In a fast-changing digital landscape, a fixed tactical playbook is obsolete. The effective approach is to set durable long-term goals and objectives while remaining agile, fully expecting to pivot the marketing tactics multiple times to achieve those overarching goals.
Instead of just launching an "athleisure" line to follow a trend, Hanes used consumer research to find specific discomforts people experience while moving. This led to innovations like anti-chafe underwear, directly linking the new product to the brand's core equity of comfort.
In a volatile market, pressure mounts to focus only on short-term performance marketing. However, brands can't neglect brand building because strong brand awareness and relevance are what make lower-funnel tactics like retail media more efficient and effective in the first place.
Hanes found a large gap between awareness and adoption of period underwear due to consumer confusion. Instead of a typical aspirational campaign, they focused marketing on directly answering practical questions like "Do you feel wet?" and "Can you wash it?" to demystify the product and drive results.
Beyond formal methods like focus groups, the Hanes marketing team maintains a constant pulse on consumer conversations via a shared WhatsApp chat. They use it to share real-time observations from social media, news, and niche online communities, fostering a culture of continuous curiosity.
To manage multiple brands in the same category (e.g., Bali, Maidenform, Hanes), the company defines distinct "swim lanes." Each brand gets a unique positioning statement, target audience, and job-to-be-done, ensuring marketing efforts are differentiated and don't cannibalize each other.
Retail media networks, once dominated by conversion-focused tactics, now require a full-funnel approach. Hanesbrands sees significant returns from upper-funnel video content (OLV/CTV) to build awareness, which in turn feeds the lower-funnel conversion pipeline on platforms like Amazon.
When a mass-market brand like Hanes partners with a niche retailer like Urban Outfitters on a capsule collection, the primary goal isn't sales volume. The collaboration's true value lies in generating marketing buzz, cultural relevance, and "brand heat," which is often more valuable than direct revenue.