For a massive brand like Hanes, a collaboration with a niche retailer like Urban Outfitters isn't about massive sales volume. Its primary value is marketing—generating 'brand heat' and cultural relevance. This is strategically distinct from a new category launch, which is a pure volume play.
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Hanes found 90% of women knew about period underwear but only 30% had tried it due to confusion. Instead of a typical brand campaign, they launched a direct, educational effort answering uncomfortable questions ('Do you feel wet? Can you wash it?') to close the awareness-to-adoption gap.
When post-COVID innerwear sales slumped, Hanes didn't just run a discount. They commissioned research, discovered consumers were hoarding old items for 'emergencies,' and used this insight to create a 'time to refresh' campaign, manufacturing a purchase trigger for a low-frequency category.
Starbucks' limited-edition items, like a "bearista" cup selling for $500 on eBay, create massive hype through engineered scarcity. This strategy shows that for certain brands, limited-run physical goods can be a more potent marketing tool than the core product itself, fostering a collector's frenzy and a lucrative secondary market.
Hanes finds online video and CTV highly effective in retail media networks, traditionally seen as performance channels. This highlights the need to cover the full purchase journey, using brand-building video to feed the conversion funnel and make all media work harder.
Instead of a standard celebrity ad, The Gap produced a full-fledged music video with the group Cat's Eye, generating 500 million views. By creating culture (art, music) instead of just sponsoring it, The Gap transformed its marketing from an expense into a viral entertainment asset, driving its best growth in years.
In a world demanding short-term results, brand marketing isn't a separate luxury. It is a critical investment that builds top-of-funnel awareness, ensuring that lower-funnel performance tactics have a sufficient audience to convert and ultimately work harder.
Chanel's subway fashion show demonstrates how placing a luxury product in an unexpected, everyday environment creates powerful tension. This strategy makes the background the main attraction, generating broad, mainstream media coverage and social media buzz that a traditional runway show couldn't achieve.
For premium brands like Coterie, the choice of retail partner is a branding decision. A retailer's reputation for quality reinforces the product's own values, while a poor retail environment like a messy shelf can actively dilute brand equity.
Ty Haney saw potential in Hoka sneakers, which were initially perceived as "ungodly ugly" but highly functional. The collaboration strategy was to find an expert in a category, infuse their product with Outdoor Voices' aesthetic and "coolness," and introduce it to a new audience.
Instead of just creating an 'athleisure' line because it's popular, Hanes identified specific problems—like chafing—that consumers experience during movement. They then designed products with features like anti-chafe panels, directly linking innovation to their core brand promise of comfort.