• Levi's Beyond Yoga Opens First Store - how can more, non-traditional, challenger-type brands be using Out of Home to capitalize on the retail renaissance?
• From consulting firm McKinsey & Company - Busted! Five myths about retail media and what it means …but my question is “does retail media even mean what we think it means?”
• And oil prices fall as fears of an economic recession surge as Deutsche Bank is the latest Wall Street bank to estimate imminent recession odds at 50%

All of this and more on today’s OOH Insider daily tear sheet for June twenty-third two thousand and twenty-two.

 First, to the Levi legging news.

Can’t believe I just said those words out loud. It kinda tasted like a bud light lime…sounded good before you tried it, but here we go…

Competition in the land of buttery-soft leggings is about to heat up, with Beyond Yoga making its first bricks-and-mortar move.

The athleisure brand, scooped up by Levi Strauss & Co. last year, is opening a month-long pop-up in Los Angeles. It’s the 17-year-old brand’s first physical presence ever, and the company says it is the first step in a larger physical expansion.

Besides its exceptional size inclusivity, which runs from XXS to 4X, Beyond Yoga is best known for its four-way stretch fabrics that breathe, wick away moisture and provide sun protection. Its Spacedye products are top-rated, and to date, it’s sold more than 2 million pairs of Spacedye leggings.

The pop-up will be experiential, allowing shoppers to experience its products, including dresses, swimwear, and maternity. And it’s introducing a new color -- Crisp Lavender Heather -- exclusive to the pop-up. 

Michelle Wahler, co-founder, and CEO, said in the announcement that the brand is looking forward to continuing to scale the brand and open new stores at the end of this year into 2023. 

At the time of purchase, Levi did not disclose a price tag but said it expected Beyond Yoga to contribute about $100 million in annual sales.

The high-end yoga gear company competes directly with athleisure giant Lululemon, which had $6.3 billion in annual sales.

Beyond Yoga had more than doubled revenue while growing profitability over the past three years, reports CNBC. Levi’s says part of the plan is to increase sales of women’s products -- currently about a third of Levi’s business -- to 50% of its total.

I absolutely love this story. Everything about it. Levi’s is a true blue-chip American brand that after 169 years of history, they’re continuing to think like an underdog and have made the commitment to punching above their weight in the category that Lulu Lemon defined.

So what can other challenger brands like Levi’s Beyond Yoga do leveraging Out of Home to create a similar effect, in a really tactical way?

Well, for me, it’s in window advertising. Now, maybe more than any time since 2008/2009, there is an overwhelming abundance of available commercial real estate. So while planting retail roots may be way out of budget, and a pop-up shop a little lofty of a goal, why not take over some store windows in key retail areas, create a bunch of buzz on social, activate a street team of ambassadors and content creators who love your brand and would love some free attention and punch above your weight too!

We’re working with a retail brand that has a foot traffic objective we help them measure and optimize for using Out of Home and they’re opening an additional location on a separate side of town in a spot that was to be determined. So, we introduced the idea of wrapping store windows nearby to where the store will be to start to generate buzz and they loved it.

That’s one of the great stories we get to tell, over and over again, is how investing in our channel isn’t only targeted, measurable, and ultimately effective at unlocking hidden value from your existing mix but it’s about how when you invest in our channel, it doesn’t end up in the pocket of some billionaire tech oligarch. It’s helping an entrepreneur to cover the mortgage on the investment they made in the downtown revitalization right before COVID shut the world down.

The Levi’s pop-up store story really got me to reflect on the underpriced power of in-window advertising so hopefully, that inspires something in you for your own business or brand.

And staying on the topic of retail…

 From consulting firm McKinsey & Company - Busted! Five myths about retail media but what does that actually mean…” retail media”? What does it mean? I thought I knew but I was wrong and afterward it really got me thinking about place-based media, so let’s unpack it…

The piece reads - Marketing budgets are flowing toward retail media networks (RMNs) as retailers, from Amazon to big-box stores to grocery chains, capitalize on the shift to e-commerce while offering advertisers unique audiences and valuable data insights to build new high-margin businesses. Manufacturers and brands are increasing their ad spend on RMNs because they offer unique, valuable audiences and provide data that measure ad effectiveness, thus helping to close the loop between ad view and product purchase.

Despite this success, retailers and advertisers alike question the trajectory of retail media. How sustainable is the growth of RMNs as an advertising channel? 

So let me stop there - what do YOU think retail media network means?

Personally, I thought these were the networks of screens in retail locations like Walmart. But that’s how much my perspective has changed since diving headfirst into Out of Home. 

The piece goes on to say that While Amazon is the leading RMN by market share and advertiser usage, a majority of advertisers have spent or plan to spend on other RMNs as well. In fact, 80 percent of advertisers currently use at least one retail media network in addition to Amazon. 

This second myth I found interesting, especially in the context of yesterday’s episode and the news about Volta EV charging stations and Catalina getting together to measure consumer packaged goods sales lift from advertising on the volta stations in the parking lots of grocery stores.

Check this out…While consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are among the most bullish about retail media networks, with more than 85 percent of survey respondents planning on increasing spend in the next 12 months, other verticals stand out as much or more. 

Okay, hold on a second…

CPG companies are more bullish about advertising to the online audience of their retail locations than they are about advertising to the real-world audience that is literally walking into the store where they are sold.

Now I get it, the phone is the new point of purchase, I get that, but if you’re that bullish on an online retail audience of where you’re sold, then it is at least reasonable to ask the question - why wouldn’t you consider that audience just as valuable in the real world?

And the answer is likely measurement.

So, Ashley Rappaport, congrats, get dialing. 

The piece goes on to say that jewelry and luxury brands, consumer electronics, and beauty products, for example, report similar planned growth in retail media network spend. 

Overall, 80 percent of advertisers surveyed across verticals plan to increase retail media network spend in the next 12 months, and approximately 20 percent plan to increase it by more than 10 percent while only five percent of respondents said they planned to decrease spend.

If this isn’t a more clear-cut case for place-based networks, then I don’t know what is. There it is.

Want to hear it again? Just rewind and play it back. 

Clip this out, and send it to a client. Send it to a prospect. If your brand is spending on retail media networks on the internet, then please let me know because I have some friends I’d like to introduce you to. 

 From Markets Insider…Crude oil prices plunged as much as 7% on Wednesday as fears of an economic recession surge while Deutsche Bank is the latest Wall Street bank to estimate imminent recession odds at 50%.

Crude oil prices plunged on Wednesday as investor fears of a coming recession continue to rise and as President Joe Biden's administration called on Congress to implement a summer gas tax holiday.

WTI Crude prices fell as much as 7% in Wednesday trades, falling to a low of $101.53 per barrel and hitting its lowest level since early May. WTI Crude's price decline from its March high of more than $130 per barrel now tops 22%.

A recession would lower consumer demand for oil as travel activity falls, which would likely lead to lower oil prices as supply is able to play catch-up after a year filled with shortages.

President Biden told Congress to implement a three-month-long gas tax holiday on Wednesday, which would temporarily suspend the federal tax of $0.18 per gallon and save consumers about 3.5% at the gas pump. Biden also implored individual states to temporarily suspend their state-level gas tax as the summer travel season begins to ramp up. 

Good news for Out of Home…for now. Make hay while the sun is shining.

Adding an exclamation point to the news about slightly cheaper gas and the implications for more driving during the summer months and the benefits for the out-of-home industry is today’s Motionworks Marketing Minute - 

Did you know that the number of people commuting to work on an average weekday was up 25%, year over year, in the first quarter? Expect this trend for at least the next quarter. Again, more good news for out of home, yet not out of the clear, so keep some powder dry and ensure your operation is in order. You made it through 2020, you’ll get through the road ahead and we’ll be here one hundred percent of the way.

Make sure to subscribe and share this episode with a friend or colleague, that’s how the show grows and I can’t thank you enough for doing it.

Remember - we are the only fully-connected native ad platform in the world and marketers want to choose you, so give them a good reason.

Articles Referenced:

Levi's Beyond Yoga Opens First Store

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/375047/levis-beyond-yoga-opens-first-store.html?edition=126676

Busted! Five Myths About Retail Media

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/busted-five-myths-about-retail-media

Oil prices fall 7% as recession fears mount and Biden calls for a 3-month gas tax holiday

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/crude-oil-prices-recession-fears-biden-summer-gas-tax-holiday-2022-6?fs=e&s=cl