Nike's Original Exit from Amazon 

In 2019, Nike made waves by cutting ties with Amazon – a move aimed at tightening control over its brand and pushing more sales through its own direct-to-consumer channels. At the time, Nike hoped to combat issues like counterfeit goods by focusing on its own website and stores. Its limited pilot partnership with Amazon hadn’t delivered on expectations around brand control or sales performance. 

The company believed it could cultivate better customer relationships and premium experiences on its own turf. 

What’s Changed Since 2019 

Fast forward to 2025 and Nike is coming back to Amazon’s U.S. site, effectively reversing that 2019 decision. The shift comes under new leadership and reflects a dramatically changed market context. 

Nike is facing mounting pressures. Sales have cooled – with a reported 9% drop in quarterly revenue earlier this year – and the brand is grappling with tariff-induced cost hikes that are squeezing margins on its China- and Vietnam-made products. These supply chain challenges have led to price increases of $5–$10 on some sneaker models. 

At the same time, competition is heating up. Nike’s global market share slipped to 14.1% in 2024 (down from 15.2%), as brands like New Balance, On Running, and Hoka gain momentum. In other words, Nike’s brand supremacy is under threat, and the company is feeling the pinch of a tougher economy and savvier competitors. 

Nike’s new CEO and executive team are taking a pragmatic approach: if customers are shopping in certain places, Nike plans to be there.

This signals a strategic pivot. Reach and convenience – hallmarks of Amazon’s model – are now prioritized over total channel control. The timing mirrors a broader shift in retail: brands are rebalancing wholesale and DTC strategies to reignite growth. 

Rebuilding Visibility and Reach 

Consumer behavior has evolved – today, more product searches start on Amazon. Nike’s absence from the platform risked ceding visibility to competitors or gray-market sellers. With its return, Nike immediately gains front-row visibility where millions begin their shopping journeys. 

Cara Salpini/Retail Dive

Jefferies analyst Randal Konik called the decision “a smart move,” noting that Nike’s presence on Amazon “further cements [the] brand’s ubiquity.” For a brand built on being everywhere, the lack of an Amazon presence was a glaring omission. 

Nike is also rebuilding its wholesale network. After slimming down its retail partners to push DTC, it’s now adding back strategic relationships – not just with Amazon, but also with upscale retailers like Printemps in France. The objective: meet shoppers wherever they are, from premium store shelves to Prime search results. 

Direct Isn’t Always Enough 

This omnichannel shift acknowledges that pure DTC has limitations. Even Allbirds – once a poster child for the DTC movement – has joined Amazon to expand reach after a period of flatlining sales. CEO Joey Zwillinger admitted the brand never believed “direct would work” alone to drive growth. For Allbirds, Amazon could eventually contribute 10% of sales – even if it means sacrificing some data in exchange for new audience reach. 

Caroline Jansen/Retail Dive

Nike’s return is also about reclaiming brand control. In its absence, unauthorized third-party merchants filled the gap – often selling gray-market or counterfeit products. This fragmented presence diluted Nike’s standards and siphoned off sales. 

Now, Nike is cutting out those sellers. Amazon has notified merchants they’ll be barred from selling certain Nike products by July, as it pivots to sourcing directly. This shift gives Nike more oversight – from content and pricing to the overall customer experience. 

Déjà Vu, But with Data 

While this is a notable reversal, Nike’s 2025 approach to Amazon differs sharply from its 2019 exit. Back then, its pilot partnership was limited and yielded little incremental benefit. Now, Nike is returning on its own terms. 

Amazon has matured since then – with tools like brand registry, brand storefronts, and tighter controls over third-party sellers. Nike has secured stronger guardrails, enabling it to better manage its brand across Amazon’s ecosystem. 

Crucially, Nike appears committed to rigorous performance evaluation. The company will monitor Amazon’s role in reaching new customers, driving incremental sales, and complementing DTC – not cannibalizing it. 

The Top-of-Funnel Blind Spot 

Marketplace growth requires omnichannel insight. 

Too many brands know the what – a spike in Amazon sales – but not the why. Attribution gaps across platforms make it hard to understand what drove the uptick. 

This brings us to a major challenge: measuring cross-channel performance. A Nike ad seen on TikTok may result in a hoodie sold on Amazon – but Amazon rarely shares the journey data needed to make that connection. 

Without a unified view, brands risk undervaluing top-of-funnel activity. In fact, recent Fospha research found that 42% of Amazon sales are influenced by non-Amazon media, yet most teams rely on last-click models that misattribute results. The study found that unified ROAS was 45% higher than DTC-only ROAS when Amazon sales were included. 

In other words, many awareness campaigns look underwhelming until their full influence is factored in. 

Connecting the Dots with Tools Like Halo 

Fortunately, the industry is responding with new solutions to tackle this measurement gap. A notable development is the focus on what some call the “halo effect” – the lift in sales on one channel caused by marketing on another. To quantify and act on this effect, marketers are turning to advanced analytics tools that unify data across platforms. 

One example is Fospha’s Halo – a feature within Fospha’s full-funnel measurement suite. Halo is Fospha’s multi sales channel measurement feature, it allows brands to see the impact of all their online advertising across every online sales channel, including Amazon holistically, this will show which brand and other top of funnel ads drive Amazon sales enabling Nike to be smart and create multiple sales channel impact. 

By combining DTC, ad platform, and Amazon data, Halo helps marketers see how, for example, a Snapchat campaign influenced Prime Day orders. According to Fospha’s team, campaigns on TikTok showed up to 80% higher unified ROAS when Amazon purchases were accounted for. Meta campaigns showed similar gains. 

For a brand like Nike, this kind of measurement will be vital. As it rolls out campaigns to support its Amazon return, Nike’s marketing team will want to know: Are Snapchat ads driving apparel sales? Is Instagram performance translating to Amazon conversions? Halo’s approach enables data-driven decisions about where to double down. 

Other brands watching Nike’s move should take note. Marketplace expansion without robust measurement risks blind spots. With better attribution tools, brands can properly credit the campaigns that drive multi-platform sales – and allocate budgets with more precision. 

The New Growth Model 

In the late 2010s, many brands preached the gospel of channel contraction (cutting out middlemen, going direct). That era proved that while DTC can drive higher margins and deep customer connections, it’s not a panacea for growth. 

Now, in 2025, the pendulum is swinging towards channel diversification once again. Brands want to be everywhere the customer is – online, offline, owned channels, third-party marketplaces – to maximize revenue streams and resilience. 

However, the difference today is that brands are far more cognizant of maintaining a single view of the customer and the funnel. They know that without the proper data, being everywhere can lead to seeing nowhere – you can’t tell what’s actually working. 

For senior marketing and retail executives, the lesson is to embrace an omnichannel presence coupled with omnichannel measurement. Nike’s move should prompt conversations in boardrooms: Do we have the right analytics to support a multi-channel strategy? Can we attribute sales on our partners’ platforms back to our campaigns? Are we prepared to manage brand consistency and collect insights from those platforms? 

The savviest leaders are already acting. They are investing in data infrastructure and partnerships (like measurement platforms like Fospha that plug into various ecosystems) to ensure that as they broaden distribution, they don’t lose the thread on performance. In a world where Amazon alone captures about one-third of all U.S. e-commerce, ignoring that channel is not an option – but neither is blindly diving in without the tools to gauge success. 

A Sign of the Times: Dick’s Sporting Goods Acquires Foot Locker 

If Nike’s Amazon return signals a more pragmatic approach to distribution, the $2.4 billion merger between Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker underscores it. The deal will create a combined retail powerhouse with more than 3,200 stores and $21 billion in annual revenue — making it an even more critical wholesale partner for brands like Nike. 

Elliott Hill, CEO of Nike, expressed optimism: “Each has their own loyal consumer following… I am confident that together they will help elevate sport and continue to accelerate the growth of our industry.” 

It’s a reminder that the right retail partnerships still matter – especially when they’re powered by unified data and aligned goals. 

Nike’s experiment could well become a case study in how to blend old-school wholesale reach with new-school measurement savvy. If it succeeds, expect many others to follow suit, rewriting their playbooks to balance distribution breadth with data depth – a true full-funnel approach for the modern era of retail. 

Explosive E-Commerce Growth and Loyal Fans

ThirdLove has quietly become a powerhouse in online intimate apparel, with its e-commerce revenues surging into the tens of millions. In 2024, their flagship site hit $69 million in revenue, and projections for 2025 suggest continued growth to a range of $72 million to $76 million. A recent benchmark report shows ThirdLove’s site converting at 2.0–2.5% of visitors—impressive for the fashion retail industry. Thanks to personalized fitting tools like their proprietary Fit Finder quiz (98% accuracy), customer return and loyalty rates have skyrocketed, with an industry analysis noting that ThirdLove's repeat customer rate is around 60%—far above the typical 20–30% seen in other e-commerce segments.

This level of retention and loyalty isn’t just about great products; it’s also about ThirdLove’s data-driven focus on fit and customer experience, a strategy that has paid off. Early growth phases saw a 347% year-over-year increase in sales and a 62% YoY boost in returning customer orders. ThirdLove’s “Try Before You Buy” policy and Fit Finder quiz helped drive 20% higher conversion rates than industry norms, with more than 4 million bras sold by 2019. With viral Instagram campaigns and high-profile testimonials, ThirdLove has cemented its place as the “number one online bra brand for millennials”—and its appeal is only growing with Gen X.

Leadership Driving Innovation and Inclusion

At the core of ThirdLove’s success is a founder-led team that combines tech expertise, creative innovation, and a focus on customer-centric values. Co-founder Heidi Zak (CEO), a former Google executive, has merged the discipline of Sequoia Capital with Google-scale data, laying the groundwork for ThirdLove's technology-first approach. Alongside her husband, David Spector, a former Sequoia and Google too, they’ve prioritized building a stable and scalable tech infrastructure, ensuring that their online platform remains reliable for customers shopping for their bras and intimates.

Their creative co-founder Ra’el Cohen (CCO) has been instrumental in shaping ThirdLove’s design and loyalty programs. Under her leadership, ThirdLove introduced its multi-tier Hooked rewards program, which saw 41% of customers sign up by 2019—a strong indicator of customer engagement and retention. By offering 78 bra sizes, including half-cups, ThirdLove has unlocked a massive market of women who often find themselves overlooked by traditional sizing charts. This insight into customer needs has made ThirdLove a trailblazer in inclusivity, fulfilling the needs of approximately 60% of women who fall outside standard bra sizes.

Outpacing the Competition

ThirdLove’s rise comes amid a crowded intimates market. Legacy giant Victoria’s Secret still leads by revenue (about 22.4% market share, $5.4 billion annually), but it’s under siege. In aggregate, direct-to-consumer lingerie—led by ThirdLove, Savage X, and others—commands about 16% of the market today, up sharply from prior years.

Even smaller labels like CUUP (recently acquired by FullBeauty Brands) focus on niches, but ThirdLove’s head start shows in every metric. For example, where Victorian-era retailers offered ~30 sizes at most, ThirdLove’s 78-size arsenal vastly widens its addressable base. Its lean DTC model (bypassing mall stores) also lets ThirdLove invest more in marketing ROI instead of overhead. The payoff is clear: ThirdLove is capturing incremental sales and market share while competitors scramble to modernize.

Why Full-Funnel Measurement Will Become Key to Continued Growth

ThirdLove has already done an impressive job creating strong customer loyalty—its analytics for bra fit have helped them win over customers, leading to high repeat purchase rates and minimal return churn. However, as competition in the DTC space heats up, ThirdLove will need to extend this data-driven approach beyond just product fit. To continue growing, they will need to focus on optimizing their full-funnel marketing strategy—not just retention but the entire journey, from awareness to conversion.

This is where tools like media mix modeling (MMM) and attribution can significantly impact their marketing strategy. For example, CUUP, a competitor in the intimate apparel space, has used Fospha’s platform to better allocate their media spend across various channels, ensuring every dollar spent delivers the maximum return. Using MMM and real-time attribution models, they were able to refine their budget allocation and improve their strategy for each touchpoint in the funnel.

A standout example of this is CUUP’s 400% increase in TikTok engagement while still maintaining a strong return on ad spend (ROAS). The key to this success was Fospha’s ability to measure off-platform effects, such as the halo effect that DTC ads have on marketplace sales. These insights allowed CUUP to make smarter decisions on where to allocate their budget and optimize their performance across all platforms, resulting in stronger growth.

What Customers Are Saying

Ultimately, ThirdLove’s strength is proven by its fans. The brand consistently earns high review scores, with testers calling its bras “super comfortable” and praising soft, seamless fabrics. In Good Housekeeping trials, multiple women noted ThirdLove’s 24/7 T-shirt bra fit perfectly under clothes all day without digging in. Online, real customers echo this: one reviewer raves about “not having to constantly adjust” her ThirdLove bra, and many cite the inclusive sizing as life-changing. Demographically, ThirdLove appeals to a broad crowd. Heidi Zak herself notes the core base is millennial women (and growing in Gen X). In fact, nearly half of new buyers enroll in ThirdLove’s loyalty program, reflecting fierce retention. The brand often showcases “real” customers of all ages and shapes in its ads. As a result, ThirdLove’s social channels teem with organic word-of-mouth and testimonials, reinforcing why 60% of its purchasers become repeat buyers.

 ECDB, 2025. ThirdLove – Financial Performance & Growth Metrics. Available at: https://www.ecdb.com/brands/thirdlove [Accessed 27 October 2025].

 ECDB, 2025. ThirdLove's eCommerce Revenue Analytics. Available at: https://ecommercedb.com/store/thirdlove.com [Accessed 27 October 2025].

 Fospha, 2025. Fospha’s Full-Funnel Marketing Measurement for DTC Brands. Available at: https://www.fospha.com/marketing-measurement [Accessed 27 October 2025].

 Fospha, 2025. How Fospha Helps Brands Like ThirdLove Optimize Marketing Spend. Available at: https://blog.fospha.com/thirdlove-marketing-optimization [Accessed 27 October 2025].

 Shopify, 2025. The Leadership Behind ThirdLove: How Heidi Zak and David Spector Built a Brand for the Modern Woman. Available at: https://www.shopify.com/blog/thirdlove-leadership [Accessed 27 October 2025].

 DCF Modeling, 2025. Market Share and Growth in the Intimates Industry: Comparing Victoria’s Secret and ThirdLove. Available at: https://www.dcfmodeling.com/intimates-industry-market-share [Accessed 27 October 2025].

 Retail Dive, 2025. The Rise of DTC Brands: ThirdLove, Savage X Fenty, and CUUP. Available at: https://www.retaildive.com/thirdlove-dtc-growth [Accessed 27 October 2025].

 Good Housekeeping, 2025. ThirdLove’s Comfort Revolution: Customer Reviews and Product Trials. Available at: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/thirdlove-reviews [Accessed 27 October 2025].

Brand Investment Is Paying Off—Literally

In Q1 2025, Levi’s reported:

• $1.5B in net revenue (+3% reported, +9% organic YoY)

• 8% organic growth globally for the Levi’s® brand

• $0.38 EPS, up 52% YoY, beating expectations

This financial strength is a direct result of Levi’s decision to maintain—and even expand—its investment in brand awareness marketing during volatile market conditions.

One standout initiative includes Levi’s partnership with AI-powered sizing tools, allowing customers to receive tailored product recommendations online—bridging the gap between digital engagement and real-world fit. Additionally, the brand launched 'The Floor Is Yours', a global campaign spotlighting emerging creatives and changemakers wearing Levi’s, reinforcing its alignment with modern cultural storytelling.

A Sharper Focus: Core Brands, Core Value

Levi’s is streamlining its portfolio, doubling down on core growth drivers like Levi’s® and Beyond Yoga®. This ensures every marketing dollar reinforces high-growth segments where the brand sees long-term potential. By tightening its focus, Levi’s can allocate brand spend more effectively—supporting categories with proven traction and cultural relevance.

DTC Reaches 52%: The Measurement Imperative

Levi’s DTC momentum:

• +12% organic DTC growth

• +16% eCommerce growth

• DTC now makes up 52% of total revenue

Fragmented digital journeys require robust measurement frameworks to understand true attribution. Marketers can’t rely on last-click logic here.

Margins Are Up, Even Amid Turbulence

Operating margin rose to 12.5% and adjusted EBIT to 13.4%—a 400 basis point improvement YoY. Levi’s absorbed new U.S. tariffs thanks to its diversified supply chain. Strong brands can weather storms better because consumers choose to stick around.

So What for Performance Marketers?

Levi Strauss & Co. proves brand investment drives performance. But for most marketing teams, measuring that effect is elusive. That’s where full-funnel platforms like Fospha come in—quantifying the impact of brand on bottom-line outcomes.

To replicate Levi’s success, you need the right measurement infrastructure behind the brand.

May 14, 2025 – ClickZ Media, a leading authority in digital marketing insights since 1997, is thrilled to announce the launch of its premier awards program: The ClickZ 25 of 25. This initiative is set to identify and celebrate the 25 most impactful and innovative digital marketing campaigns of 2025 across the dynamic sectors of Fashion, Beauty, Health + Wellness, Luxury, and Home + Lifestyle.

Setting the Benchmark for Digital Excellence

In the highly competitive attention economy, standing out requires creativity, strategic brilliance and measurable results. The ClickZ 25 of 25 is specifically designed to honor campaigns that have pushed creative boundaries and have also delivered significant business impact through digital-first strategies.

"Launching The TwentyFive of TwentyFive is an exciting moment for us to put the spotlight on the campaigns that are truly defining excellence and setting new standards for the industry. We're looking for the work that isn't just good, but game-changing."

Global Recognition on the Grandest Stage: Cannes Lions Week

The timing of the announcement is strategically set for June 16, 2025, coinciding with the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This ensures that the recognized campaigns gain unparalleled global visibility among the world's leading brands, agencies, and marketing professionals.

"Announcing our inaugural list during Cannes Lions week is a deliberate choice," explains Zihan Lyu, who will oversee the judging process. "It places these exceptional digital campaigns directly in the global spotlight, providing winners with incredible exposure and recognition on the industry's biggest stage. It's an opportunity for these campaigns to gain the attention they truly deserve from a global audience of decision-makers."

A Singular Focus on Digital Innovation

Unlike many awards that encompass traditional and digital channels, The ClickZ 25 of 25 is laser-focused on celebrating campaigns where digital strategy and execution were the core drivers of success. The judging criteria are designed to identify work that excels in leveraging digital platforms for maximum impact:

• Strategic Digital Innovation: How did the campaign uniquely leverage digital channels (eCommerce, social, search, etc.)?

• Creative Excellence & Originality: Was the campaign concept fresh, engaging, and memorable in the digital space?

• Measurable Business Impact: Did the campaign deliver demonstrable ROI, sales growth, or other key business objectives?

• Effective Audience Engagement: How well did the campaign connect with and activate its target audience digitally?

Submit Your Campaign for Consideration

Agencies and brands are invited to put their most impactful digital campaigns forward for consideration. Submissions are free and should highlight work that exemplifies digital marketing excellence in the specified sectors (Fashion, Beauty, Health + Wellness, Luxury, and Home + Lifestyle).

Submission Deadline: June 10, 2025

How to Submit: Email your campaign details, performance metrics, and supporting assets to [email protected].

This is your opportunity to have your digital work recognized by a trusted industry voice and showcased to a global audience during the most important week in the creative calendar.

About ClickZ

ClickZ has been a trusted resource for digital marketers worldwide since 1997, providing actionable insights, analysis, and news on the latest trends and strategies. With a commitment to fostering digital marketing excellence, ClickZ continues to be a vital source for professionals navigating the complexities of the digital age.

For more information about The ClickZ 25 of 25 awards, please contact [email protected].

Retailers used to worry about whether customers would migrate online. Today they fret about whether their data can keep up. From New York to LA, the talk at ETail Connect has been less about footfall and more about data gravity, the invisible force that pulls every decision, from promotion design to supply-chain financing, towards the numbers.

Etail Connect Conference, Florida, 7th to 9th May 2025

1 | Data: the bloodstream that still clots

“We’re building a lake where everything can live,” confessed one retail CTO, echoing peers who are still draining ancient silos. Legacy ERP tags the same shopper three different ways; marketing calls her “lapsed”, stores hail her as “VIP”. Until the lake flows, the promise of one-to-one retail remains theoretical.

2 | AI: from pilot to profit

Generative AI is no longer a cocktail-hour curiosity. Deep-learning layers are already rewriting product copy on the fly and serving real-time, hyper-personalised ads that have lifted revenue “by 57 per cent on lower CAC”, according to one presenter. The message: start with clean first-party data, plug in modular models, and measure ruthlessly. 

3 | Unified commerce: stitching the channels

Boards now talk of a single roadmap that binds merchandising, marketing and systems architecture. Rip-and-replace fantasies are out; pragmatic component swaps are in. One apparel group is rebuilding its stack “one micro-service at a time”, even forcing store associates to surrender customer numbers buried in personal phones.

4 | The fierce economics of acquisition & LTV

Sixty per cent of many e-commerce revenues still come from new customers each year. Yet the top 10 per cent of shoppers often drive more than half of sales. Smart operators therefore target “look-alikes” of their highest spenders, identified by first-basket value or premium categories, while relentlessly harvesting email and SMS consent to double the odds of a second purchase.

5 | Marketing measurement grows up

Return-on-ad-spend is being demoted from North Star to lagging indicator. Growth teams now triangulate incrementality tests, media-mix models and hard contribution to the P&L. “What’s the ROI of this feature?” has become a gating question for every tech sprint.

6 | Amazon & the age of retail media

If data is oil, Amazon is OPEC. Brands are mining the platform’s free dashboards, stock analytics, market-basket insights, demographics—to shave fulfilment fees and design smarter cross-sells. Amazon’s own ad sales jumped a fifth to $12.8 bn in Q2 2024, underscoring the gravitational pull of its closed-loop audience data (Financial Times).

7 | Macro headwinds, micro indulgences

Rising tariffs and commodity prices are squeezing margins, while US sentiment surveys point to cooler discretionary spend. Retailers are responding with value-led messaging, think reading glasses before sunglasses, yet consumers still crave small luxuries, swapping Provence for Florida rather than cancelling holidays outright.

8 | Culture eats transformation for breakfast

Technology is the easy part; the grind is cross-functional discipline. Operators who favour “shiny new things” over process, talent and empathy rarely sustain gains. Women, who influence 85 per cent of household purchases, must be centred in both data sets and decision rooms.

Additional Sources:

1. Interactive Mindmap

Retail and Customer Engagement Insights

Etail Connect Florida May 25

2. Podcast on event themes

Boardroom Takeaways

• Build the lake, resolve the identity. Clean, connected data is prerequisite #1.

• Pilot Gen-AI to reduce creative fatigue. Ruthless remove high admin high frequency workflows to empower creative store executions

• Draft a customer plan next to the merch and financial plans. Growth lives at the overlap.

• Exploit platform data exhaustively, especially Amazon’s, for  revenue growing insights and reducing fulfilment costs.

• Narrate value in an age of frugality, but leave room for ‘treat yourself’.

• Mind the culture: cross-functional KPIs and a diverse leadership table outperform dashboards alone.

SPONSORED BY

Powering smarter budget decisions with full-funnel marketing measurement and
forecasting for the post-iOS 14 era.

A J.Crew storefront sign in New York City.  

From Ivy League Catalogs to Chapter 11 

A Preppy Phenomenon Is Born 

J.Crew launched in 1983 as a catalog brand offering a Ralph Lauren-inspired look at accessible prices—a preppy, Hamptons-esque style delivered straight to consumers through glossy mail-order books. Its direct-to-consumer model, featuring celebrities and aspirational scenes, made waves on college campuses and in suburban homes. By the 1990s, J.Crew had become a staple of American casual fashion, defined by chunky sweaters and Ivy League aesthetics. The brand opened its first retail store in New York City in 1989, expanding beyond the catalog. 

When Mickey “Merchant Prince” Drexler took over as CEO in 2003, following his success at Gap Inc., J.Crew entered a golden era. Working alongside creative director Jenna Lyons, Drexler helped triple annual revenue, reaching $2.2 billion by 2013. The brand's bold, colorful take on preppy classics caught the eye of First Lady Michelle Obama, solidifying J.Crew as a defining force in American fashion. 

Mickey Drexler 

Losing the Thread 

By 2014, trouble was brewing. J.Crew began pushing trendier, more expensive styles that alienated its loyal base. Sales fell quarter after quarter. “We gave a perception of being a higher-priced company than we were… Very big mistake,” Drexler later admitted. Leadership churn followed: Lyons left in 2017 after 26 years, Drexler stepped down the same year, and new executives struggled to revive the brand. James Brett’s efforts to offer inclusive sizing and lower price points created internal tensions, and he exited after just 17 months. In early 2020, Jan Singer—formerly of Victoria’s Secret and Spanx—took the helm as CEO of the J.Crew brand. 

Collapse and Restructuring 

Years of declining sales, heavy debt from a 2011 private-equity buyout, and the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed J.Crew over the edge. In May 2020, it became the first major U.S. retailer to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy during the pandemic. The company shed $1.6 billion in debt and emerged from bankruptcy by September 2020, closing all UK stores and many U.S. locations. Once a paragon of American prep, the brand now faces a difficult question: can it ever reclaim its former glory? 

Revival Mode: New Leadership, Nostalgia, and a “J.Crew Renaissance” 

Bankruptcy gave J.Crew a chance to reset. In late 2020, Libby Wadle—a 20-year company veteran who had successfully led Madewell—became CEO of J.Crew Group. She inherited a brand in crisis but with a loyal base eager for a comeback. Her strategy: go back to basics, but with a modern twist.  New Creative Blood  Wadle’s first major move was bringing in fresh design talent. In 2021, Brendon Babenzien (co-founder of streetwear label Noah and ex-Supreme designer) became head of menswear.

Libby Wadle

Olympia Gayot, a J.Crew alum, took over women’s design. Their approach: revive J.Crew classics with updated cuts and new relevance. Fast Company praised the team for “recapturing the brand’s original fans in clever, surprising ways,” citing hits like a cropped take on the 1980s barn jacket—“the perfect alchemy between heritage and modern,” as Wadle put it. 

The Catalog Returns 

Crucially, J.Crew doubled down on what made it special: storytelling and lifestyle branding. In fall 2023, J.Crew relaunched its iconic catalog—seven years after shelving it. Dubbed a “magalog,” the new edition combined magazine-style storytelling with product layouts shot on film. Actress Demi Moore graced one version of the cover. Morning Brew captured the mood: “Miss poring over pages of colorful sweaters and chinos? Good news: J.Crew’s adored catalog is back.” The campaign tapped into nostalgia for Gen X and Millennials, while appealing to Gen Z’s love of ‘90s and Y2K style. 

After ending its print catalog in 2017, J.Crew is bringing back the mailed imprint with Demi Moore on one version of the fall 2024 cover. Source: The Wall Street Journal. 

Signs of a Real Comeback 

J.Crew’s turnaround is gaining traction. Group-wide sales (including J.Crew, Factory, and Madewell) are on track to hit a record $3 billion in 2024. That would mark the highest revenue in the company’s 40-year history. Full-price sales are also improving—a major shift from the heavy discounting that plagued the brand in the late 2010s. 

With fewer, more productive stores and stronger eCommerce and omnichannel performance, J.Crew appears to have its groove back. But the retail landscape is very different from the one it once dominated—and staying relevant won’t be easy. 

Marketing Strategy 2.0: Loyalty, Mobile Apps, and Reimagining Customer Experience 

Reviving J.Crew’s image was only half the battle—the other half was rethinking how to market in a digital-first world. CMO Derek Yarbrough focused on customer-centric, data-driven strategies. In August 2022, J.Crew launched Passport, a loyalty program that quickly became a core asset. By rewarding repeat customers with perks and early access, the brand built a direct line to its most engaged audience. “We’ve seen a lot of success,” Yarbrough said. 

The J.Crew Passport Program 

The App as Loyalty Engine 

Building on Passport’s momentum, J.Crew introduced a mobile shopping app in mid-2023. With more than two-thirds of online traffic coming from mobile, the app was designed to streamline checkout and offer personalized recommendations. Its standout feature? A 48-hour product preview exclusive to app users. This early-access model debuted with limited collections in July 2023 and deepened loyalty while attracting digital-first shoppers. “It’s an extension of [Passport],” said Yarbrough, blending loyalty with mobile commerce. 

The Power of Authenticity 

Some of J.Crew’s most effective marketing hasn’t come from ad budgets—it’s come from people. Olympia Gayot, the women’s design director, became an unexpected influencer after making her Instagram public in 2021. Her daily outfit posts turned viral, growing her audience from a few thousand to over 100,000. TikTok users gushed over her “effortlessly chic” style, crediting her with making them notice J.Crew again. One video earned over 219,000 views and proclaimed, “J.Crew has finally got my attention, and it’s all because of this woman.” Even CEO Libby Wadle acknowledged Olympia’s impact: “New and longtime fans have flocked to her Instagram for inspiration.” 

Instagram post by @jcrew

Omnichannel in Action 

Today, J.Crew’s customer experience spans loyalty, mobile, digital, and in-store. Passport members earn and redeem rewards across platforms. The app syncs with store inventory for click-and-collect and easy returns. Behind the scenes, a customer data platform powers personalized messaging across email, social, and catalog. The goal: no matter how or where a shopper interacts with the brand, the experience feels consistent, seamless, and tailored. 

A New Landscape: J.Crew in the Era of Madewell, Abercrombie, Everlane, and More 

As J.Crew fights to stay relevant, it must navigate a crowded market of reinvented mall brands and agile DTC challengers. The rules of retail have shifted—and J.Crew’s survival hinges on carving out a clear identity. 

Abercrombie & Fitch: Abercrombie’s turnaround—ditching exclusionary branding for inclusive, trend-forward appeal—has made it a retail comeback story. Its savvy use of TikTok and elevated basics resonated with young adults and lifted it to top-performing stock status in 2023. For J.Crew, A&F serves as both inspiration and competition in the “casual premium” space. 

Everlane: Everlane built its brand on transparency and clean aesthetics, winning over shoppers who once turned to J.Crew for elevated basics. In response, J.Crew has emphasized its own sustainability practices and heritage-driven storytelling. While Everlane sells values and utility, J.Crew trades on emotion, nostalgia, and classic Americana. 

Banana Republic: Banana Republic’s recent shift toward aspirational “luxewear” mirrors J.Crew’s own evolution. Both now compete for style-conscious consumers seeking quality and versatility post-pandemic. BR leans on immersive storytelling and archival design; J.Crew counters with a fresh creative team and heritage-driven reinvention. 

In a saturated market, J.Crew’s advantage lies in what others can’t replicate: its legacy. By modernizing how that legacy is expressed—through inclusive campaigns, sustainability efforts, and digital-first experiences—it aims to stay culturally relevant and commercially competitive. As CEO Libby Wadle put it, this is the brand’s “next chapter,” and it’s writing it with a clear point of view. 

The Measurement Challenge: Attribution, Brand Investment, and Channel Mix 

Even as J.Crew’s outlook improves, it faces a familiar conundrum: how to balance brand-building with performance marketing—and, crucially, how to measure what’s working. As spend flows into upper-funnel initiatives like catalogues, influencers, and social content, the pressure to prove ROI mounts. For J.Crew’s leadership team, attribution is a budgeting imperative. 

One major challenge is that standard web analytics and last-click attribution models don’t reflect how people actually shop. A customer might scroll past Olympia Gayot on Instagram, receive a catalogue in the post, search for an item online, then buy it in-store. What drove the sale? All of it, but last-click attribution might only credit the Google ad. 

The measurement gap is widening. Privacy regulations and the demise of third-party cookies have made it harder to track users across platforms. For a brand like J.Crew—operating across email, app, stores, and social—a unified customer view is essential. Their investment in a Customer Data Platform via Acquia suggests they’re taking this seriously, connecting behaviour across touchpoints and linking offline to online activity. 

Already, attribution is influencing spend. Channels with clearer tracking have seen greater investment. J.Crew is also leaning into organic influence, especially through Olympia Gayot’s Instagram, where impact is visible through engagement and follower growth. Julia Collier, the brand’s new CMO, is expected to double down on this strategy—bringing in her playbook from Skims, where influencer marketing was both culturally resonant and commercially effective. 

Ultimately, J.Crew must do what many premium brands struggle with: invest in long-term brand equity while meeting short-term revenue goals. That requires both creativity and accountability. Sophisticated attribution—backed by clean data and a test-and-learn mindset—is key to unlocking that balance.  

How Full-Funnel Measurement is Guiding Smarter Marketing 

As attribution challenges grow, retailers like J.Crew are rethinking how they measure what matters. Increasingly, that means moving beyond last-click models toward a full-funnel approach—one that captures how brand-building and performance work together. 

Fospha, a marketing measurement platform, has emerged as a key voice in this space. Its methodology combines multi-touch attribution with marketing mix modelling to give brands a clearer picture of what’s driving growth. Instead of guessing which channel deserves credit, Fospha helps marketers see the real revenue impact of every campaign—particularly those in the upper funnel that often go under-reported. 

“We see brands face this challenge time and time again,” explains Sam Carter, CEO at Fospha. “Marketing teams know that investing in brand-building campaigns is essential for long-term growth, but they struggle to demonstrate the link between brand spend and business results. This is where measurement is key—brands need to be able to quantify the impact of brand spend on business outcomes like conversions and average order value to secure budgets for always-on brand campaigns.” 

Recent work with fashion and DTC brands shows why. Fospha has helped companies uncover hidden value in TikTok, Snapchat, and Google Ads—channels previously written off due to flawed attribution. By revealing where traditional metrics were missing the mark, these brands were able to reallocate spend, improve ROAS, and drive measurable revenue gains. 

The takeaway for brands like J.Crew? What looks ineffective in a dashboard might be quietly delivering results elsewhere in the funnel. Catalogues, influencer content, or even Pinterest ads might be doing more than meets the eye. But without better attribution, those signals are easy to miss. 

Fospha’s ongoing research reinforces this. Its Halo Report found that off-platform media often drives meaningful downstream results—like 42% of Amazon sales coming from non-Amazon media. For omnichannel brands, that kind of indirect impact is vital to understand. 

Lessons for Retail Leaders: Marrying Brand and Performance for Sustainable Growth 

J.Crew’s resurgence is a playbook in progress—one that hinges on striking the right balance between brand strength and commercial performance. Here’s what stands out: 

◼ Lead with brand, measure with intent. 
J.Crew didn’t ditch brand building—it doubled down with catalogs, storytelling, and influencer-style engagement. But it also tracked results. The lesson: invest in brand, but tie it to real metrics like traffic and retention. 

◼ Make nostalgia modern. 
The brand mined its heritage but avoided getting stuck in the past. Its success came from refreshing old ideas (like the catalog) in formats that felt current. Authenticity matters—but so does relevance. 

◼ Let data and creative collaborate. 
Break down the wall between brand and performance teams. At J.Crew, shared dashboards and KPIs helped align storytelling with sales goals. That cohesion is now core to the brand’s strategy. 

J.Crew’s revival isn’t magic—it’s discipline. A strong story, told consistently, measured smartly, and delivered where today’s customer lives. That’s the formula worth watching. 

This article was produced by ClickZ in partnership with Fospha. Want to test your brand efficiency like leading DTC brands? Fospha offers a co-funded pilot with platforms like Meta and TikTok. Contact them to learn more.

References 

1. “J.Crew Group CEO Libby Wadle Talks Revamping the Legacy Brand,” Fast Company, 2024. 

2. “A Touchstone of American Style Returns,” Morning Brew, 2024. 

3. “J.Crew,” Wikipedia, 2024. 

4. “A Timeline of J.Crew's Rise and Fall,” Retail Dive, May 24, 2024. 

5. “J.Crew Taps Skims Marketer as CMO to Boost Cultural Relevance,” Marketing Dive, January 2025. 

6. “Will J.Crew's Revived Catalog Create Some Buzz?” RetailWire, 2024. 

7. “J.Crew's New App Gives Shoppers a 48-Hour Headstart on Launches,” Glossy, 2024. 

8. “Can Exclusive 48-Hour Product Preview Access Save J.Crew?” PYMNTS, 2024. 

9. “Olympia Gayot on Her J.Crew Vision and How She Brought It Back,” Harper’s Bazaar, 2024. 

10. “Acquia CDP Provides Data-Driven Customer Insights for J.Crew,” Acquia, 2024. 

11. “ESG Report 2023,” J.Crew, 2023. 

12. “Oh Polly: Growth Without Compromising Efficiency” Fospha, 2024. 

13. “How Represent Scaled TikTok by 277% and Drove Long-Lasting Revenue & ROAS Growth,” Fospha, 2024. 

14. “Optimizing PMAX and Paid Search for efficient revenue growth,” Fospha, 2024. 

15. “Fospha Unveils The Halo Report: Groundbreaking Research Reveals the Real Impact of DTC Ads on Amazon Sales,” Futunn News, February 20, 2025. 

The $500M Brand That's Not Playing the Discount Game Anymore

In a retail environment tightening under the weight of tariffs, rising acquisition costs, and global uncertainty, FIGS - the premium healthcare apparel brand - has made an audacious move: it's scaling back promotions.

In its 2024 earnings, FIGS signaled a strategic pivot: fewer discounts, more brand investment, and rapid expansion into Asia, retail, and institutional sales via its TEAMS program. The message from CFO Sarah Oughtred was clear: "We see an incredible opportunity ahead for the brand and believe these actions and discipline are paramount to driving our growth ambitions."^[1]

This strategic pivot unfolds against a backdrop of modest overall top-line growth, reported at +2% year-over-year for 2024. However, this growth appears heavily dependent on the rapid expansion of its international business, up 31% YoY. The data suggests a challenging reality: if international sales (representing 15% of total revenue) grew at 31% while overall growth was only 2%, it implies that the remaining 85% of the business—primarily the mature domestic market—may be experiencing stagnation or even slight decline.^[2]

This is not business as usual. In a sector long addicted to flash sales and discount wars, FIGS is betting big on long-term brand equity—and they're not alone. Challenger brands like Jaanuu, Fabletics, and Mediclo are investing in storytelling, community building, and top-of-funnel marketing. But there's a catch: the marketing funnel has become increasingly opaque.

Without precision insight into which brand activities drive actual sales, CMOs are flying blind—and CFOs, understandably, want proof.

Why Brand Is the New Growth Lever—If You Can Prove It Works

The DTC healthcare apparel market is evolving. With over $555.6M in 2024 revenue (up 2% YoY), FIGS continues to showcase the power of direct-to-consumer models in specialized markets. But the playbook has changed dramatically since FIGS disrupted the medical uniform industry in 2013.^[3]

Today, FIGS faces competition from multiple angles:

• Jaanuu, the physician-led brand positioning itself as the "Nike of scrubs," tripled revenue during the pandemic and secured $75 million in funding in 2022^[4]

• Fabletics entered the scrubs market in 2023, leveraging its activewear expertise and celebrity backing to reach 500,000 customers within a year^[5]

• Medelita, now part of Careismatic Brands, continues targeting upscale customers with premium lab coats and tailored options^[6]

• Mediclo carved out a sustainability niche with scrubs made from eucalyptus fiber and recycled plastic bottles^[7]

In this increasingly crowded market, FIGS' commitment to quality, innovation, and brand-building has become its key differentiator. But with that commitment comes the challenge of proving ROI.

Inside the FIGS Playbook: Community, Global Expansion, and Brand Discipline

Under the leadership of CMO Bené Eaton and her team, FIGS has continued to prioritize authentic community building and storytelling. Their success stems from understanding that healthcare workers don't just need functional clothing—they need apparel that reinforces their professional identity and makes them feel confident.^[8]

FIGS' approach to growth relies on several key pillars:

1. Elevating the core DTC business through brand-building and reduced reliance on discounting, reinforcing the brand's premium positioning while protecting margins in the face of potential tariff impacts^[9]

2. International expansion, with international sales now representing 15% of revenue (up 31% YoY) and plans to enter Asian markets like Japan and South Korea in 2025, requiring navigation of entirely new media landscapes and consumer behaviors^[10]

3. Omnichannel growth through Community Hub stores, creating physical brand touchpoints that bridge online and offline experiences, fostering community engagement while adding complexity to customer journey tracking^[11]

4. B2B channel development (TEAMS) targeting hospitals, clinics, and larger healthcare organizations with an outbound sales team and platform strategy, introducing longer sales cycles and different attribution challenges^[12]

5. AI & data optimization signaled by the strategic appointment of Jerry Jao (founder of AI-driven marketing platform Retention Science) to the board, indicating FIGS' recognition that advanced data science capabilities are now mission-critical for navigating their next growth phase^[13]

The simultaneous pursuit of these initiatives dramatically increases the complexity of FIGS' marketing ecosystem. What began as a relatively contained set of digital channels now spans distinct media mixes in new countries, B2B sales cycles, and offline retail interactions—all requiring sophisticated measurement approaches to optimize effectively.

The Measurement Blind Spot: Why Leading CMOs Need New Tools

For Jessica Clary, Sr. Director of Growth and Acquisition, and Scott Edwards, Senior Director of Data Analytics & Strategy, the central challenge has become connecting upper-funnel brand activities to actual sales results. This isn't just a FIGS problem - it's an industry-wide issue.^[14]

The fundamental measurement challenge confronting FIGS stems from its business evolution: moving from a relatively straightforward, digitally-centric DTC attribution framework to a highly complex, multi-channel ecosystem spanning direct-to-consumer, business-to-business, international operations, and physical retail. Standard digital attribution methods break down when faced with:

1. Brand marketing's delayed impact - In a less promotional environment, justifying substantial brand investments without compelling performance data becomes increasingly challenging, especially when these initiatives may influence purchases weeks or months later^[15]

2. International market expansion complexity - Entering markets like Japan and South Korea means operating with limited historical data and potentially vastly different media consumption habits, making it risky to optimize media mix without reliable cross-channel measurement^[16]

3. B2B attribution challenges - The TEAMS channel introduces longer sales cycles requiring tracking across both marketing touchpoints (LinkedIn campaigns, content downloads) and sales team interactions, which traditional last-click attribution models cannot adequately capture^[17]

4. Online-offline measurement gaps - Community Hubs create interactions that influence digital purchases and vice versa, introducing "halo effects" that are notoriously difficult to measure using conventional models^[18]

The core issue is the absence of a unified, cross-channel view capable of accurately modeling the incremental contribution of all marketing touchpoints across different business lines and geographies. This measurement gap directly impacts critical strategic decisions around budget allocation, channel optimization, and ROI demonstration.

explains Sam Carter, CEO at Fospha, the leading marketing measurement platform "Marketing teams know that investing in brand-building campaigns is essential for long-term growth, but they struggle to demonstrate the link between brand spend and business results. So, when budgets are tightened, brand spend tends to be the first to ger cut, because its contribution to the bottom line isn’t always clear. This is where measurement is key- brands need to be able to quantify the impact of brand spend on business outcomes like conversions and average order value (AOV), to secure budgets for always-on brand campaigns.”

This need for clarity is especially critical in three areas:

1. Justifying brand spend during margin pressure: With FIGS planning to reduce promotional activity to protect margins amid global tariff pressures, the marketing team needs to show which upper-funnel brand investments drive real revenue.^[19]

2. De-risking international expansion: As FIGS expands into markets like Japan and South Korea, they need ways to measure effectiveness without historical data baselines.^[20]

3. Connecting B2B and DTC marketing: For FIGS' TEAMS program to scale efficiently, they need attribution that can track both lead-generation and brand-building across institutional sales.^[21]

How Competitors Are Responding: Lessons from the Field

FIGS isn't the only brand confronting these challenges. Within the increasingly competitive healthcare apparel market, brands are employing diverse strategies to capture market share while facing similar measurement hurdles.

FIGS vs. Key DTC Healthcare Apparel Competitors

Jaanuu has invested in marketing leadership, hiring former Nike executives Dan Alder as CMO and Scott Shepley as VP of Brand to elevate its brand strategy.^[22] Their physician-led heritage and significant funding position them as a direct challenger to FIGS in the premium segment.

Fabletics leverages its membership model to collect first-party data that informs its scrubs marketing, offering VIP pricing that makes its scrubs more affordable while gathering valuable customer insights.^[23] Their pre-existing retail presence and celebrity-driven marketing present a unique competitive angle.

Medelita, now backed by scrubs giant Careismatic Brands, continues to focus on high-end, tailored lab coats and professional styling, while Mediclo differentiates through a commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly practices.^[24]

This intensifying competitive landscape means FIGS cannot afford strategic or operational missteps. The ability to precisely understand which marketing investments drive profitable customer acquisition and foster long-term retention—across all channels and markets—is transitioning from a competitive advantage to a fundamental requirement for maintaining market leadership.

The Future of Healthcare Apparel Marketing: What's Next for FIGS

With the appointment of Jerry Jao (Retention Science founder) to the board, FIGS has signaled its commitment to data-driven marketing. But translating that commitment into practical capabilities requires new approaches to measurement.

How Fospha's Marketing Measurement Platform Drives Results

Fospha has emerged as the measurement partner of choice for leading DTC brands looking to solve exactly the challenges FIGS faces. Their platform provides unified, cross-channel marketing measurement that connects upper-funnel brand investments to actual revenue.

says Fospha's CEO Sam Carter. "Fospha's marketing measurement platform provides a single source of truth across all marketing channels, helping brands understand which media investments actually drive sales. When we partner with ambitious brands in growth mode, we typically see 15-30% efficiency gains in their media spend within the first quarter. That's why platforms like Meta and TikTok are now co-funding Fospha measurement trials—they know that brands with better measurement ultimately spend more effectively."

Carter added, "For a company like FIGS that's balancing international expansion, B2B growth, and brand building during economic headwinds, having precise visibility into marketing ROI is about confidence. Fospha helps marketing leaders prove what's working, protect strategic investments during budget reviews, and scale globally with less risk. Our privacy-first approach also means brands can maintain measurement excellence even as third-party cookies disappear."

As FIGS continues its mission to empower healthcare professionals, its marketing challenges mirror those facing many premium DTC brands:

• Protecting brand equity while proving ROI

• Expanding globally with efficient channel strategies

• Connecting online and offline touchpoints in an omnichannel world

• Justifying upper-funnel spend during economic headwinds

For Sabrina Tager, Senior Director of Brand Marketing, and Kristen Valaika, Director of Innovation, the path forward requires balancing creative excellence with analytical rigor. The brands that thrive will be those that can connect these two worlds—telling powerful stories while precisely measuring their impact.

Conclusion: The Cost of Confidence in Brand Decisions

As FIGS navigates its next chapter of growth, its success will depend not just on product innovation and creative marketing, but on the ability to measure what matters. The cost of flying blind—of making multi-million-dollar marketing decisions based on incomplete data—is simply too high in today's environment.

In this demanding new reality, strategic vision, while essential, is insufficient on its own. Profitable execution hinges on the foundation of robust, unified measurement. The capability to accurately quantify the downstream revenue impact of upper-funnel brand investments, to optimize media allocation efficiently in nascent international markets, and to fully comprehend the intricate journey of a B2B customer is no longer a "nice-to-have" analytical function.^[25]

It has become the essential compass required to navigate uncertainty, make investment decisions with confidence, and ensure that FIGS' bold strategic bets on brand strength and market expansion translate into sustainable, profitable growth. For the leadership teams steering marketing, growth, and data strategy at forward-thinking companies like FIGS, investing in next-generation measurement capabilities is not merely about generating better reports; it is about securing the data-driven clarity needed to confidently chart the course for the future of the brand.

Leading brands are recognizing that marketing measurement isn't just an analytics function—it's a strategic capability that enables confident decision-making in uncertain times. For FIGS and its competitors, investing in this capability may be the difference between efficient growth and wasted opportunity.

This article was produced by ClickZ in partnership with Fospha. Want to test your brand efficiency like leading DTC brands? Fospha offers a co-funded pilot with platforms like Meta and TikTok. Contact them to learn more.

Appendix: Sources

[1]: FIGS Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript, CFO Sarah Oughtred commentary on strategic priorities.
[2]: FIGS 2024 Annual Report, Revenue breakdown and segment analysis.
[3]: Business Insider, "Figs and other brands transforming the $10B scrubs market," Healthcare apparel market overview.
[4]: Fast Company, "Jaanuu scrubs could be your new favorite athleisure brand," Details on Jaanuu's $75M funding round led by Eurazeo in 2022.
[5]: Retail Dive, "Fabletics launches first scrubs collection," February 2023; GlobeNewswire, "Fabletics Scrubs Partners with Ken Jeong," Customer acquisition data.
[6]: Business Insider, "5 medical-scrub companies fighting Figs for dominance," Medelita acquisition by Careismatic Brands.
[7]: PRN Healthcare, "3 Sustainable Scrubs for Medical Professionals," Mediclo's environmentally-focused manufacturing and mission.
[8]: FIGS Corporate Website, Company mission and brand positioning.
[9]: FIGS 2024 Investor Deck, Section on tariff impacts and margin protection strategy.
[10]: FIGS 2024 Investor Deck, International expansion roadmap.
[11]: FIGS Corporate Newsroom, Community Hub retail strategy announcement.
[12]: FIGS Corporate Website, TEAMS B2B division overview.
[13]: Business Wire, "FIGS Appoints Jerry Jao to Board of Directors," Background on Jao's expertise in AI-driven marketing.
[14]: LinkedIn profiles of Jessica Clary and Scott Edwards, FIGS executive team responsibilities.
[15]: Harvard Business Review, "The New Science of Customer Emotions," Research on brand marketing's extended impact timeline.
[16]: McKinsey & Company, "The Next Normal: Retail's Digital-Led Recovery from COVID-19," Challenges of international market entry with limited data.
[17]: Gartner Research, "B2B Marketing Attribution: Strategies for Multitouch Measurement," Analysis of B2B attribution challenges.
[18]: Journal of Marketing Research, "Measuring the Impact of Offline Advertising on Online Conversions," Research on cross-channel halo effects.
[19]: FIGS 2024 Investor Deck, CFO commentary on promotional reduction strategy.
[20]: FIGS Earnings Call, Q4 2024, Discussion of Japan and South Korea entry strategy.
[21]: FIGS Corporate Strategy Document, TEAMS growth objectives and challenges.
[22]: Business Insider, "How Jaanuu is positioning itself as the 'Nike of scrubs'," Details on executive hires from Nike.
[23]: Retail Dive, "Inside Fabletics' strategy to disrupt healthcare apparel," VIP membership model analysis.
[24]: Los Angeles Business Journal, "Healthcare Apparel Players See Premium Growth," Medelita and Mediclo competitive positioning.
[25]: Fospha marketing measurement white paper, "The Future of Marketing Measurement in a Post-Cookie World."

Milk Agency didn’t begin with a pitch deck. It started with a photo studio.

Milk Studios, with deep roots in New York and Los Angeles, was designed as a creative home - a space for photographers, stylists, and culture-makers. But as the demand shifted from space to strategic collaboration, the agency side of Milk emerged in response to what clients were asking for: a deeper partnership.

That instinct to collaborate, not just serve, would later shape the launch of Milk Makeup, the Gen Z beauty brand that catapulted Milk into millions of homes. And it still defines how Milk Agency works today.

Rey Peralta, now Chief Innovation Officer, joined us on the ground at POSSIBLE 2025 to reflect on the agency’s evolution, what clients expect now, and why curiosity might be the most undervalued asset in brand building.

From Studio Roots to Brand Strategy

Milk Agency’s origin story isn’t theoretical. It’s rooted in client need. When Theory, one of Milk’s early brand partners, asked for e-commerce support, Milk didn’t sell an off-the-shelf service. They helped build Theory’s own capabilities from the ground up. That decision became the agency’s blueprint: co-create, don’t just consult.

This hands-on, integrated style eventually led to Milk launching its own consumer product: Milk Makeup. The team behind it wasn’t just creative. They had sat inside operations, worked across teams, and understood how a brand functions from the inside out. That experience still informs the agency’s posture today.

Innovation Isn’t Always Invention

Peralta resists the idea that innovation always means something brand new. He sees it more often as recontextualization making existing processes and insights newly relevant for shifting audiences.

That might mean using AI tools to speed up concepting and mood board development. It might mean restructuring how teams interact across a client's organization. But in every case, it begins with context, not tech for tech’s sake.

The agency experiments with tools like Midjourney and DALL·E, but the goal is acceleration, not replacement. AI helps teams get to a shared visual reference faster especially helpful in translating abstract brand ideas into real creative direction.

From Brand Storytelling to Sales Enablement

Peralta challenges the common separation of “brand marketing” and “performance.” He sees brand-building success long before the click in the awareness and credibility that smooths the path for sales.

For enterprise clients, campaigns aren’t just about reach. They’re about setting the tone for the conversation that comes next. When done well, marketing creates familiarity that shortens the sales cycle and sharpens the ask.

That’s why Milk often embeds directly with client teams working to close the loop between storytelling, team structure, and commercial outcomes.

A Framework for Consistency: Be. Say. Do.

To keep clients grounded, Milk uses a simple model: Be. Say. Do.

• Be is the essence of the brand.

• Say is the voice: the messages, content, and creative output.

• Do is the real-world execution, the actions that reinforce trust.

This isn’t a tagline. It’s a filter Milk uses to ensure every idea maps back to identity. As brands navigate fragmented attention and evolving platforms, this kind of internal clarity becomes a strategic advantage.

Bridging Performance and Creativity

With rising acquisition costs and splintered consumer attention, the pressure to connect creative thinking with measurable performance has never been higher. For Milk, that means bringing creative and performance teams closer not just within the agency, but inside client orgs too.

Peralta sees the biggest gaps not in media strategy, but in internal alignment. Sales, product, brand, and marketing often operate in silos. Performance is treated as a separate objective. Milk’s role is to collapse those walls not just between agencies and clients, but between internal teams that don’t always share KPIs.

What Brands Expect Now

Brands aren’t just buying outputs. They’re looking for guidance and partnership. With more in-house capability and access to AI tools, clients are choosing agencies that can provide clarity, not just execution.

Milk’s edge comes from its own operator experience. They’ve sold products, scaled teams, and sat inside the brands they serve. That perspective resonates with modern marketing leaders who need partners that can move at the pace of change and still hold the long view.

What Marketers Can Take from This

• Build from reality, not theory. Milk launched a brand before advising others on how to build one. That experience shaped its approach to collaboration.

• Don’t separate brand from performance. Brand marketing should clear the path for sales, not operate in isolation.

• Curiosity is infrastructure. Peralta’s take on future-proofing isn’t a tool or a platform. It’s a mindset. The best agency-client relationships start with shared curiosity and build from there.

• Embedded > outsourced. Milk doesn’t position itself as a vendor. It shows up as a partner inside the client’s structure helping them build, not just buy.

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

When consumers interact with a brand, they're not just buying products—they're buying into a promise. American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), through their recent strategic updates and investor insights, clearly demonstrates the complexity in execution to keep this promise authentic, compelling, and resilient.

Understanding the Customer with Precision

A brand’s promise starts by genuinely understanding its customers. AEO exemplifies this through strategic decisions based on consumer insights. Men's apparel saw renewed growth in Q4, driven by incorporating active looks and performance fabrics, directly responding to consumer preferences for comfort and versatility. For women, diversification across categories like bottoms, dresses, and tops expanded their appeal by offering diverse and stylish choices tailored to consumer lifestyles.

Agility and Complex Market Adaptation

Keeping a brand promise alive requires agility, especially in a complex and dynamic retail environment. AEO highlighted the regional nuances impacting consumer demand, specifically noting warmer markets showing stronger early-season performance by approximately 10 basis points. This complexity requires careful inventory management to ensure regional market alignment, demonstrating a sophisticated and responsive supply chain capability.

Deepening Engagement through Strategic Investments

AEO’s robust brand promise involves creating lasting customer relationships. Their impressive growth in 2024 underscores this strategy:

The record-breaking customer count for Aerie, combined with significant growth in digital channels and activewear, reinforces the effectiveness of strategic marketing and focused customer engagement.

Financial Discipline with a Strategic Lens

Sustaining a brand’s promise demands disciplined financial stewardship. AEO delivered notable fiscal discipline in FY2024, achieving a 4% increase in comparable sales and a remarkable 19% increase in adjusted operating income to $445 million. Their operating margin improved significantly by 120 basis points to 8.3%, demonstrating effective operational leverage (Investor Presentation, pg. 7).

Additionally, strategic financial moves included returning $287 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, while maintaining a healthy balance of capital reinvestment into business growth initiatives like store enhancements and digital innovations (Investor Presentation, pg. 12).

Navigating Uncertainty with Transparency

A brand promise endures through transparency during uncertainty. AEO's leadership candidly discussed slower-than-expected market conditions in early 2025, anticipating improvement as spring demand strengthens. They remain committed to managing inventory carefully and controlling expenses proactively to uphold profitability amidst economic uncertainty (Investor Presentation, pg. 4).

Sustainable Long-term Growth

AEO’s strategic vision for sustainability and long-term growth is clear. They outlined specific 2025 priorities, such as reinvigorating AE Men's, fueling growth in Aerie's soft apparel and activewear, and re-energizing Aerie intimates. Their guidance reflects cautious optimism, predicting low-single-digit revenue changes with operating income between $360M to $375M for FY2025, supported by disciplined SG&A management (Investor Presentation, pg. 15).

Sponsored Message from Fospha

Achieving clarity and maximizing marketing ROI has never been more critical. Fospha’s advanced marketing measurement solutions empower retailers like AEO to gain full visibility across channels, eliminate wasted spend, and drive sustainable growth. Move beyond guesswork, unlock your brand’s true potential with Fospha’s AI-driven analytics. Learn more about transforming your marketing effectiveness today at fospha.com.

The Bottom Line: Complexity Behind the Promise

Behind every authentic brand promise lies significant complexity: Strategic adaptability to regional market variances, careful management of consumer sentiment amidst economic fluctuations, targeted capital investments, and unwavering financial discipline. AEO’s performance underscores these elements vividly. Their detailed investor insights and strategic clarity offer a blueprint for delivering consistently on a meaningful, sustained brand promise.

As brands strive to build enduring customer relationships, American Eagle Outfitters stands as a compelling example of how navigating complexities effectively underpins the successful delivery of a brand’s promise.

Source: American Eagle Outfitters. (Q4 2024). Earnings Conference Call. Retrieved from https://investors.ae.com/investor-home/default.aspx

Marketers used to prioritize follower counts when selecting influencers. At Coachella 2025, the brands that achieved the most meaningful results were those that prioritized measurable performance over mass exposure.

The shift in strategy was not subtle. According to CreatorIQ’s earned media value (EMV) analysis, brands like Rhode, Sol de Janeiro, and Method captured outsized returns compared to brands that focused on traditional sponsorships alone. Clear metrics tied to content performance and cultural alignment, not just visibility, determined success.

Coachella 2025 showed that marketers must rethink how they approach influencer partnerships: focusing on verified engagement, community relevance, and the ability to drive action — not just awareness.

Selecting the right influencer partners demands deeper due diligence

The brands that outperformed at Coachella did not chase celebrity scale for its own sake. Instead, they aligned with creators who had strong emotional credibility within specific consumer communities.

Rhode’s presence at the 818 Outpost activation succeeded not because of Hailey Bieber’s fame alone, but because the brand’s collaboration offered authentic content opportunities that incentivized sharing and rewarded community participation with tangible benefits.

Source: BRYANT

Similarly, Method’s decision to identify real-time consumer frustrations — such as long shower lines — and intervene with experiential rewards showed a deep understanding of how to activate loyalty at the point of need.

Instagram post by @methodproducts

Marketers need to shift influencer evaluation beyond audience size or aesthetic fit. Indicators such as past earned media value, engagement quality, and tribe resonance should now take precedence. This demands investment in advanced influencer vetting tools and deeper partnerships with agencies specializing in performance influencer marketing.

Measuring performance requires moving beyond impressions

Festival presence no longer guarantees brand impact. Coachella’s top-performing beauty brands generated EMV primarily through highly engaged, conversion-driven influencer content rather than static brand booths.

Kosas, a clean beauty brand, outperformed larger sponsors by deploying roaming branded trucks to deliver sunscreen directly to influencers and attendees across Palm Springs. This hands-on distribution strategy allowed for higher organic content creation and boosted EMV rankings despite a smaller budget.

@kosas

chelllaaaaaaa 🌵🌴 find us in the desert and post a pic with the hashtag #kosasfestivalsweepstakes for a chance to win weekend 2 tickets + a... See more

For marketers, standard post-campaign reports citing total reach or number of posts are no longer meaningful indicators of success. New measurement frameworks must prioritize:

• Earned Media Value (EMV) growth

• Engagement-to-impression ratios

• Content virality metrics tied to sales uplifts

• Conversion tracking where possible

At events like Coachella, where social saturation is extreme, brands that set precise KPIs tied to sales, sampling, and measurable social actions gained the clearest returns.

Investing in influencer upskilling can strengthen precision marketing

One of the least discussed advantages from Coachella activations this year was the benefit of influencer education. Pinterest’s installation, for example, embedded new tools and styling opportunities into the experience, teaching influencers how to better remix aesthetic trends and capture platform-ready content on the spot.

Training influencers in brand values, preferred creative styles, and platform best practices can raise the effectiveness of paid partnerships. Structured upskilling programs — delivered through masterclasses, real-time content coaching at events, or pre-activation bootcamps — will become a key differentiator for marketers who want to drive results from their influencer programs.

Building out these programs internally, or collaborating with agencies that offer influencer training as part of their services, helps ensure brand content does not rely solely on chance virality. It also strengthens long-term relationships with creators who understand a brand’s strategic objectives.

Performance marketing teams should guide influencer strategies

Coachella 2025 made it clear that influencer marketing has matured into a discipline closer to performance marketing than brand marketing. Activations like Method’s real-time product drop interventions or Electrolit’s hydration hub, combined with social amplification strategies, mirrored a performance-first mindset focused on high-value engagement moments rather than mass splash campaigns.

Instagram post by @electrolit

Marketers must reorganize internal influencer marketing functions around a performance model. This includes closer integration with consumer insights teams, formal adoption of data attribution models for influencer content, and clear budget allocations tied to EMV or conversion benchmarks rather than impression quotas.

Brands that still manage influencer marketing purely through PR or brand activation teams risk falling behind as competitive brands move influencer spend into performance portfolios.

The stakes for brands are only getting higher

At Coachella, weak activations faded into the background noise. Consumers no longer distinguish between paid and organic exposure — only between meaningful and meaningless experiences.

According to Gallery Media Group, influencer content created at curated festival experiences such as Gallery Desert House drove higher post-event content engagement and media value than large-scale tentpole activations with no organic creator integration.

Source: Gallery Media Group

Marketers who fail to adapt face declining returns from influencer marketing budgets. The expectation for authenticity, community engagement, and measurable brand impact will only increase, especially in competitive sectors like beauty, beverage, and fashion.

Meet Simon Reznichky

Before he co-led Dripdash into over a thousand retailers and an eventual exit, Simon Reznichky was watching people yell at baristas.

Not at him—but at staff inside Blue Bottle Coffee, where customers routinely demanded Kyoto-style cold brew. Made through a Japanese slow-drip process developed in the 1600s, the drink had a cult following—and always ran out by mid-morning. Reznichky, who studied quantitative psychology and behavioral economics, saw something few founders do that early: emotion.

When people scream because a product’s sold out, he thought, you're no longer guessing if there's demand.

From Office Fridges to the Retail Floor

Dripdash began with modest ambitions. Initially a delivery service for cold coffee to San Francisco offices, the brand quickly pivoted to supplying Michelin-starred restaurants and boutique food retailers. Its edge wasn’t the caffeine—it was the process. The team believed that after third-wave artisanal cafés, a fourth wave was coming: bottled craft experiences built for on-the-go lifestyles.

The founders, including Reznichky, kept operations lean and learning fast. They produced in-house, experimented constantly, and treated every shelf like a live A/B test. Demoing products in stores, they noticed what pulled attention—from typography to can color. If a change worked, it could be implemented the same week.

Their mantra was Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. Retail wasn’t just a distribution strategy. It was product R&D at scale.

Thin Margins, Tough Lessons

Success brought scale. Scale brought exposure.

Eventually, Dripdash outgrew its in-house setup and moved production to a contract manufacturer. That’s when things got complicated. The new partner began missing deadlines without explanation. For six months, there were excuses—delayed materials, equipment issues, sudden staff shortages.

Then came the truth: the co-packer had filed for bankruptcy.

At a time when Dripdash had just secured high-profile retail slots, the brand suddenly had no product to ship. The team scrambled to preserve relationships, communicate delays, and find a new facility. Each change in manufacturer also meant tweaking formulations to meet different production specs—costly, time-consuming, and risky.

Reznichky now calls that period “the closest we came to going under.”

A Festival Break—and a Bodega Shelf

Not long after the manufacturing scramble, a surprising email landed in the company’s inbox. A manager representing musician Porter Robinson claimed to have found Dripdash at a bodega near Santa Rosa—and wanted the brand to co-sponsor a 100,000-person music festival.

Skepticism turned to reality. The partnership became a breakthrough. Dripdash produced custom cans featuring Robinson’s branding, partnered with Goldenvoice, and introduced a limited-edition NFT for attendees—one of the earliest brand executions of its kind in beverage.

That moment, Reznichky reflects, wasn’t just about visibility. “It reminded us that every random shelf is a potential launchpad. You can’t fake that kind of product discovery.”

What Comes After the Exit

Following Dripdash’s acquisition, Reznichky turned his focus to a new kind of consumer problem: product returns.

His latest venture—still in stealth—uses AI to identify high-risk eCommerce orders and intervene post-purchase but before fulfillment. The idea is to reduce mindless over-ordering by offering guidance, incentives, and alternative options that help shoppers make more confident decisions.

Rather than penalize customers for returns, the platform aims to retrain behavior altogether.

In pilot programs, engagement rates have been remarkably high, especially when interventions are personalized by shopper profile. The long-term goal isn’t to sell more. It’s to help retailers increase net revenue by minimizing friction, waste, and cost.

Why This Story Kicks Off the Series

We met Simon at Shoptalk 2025, where amidst the noise of AI tools and retail tech demos, his reflections on product obsession, supply chain risk, and profitable growth stood out.

In a world chasing virality, he reminded us that real brands are built slowly, sometimes painfully—and with a level of emotional attunement that data alone can’t provide.

That’s why this conversation is the first in Building Brands—because it’s not about scale. It’s about staying in the game long enough to earn it.

Notes for Founders in a Tariff World

For mid-market brands navigating margin pressure and looming tariffs, Reznichky’s advice is grounded:

Have a domestic Plan B. Assume your most critical partners might vanish without warning. And keep more working capital than feels comfortable.

That advice comes not from textbooks, but from glass bottles, broken contracts, and late-night delivery reroutes.

This story is part of Building Brands, a new series from ClickZ featuring unfiltered founder stories from the frontline of DTC, retail, and tech.

The reinstatement of tariffs under the Trump administration has forced U.S. brands, particularly those in retail and FMCG, into a period of recalibration. While the policy is designed to shift trade dynamics, its direct pressure is being felt within marketing departments. As the cost of imported goods increases and consumer spending moderates, marketers are being asked to manage tighter budgets, deliver defensible performance, and protect brand value under new constraints.

Price increases are no longer just a product story

Rising tariffs are translating into higher consumer prices across essential and discretionary categories. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), U.S. retail sales are now projected to grow between 2.7% and 3.7% in 2025, a slower trajectory than the 3.6% recorded in 2024. These shifts are reshaping demand and altering how brands must position themselves in-market.

Chipotle has publicly committed to holding prices stable to maintain its value promise. For brands without similar margin flexibility, marketing needs to take on a more defensive posture. Repositioning price increases as reflections of quality or product longevity is only credible when integrated with transparent messaging and supported by brand history. Consumer tolerance depends less on economic conditions and more on whether the brand appears to be acting with consistency and care.

Inconsistent inventory creates unnecessary waste

Tariffs have already disrupted import schedules and contributed to erratic stock levels. When a campaign promotes an item that’s no longer available or delayed in transit, it damages brand credibility and leads to media waste. According to DEPT’s April 2025 think tank findings, brands with static creative and long lead times are the most exposed.

Foot Locker addressed this by introducing a revenue-based prioritisation model using AI to determine which SKUs to promote based on availability and margin performance. The marketing team can then reallocate spend based on the output of that model, ensuring that product visibility aligns with what customers can actually buy.

This requires greater integration between marketing and operations, especially as many campaigns are still built using legacy timelines that don’t accommodate live inventory data.

Ad budgets are falling behind rising expectations

A March 2025 IAB survey found that 94% of advertisers expected tariff-related budget reductions, with most estimating cuts between 6% and 10%. Traditional and social channels are expected to experience the greatest drop in spend. This pattern mirrors the last major tariff cycle between 2018 and 2020, where auto and retail ad spend fell by 7% and 5%, respectively.

Despite these cuts, brand and performance expectations remain unchanged. Marketing departments are being asked to justify spend in environments where input costs have risen but topline growth has slowed. Advertisers who remain active in-market are focusing on channels where ROI is visible and accountable. In most cases, this favours short-cycle digital performance campaigns over brand-led initiatives.

Digital platforms are exposed on both the demand and infrastructure sides

AdTech vendors and digital advertising platforms are being hit from two angles. First, some rely on hardware and infrastructure imported from countries like China and Taiwan, where tariff rates have risen steeply. According to Colin Graves’ reporting, tariff-related cost increases could be passed through to advertisers, particularly in programmatic and DSP environments.

Second, platforms like Meta are vulnerable to demand contraction from major advertisers. Chinese brands such as Shein and Temu represented 11% of Meta’s ad revenue in 2024. Any reduction in spend from this segment will impact inventory availability and may depress CPMs across performance-based formats. Smaller businesses are also at risk of retreating. SMBs reliant on imported goods face higher costs and tighter margins, often making digital ad spend the first casualty.

Consumer behaviour is becoming harder to read

Tariffs add another layer of complexity to already cautious consumer behaviour. Deloitte’s 2025 Retail Industry Outlook estimates that spending growth will slow to 3.1% this year, with real wage growth under pressure from inflation. Consumers remain price-aware, but they are also increasingly attentive to brand actions and values.

Discounting is harder to execute when margins are thin. Instead, marketers are experimenting with alternative levers — bundles, loyalty incentives, and contextual promotions based on segment behaviour. The key differentiator is data agility. Real-time performance tracking and daily sentiment analysis are being used to adjust positioning without overreacting. According to DEPT, the brands that are updating creative and messaging daily — not quarterly — are best positioned to keep pace with shifting sentiment.

Agility in execution is now a structural requirement

Brands still operating on seasonal planning cycles face serious exposure. Tariff timelines are uncertain and subject to further escalation. In response, many advertisers are moving toward modular campaign structures that allow for dynamic targeting, performance-led budget shifts, and content variation at scale.

eBay’s use of creative automation provides a model. With over 200 monthly campaigns delivered across multiple geographies, the brand has shifted production away from static templates. Campaign variants are generated automatically based on audience data and iterated based on performance feedback. This makes it possible to maintain consistent brand voice while still delivering tailored messaging to segmented audiences.

Marketers must lead with transparency and measurable value

The role of marketing leadership in this environment is no longer just about creative direction or brand management. It now includes operational fluency, budget accountability, and internal stakeholder alignment.

Campaign performance needs to be tied directly to commercial outcomes — including contribution to margin protection, inventory turnover, or pricing stability. This places pressure on attribution models and martech stack integration. Leadership teams require reporting that links marketing investment with business impact. In most cases, this means prioritising fewer campaigns, with tighter feedback loops and clearer performance thresholds.

Conclusion

Tariffs have reshaped the conditions under which marketing operates. Brands are confronting slower sales growth, higher costs, and a more cautious consumer, all while tasked with sustaining relevance and profitability. The companies best equipped to succeed in this environment will not be those with the largest budgets, but those with the most disciplined execution, transparent messaging, and integrated planning across commercial functions.