Brand Moves 26 - Interbrand
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September 22 2020
Brand Moves 26
In early March we began regular reporting on how brands were dealing with
Covid-19. But it has become clear that the current climate is one of near-
perpetual disruption, so we decided to keep on telling the stories of inspiring
brand leadership and strategy amid the latest crises in an anxious world.
Our goal is to provide an up-to-the-minute source of information, inspiration
and insight on brand moves as they happen. Here’s the latest from this week.
Technology & Social Media
In a new outdoor campaign aimed at encouraging mask usage, Twitter has projected and printed a series
of users’ tweets into the physical world. The platform has teamed up with seven U.S cities for the campaign,
which aims to capture the attention of local residents and fight “caution fatigue.” The ads feature tweets
emblazoned on billboards, murals, local landmarks and sidewalks in high-traffic areas. The social media site,
which has logged more than 100 million tweets about masks since March, will also give away masks for free.
Twitter has also added the mask-wearing emoji to its menu of DM reactions and to the #WearAMask hashtag
to help raise awareness on the platform, while several of its owned profiles will sport mask-inspired header
and profile images. “As always, the people on Twitter say it best. Masks are a huge conversation around the
world, and we’re happy to help cities tackle mask caution fatigue with tweets that will make people smile and
hopefully mask up,” said Leslie Berland, Twitter’s CMO and head of people. The new work continues Twitter’s
out-of-home tactic of running tweets from real users as ads, often placed in markets specific to the content
of the posts. After widespread public protests began addressing police brutality against Black Americans,
Twitter used its ad approach to highlight tweets about #BlackLivesMatter and racial inequality.
Apple has expanded its services to include a fitness subscription, Fitness+, to rival Peloton and Fitbit,
saying that its Workout app is one of its most popular offerings. Fitness was a major focus of the recent
Apple launch event – the Apple Watch 6 was also announced, with a new health sensor in the watch that
allows you to monitor your blood oxygen levels and an ECG (electrocardiogram) that keeps an eye on your
heart rhythm. The new WatchOS 7, Apple Watch 6, and Apple Watch SE all come with new health-tracking
features. Fitness+ will also be bundled in with the new Apple One subscription bundles, alongside Apple
Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple News Plus, and Apple Arcade. All will be part of a range of different bundles,
making it cheaper to subscribe to multiple Apple services at once. Rivals in the booming online fitness space
so far appear relatively untroubled, however; Peloton’s share price took a brief hit during Apple’s Fitness+
presentation before rebounding, up more than 5%. Its stock is currently up a staggering 191% in 2020.
Fitbit’s share price was relatively unchanged in intra-day trading. The company launched a Fitbit Premium
service last month, but its stock is flat from the beginning of the year. Things didn’t look much different for the
more entrenched fitness companies. Weight Watchers International, which has seen its share price nearly
halved since the beginning of the year, was down less than 1% by time of publication, and Planet Fitness,
which has had a rough year but is showing signs of recovery, was up nearly 5%.
Reuters’ 2020 Digital News Report reveals that the use of Instagram for news has doubled across all
age groups since 2018. It is now set to overtake Twitter as a news source in the coming year, with younger
people – about 63% of Instagram users worldwide are between 18 and 34 years old – embracing Instagram
for their news. Consequently, many publishers are beefing up their Instagram strategies. In 2019, The
Economist ramped up its Instagram posts. It went from an average of 4 posts per week in March to nearly
50 by September. The publisher also devised a set of habit-forming, traffic-driving sequences for the vertical
Instagram Stories format. This included “Weekend Reads” which showcases six of its best articles of the
week every Sunday using images, illustrations, graphics, audiograms and slideshows. Besides traffic, this
feature also brings in revenues via ads placed at the middle point of each sequence as a full-page vertical
still image or video. Users can swipe up to be driven to a client’s site to learn more, or click through to the
organization’s own Instagram account.
/continued
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contact: hello@interbrand.comBrand Moves 26
Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites, is honoring its Hispanic and Latinx employees
by celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic Heritage Month honors the long and important
presence of Hispanic and Latinx peoples in the United States. The 30-day period begins on September 15th
of every year; the anniversary of the independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, followed by the independence anniversary of Mexico (16th), Chile
(18th), and Belize (21st). In addition to celebrating National Hispanic Heritage month, LaFamilia, Glassdoor’s
Hispanic and Latinx employee resource group, plans to launch several company-wide events to educate
employees on Latino culture.
Comcast is launching a program to provide free Wi-Fi in US community centers as part of an effort to
improve internet access for students in low-income areas, the company said Thursday. The so-called “Lift
Zones” will provide free internet connectivity as well as “access to hundreds of hours of educational and
digital skills content to help families and site coordinators navigate online learning.” “The COVID-19 crisis has
put many low-income students at risk of being left behind and has accelerated the need for comprehensive
digital equity and Internet adoption programs to support them,” Comcast said in a statement announcing the
plan. “Lift Zones are intended to help those students who, for a variety of reasons, may be unable to connect
to distance learning at home, or who just want another place in which to study.” Comcast said in June it
would continue to offer free access to its 1.5 million public Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots through the end of 2020,
and it plans to extend free internet service to new customers on its Internet Essentials tier, which is designed
for low-income customers, also through the end of the year. Comcast was one of several broadband internet
providers to commit to the Federal Communications Commission’s Keep Americans Connected pledge
in March, when the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns kept people working and
schooling from home. The providers promised not to terminate services for residences or small businesses
that were unable to pay their bills because of the pandemic and to waive late fees. The pledge also included a
provision to open Wi-Fi hotspots to “any American who needs them.”
Travel & Hospitality
Travel company Tui said it began 2020 with “the best booking month in the company’s history”. But the
coronavirus crisis wiped out its operations for three months from mid-March. Between the restart of
operations in mid-June and the end of August 2020, the company took 1.4 million people on holiday – filling
five out of six seats on its planes on average. But over the same spell in 2019, Tui provided holidays for
around eight times as many people. The firm has cut its reduced summer 2020 offering still further by one-
sixth, from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, and switched “to alternative low-risk destinations, enabling many
customers to continue their holidays as planned”. With infection rates and government restrictions rising,
the already reduced winter programme has been cut by a quarter. Tui will now offer 60 per cent of its original
programme, down from 80 per cent. Next summer’s overall schedule is expected to be 20 per cent lower, but
Tui said average selling prices for summer 2021 are 10 per cent higher. It has restarted cruising on very limited
itineraries, primarily in the Baltic, “with a mandatory negative PCR test result a prerequisite for travel”. The
chief executive of Tui Group, Friedrich Joussen, concluded: “Leisure holidays remain important to customers
and have been one of the most missed activities during the pandemic. We are strategically well placed to
benefit as leisure travel volume recovers over the coming seasons.” The firm has said it expects late bookings
to be the norm “until customers are able to plan with more certainty”.
Drinks giant Diageo has been running a global programme, “Raising the Bar” to support pubs and bars
to recover and welcome customers back following the COVID-19 pandemic. To support outlets impacted
by the crisis, in June 2020 Diageo announced the $100 million global programme, a two-year initiative to
support pubs and bars around the world. In the UK, £30 million of targeted support is currently helping pubs
and bars by providing the physical equipment required to re-open, and bring people together to socialise in
a socially distanced, safe way. For example the firm is providing: ‘hygiene kits’ with high-quality permanent
sanitiser dispense units from partner CleanedUp, medical grade hand sanitiser and a range of personal
protection equipment (such as masks and gloves); help to pubs and bars to establish partnerships with online
reservations and cashless systems; mobile bars, and outdoor equipment.
Bud Light is veering from its usual humorous ad tone with a program on “Thursday Night Football” that
promotes Black-owned restaurants. Called “Bud Light Thursday Night Shoutout,” the campaign spotlights
the personal stories of business owners, beginning with an ad running on the NFL Network featuring
Cleveland’s Beckham’s B & M Bar B Que, a family owned southern restaurant. The brand is also partnering
with food app directory EatOkra to encourage viewers to visit Black-owned businesses. /continued
website: interbrand.com
contact: hello@interbrand.comBrand Moves 26
With the southeastern United States in the midst of a brutal hurricane season, Stillhouse whiskey is looking
to help residents of storm-prone areas prepare with window shutters inspired by its own packaging material.
The Bacardi-owned brand is partnering with disaster relief nonprofit SBP to provide 400 metal shutter panels
to homes across Florida’s panhandle. The company said the protective materials were modeled after the
stainless steel cans it uses as containers instead of conventional glass bottles. Stillhouse announced the
initiative with a two-minute video that featured the stories of real hurricane survivors. The project is specifically
focused on Bay County, Fla., which was hit particularly hard by Hurricane Michael last October and rebuilt
thanks in part to $3 million in relief funds from SBP. With Hurricane Sally pummeling Florida and Alabama this
week, the 2020 hurricane season is expected to be one of the deadliest on record with between 19 and 25
named storms estimated to hit the country’s coastal cities.
Hotel chain Marriott has announced that it’s teaming up with the National Park Foundation, the charitable
arm of the National Park Service, with the aim of encouraging travel to three of the park system’s lesser-
known hidden gems. Airbnb entered into a similar agreement with the NPF less than a month ago, but
Marriott will be casting a much wider net, offering its more than 100 million Bonvoy loyalty program members
deals and discounts on stays at any of the brand’s 406 properties located near the country’s 419 national
parks. Guests will also be able to use their points to purchase park passes and donate to the National Park
Foundation. Marriott announced in June that its occupancy rates had gone above 20% for the first time
since the pandemic began, with most of the growth coming from drive-to leisure destinations as those brave
enough to travel opted for road trips closer to home, such as to beaches and parks. “The timing was really to
kind of stretch that idea of the summer road trip into the fall,” said Brian King, who currently serves as global
officer of digital, distribution, revenue strategy and sales at Marriott. In August, Marriott announced that it had
lost more than $232 million in Q2. Using Marriott’s in-house digital media company, Marriott Traveler, the
brand will be releasing content geared at providing tips and guides for travelers heading to the parks this fall,
which will also be shared on Marriott’s owned social channels.
Long-established UK travel firm Thomas Cook is being resurrected as an online-only travel business,
exactly a year after the 178-year-old company ceased trading, stranding 150,000 holidaymakers abroad. The
relaunch comes as the travel industry faces the worst tourism crisis since records began. World Tourism
Organisation figures show that international tourist trips dropped by 65% during the first half of the year,
an unprecedented drop. But Thomas Cook’s UK chief executive, Alan French, said the company was taking
the “long view”. The new “Covid-ready” website will initially sell holidays to beach resorts and cities in
countries on the UK government’s travel corridor list, including Turkey, Italy and some parts of Greece. Further
destinations will be added when government restrictions are lifted, alongside more hotels and other types
of accommodation. The website features tens of thousands of hotels, as well as flights, transfers, and other
add-ons, for customers to tailor trips, which will be protected by Atol, the government-run financial protection
scheme operated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The relaunch is backed by Fosun Tourism Group,
the Chinese conglomerate that bought the Thomas Cook brand and online assets for £11m in November.
Fosun also owns Club Med. The Thomas Cook Group, which operated 560 high streets branches in the
UK and a fleet of aircraft as well as its tour operation business, employed 9,000 people in the UK. The new
company employs 50 people, who will work remotely.
Burger King is rolling out specially designed Whopper wrappers that prominently list the ingredients inside:
beef, tomatoes, mayo, lettuce, ketchup, pickles and a bun. The limited-time packaging will roll out today.
The move is designed to show that Burger King’s signature sandwich now contains no colors, no flavors and
no preservatives from artificial sources and taps into the growing trend for transparency around ingredients.
Burger King wants to make more of its “real food” and “high-quality ingredients” and said it had made
“substantial changes” to its menu, including removing around 8,500 tons of artificial ingredients globally. In
the U.S, it added, 5% of Burger King’s permanent food menu is now free of colors, flavors, and preservatives
from artificial sources, and the brand is striving to achieve 100% by the beginning of 2021.
/continued
website: interbrand.com
contact: hello@interbrand.comBrand Moves 26
Automotive & Transport
The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), more often known as the Detroit Auto Show, has
announced it will move its reimagined indoor and outdoor show, originally planned for summer 2020, then
2021, to Sept. 28-Oct. 9, 2021. “We have talked with many of our partners, particularly the OEMs, and they
are fully on board and excited about the date change,” NAIAS Executive Director Rod Alberts said. NAIAS
will remain a fall show going forward after the inaugural event in September 2021. Show dates have already
been secured with Detroit’s TCF Center for the next three years. NAIAS organizers secured dates towards
the end of the month, in part, to be mindful of the new IAA auto show in Munich, which is scheduled for the
first full week in September. “Our responsibility as an auto show is to host a global stage for current products
as well as mobility innovations of tomorrow,” Alberts said. “September is an excellent time of year for new
product, and at the same time, alleviates the challenges a now crowded spring auto show calendar presents
for auto show stakeholders.” Additionally, NAIAS is launching a new virtual thought leadership series, Q’d Up
Mobility. The monthly series will provide a glimpse into what the 2021 show has queued up for guests – an
idea that was born after the cancelation of the 2020 show.
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) have announced a joint strategy to
expand the number of Nightjet international overnight services operated through their partnership from six
to 10. New services planned include a new Zürich – Basle – Frankfurt – Cologne – Amsterdam daily overnight
service from the end of 2021, splitting the existing service from Zürich to Berlin and Hamburg into two
separate services to increase capacity from the 2023 timetable change, as well as introducing a new Zürich –
Leipzig – Dresden Prague service, and new planned connections from Zürich – Rome and Zürich- Barcelona.
“We have no doubts about the Nightjet’s continued success,” said Andreas Matthä, CEO of ÖBB. “We are
also investing in 13 latest generation Nightjet trains which will be in operation from the end of 2022.” Demand
for international overnight services rose significantly in 2019 and early 2020 until the outbreak of the Covid-19
pandemic, with passenger numbers from Switzerland growing by more than 25% year-on-year. Despite
the disruption caused by the crisis, the two operators expect the trend for increasing night train demand to
continue as customers seek more environmentally-friendly and resource-efficient means of travel.
Ridehailing service Lyft has released a set of case studies for what it calls resilient streets, which cater to
multimodal commuting, in which people rely on several different ways of getting around. The plans detail how
streets in Chicago, New York City and Washington, DC could have wider sidewalks, plus more bus and bike
lanes. Some of the plans include details that would clearly benefit Lyft, such as adding more of its bikeshare
stations and lanes for those bikes to ride in. (Lyft operates bikeshare systems in all three cities and scooters
in Washington, DC.) Caroline Samponaro, who leads micromobility policy at Lyft, said that the company was
motivated by steps cities have taken during the pandemic to embrace car alternatives, as well as by concerns
that cities will revert to their car-centric ways. Many cities have temporarily closed streets or added bike lanes
and outdoor dining spaces. “We’ve spent the last couple decades trying to dig ourselves out of the mess of
building our transportation systems around single occupancy vehicles,” Samponaro said. “We don’t want
overnight for us to go backwards there.” Samponaro pointed to people gravitating to cars amid concerns
about transit and social distancing; used car sales have grown this year. She said the design of streets signal
to people how they should get around, and what options they have. With more transit, bike and walking
infrastructure, people are less likely to rely on cars. Samponaro declined to say if the plans would have any
adverse impact on Lyft’s core business, but said that streets are currently an underutilized resource with little
done to make them sustainable or efficient. Lyft wants to make cities more effective and efficient, she said.
Aviation firm Airbus has revealed three concept jets, all using zero-emission hydrogen fuel for power. The
European aerospace company said these designs could form the basis for the first commercial zero emission
jets, hitting the skies as soon as 2035. Grazia Vittadini, chief technology officer of Airbus, said energy-dense
hydrogen – which produces only water when burned – is one of the “most promising” alternative technologies
for long-haul flights. The three concept planes – all codenamed “ZEROe” – can carry between 100 and 200
passengers, and travel up to 2,000 nautical miles, Airbus said. The most radical design is for an ultra-wide
plane that sees passengers seated through the fuselage and inside the wings, maximising space to store the
hydrogen within the aircraft. “These concepts will help us explore and mature the design and layout of the
world’s first climate-neutral, zero-emission commercial aircraft, which we aim to put into service by 2035,”
said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. “This is a historic moment for the commercial aviation sector as a whole
and we intend to play a leading role in the most important transition this industry has ever seen,” he added.
/continued
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contact: hello@interbrand.comBrand Moves 26
The Volkswagen Group is on the verge of offloading niche supercar brand Bugatti to Croatian electromobility
powerhouse Rimac Automobili. Bugatti – the luxury brand best known for today’s 16-cylinder hypercars and
its pre-WWII automotive masterpieces – will likely be transferred to Rimac via Porsche, in exchange for a
bigger share in Europe’s answer to Tesla. In 2018, Porsche acquired a ten per cent share in Rimac Automobili.
In 2019, they bought another 5.5 per cent. By doing so, Porsche is in good company: other investors include
Hyundai, Jaguar, Koenigsegg and Magna. Earlier this year, founder Mate Rimac counted 15 car companies
using its tech know-how. The company details key strengths such as the configuration of highly efficient
battery packs, the development of bespoke e-motors, innovations in terms of driver assistance, connectivity
and infotainment as well as systems integration and control. Rimac may be dubbed Europe’s Tesla, but while
Elon Musk’s firm has churned out more than 600,000 Model 3 and Y cars in the last three years, the Croatians
have made but a handful of electric hypercars. Rimac isn’t yet publicly traded, with the founder holding a
51 per cent majority interest. But there is an enormous buzz around the company – the last funding round
pegged its value north of £500m. The biggest secondary shareholders are Porsche, the Camel Group (a
Chinese battery producer) and a Chinese investor. While the true value of Rimac is yet to be determined by
an IPO, Bugatti is probably worth €500m in today’s depressed market. But perhaps there is no need for any
money to flow at all in the deal. In an ideal world, Porsche would swap the hypercar-maker lock, stock and
barrel for a bigger share of the Rimac action. How big? The target is 49 per cent, which could be a tough nut
to crack, but the Germans are keen on accessing as much know-how and brain power as they possibly can.
Toyota, the world’s second-largest carmaker, will begin testing the plan to fit a Toyota Dyna van with
hydrogen fuel cells in Japan later this month, in a move that could create fleets of temporary, mobile electricity
sources worldwide. The specially equipped vans could generate electricity for 72 hours straight and could
potentially replace the diesel-fuelled mini generators that typically power outdoor sporting events, concerts
and festivals with a zero-emissions alternative. They could also be used to provide emergency electricity to
disaster-stricken areas left without power for up to three days before refuelling. Toyota will work alongside
the portable generator company Denyo to create the mini power plants, which will be based on the same
technology used in the Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle The fuel cell vehicles run on compressed hydrogen gas,
which in the Mirai’s case is stored in two tanks mounted underneath the vehicle. They emit no exhaust fumes,
although fossil fuels are used to produce the hydrogen and to pressurise it. Testing is expected to last until
the end of 2021 before a decision can be taken on commercialising the plan. They will face a series of trials
that will include supplying power to evacuation shelters and businesses during disaster simulation drills, and
tests at outdoor events.
The pandemic disrupted the bicycle industry’s supply chains, but at the same time pushed demand to never-
before-seen heights, as people seek alternatives to public transportation. New bikes have been in extremely
short supply – but the used-bike market is on fire. One big player in the used market is The Pro’s Closet,
located in Boulder, Colo. It has a slightly different tactic common in the car industry, but rare in the bike world:
certified pre-owned bicycles. The company does do local business, but its main presence is online, selling
enthusiast (generally $1,000+) bikes nationally via eBay. Unlike bike shops that mostly sell new stock, The
Pro’s Closet’s business model is tailor-made for the current coronavirus moment, able to take advantage of
the demand thanks to its unique and relatively untapped supply chain of garages around the country. “We’re
tapping into every garage to buy bikes from people that have a bike in their garage or a bicycle they’re not
using,” Nick Martin, the company’s founder and CEO said. “We’re in a unique position to own our own supply
chain and provide bikes to meet demand.” The demand, even at the end of the summer, is still high. In April,
U.S. sales grew 75% compared to last year, to $1 billion. At the same time, imports fell dramatically and are
up just 3% through June, according to trade publication Bicycle Retailer, and bike shops have consistently
struggled to maintain inventory given supply chain difficulties. This year, The Pro’s Closet’s revenue is up
130%, and the company says it sells through its inventory every 13 days. “We believe if we could process
twice as many bikes, we could sell twice as many, too,” said Martin.
/continued
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contact: hello@interbrand.comBrand Moves 26
Retail & Luxury
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will go on, but it’ll look very different than it has over its last 94 years.
This year’s parade will still have the giant balloons, colorful floats and, of course, Santa Claus, but it will “shift
to a television-only special presentation,” Macy’s and New York City announced on Monday. The parade will
still air across the country on NBC on Thanksgiving morning, but the pandemic forced Macy’s to “reimagine”
the event. It will forgo the traditional 2.5-mile route and reduce by 75% the number of parade participants,
who will be socially distanced during performances and required to wear face coverings. “It will not be the
same parade we’re used to,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday. “They are re-inventing the
event for this moment in history.” The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is not only the start of the holiday
season for millions of people, but also one of the most watched events on TV each year. Last year’s event
brought in roughly 22 million viewers for NBC.
Walmart has made yet another grab for a share of the apparel segment. Earlier today, the big-box retailer
announced the debut of a private-label brand called Free Assembly, available online and in 250 of the
retailer’s brick-and-mortar locations. The autumn collection kicks off with 30 items for women and 25 for men,
ranging from men’s carpenter jeans for $27 to the dressier Boyfriend Blazer for women, priced at $45, which
is also the top of the price range. In a statement, Walmart Fashion Group svp Denise Incandela described
Free Assembly as a “modern fashion brand… born from thoughtful, simple design, quality fabrics, modern
silhouettes and styles updated for today.” Free Assembly joins an arsenal of private label brands already
hanging from Walmart’s racks, including Time and Tru, George, Terra & Sky and Wonder Nation. Walmart’s
Incandela said the chain is “serious about establishing Walmart as a fashion destination,” and the addition of
Free Assembly is only the latest move in that effort. Aside from its extensive private-label offerings, Walmart
also has Bonobos, the menswear brand it purchased for $310 million in 2017. The retailer also offers a variety
of “elevated” brands via big-name partnerships, including Ellen DeGeneres’ EV1 and Sofia Jeans by Sofia
Vergara. And in May, Walmart made a foray into the increasingly popular clothing resale space by partnering
with ThredUp, adding a feature to its site that let shoppers browse 750,000 preowned items from labels
ranging from Nike to Coach and Calvin Klein.
UK organic vegetable box company Riverford has been certified as an ethical B Corporation business,
reflecting its focus on its workers’ wellbeing through its employee ownership model. The company scored
124.6 out of 200 in its first B Corp assessment, becoming the second highest-scoring food business overall
in the UK behind the chocolate brand Divine Chocolate. B Corp certification uses a broad assessment,
substantiated by evidence, to score companies’ social and environmental performance. To certify as a
B Corp, a company has to formally give people and environmental considerations the same weight as
shareholders or profits. They must score at least 80 out of 200 to be certified and the assessment is repeated
every three years. A global model, there are now an estimated 307 certified B Corp businesses in the UK
including Guardian Media Group, the owner of the Guardian newspaper, Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s ice-
cream and the plant-based cleaning range Seventh Generation, while newer startups include the brewer
Toast Ale. Guy Singh-Watson, the founder of Riverford, said: “Riverford has always sought to balance the
needs of planet, staff, suppliers and customers, with commercial success being a means to an end, not an
end in itself. We have done right by our own definitions, and developed our own measures. I, for one, am
intrinsically resistant to assessments of virtue. But these are niceties we can no longer afford; we need an
objective, global approach to avoid the ultimate market failure of thoughtless overconsumption leading to
self-destruction.” Before lockdown Riverford was making 50,000 to 55,000 deliveries every week, soaring to
85,000 at the peak – 70% up on the previous year. It has settled to about 70,000 a week, up 40% on last year.
British fashion designer Victoria Beckham cancelled her planned “salon-style” catwalk show just a few days
before London fashion week, fearing that although permitted under current guidelines, a show “didn’t feel
appropriate”. Instead, she presented her new collection to small groups of three visitors at a time, in the same
East London art gallery where she had planned to hold the show. Monogrammed silk “VB” face masks were
presented to each visitor, to ensure chic social distancing was maintained at all times. “I was really looking
forward to having a show and to the social element of that, after such a long period of not seeing anyone,” the
designer said. The intention had been to stage several shows spaced at intervals through a day, each with an
audience of 15 people masked and seated 2 metres apart. “I am hoping that next season we will get back to
something a bit normal. And maybe have a glass of wine,” Beckham said.
/continued
website: interbrand.com
contact: hello@interbrand.comBrand Moves 26
Patagonia is placing tags in its latest line of women’s and men’s shorts, reading “Vote the assholes out”
in block lettering. It has been a catchphrase of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard for years, according to
the company, and speaks of politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis. Chouinard
founded the 1% for the Planet community in 2002, which commits one percent of Patagonia’s annual sales
to the environment. “We have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we’ve been making
those shorts,” said the company in a statement. The shorts are regenerative organic certified, which meet
standards for animal welfare, farmworker fairness and soil health. “Remember, vote the assholes out – all of
those politicians who don’t believe we should do anything about climate change,” wrote Chouinard in a blog
post for the 1% for the Planet community at the start of the pandemic. “Vote for the planet and against those
who would do nothing. We have the power and now is the time to use it.” Beyond the shorts, Patagonia has a
number of ways it’s working to get people to the polls. Patagonia is one of the founding members, along with
PayPal and Levi Strauss, of Time to Vote, a nonpartisan coalition that aims to remove barriers to voting by
having companies pay their employees to go to the polls. Time to Vote now has 882 members, with more than
700 companies signing up this past year, including Ben & Jerry’s, Bank of America, Nike, Macy’s, Lego,
Unilever and others.
Switzerland-based sneaker brand On has announced The Cylon: a fully recyclable pair of running shoes that
can only be purchased via a monthly subscription. On’s goal is to achieve total circularity by creating new
sneakers from the pairs customers send back. The $29.99 sneaker subscription, which lets customers swap
out their current shoes for new ones as often as they’d like, ensures On will receive enough sneaker returns
to make circularity feasible. The Cylon is made from castor beans (not petroleum-based plastics, like many
shoes) and can be completely recycled. On will debut the sneaker and the subscription plan in fall 2021.
Other brands are also implementing business models – particularly those contributing to the sharing economy
– that balance consumers’ appetites for new products with our collective sustainability concerns. Muji in
Japan is offering a COVID-relevant home office furniture subscription, Levi’s and Ganni in Denmark created
a capsule collection of clothes consumers can rent (but not buy) to access, while subscription box brand
Litterbox lets cat owners spoil their pets each month – but only with eco-friendly, ‘farm-to-feline’ items. The
Cyclon subscription and On’s commitment to 100% circularity, however, are especially ambitious.
This year, at some of America’s biggest malls and outlet centers, the Thanksgiving Day discount shopping
frenzy won’t be happening. Mall owner Simon Property Group has said that its locations will remain closed
on Thanksgiving, though they will open the following day for Black Friday. “In these challenging times, we
made the decision that we will not open on Thanksgiving Day, instead allowing our associates to spend the
holiday with their loved ones,” David Simon, the company’s CEO, said. The announcement marks a major
shift in strategy for the biggest shopping weekend of the year – which had been getting longer and longer,
with more stores opening on Thanksgiving and promotions extending to Cyber Monday and into December.
Simon is the largest mall operator in the United States. Many experts had been expecting such a shift this
year, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. “With everything that’s going on, there may be no Black Friday at
all,” Scott Rankin, principal and national consumer and retail strategy leader with KPMG US, said. “I can’t
imagine retailers buying inventory to stock up for an event designed to pack hundreds of people into a store.
There are so many risks to that.” Simon’s decision may also reflect that fact that, even before the pandemic,
consumers had been increasingly opting to shop Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals online, rather than
joining the mad dash in stores. Last year, Thanksgiving Day online sales hit a record $4.2 billion.
Hershey is trying to save Halloween from the coronavirus pandemic. The candy maker said that it has
worked with public-health experts and retailers to create a website to offer advice on how to trick-or-treat
safely in different parts of the U.S., depending on the intensity of local Covid-19 transmission. Hershey is also
changing the variety of candies it makes for Halloween this year and introduced them a few weeks earlier than
normal, aiming to prop up business during the season that typically drives one-tenth of its $8 billion in annual
sales. The pressure on Hershey to protect Halloween sales is indicative of a new stage of disruption for some
businesses as the pandemic advances into the fall. Airlines, hotel operators and retailers are also bracing for
the pandemic to alter normal travel and shopping patterns around the end-of-year holidays. “We’re taking
a proactive approach,” Phil Stanley, Hershey’s global chief sales officer, said in an interview. “We’re really
focused on helping consumers find creative ways to celebrate with treats, even though trick-or-treating is
going to look different this year.”
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Amazon, which has made its name providing easy access to a huge array of goods at hard-to-beat prices,
has launched an in-app storefront with luxury brand Oscar de la Renta offering more or less the exact
opposite – and promises more to come from other luxury fashion and beauty brands. Inventory and pricing
will be at the brands’ discretion, while Amazon will provide merchandising tools so brands can personalize
content, according to a company statement. Access is granted to U.S. Prime members by invitation, giving
the program an air of exclusivity for shoppers. The ecommerce platform is also attempting to translate
the typically high-touch experience of luxury retail to digital with features like 360-degree product view.
Christine Beauchamp, president of Amazon Fashion, said in a statement that the platform was “inspired by
feedback from Prime members who want the ability to shop their favorite luxury brands in Amazon’s store.”
Subsequently, Roland Mouret, designer of the Galaxy dress and one of the best-known names in British
fashion, has announced that he too is swapping the catwalk at London fashion week in favour of Amazon
Prime as the second designer on board with Amazon’s newly launched Luxury Stores, which will offer Prime
customers a “luxury shopping experience”. Mouret will reveal his new collection via a one-minute video on
Amazon in lieu of a catwalk show. “When something is described as luxury or not luxury, a lot of the time,
that’s just snobbery,” said Mouret of the new partnership. Until now he, like most high-fashion designers, has
emphasised the importance of a high-end environment for his creations. But now “all of my customers are
on Amazon”, Mouret said. “That is the reality. We are all Amazon customers now.” But, he says, “Amazon is
not to blame. The fashion industry made its own mistakes. We created too much product, we paid too much
attention to fashion week and not enough to the consumer. We created a monster.” Direct-to-consumer
partnerships could offer a lifeline to independent brands that could otherwise fail, he added. Mouret was an
early adopter of online retail. “Twenty years ago, Manolo Blahnik and I were the first designers to sign up to
Net-a-Porter at a time when people were saying customers would never buy expensive clothes online. That
same snobbery is at work here. Today is a different challenge, but in my creative guts I feel it is right.”
Shares in UK DTC specialists the Hut Group have jumped in value by a quarter at the start of trading on their
first day on the stock market in a signal of strong investor demand for the British e-commerce company. The
valuation propelled Hut Group into the ranks of Britain’s most valuable public companies. The biggest London
stock market debut since 2013 has netted the company £920m while shareholders led by the group’s founder,
Matthew Moulding, and a group of retail veterans, will share gross proceeds of £961m. Former Tesco boss
Terry Leahy is cashing in £17m of shares, the former Matalan and Asda boss Angus Monro £4.6m and the
former Debenhams boss Terry Green £6.2m, with all three retaining multimillion-pound stakes. Scottish retail
entrepreneur Tom Hunter, a former House of Fraser investor who made millions from selling the Sports
Division chain to rival JJB Sports in the 1990s, is the biggest beneficiary among the Hut Group’s retail
veteran backers, selling £52.5m of shares and retaining a stake worth more than £95m. Moulding founded Hut
Group in 2004, gradually moving the business from selling CDs tax free online to running websites for other
retailers such as Asda, Tesco and WH Smith. The Hut Group provides technology for brands such as Nestlé,
Unilever and Danone to sell direct to consumers. However, the majority of its £1.1bn revenues in 2019 still
came from its own direct-to-consumer sales, through websites including Lookfantastic, Glossybox and
Zavvi as well as beauty brands such as Espa and Illamasqua and the sports nutrition company Myprotein. It
employs about 7,000 people around the world and has just built a new $1bn campus near Manchester airport,
which it says has room for 10,000.
UK supermarket Tesco is to join forces with food sharing app and social enterprise Olio in a drive to
stop edible surplus food from going to waste and help feed more people in crisis in the local community.
Thousands of people regularly give away food and other household items to their neighbours for free through
Olio, but this is its first national partnership with a major supermarket chain. Tesco is rolling out the scheme
to all 2,700 branches of its UK branches, enlisting the help of Olio’s 8,000-plus local volunteers who will visit
Tesco stores to collect surplus food nearing its sell-by date. The food is taken back to their homes, with the
items immediately uploaded on to the Olio app, ready to be re-distributed free to households and community
groups. Pick-up is then arranged via private messaging within the app, from an agreed, contact-free
collection point. It follows a successful six-month trial, held earlier this year, at 250 Tesco stores which had
the most surplus food, including fresh fruit and vegetables, and bakery items. That led to 36 tonnes of food
being redistributed, with half of all food listings added to the app requested in less than one hour. Globally,
a third of all food produced is wasted, and in the UK, households account for half of all waste – binning
more than £15bn of edible food and costing families £730 per annum. Supermarkets have been criticised for
wasting food in their supply chains that could be diverted to food banks, amid record demand as a result of
Covid-19.
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US retail sales rose 0.6% last month, the fourth consecutive month of growth, the U.S. Commerce
Department said, but lower than the 0.9% increase in July. It’s also below the 1.1% increase analysts
expected. Much of last month’s growth came from spending at restaurants and bars, which are just starting
to let people in to eat and drink. Sales rose 4.7% at those places, but are still down 15.4% for the year.
Overall retail sales have been recovering since they plunged in the spring as stores and malls were ordered
closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. A number of those retailers, some of them part of the
U.S. retail landscape for more than a century, have failed. Century 21 said last week it’s shutting down all 13
of its stores for good after nearly six decades in business. Lord & Taylor, which has been around for nearly
200 years, is also going out of business. Several others major retailers have sought bankruptcy protection,
including J.C. Penney, Brooks Brothers and J.Crew. Clothing sales, however, rose nearly 3% in August after
a 20% decline in the last year. Retailers that had already pivoted to accommodate a shift to online shopping,
like Target and Walmart, have thrived. Sales at Amazon.com have soared. Online sales, however, were
flat last month, according to the Commerce Department, after soaring 22% in the past year. People also
spent less at supermarkets and sporting goods stores in August, after shoppers rushed to them this year to
stock up on food and exercise equipment for their quarantines. Many Americans are working from home or
taking classes online instead of going to school. Sales at electronic stores rose 0.8% as people bought up
computers and laptops. And at furniture stores, sales rose 2.1%. Ikea said last week that demand for desks,
chairs and filing cabinets has been so high that it sold out of numerous items and is working to restock them.
UK supermarket Waitrose is following rival Tesco by stocking plasters in a variety of skin tones to better
cater for black, Asian and mixed-race customers. Until recently, virtually all widely-available plasters designed
to blend in with people’s skin tone came only in shades of beige. As with many other products commonly
advertised as “nude” or “flesh-toned”, while they came fairly close to matching Caucasian complexions, they
often bore no resemblance to black and Asian skin tones. But from the end of this month, Waitrose shoppers
will be able to choose from three shades – light, medium and dark – when the grocer becomes the first UK
retailer to stock a new brand of multi-tone plaster. Boxes of 40 Skin Deep plasters will be sold at Waitrose
shops and online. In February, the nation’s biggest retailer, Tesco, became the first UK supermarket to bring
out plasters in a range of shades. The supermarket chain was praised for the move though some remarked it
should not have taken so long to introduce these products.
Property & Finance
Facebook is buying a previously unused corporate headquarters from outdoor retailer REI, despite the
social media company’s plans to shift more of its employees to working from home. REI announced in
August it had decided to sell the 400,000-square foot campus complex in Bellevue, Washington, that it
had planned to move into this summer. It disclosed Monday that it had reached a deal to sell the property
for $390 million. REI, which specializes in camping and other outdoor gear and clothing, is a co-op that
is owned by its customers. It has 167 stores in 39 states. While it does not report quarterly results, most
brick-and-mortar retailers reported a sharp drop in sales earlier this year due to store closings associated
with the Covid-19 pandemic. REI also shifted its headquarters employees to remote working due to health
concerns. The company said it has decided to now have its headquarters span multiple locations across the
Puget Sound region. REI will also have headquarters employees working remotely as its normal model going
forward. “We learned that the more distributed way of working we previously thought untenable will instead
unlock incredible potential,” said CEO Eric Artz in August. “This will have immediate, positive impacts on our
ability to attract and retain a diverse and highly skilled workforce, as we continue to navigate the impacts
of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.” However, Facebook has been adding staff throughout this year
and adding office space along with them. “In order to address our rapidly growing workforce, we continue
to make investments in physical office locations,” they said. “In the second quarter of 2020, we added a
record 4,200 net new employees and now have more than 52,000 employees. While Facebook envisions
50% of its employees will be working remotely within the next 5-10 years, our offices are still vitally important
to our culture and will help accommodate anticipated growth and meet the needs of our employees that
need or prefer to work from campus. An internal employee survey the company fielded in May showed that
approximately 65% of Facebook employees were eager to return to the office as soon as possible.”
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Meanwhile, however, Facebook is hiring a Director, Remote Work to run the HR side of its shift to off-site
working practices. The candidate, according to Facebook’s job ad, is expected to “lead our strategy and
partner with an extensive group of cross-functional partners to make this shift to the way we design our
organizations and grow our people. The Director of Remote Work will be a strategic thinker who understands
distributed and virtual teams, an outstanding relationship builder, and a change agent. Our ideal candidate
is someone who can collaboratively build on, and evolve our remote workforce strategy with a passion and
proven acumen for experience design, process excellence and change management.” Among the list of tasks
they will be expected to handle are to “develop and govern Facebook’s long-term, global remote workforce
strategy and approach to flexibility, lead highly cross-functional team of leaders responsible for helping
Facebook transition to remote work, and drive a company-wide shift toward remote-first ways of working.”
Amazon has made the first investments from its Climate Pledge Fund. The fund, started with $2 billion in
funding from Amazon, will support the development of sustainable technologies and services that is intended
to enable Amazon and other companies to meet The Climate Pledge – a commitment to be net zero
carbon by 2040. Last year, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge, a commitment
to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net zero carbon by 2040. Three global companies—
Verizon, Reckitt Benckiser, and Infosys – also recently joined the pledge. “The Climate Pledge Fund will
look to invest in the visionary entrepreneurs and innovators who are building products and services to help
companies reduce their carbon impact and operate more sustainably,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and
CEO. “Companies from around the world of all sizes and stages will be considered, from pre-product startups
to well-established enterprises. Each prospective investment will be judged on its potential to accelerate the
path to zero carbon and help protect the planet for future generations.” The first investments are in Redwood
Materials, a startup founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, which aims to extract lithium, cobalt and
nickel from old smartphones; Rivian, the electric vehicle manufacturer that Amazon has previously invested
in; Carbon Cure, which locks CO2 into concrete; Turntide Technologies, which makes efficient software-
controlled motors; and Pachama, which uses computer vision to monitor satellite imagery in order to assess
carbon offsetting commitments.
UK department store retailer John Lewis is working on plans for a massive reduction in the size of its London
flagship store, converting entire floors into offices. The staff-owned department store has applied for planning
permission to switch up to three floors of its landmark Oxford Street store – which currently house children’s
ranges, electrical goods, kitchen and bathroom departments as well as dining areas – into office space for
rent. The site on one of Europe’s most high-profile shopping thoroughfares has been of totemic importance
to the retailer, at one point accounting for 10% of the department store chain’s revenues. Even before the
pandemic spurred the trend for online shopping, department stores have faced particular difficulties as
their large sites with long leases have been slow to adapt to changing shopping habits. John Lewis’s rivals
Debenhams, House of Fraser and Beales have all gone into administration. Beales closed completely
before at least one site relaunched under new owners, while Debenhams and House of Fraser have shut
numerous stores. The coronavirus outbreak has put further pressure on city centres, particularly London, as
the shift to working from home and disappearance of day-trippers and tourists has left formerly busy areas
quiet. Data last month from the New West End Company, which represents 600 businesses across Oxford
Street, Bond Street, Regent Street and Mayfair, showed that footfall in the West End was still 63% down
on 2019 levels. One in 10 Londoners are employed in the West End area, and without a boost to consumer
confidence, the capital’s premier shopping area is facing job losses of 50,000 and lost annual sales of more
than £5bn, the NWEC has warned.
Sports & Entertainment
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has confirmed that the capital’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display will
not be taking place this year. About 100,000 people usually attend the annual celebration of the start of the
new year in central London but Khan said he could not allow people to congregate in the same way because
of coronavirus, so the event would take place in a different format. He said: “I can tell you there will not be
fireworks at New Year’s Eve like there has been in previous years. We simply cannot have the number of
people who congregate on New Year’s Eve congregating. What we are working on, and I am not in a position
yet to say what, as we are still working out the details [but] … we will do something people can enjoy in the
comfort and safety of living rooms.” When asked whether bars would be open for celebrations to ring in 2021,
Khan said authorities would have to “see how the virus pans out”, adding that the festive season was weeks
away still.
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Amateur esports teams are springing up specializing in games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike
and Dota 2, and they want places to meet and compete. Vacancies in city centers created by the shift to
online shopping and magnified by the pandemic have proved perfectly placed to fill the gap. Simplicity
Esports has about 40 gaming centers in 15 U.S. states, which let amateurs meet and play together on high-
end computers without worrying about cheaters or slow network connections. Its president, Roman Franklin,
said that since January he’s seen a 40% to 70% improvement in lease terms for potential new venues. At
some locations, he said, the company has secured flexible rents representing 10% of the sites’ gross sales,
with no minimum rent and no other costs. “I’m seeing lots of opportunities to continue the expansion of our
footprint,” said Franklin. Amateur players inspired by high-profile gamers – such as Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf,
the 16-year-old who won $3 million in the 2019 Fortnite World Cup final – want to practice and compete in
environments where no one can gain a technical advantage and it’s harder to cheat. “Playing from home is
like playing basketball in your driveway – the hoop may not be 10 feet high and the driveway might be a bit
sloped at the front,” said Zack Johnson, CEO of esports services company GGCircuit, which develops and
sells cloud-based software used by about 1,000 esports centers around the world. Industry executives say
lockdowns impacted and delayed brick-and-mortar expansion plans, but Johnson said more than half of
the 20,000 screens that run on its equipment are now back online after lockdowns. Venues were appearing
across Europe before the pandemic too, led by a crop of young companies such as France’s Team Vitality
and Meltdown, Sweden’s Space, and London-based Game Digital’s Belong network. Kinguin runs a
6,560-square-foot bootcamp-hotel for professional teams in Warsaw. It’s now going after the amateur market
and opened an Esports Lounge in the port city of Gdansk in June. CEO Viktor Wanli said the site is operating
at half capacity due to social distancing but demand is clear. “We’re having days where gamers have to
wait in lines to occupy a station,” he said. Vindex LLC, an esports company established by the founders of
Major League Gaming, bought Belong in July and wants to open more than 1,000 venues worldwide. And
traditional sports stars are no stranger to the potential: Guild Esports, part-owned by English soccer star
David Beckham, last week announced plans for an initial public offering that will help fund a training academy
and scouting network.
As the streaming video market continues to thrive during lockdowns and the at-home entertainment
boom, network Discovery plans to debut its direct-to-consumer streaming service — which will be called
Discovery+, according to a trademark filing — in the first quarter of 2021. The streaming service will have
both an ad-free and an ad-supported option. Discovery is aiming the service at people who are less likely
to tune in to Discovery’s linear networks, said agency executives. Discovery already operates separate
streaming apps that require people to log in with their pay-TV subscriptions to stream its TV networks’
shows. “This is for cord cutters,” said an agency executive. To attract cord cutters who are likely younger
than Discovery’s linear audience, Discovery has been in the market for original programming, including reality
shows and documentary series, for Discovery+ that appeal to younger adult audiences — twenty- and thirty-
something viewers — and that star mainstream celebrities, according to entertainment industry executives.
Given Discovery’s ownership of networks including Discovery, TLC and Food Network, Discovery+ could
vie to be the streaming network of choice for audiences interested in home, cooking and lifestyle-related
programming as well as science-related documentaries. The service will be niche compared to general-
interest entertainment services like Netflix, HBO Max or Peacock. That could be to Discovery’s advantage,
positioning it as a complement to other streamers that people may subscribe to. Such positioning has worked
for Disney’s Disney+, which appeals primarily to families and has attracted 60.5 million subscribers since
launching in November 2019.
Just one month after the Big Ten football conference opted to postpone its fall sports seasons, including
college football, due to Covid-19, it has reversed course and will begin playing football games starting next
month. This morning, the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors said in a statement that it voted
unanimously to resume the football season, beginning the weekend of Oct. 23-24. The about-face will boost
the fall TV inventory, restoring additional GRPs to marketers in an upended fourth quarter. It will also provide
a big lift to Fox Sports, which broadcasts Big Ten football games and had been left with several major holes
in its schedule as a result of the postponement. The Big Ten – which includes Ohio State, Penn State,
Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska – said it will require student athletes, coaches, trainers and other
individuals who are on the field for all practices and games to undergo daily antigen testing, which will begin
by Sept. 30. On Aug. 11, the Big Ten and fellow Power 5 conference Pac-12 postponed its seasons as a
result of the pandemic, a decision that left nearly $1.7 billion in overall college football ad revenue hanging
in the balance. In an open letter a week later, commissioner Warren said the decision to postpone the fall
sports “will not be revisited.” But that changed as the other conferences went ahead with their college football
seasons, and public pressure increased on the Big Ten to resume playing.
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