Name: Capturing The Attention Of The Ever Distracted Consumer
Uploaded: 2019-12-11
Duration: 16 min 59 s
Description: Capturing the attention and wallet of a more discerning—and distracted—consumer is harder than ever. We hear from leaders who’ve tapped into the zeitgeist to build businesses and buzz from obsessed fans.

Hey, ladies, thank you so much for being here, excited to kick off this afternoon. I wanted to start with a little bit of data that speaks to the intro that Kristen gave us. This is an Accenture study. Most recent global survey of 30, 000 consumers found that 62 % want companies to stake take a stand on current and broadly relevant topics like sustainability, transparency, fair employment practices and the study, Imean it has that data point but it says the real opportunity lies in that In building authentic relationships with customers, and that's what I really wanna talk about. Before we get to the how of doing that, I'm wondering if we could talk a little bit about the why. I feel like this is a relatively new phenomenon. where consumers are looking to brands to stand for more than just a product on a shelf. And I'm wondering if if if you guys, I mean, you're tapped into these folks like, where do you see that coming from Andrew, do you want to start? Yeah, I think I think the consumer is changing and their expectations of What good looks like in the future is not just a transactional relationship between you have a good I'm going to purchase it from you. They have an expectation of those companies and at Wal- Mart, one of the big things we've focused on is around sustainability. That's huge. Our customers told us that's really important to them. And not only is it important to them, it's also great business for us. And so one of the big projects we've been working on is project Gigaton. And we've publicly committed to take a billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gases out of the value chain by 2030. And that's with working with our suppliers thinking about how we do business and the future, how we re engineer our stores to meet that expectation. And so I think the customer has higher expectations and they want something Less transactional and more meaningful in the relationship. Right, Yeah. Hillary do you have anything to add about that? What do you see? Yeah, I think it's a really interesting time for consumers right now. I think consumers have never been more empowered. And I think that's for a couple of reasons. So we're direct to consumer digital healthcare company. And what that means is there's no one in between our relationship. With the end consumer so we hear from customers loudly if we're doing a good job or if we're doing a bad job. And I think that's true for a lot of companies and it's not just that in previously you'd go to a department store or you would end you would never really your feedback would never really get back to the brand and if it did get back to the brand it would be done in aggregate. Now, with all of these channels, it's individualistic. There's a chance that I'm a cofounder. I hear very specific details every single day it gets tracked back up to me. And then I can respond, and our teams can respond and make way better choices. And then the other thing is, I think the market is really, really saturated right now. I think the four of us could leave after this panel and make a company and launch it on Instagram today. So we've had to learn to do it. Yeah, what do we think? I think the world needs another face mask. Yeah. So I think we've all had to be really discerning because you're told all of these things. And very few of them are true. And it's up to you to be be the arbiter of that for yourself. And for us that stakes are super high because it's healthcare. Right. And I'm wondering So we're that's sort of the why but I'm curious about I mean, everyone in this room is asking that how how do you establish that authentic relationship with a country Consumer in communicated or conceive a branding that really communicates it and resonates. Jasmine, what do you think about that? I mean, where what are some one or two things that you know out of the industry you can think about when you're wanting to build that authentic connection? For asset Uber in it I think this is the case for many companies. It starts with talking to your customers and listening to them. And not just like in, you know, your typical NPS scoring and all those things, but actually opening up channels where you can hear the authentic. Feedback on what's happening. It's been a meaningful aspect of the work that are that Uber has done on safety this year and really taking a more active position on what are the things we are doing to make ridesharing safer for riders and drivers. As well as really being open about what's happening in the industry and taking a step forward there. That is actively from the feedback we've gotten from customers around their concerns about what it means to ride chairs. So I think it's really and kinda getting in to What are the real things that are happening and how can we help solve those. Right. Of course, a big piece of that was last week when you release this report about the instances of sexual assaults. Yeah. That happened during rides, 3, 000 last year. And that's on 1. 3 billion rise it should be said in the US and I think obviously there was a lot of headlines around that as being a real negative. But I'm wondering how that fit and obviously we don't want to see that no one does but how do you see that fitting into your the the narrative that Uber is trying to Why to its consumers? Yeah, and I think our leadership team said it best endora said it best where even one incident is too many. Right? And so the the reaction that it was a lot, I think is still a very valid one. Despite the trip number, it's agains And so I think I wouldn't say it's something we're trying to say or accomplish. it's more of what are we doing to help solve the problem and part of that is is being open and transparent about these about this reality and then also sharing here the things we're doing to do to take every active step we can to make it as safe as possible, right? Yeah. And it was a voluntary disclosure. Yeah, right. Definitely. I wanted to switch gears a bit to you Hillary. Obviously hymns in hers has made its name in part because of the provocative branding that you sort of put out into the world. One of the examples is of some of your ads feature and direct cactus. And to be clear, you are not selling plans. No. Right, okay. Not hard to follow. So a lot of some of your products include pills to treat erectile dysfunction and hair loss and you've recently gotten into Those sorts of products but for women in terms of birth control and prenatal vitamins, but these are really provocative as I'm wondering what we do about consumers demand for authenticity. Why was that the direction that you wanted to go? Yeah. So we Fundamentally started Hims and Her because it was really really hard to take care of yourself. In this country the average wait time to see a doctor is 24 days, average cost is $ 117. And people just aren't talking about what's embarrassing to them and I think there's this really modern Human experience of that googling and diving into reddits on like, what's going on with my body like something is out of control and I don't know who to turn to. And it's not like a cute little like, like a burden myself. That's like it's not like a cute little burden. It's like something weird and I don't know if my girlfriend's have had this before or what my next step is. And so we fundamentally believe Everyone deserves easy access to be able to take care of themselves and the way that we chose to do that is to speak directly to customers because for too long men's health was relegated to this idea of old wealthy white guy on the beach in running pants cuz he can afford $ 500 Viagra, Or, and on the women's side you're inundated with all of these wastes, you should be taking care of yourself. But when it comes to, if you have a UTI, good luck, you can't do that easily. When it comes to getting your birth control, 19 million people, more than the whole State of New York. And these are women of childbearing age so can't get access to birth control in their county. These are real barriers. And in order to get people's trust of a system that has systematically excluded them, and only gets worse for women only gets worse for marginalized communities. We had to take this like really direct, transparent Approach and for us a key piece of that was humor. Right? They are funny, definitely. [ LAUGH ] And I want to go to questions in a second. But Andrew, I wanted to ask you this, this this notion of creating authenticity. Walmart is so huge and has such a history and a legacy. I mean how do you think about that? across sort of stakeholders across consumer bases and across the products that you oversee? Yeah. What sort of brings you back to the the authentic message of Walmart? Yeah, I think when you think about authenticity at Walmart, it really goes back to what's our core mission. Save money, live better. And what are the values that we go after and supportive that and the customers incredibly smart. They know when you're being authentic to your brand and they know when you're being inauthentic. So it's really easy for us to use our core mission as a filter for what we focus on. And so how I translate that to product. For those of you who haven't met I have the best job at Wal- Mart. I am responsible for snacks, beverage and impulse, which include includes wine, chocolate, candy, chips, soda, so anything that's bad for you and tastes absolutely delicious. And so you think about when you're innovating on product and you're thinking about what the customer wants. It's really tapping into a ton of different sources on data. And o an example I used yesterday wa around kit kat. That customer's incredibly loyal, we get a lot of data from the supplier, we get a lot of data internal and then we get inspiration from other locations so social media we clued in on this massive fan following on flavoured kit kats and so in source now you've got kit kat duo and they've been teasing some new releases that I can't talk about on. On Twitter, but look for something innovative in that space in the future but really figuring out at a different level. Okay, here's what our customer is telling us they want us to stand for. And then how do we translate that down to a buyer level on products and innovation and making sure it's done in a Walmart way. Do we have any audience questions. Building authenticity. I'm wondering about I mean the data from Accenture sort of mentions consumers wanting brand Brands just take a stand and we haven't seen that quite a bit lately with you think about Nike and Colin Kaepernick and you think about Gillette and they're out about toxic masculinity and these are really provocative conversation starters. Do we think that every brand can do that or is there sort of a subset that So has that space depending on what it is they're selling or their relationship, I'm just wondering how we should think about, should I weigh out on that? Shouldn't I and what's the best way to do it? Give me thoughts of. I think it's clear when brands haven't done the work to understand what customers are coming to them for. And those are the examples you see that feel kind of icky and opportunistic where this like an old brand or new brand is like sliding into something and you're like, this is not where I want you. Thank you very much and they haven't done the work. I haven't done the active listening. For us as a new brand, two years old, we kind of tested into it. So when the heartbeat bands were a hot topic of interest, unfortunately in the spring, Andrew and I, who's the co- founder, woke up and we were just so mad and felt very hopeless. Because our whole mission is that we should be for everyone and everyone should have equal access. And so we did a really like 0 $ planned Instagram campaign where we just launched. We posted we said, If you agree, like this thing be anticipated, we get 10, 000 likes Within 24 hours, we got 150, 000 likes, which we of course raised and matched the dollars to, but that was a really clear activation point that we that that is what people are valuing about us. That ladders back up to our ultimate goal. And I think that cohesiveness was not was what made that a successful campaign forever. Right, yeah. Jasmine, do you have any thoughts on that? In terms of it. I hundred percent agree. I think that they're definitely topics where like, it just doesn't make sense for a brand to participate. It's like why are you here? This is not about you. And it, yeah, it can just get icky and awkward. I do think that there are times though where brands should be part of the conversation and Oftentimes can lead that conversation, but you have to earn the right to do that, right. And so the way we think about that at Uber is before showing up at the table, like we got to do some work first, right? And we're a brand that needs to do some work first. And in doing that work, then you get that extended invitation to lead and guide a conversation. Great. One question I have is sort of, I'm so curious about the influencer culture and I feel like a lot of people in the room might be as well. And I'm, I'm wondering just this is kind of a big question but where do you see it going? I mean, it's sort of I feel like we at peak influencer like People selling me secretively on Instagram is that something we're gonna see more of or less of? What do you think about that? Somebody [ INAUDIBLE ] I mean for us it was a key start to our business, but we actually didn't organize it if you can believe it because men have been so undersreved, we launched with men. For hymns two years ago, and we had all these people all these men sending videos of themselves unboxing hair kits for hair growth, which like, was not some not planned behavior or sending us videos of themselves in the shower singing into hair loss shampoo, like very great empowered things. But it was very different when we turned to the women's space which is very saturated in the influencer market and I think you touched on a really good point. You don't know despite all the measures that are in place on various social media channels you don't really know as a consumer what you are getting influenced by any more. And I think they're starting to be a high level of skepticism All right There. And I know for us we don't do anything transactional. We don't do anything. Do this for one post because it just doesn't. People are too smart for that yet now. [ LAUGH ] AlI right, all right, all right I think the authentic voice of the customer will continue to actually. Continue to grow, and I think that'll accelerate. I think the differentiator within [ UNKNOWN ] is often to say, is this a real opinion I can trust? Is this a real perspective? Have they actually used the product? But I think that the heart of it, that voice of the customer will only accelerate. Right, and I feel like This room is full of entrepreneurs and folks from legacy companies. I'm wondering if you don't feel like excuse me, if you don't feel like your purpose. And that purpose is driving an authenticity is clearly defined as a company, maybe you're thinking of starting a company and trying to figure out how to define that. Well, what's one thing that you think everyone should be thinking about? What's the first step? Yeah, I think if you're an entrepreneur and you're thinking about starting a company or a legacy company that's thinking about starting a business, I think, or arm of your business, I think, what's the mission? What's the problem you're trying to solve and what differentiates you from everyone else and I think that's the core. Of everything that you do, is my mission differentiated? Am I going to bring a different customer value proposition to the table? And then that can start to inform your strategy, and where you're going in the market, and what you wanna solve. But I think if you don't have a mission statement and you don't have a problem you clearly wanna solve, it's really hard to be successful. Right, it's amazing how often Hearing that come up the mission statement, the purpose throughout our conversations today. We're gonna have to leave it there. But thank you so much to all of our panelists for joining us. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Capturing The Attention Of The Ever Distracted Consumer

Leadership

Capturing the attention and wallet of a more discerning—and distracted—consumer is harder than ever. We hear from leaders who’ve tapped into the zeitgeist to build businesses and buzz from obsessed fans.