Intro (00:00):

Welcome to The Taylor Ten. A fast-paced, 10 minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

Christina (00:17):

I'm Christina Merritt and welcome to The Taylor Ten. I'm here with Leslie Stone, brand consultant and retail strategy expert to learn as much as I can about how to win the holiday marketing game in only 10 minutes. Leslie was actually the CSO for Walmart at Publicis Group, and I know you've worked across various retail clients through many years of your career. I trust that our conversation will be super interesting because if there's one expert on holiday marketing trends, it's probably you. It's mid-November and the holidays are around the corner. I did look up some stats and what's interesting about 2025 is that PWC is forecasting a 5% drop in spend. But if you look at some other sources, for instance, Accenture, they say that 87% of shoppers actually plan to spend the same or more. So what does that tell us? People are very conflicted. Let's chat a little bit about what's going on this year.

Leslie (01:17):

Yeah, I love this question and thank you so much for having me. I mean, I think first Americans are crazy for shopping. I think we did invent retail therapy and there's so much in the news about dopamine and how addicted we are to social. When you think about shopping, you can think about dopamine also, it's kind of crazy working with many brands. They're always talking about the rational side of the shopper, but in the end of the day, we are nuts for the emotional side of saving. It's not just what we're spending money on, it's saving in and of itself. And there was kind of like a really interesting moment that happened right after the great Recession where for the first time in a generation there was this hockey stick effect in the savings rate, personal savings, and Americans became savers. And I think that saving then became the kind of impetus for the development of so many democratized amazing products, dollar Shave Club, different beauty brands.

(02:19):

You can really get amazing quality at great value now, and people know it. So I think what drives Americans is that saving is cool. Deal hunting is a sport. The holiday season is not just one day in Black Friday. It's a series of events beginning in the summer, then October, then Black Friday, cyber Monday, giving Tuesday, small business Saturday. I mean, we've branded a bunch of ways to shop, but I think in a very human way, people are not just thinking about what they're buying, they're calculating how much savings they get in the moment. It's very gamified.

Christina (02:58):

So let's talk a little bit about the consumer mindset this year. There is a lot of money at stake, big budgets, major retailers and brands preparing for this moment all day long. What should people look for this year?

Leslie (03:13):

Gosh, it is a crazy year, right? Maybe we say this every year. I mean, we've had an incredible level of disruption. The shutdown is now ended, but travel is extremely disrupted. There was a lot of data, and you mentioned it earlier around people sort of saying, tariffs are going to stop my spending, but I don't think that is going to happen. I think people are going to reallocate the travel funds back to spending. I think that you already see in October that people started to just spend more and more on themselves, more into self-care, more care about the family. And we saw this years ago when I worked with ikea, and this is pre COVID, the unbelievable desire. People have to avoid a holiday of awkward conversations with their family. There's amazing SNL skits about this, right? It can be a time that can be very loaded, and I think people are very motivated to de-stress and to indulge themselves, indulge their families and just escape. So if you can avoid those conversations, it doesn't have to be hard. It's like I can shop for myself, I can buy some kind of very small personal care item. It might be tied with lavender. That's a little treat. That is one of the top selling items right now. It doesn't have to be these giant expenditures.

Christina (04:43):

So I know these days a lot of conversation goes into segmentation and targeting and technology has allowed us to be so much more sophisticated in how you split people into sub communities and then cater to their very needs and reach them in all the places that our media landscape has to offer. What do you think about that whole topic and how tailored our efforts as marketers need to be these days?

Leslie (05:13):

With a lot of technology, we have the idea that because we can do something, we should do something. But sometimes I just wonder if a lot of brands don't just leave the obvious things on the table. I mean the obvious things are life stage marketing. If you can understand the motivators of parents, you can do a lot around how to create a great holiday for your family. One thing we learned that was so beautiful and wonderful is the meaning it has to people, especially people on a budget who to give their family that kind of big moment where the kids are at the staircase and they look down and their minds are blown. So working with Walmart, that was such a powerful vision because you can afford to give that big moment to your family. I think that's more powerful than figuring out sort of deeply psychographic motivators around whatever the other things are.

(06:10):

I think life stage remains one of the most predictable ways that we can understand people. And life stage also includes things like, do I have a pet? We have put a lot of value into furry friends. People get married later, people got a lot of dogs and cats during COVID. Our friends are our family. So again, it's like a very easy human motivator to understand. And I think for agencies, what's exciting about that is there's a million ways to tell that story. And so it kind of liberates the creatives to be able to really bring humanity and emotion into things. And when you get deep into these segmentation analysis, I think they have a lot of value. But I think there's a point where you have to ask if the juice is worth the squeeze and there could be so much work in creating so many segments to handle, then you have to make all that work.

(07:05):

Then you have to track all that work. I am never fully convinced that it outweighs the more predictable things that we just know are challenges for people. And in the end of the day, if I was a creative, I mean that's what they do every year. Every ad that they do is an ad that could be done any year, but they take something really beautiful and powerful that we all feel in the holidays, whether it's anticipation or the feeling of being disconnected from people, our desire for community, and they turn that into their centerpiece. In case people haven't looked, it's definitely worth taking a look. It's a really beautiful story of a father son connection. We don't do enough to highlight men in the holidays. And I think that's another reason why people love it, because it's just a story that doesn't get enough airtime in a way. There's the human and emotional sign of dads and sons. So long story short, use a little common sense in your segmentation analysis.

Christina (08:06):

So my final question for you is what's on your shopping list this year? You mentioned labu boos, but maybe there is fashion, kitchen innovations, whatever it might be. Of course. I'm very curious. You are so deep into it that it probably affects your personal shopping habits as well.

Leslie (08:22):

It definitely does. I have become more savvy on the deals. I do wait and consider the brands that I want and the things that I want. I'm a big self gifter for the holidays. I generally buy a 20 pack of massages from my local spa and they last me for a really long time and they're a huge discount. And it is just the gift that keeps on giving because every single time I go in, I feel like it's free and I forget that I spent that money on it back in November. And then as far as giving sort of trendier items or tracking what's cool, I am a mom of a teenager, so I don't even get any say. She makes a digital list on Go Wish and she sends me the list that has every link to every color, every size and website that I am pretty much told what to buy. So it doesn't leave a lot of room for creativity, although I try to make it up by getting good wrapping paper.

Christina (09:21):

Leslie, thank you so much. Clearly Black Friday, cyber Monday, everything is around the corner. I'll be watching the holiday season with different eyes this year. I hope you'll have an amazing time with your family.

Leslie (09:35):

And you too.

Christina (09:35):

Thank you so much.

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