Martine Rose nails the World Cup, LVMH's olympic bet, and how ALD activates their brand in unique ways
Sharing a few things that are top of mind this week.
Welcome to Commerce Thinking, an ongoing content series where we tell stories about the world's fastest-growing brands and those shaping the new luxury market.
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Hello friends! In addition to our interview series, we’re adding another layer to THOUGHTS. We’ll round up a few bits of news and share light commentary on what’s happening.
The Nike x Martine Rose World Cup popup in Shanghai
If ever there was a supremely executed brand activation around an event as momentous as the World Cup, this would be it.
Designer Martine Rose simply nailed this installment with Nike inside of the Shanghai-based Labelhood. It carries all the right elements of football nostalgia, continues the modern connection fashion and football have together, and ultimately it feels like something more than just a transactional space.
On top of that, the British-Jamaican designer went full flex creating the USWNT’s match day uniforms for the World Cup in New Zealand, and it was not left wanting. The uniforms merge fashion and sport seamlessly, all with a unisex point of view.
Bravo.
The (non) sale brand sell
Something good brands have in common is their ability to create a variety of touchpoints for consumers to engage with the brand.
And it doesn’t have to result in a sale because you—the brand—understand that the larger vision for said brand is to build a world around your brand, inviting the customer to participate in it.
That was a mouthful.
Aimé Leon Dore is a textbook example of this.
For years, they’ve maintained a uniform approach to marketing. Outside of their very recognizable photoshoots that offer a specific aesthetic, they also treat activations soft-sell opportunities for their brand.
From hosting an annual basketball tournament to their routine Porsche collabs, and most recently, their vinyl series where they invite DJs to guest play at their London and NYC shops… there’s a larger vision at hand.
It’s clear they want to touch different areas of the consumer psyche; to sell by not selling. And it works.
It’s LVMH’s world; we’re simply living in it
Plush with cash, the Arnualt family continues to wow us with their opulent brand plays.
In a year where we’ve seen the French luxury conglomerate re-designing the Tiffany’s store in NYC to appointing Pharrell as the successor to the late Virgil Abloh’s role at LV, their investment announcement in the 2024 Paris Olympics isn’t all that surprising.
Look, paying $166MM to be a premium partner at the Paris Olympics is no bargain, but it’s clear that LVMH is out to own the intersection where new luxury, culture, and entertainment meet, and they’re making some huge bets to get there.
Gap hires Mattel’s President to be the new CEO—does it fix anything?
It’s tough to take a brand like Gap seriously at the moment, given how much of a blunder the Kanye gamble was for them.
It didn’t work out.
So things go quiet, and all of a sudden, in the marketing mayhem of Barbie-mania, voila! Gap announces they’ve tapped President Richard Dickson from Mattel—the toy company that owns Barbie, Polly Pocket, and many others—to be the fashion retailer’s new CEO.
There’s got to be a licensing play here, especially considering Mattel plans to launch other movies around their toys in the future.
That said, this still doesn’t solve GAP’s core brand issue(s).
For a company that’s got brands like Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta on its books, it’s clear they need to sort out the narrative of who they are. When you compare the path of Gap with its sportswear sibling J.Crew, the two brands have taken different journeys.
One has focused on slow and steady growth, while the other has sought to force its way back into the conversation through cultural klout.
Will be interesting to see how it plays out in the earnings reports.