, commersive experience online
Speaker 1: it's different. You know, Brian, I really think you're hit
Speaker 1: on something. I I own some of your things, have
Speaker 1: warned them UM. And you know what's interesting is the
Speaker 1: pandemic To me, I have looked at my wardrobe personally
Speaker 1: and been like, I don't need all this stuff, Like
Speaker 1: I need a simpler world and I want things that
Speaker 1: I really love, that are comfortable, that our quality UM.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting and I feel like you're seeing that
Speaker 1: I'm hearing and having those conversations with a lot of
Speaker 1: individuals who are just like I had too much stuff,
Speaker 1: A lot of it I don't need, and I want
Speaker 1: to simplify my world. And I think that's the approach
Speaker 1: that you guys are your tapping into something that's going
Speaker 1: on in a bigger way. It's just concept of fewer,
Speaker 1: better things. Yeah, So I like my mother is speaking
Speaker 1: to me, Less is more exactly, you know again for us,
Speaker 1: you know again, our our customer behaves a certain way
Speaker 1: and we're trying to play, you know, cater to that.
Speaker 1: Hey one thing, you know, you share some notes with
Speaker 1: us about the director consumer playbook being broken. Privacy policies
Speaker 1: are dampening at efficiency. Unpack that a little bit for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, everybody, you know, with the new
Speaker 1: iOS released, I mean, every single app that you open
Speaker 1: is now asking you whether or not you want to
Speaker 1: give that app permission to track you wherever you go,
Speaker 1: whatever you do. And I would say the majority of
Speaker 1: people are saying absolutely not. Until with that, Spacebook and
Speaker 1: Google are losing. Namely, Facebook is losing its ability to
Speaker 1: track you as you you know, go about your you know,
Speaker 1: your digital life. And you know, part of the reason
Speaker 1: why facebooks have been so successful because they have so
Speaker 1: much data on us and they know where we've been,
Speaker 1: and they're able to target ads based upon that in
Speaker 1: real time, and so that goes away, and it really
Speaker 1: significantly changes the ability to target advertising through digital channels.
Speaker 1: And so it's forcing all e commerce companies to kind
Speaker 1: of rethink how they go to market. And for us,
Speaker 1: it was all pretty timely anyway, because we were a
Speaker 1: diversifying our marketing mixed channels that aren't necessarily has impacted,
Speaker 1: like television and radio and other places, but also distribution
Speaker 1: channels like retail. And in our case, you know, we've
Speaker 1: done very little wholesale, but we're also making a you know,
Speaker 1: a bigger push there as well, just again to just
Speaker 1: cast a wider net. So I got asked about the
Speaker 1: store and Hutton Yards here in New York City. I've
Speaker 1: been been there. It opened back, I believe you, right
Speaker 1: in March of nineteen. Um, how's that going. What's the
Speaker 1: thoughts about retail expansion, you know, brick and mortar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're very enthusiastic about retail expansion, and you can expect
Speaker 1: to hear a lot more from us. Perhaps next time
Speaker 1: we talk, we'll have a lot more to talk about
Speaker 1: with respect to that. Um, Hutton Yards was uniquely impacted
Speaker 1: at an endemic because the traffic there is almost exclusively
Speaker 1: commercial office workers and tourists. UM. And so obviously we
Speaker 1: were closed for a while. We opened back up in September.
Speaker 1: It's been it's been slowly climbing, and we are believers that,
Speaker 1: you know, if anyone's going to get it right, it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's a team there, and the team are related,
Speaker 1: and we're obviously very supportive, supportive, and very committed to
Speaker 1: being a part of the rebound which we expect will
Speaker 1: be you know, from labor day forward, after labor day forward,
Speaker 1: which it seems like at least from a commercial office
Speaker 1: perspective in New York, that's when everybody is really going
Speaker 1: to be enacting there, you know, their go forward plan
Speaker 1: with respect to hybrid work or whatever whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be. Hey just got about a minute left here, UM.
Speaker 1: Two quick things. Workers can get the workers you need?
Speaker 1: Or are you having to pay more wages? And is
Speaker 1: your supply chain is that all working? UM interest. So so,
Speaker 1: with respect to workers and the team, our issue is
Speaker 1: not related to UM you know, the issues that our
Speaker 1: early workers are facing. It's more just the general talent competition,
Speaker 1: really high demand for for high quality talent where you
Speaker 1: know we're part of that, and you know, so we're
Speaker 1: competing hard to get the best people in here. And
Speaker 1: the release of the supply chain. Um. Interestingly, we didn't
Speaker 1: have a ton of impact throughout this period, but we
Speaker 1: are starting to see now there's some impacts in Southeast
Speaker 1: Asia and some of the places where reproduced, like Vietnam
Speaker 1: and Thailand where they're having some COVID outbreaks that are
Speaker 1: impacting certain deliveries. And then of course shipping galaze everywhere,
Speaker 1: and costs uh, you know of importation uh, and logistics
Speaker 1: are going through the roof for everyone. Listen, like I
Speaker 1: said in the lead in we learned so much uh
Speaker 1: and you really we just cover a lot of ground.
Speaker 1: So so great to have you here. Come back soon.
Speaker 1: Brian brien Berger, founder and CEO of mack Weld and
Speaker 1: joining us on the phone in New York City,