Retail has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade, and the pace shows no signs of slowing down. Technological advances have increased the speed and, by growing the industry, have revolutionized it, contributing to its “disruption.” What have been the consequences for companies? We sat down with Lindsay Vick, Director of Marketing for Fila North America, to discover the retail trends that will influence FILA’s marketing strategy in 2019. Row: Iconic Everywhere In 1911, the Fila brothers opened their fabric shop in the northern Italian town of Biella with the goal of creating quality fabrics that combined luxury, utility and beauty, inspired by the richness of the Italian landscape. As the company continued to grow throughout the 20th century, it worked to position itself as a manufacturer of high-quality sportswear. Fila has represented iconic athletes, especially in the world of tennis, such as Bjorn Borg, Monica Seles, Guillermo Vilas and Kim Clijsters. Today, tennis players who wear the Fila “F box” include Karolina Pliskova (currently ranked eighth in the WTA), Diego Schwartzman, Janko
Tipsarevic, Marin Cilic, John Isner and Sam
Querrey. After being acquired by a subsidiary of Cerberus in 2003, Fila Korea purchased Fila USA in 2007, and since then the Fila brand has been enjoying a new golden age. In 2015, Fila released its first capsule collection for the Urban Outfitters retail chain and hasn’t stopped since. Fila products were introduced for the first time this year by the luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue, and the brand has collaborated with high-end brands such as Fendi, American sportswear brand Bandier , indoor cycling gym chain SoulCycle , and many more. With the hottest shoe of 2018 and one of the most powerful logos in fashion in your hands, what’s next? On December 4th, to celebrate a great year, Fila’s Disruptor 2 sneaker was named “Shoe of the Year 2018” at the Footwear News Achievement Awards . The reason for its success was its very affordable price (it can be found for $70 at department stores like Barneys New York and Urban Outfitters), its very “nineties” look –
Code: The country code is the first set of cameroon phone number library digits in an international phone number and identifies the country or region. For example, the country code for the United States is +1, while the United Kingdom uses +44. Area Code: The area code identifies a specific
currently very much in vogue – and a
series of collaborations. line According to FILA North America President John Epstein, the Disruptor 2 is “quintessential Fila.” And while that alone was enough to represent the logo’s newfound success, it wasn’t the only significant new release in 2018. The Fila logo , in fact, is the third most powerful fashion brand behind streetwear brands Supreme and Champion. Ahead of Prada, Fendi, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and other big names in the industry (data from the Lyst report). About Lindsay Vick USA Row Photo by Monika Kratochvil Lindsay Vick is currently the Director of Marketing for Fila North America. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, and a Master of Arts in International Relations from Pablo de Olavide
University in Seville. Vick has worked
in marketing and communications in both библиотека данных телефонных номеров Spain and the United States. Prior to joining Fila North America in January 2017, she worked for Abengoa as Marketing and Communications Manager for the water division, before moving to Chief Marketing Officer in 2014. Other companies on her resume include Barceló Hotels and Resorts, Skoll Global Threats Fund, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Lindsay tells us how Fila got to this point and the brand’s plans to continue growing in the ever-dynamic world of retail and fashion . WAM: How are you tackling the challenge of building a 360° customer experience across e-commerce, social media, and traditional
retail? Lindsay Vick: As a wholesale brand
in North America, creating meaningful bjb directory customer experiences without a physical presence is really challenging. Over the past couple of years, we’ve started investing in pop-up “solutions” to create real-life experiences for customers who love the brand or are discovering it for the first time. As we increasingly invest in paid social media and shift from brand awareness goals to more sales-oriented ones, we constantly try to align the details of our campaigns with what is written on our e-commerce site. Customers are so savvy and well-educated that we simply cannot show an ad with a product that is out of stock or not available on the e-commerce site. Details like that dissuade customers from returning to our e-commerce site. W: A recent article in The New Yorker highlighted how Fila is
experiencing a renaissance as a brand. How do recent collaborations
with other big brands, including SoulCycle and Fendi , help drive brand value? LV: How we chose and managed collaborations has been key to rebuilding a brand with a heritage of over 100 years. And that means creating very different things for different audiences. To create a sense of novelty and research for new segments and new generations, we have partnered with many collaborators who tell (or re-tell) the stories of our brand. Fendi RowSource: Elle (US) W: Fila still uses traditional advertising, including billboards. What value does it have for your customers and what new formats are you including in your strategies instead? LV: As a wholesale brand, we still use B2B-facing media because we want to show ourselves as the best not only to our customers, but also to our retailers. They are one of the biggest drivers for our growth. Over the past couple of years, our out-of-home media strategy has become more consumer-oriented. We almost
always do specific and geo-localized media
buys, for all our ooh media campaigns. This trend is seen in the strategies of many B2C e-commerce brands that are expanding into traditional media to balance their social media ad spend. Social media advertising is not as wild as it used to be because it is much cheaper than the alternatives. W: What other challenges have you faced in digitizing your brand? LV: The biggest challenge has probably been having to deal with our global business model. We are a licensing brand, which means each territory is free to create the product and marketing that best suits their market. This can create confusion between FILA channels and e-commerce sites. To create cohesive, global brand moments, we’ve launched a global pop-up store initiative, global editorial shoots for our Heritage brand, and are using tennis to tell global stories. W: What updates or trends do you see impacting retail and e-commerce in 2019? LV: I know it’s been said countless times, but I’ll say it again. Customers are looking for experiences in retail environments. They want to be surprised by a fun “Instamoment” to share with their friends or experience sensorially. We see more and more retailers organizing events, festivals and creating cultural moments in their spaces. One such example is @thedrop at Barneys that we participated in. We set up a bar and a pizzeria with an exclusive product that was a great success. As many retailers are closing stores in malls or consolidating their brand
activation strategy, we need to find ways, both as a brand and
as a partner, to create added value through the experience. In the e-Commerce space, we see that customers increasingly expect an exclusive experience or product for the site. They are no longer satisfied with the reflection of the physical store in a digital space. W: Fila works a lot with influencers and brand ambassadors who have ties to the brand. What criteria do you have in mind when choosing the right collaborators for the brand to avoid potential
legacy partners – Bjorn Borg , Grant Hill , Germán Silva . Since many
of our Millennial and Gen Z customers are discovering us for the first time at Urban Outfitters, Barneys, or through collaborations, it’s important to tell our brand stories to authenticate our streetwear heritage and expertise. Not every brand can tell such a rich and deeply rooted story in fashion and sports. We’re very fortunate in that regard.
