In this week’s interview, we talk shoppable content with Craig Kapilow, Sr. Director, Brand Partnerships & Integrated Marketing at Rue La La.

May 31, 2018

Can you tell me about your role?

I’ve worked in the merchandising division of Rue La La for nearly 8 years. I lead the team that partners with brands and agencies to create fully integrated (native) campaigns. I also oversee our in-box insert / product sampling and voucher businesses. 

 

Can you explain the importance of integrated marketing / native advertising? 

Long before the idea of “shoppable content” entered the mainstream, Rue La La was already doing it, via both desktop and mobile. And I believe that exclusive, custom content matters more now than ever. We’re using content to get customers interested in traditional and emerging brands through immersive, shoppable themes that feel authentic and engaging.

 

How are you doing it? Can you give a couple of examples of how you’ve sourced, developed and incorporated content into a brand’s story?

One of our most widely covered campaigns was a branding and customer acquisition partnership with Dunkin’ Donuts, which aimed to broaden their customer base outside of their core demographic. We helped them pivot toward a “lifestyle” aesthetic in line with RLL’s core customer by utilizing a) a dedicated email, including shopping and content zones, b) a prominent “Girl On The Go” feature on the Rue La La homepage, c) dedicated content and shoppable product pages, d) a mobile push notification, e) custom content on our blog, Rue Now, and f) social media integration. Another campaign that stands out was a partnership with the WSJwine Club. We created a shoppable theme targeting a stylish and affluent female consumer by combining fashion and rosé. In the story, we scripted out what to wear and drink at moments that lend themselves to the rosé lifestyle, such as picnics at the park or dining alfresco. We also built in a customer acquisition component for the wine club. The overall effect is to create contextual advertising that seamlessly intersects content and commerce.

 

Why is this intersection important? 

Custom-branded content is such a powerful engagement and acquisition tool. In the past, TV, radio and print have been the classic ways to increase brand awareness and affinity with a hope that the ad spend leads to an eventual transaction. Our campaigns allow the consumer to process key brand information and shop at the same time! In effect, we’re reducing the path to purchase from weeks to days to minutes to seconds.

 

So where is this all heading? Should every brand develop content at the same time as trying to boost pure sales?

There is no such thing as a silver bullet in marketing, which means brands really should have a multifaceted strategy to reach the end consumer. Consumer behavior is constantly changing, and a number of high-visibility channels such as YouTube are experimenting with going ad-free. Overall, we’re seeing a move toward less “in your face” advertising in favor of native and user-generated content. These are really powerful engagement tools and will become even more important over the next couple of years.

 

Craig Kapilow will be speaking on “See Now Buy Now – Shoppable Content” at IRCE in Chicago this Wednesday, June 6, at 3:45pm.

In this week’s interview, we talk shoppable content with Craig Kapilow, Sr. Director, Brand Partnerships & Integrated Marketing at Rue La La.

May 31, 2018

Can you tell me about your role?

I’ve worked in the merchandising division of Rue La La for nearly 8 years. I lead the team that partners with brands and agencies to create fully integrated (native) campaigns. I also oversee our in-box insert / product sampling and voucher businesses. 

 

Can you explain the importance of integrated marketing / native advertising? 

Long before the idea of “shoppable content” entered the mainstream, Rue La La was already doing it, via both desktop and mobile. And I believe that exclusive, custom content matters more now than ever. We’re using content to get customers interested in traditional and emerging brands through immersive, shoppable themes that feel authentic and engaging.

 

How are you doing it? Can you give a couple of examples of how you’ve sourced, developed and incorporated content into a brand’s story?

One of our most widely covered campaigns was a branding and customer acquisition partnership with Dunkin’ Donuts, which aimed to broaden their customer base outside of their core demographic. We helped them pivot toward a “lifestyle” aesthetic in line with RLL’s core customer by utilizing a) a dedicated email, including shopping and content zones, b) a prominent “Girl On The Go” feature on the Rue La La homepage, c) dedicated content and shoppable product pages, d) a mobile push notification, e) custom content on our blog, Rue Now, and f) social media integration. Another campaign that stands out was a partnership with the WSJwine Club. We created a shoppable theme targeting a stylish and affluent female consumer by combining fashion and rosé. In the story, we scripted out what to wear and drink at moments that lend themselves to the rosé lifestyle, such as picnics at the park or dining alfresco. We also built in a customer acquisition component for the wine club. The overall effect is to create contextual advertising that seamlessly intersects content and commerce.

 

Why is this intersection important? 

Custom-branded content is such a powerful engagement and acquisition tool. In the past, TV, radio and print have been the classic ways to increase brand awareness and affinity with a hope that the ad spend leads to an eventual transaction. Our campaigns allow the consumer to process key brand information and shop at the same time! In effect, we’re reducing the path to purchase from weeks to days to minutes to seconds.

 

So where is this all heading? Should every brand develop content at the same time as trying to boost pure sales?

There is no such thing as a silver bullet in marketing, which means brands really should have a multifaceted strategy to reach the end consumer. Consumer behavior is constantly changing, and a number of high-visibility channels such as YouTube are experimenting with going ad-free. Overall, we’re seeing a move toward less “in your face” advertising in favor of native and user-generated content. These are really powerful engagement tools and will become even more important over the next couple of years.

 

Craig Kapilow will be speaking on “See Now Buy Now – Shoppable Content” at IRCE in Chicago this Wednesday, June 6, at 3:45pm.