No. 337: Stick To Sports

For as long as there has been athletic competition, there has been a narrative that permeates from the field of play. Gladiators of Rome were commonly first-generation slaves, bought and sold at the whim of their owners – the sporting promoters of their day. Like today’s gladiator sports, cruelty was a part of the spectacle. And the minds of the time contrasted in their approval or disapproval of their era’s proudest spectacle. Great minds like Seneca disapproved of the competition. Marcus Aurelius once abolished a tax on gladiator-based taxes and commerce; he wanted nothing to do with the capitalism of it all. And still, he couldn’t resist hosting lavish games from time to time. The spectacle of cruelty was insatiable to the average man and the great one – alike.

As it was, as it will always be. Sports was never without its social commentary. Jesse Owens’ olympic showing wasn’t just impressive because of the speed of his feet; he beat the myth of German superiority with a foot race. Jackie Robinson wasn’t just a baseball player, he was remembered as a hero. That was the narrative that was formed about the man, even while his involvement lacked the popular sentiment that it is awarded today. Janet Guthrie was a media fixture, not just because of her precedent off of the track but because of her accomplishments on it. Before Danica Patrick, there was her. And with a little more support from sponsors and officials, she could have accomplished much more.

Since when has sports been about athletic accomplishment alone?

On a November evening after the Baltimore Ravens’ decisive victory against the undefeated New England Patriots, ESPN National NFL Writer Kevin Seifert made a statement with a simple tweet. He listed three quarterbacks, each of whom are considered candidates to win the league’s coveted most valuable player award. The quarterbacks that Seifert listed: Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, and Lamar Jackson are what veteran industry analysts would call: unconventional, mobile, dual-threat. However, they’re more than that. In each case, whether these quarterbacks pass or rush, they lead from the front. More than anything else, that’s their common thread.

Kevin Seifert on Twitter

If we’re doing the MVP now, I’m going: 1. Russell Wilson 2. Deshaun Watson 3. Lamar Jackson

Here is a selection of quarterbacks drafted before 2019’s MVP candidates: Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden, Brock Osweiler, Mitchell Trubisky, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, and Josh Rosen. To the casual observer, this thought may as well be morse code. So consider the following: the National Football League has never had three African-American quarterbacks in the front running for most valuable player. And certainly not in an era of the sport’s greatest quarterbacks, namely Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. We’re still in a period of firsts in this 150 year old sport. Brigham Young University started their first African-American quarterback in the year 2019. The sentiments of the 1950’s still linger. So what Seifert was doing was making a statement without controversy. To the untrained eye, it was merely the fact of the matter. But to those who understand the historical significance, it was a dog whistle of sorts.

“If you ask me is there a false narrative out there, I will tell you ESPN being a political organization is false,” he said. “I will tell you I have been very, very clear with employees here that it is not our jobs to cover politics, purely.” [1]

But even with the mandate by new ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro, Seifert found a way to toe the proverbial line. Wilson, the 75th pick of the 2012 draft is now the highest paid quarterback in the league. Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was drafted before Watson. And Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was publicly and privately coaxed to convert to wide receiver by many in the media. He didn’t fit the image. His chorus of detractors included former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian [2].

After this historic game, Bleacher Report took a muted approach as to avoid the conversation altogether. In the NFL, running backs don’t win MVP over transcendent quarterbacks. In the last 20 years, just four have won. Sixteen quarterbacks have been selected in that time. Just the same, here was their take:

And [Jackson] a clear MVP candidate. This game firmly planted him in that discussion, along with Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.[3]

Meanwhile, at Deadspin, the two lead stories are written by a generic “Deadspin.” A sign that no one is behind the wheel. The reports were merely a collection of embedded tweets. There’s one on the Ravens surprise victory. The one where the quarterback (that should have played receiver) trounced the greatest of all time. As the two shook hands upon leaving the field of play – battered and bruised – Jackson uttered “You’re the GOAT.” As if Brady needed a reminder. The other Deadspin “story” featured the Cleveland Browns latest off-the-field issue.

The only report with any personality was written by Karu F. Daniels of The Root, another property of G/O Media. It was repurposed into Deadspin content. One can only wonder what Deadspin would have written about a unique moment in the sport’s vaunted history. But the site is currently a shell of its former self. The staff quit en masse after being told to by G/O Media management to “stick to sports.” A common refrain in today’s corporate media.

G/O Media is the product of Great Hill Partners’ acquisition of the former Gizmodo Media Group. The all-equity transaction was facilitated with Jim Spanfeller, best known for his leadership at Forbes.com. Perhaps, it’s his lack of experience in sports media that permitted such a fatal miscalculation.

The Irony of The “Stick to Sports” Mandate

Google Search interest for “Stick to Sports” peaks in September 2017

On its merits, the nature of the phrase is divisive. When ESPN’s Rachel Nichols spoke out in September of 2017, the peak of its interest, she raised questions around the hypocrisy of it. It was around that time when J.J. Watt was rightly praised for raising $20 million for hurricane relief while other athletes faced pushback for highlighting other extracurricular causes – most often around social justice issues. With the current state of American politics at a relative boiling point, the separation of societal politics and corporate entertainment have never been more difficult to parse. ESPN found ways around its “stick to sports” mandate by elevating intelligent and nuanced figures like Pablo Torre, Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman,and Bomani Jones. Deadspin wasn’t as forward thinking and they ultimately paid for that.

“Stick to sports” is, of course, a fault line in 2019’s culture wars. [4]

But as the state of our political machine continues to polarize Americans, the mandate becomes harder and harder to follow. Yet, it becomes more important to disobey. In fact, at some point, the mandate becomes bad business. This is especially true for digital media where Deadspin rival and The Chernin Group-owned Barstool Sports has thrived by using sports as a platform to enter adjacent conversations. And I am using the word “adjacent” liberally here. Several of the top stories on Barstool Sports currently include an Instagram influencer questioning his history syllabus, a feature on the “Watchmen” series, and a woman that tattooed her eyeballs.

The banner of Barstool’s homepage features a link to the media group’s famed Chicks podcast. And all of this is to say, it seems to be working for Barstool. This includes its cozy relationship with Fox News, including regular appearances by founder Dave Portnoy on Tucker Carlson. And this isn’t an argument against their approach. Rather, it was an acknowledgment that Barstool Sports has thus far succeeded by understanding the property’s psychographic. The Chernin Group seems to have avoided the stick to sports conversation with CEO Erika Nardini.

Ringer, Deadspin, B/R, Barstool and Psychographics

Consumer psychology involves the interest in lifestyle, behavior, and habit. It’s an encompassing measure that considers our idiosyncrasies, our temperament, and even our subtle personality traits. These are the variables that influence our behavior as consumers. Psychographic segmentation is the analysis of a consumer cohort’s lifestyle with the intent to create a detailed profile.

The Ringer is jovial and care-free. Bleacher Report is dead-pan with the occasionally dry humor. Barstool is edgy and offensive as a strategy. And so was Deadspin.

While largely focused on sports, Deadspin for years had delved into a broad range of topics in a voice that was sometimes rude, often funny and always conversational. On Tuesday, the site’s top editor, Barry Petchesky, was fired after refusing to go along with the order. The departures shocked fans of the site, which put a new spin on sports coverage for a generation of digital natives. But they were the result of a long buildup of resentment between the journalists and their new bosses, according to interviews with 13 current and former employees of Deadspin and G/O Media.[5]

Nov 4: Barstool’s Homepage

For Deadspin, the majority of their sensationalism involved topics that were completely unrelated to sports in substance, this report isn’t necessarily about the history of those articles. Bill Simmons’ The Ringer shares a similar narrative with Barstool. On the homepage, you’ll find stories about Mr. Robot, Jeopardy, AppleTV+, and The Watchmen. Bleacher Report contrasts the three. The publication leans heavily towards strict sports coverage, a methodology that works for them. But even B/R featured an epic story on Colin Kaepernick written by Rembert Browne. And most recently – a story about Jared Lorenzen, the former Kentucky quarterback who died prematurely. Which brings me to the point: where do you draw the line when your publication covers sports? Collegiate and professional sports represent a layer of American life, not the totality of it. Sports is merely a dimension, not the whole.

No Code and The Business Case FOr: Stick To Sports

OM on Twitter

Let me rewrite this tweet from Jason. 1/ Deadspin writers are immensely talented and have a huge following. They have a lot of goodwill at present and as a result they should Marshall their collective resources and start a new publication. Let’s call it SpunOut. https://t.co/161I1HkInj

The editors and writers who resigned from Deadspin had a basis for their frustration. Sticking to sports is a nearly impossible proposition in today’s media. Given how rare it is to see a media company stick to their original charter, it’s understandable that Deadspin’s former employees saw the charge for what it really was: a euphemism for staying away from covering athletes who’ve immersed themselves in left-leaning causes.

But we’re in an ever-expansive era of digital media. Companies are rewarded for reaching. Complex Media is developing television shows and consulting third parties on commerce and audience development. Barstool Sports has a podcast starring two employees who discuss their friendship and sex lives, and Bleacher Report successfully collaborated on soccer kits with top hip hop artists.

Whatever happens moving forward, the Deadspin that was is no longer. It was one machine of a blog with nearly 30 million monthly visits and a penchant for engaging and re-engaging their loyal readers, many who’d visit the site multiple times per day. But it begs the question, if Deadspin was still Deadspin, what might they have written of Kevin Seifert’s idea? How would it have covered a tweet that should have been more than inconsequential. It’s doubtful that Deadspin may have told the story in the same ways that Barstool, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and The Ringer relayed theirs. To those platforms, the MVP race was not a story at all. But take it from NFL veteran and commentator Cris Collinsworth. As the Ravens led the Patriots, with the crowd in disbelief, Collinsworth quipped:

We’re going to be able to point to quarterbacks in the NFL that got a chance because of this night.

But in 2019, for many digital publishers, that’s too loaded of a statement. But many understood what it meant. And that understanding is part of the story too. The market has a need and the opportunity rests on the journalists who decide to forge their own paths. It’s only right that Deadspin alumni launches a Substack with the call sign of their mandate: Stick to Sports. Used ironically,  of course, as one last jab at the man they called an herb. The publication would almost instantly lead the Substack board.

With that model, Deadspin’s former writers and editors would have the freedom to do it the right way. Anyone who’s ever played the game knows that sports doesn’t end when you step off of the field of play. A sport is America’s pastime, it’s the most watched television event, it’s the most expensive event ticket, it’s the basis of a nation’s network of country and athletic clubs. Across America, hotels are built solely to support a thriving youth sports cultures of areas that would otherwise be barren without its expensive field complexes. Young people wear jerseys and the shoes of sporting legends. And adults bet and cry and yell and travel to watch their teams. It’s the irrationality of it all that reminds us that sticking to sports is an impossible task. And media should reflect that impossibility. Seifert knew the significance of his tweet, America should have known it too.

Relatório de Web Smith | Por volta das 14h

Resumo dos membros: A empresa holding DTC

Luxo moderno

O retorno da obra de Victor Gruen Ringstrasse conceito. O aclamado arquiteto Victor Gruen uma vez imaginou um centro urbano americano que se assemelhasse ao Ring Road de Viena, uma área vibrante de comércio, arte e experiência multiuso. Lá, o comércio, os restaurantes, a arte e o entretenimento fluíam sem esforço. Esse conceito original deu lugar a ideias mais americanas na década de 1950: tamanho, volume e inevitabilidade. Gruen, um criativo ambicioso e determinado, ficou arrasado por décadas. Seu conceito original foi cooptado e mal executado. Mas os melhores empreendimentos de varejo de hoje se assemelham ao conceito inicial de Gruen para o shopping americano. E as marcas digitalmente nativas podem se beneficiar do ressurgimento do conceito.

Este resumo para membros foi elaborado exclusivamente para Membros executivosPara facilitar a associação, você pode clicar abaixo e obter acesso a centenas de relatórios, à nossa DTC Power List e a outras ferramentas para ajudá-lo a tomar decisões de alto nível.

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No. 336: The ‘Cycle of More’

There is a subtle trend bubbling beneath the Rothys and Veja’s of urban dwelling millennials. There is a rise in 20 and 30-something workers who choose to take mental health days off from work, citing burnout. CBD-based goods are commonplace throughout specialty retailers’ checkout lines. Meditation apps and hardware are tipping into the mainstream. Rather than the consumption of more and more goods, high-earning millennials are choosing to take time off instead. This shift in priority is in-line with another: the boom of companies pursuing valuation arbitrage by identifying new paths to growth. WeWork, perhaps the case study par excellence of this business cycle crashed –  on demand  – with the help of an angry, financially-free NYU Professor with nothing to lose.

Two trends lead this report: (1) the shift towards mental minimalism and (2) the shift away from the business cycle of more. In a January report in BuzzFeed News, the first of the two began to pick up steam in the mainstream media:

So what now? Should I meditate more, negotiate for more time off, delegate tasks within my relationship, perform acts of self-care, and institute timers on my social media? How, in other words, can I optimize myself to get those mundane tasks done and theoretically cure my burnout? As millennials have aged into our thirties, that’s the question we keep asking — and keep failing to adequately answer. But maybe that’s because it’s the wrong question altogether. [1]

Each daily task, job, extracurricular event, and hobby shares many of the same traits with one another. Bigger, more, faster, more, better, and more. Rarely is any daily occurrence simple, small, or inconsequential. And it’s beginning to show. If you’re reading this, you’re likely thriving in an environment where you Peloton or Tonal before work, Uber Black while answering emails on $2,000 MacBooks, micro-dose to become “limitless,” intermittently fast to optimize for your fitness, and then work twelve hour days to pay for those $3,500 monthly leases. Frankly, we are all burnt out. And there is a connection; brands are beginning to reflect the empathy towards this behavioral undercurrent.

It’s easy to understand, then, why so many of us are so angry. The WeWork’s of the world were built on an ethos of positive vibes and unity — replete with what tech analyst Ranjan Roy calls “high-minded, burning man-esque self-actualization language” that, today, feels offensively out of sync with people’s lived realities. So why would Pattern, or any company that applies a superficial layer of burnout-conscious buzzwords to its products, be different? [2]

Consumer psychology involves the interest in lifestyle, behavior, and habit. It’s an all-encompassing study that considers our idiosyncrasies, our temperaments, and even our subtle personality traits. These are the variables that influence our behaviors as consumers. Psychographic segmentation is the analysis of a consumer cohort’s lifestyle with the intent to create a detailed profile. [3]

Pattern Brands, the group behind Gin Lane (RIP), is at the forefront of this trend identification. The legendary creative agency that developed the mold for millennial consumption by advising Hims, Harrys, Dia & Co, Ayr, Bonobos, Shinola, Stadium Goods, and Rockets of Awesome is pulling back on the messaging that influenced the “business cycle of more.” With a bit of hindsight, it makes sense that Recess and Haus were two of Gin Lane’s final DTC projects. It’s as if they were telegraphing their plans to focus on a new era of messaging by concluding their successful run with two “mindful” brands.

What does this mean for DTC brands?

In the last months, Everlane launched its impact-free shoe, Allbirds released a Rothy’s look-alike, Rhone launched a credible competitor to Mizzen+Main and Ministry. And Away began laying the groundwork for a consumer packaged goods (CPG) operation. It was once common for brands to believe that they could build a defensible growth path by identifying one product-need and one consumer identity. [4]

Scale fast, scale there, scale now. This is the executive mantra of many of today’s top digitally brands. Many product manufacturers began with a single, key product. They then expanded into a growth path befitting that of a traditional category brand. Though, most DTCs have done so prematurely. In contrast, successful traditional brands expanded beyond their initial focus after a decade or more in business.  In this era of retail, the move from product-to-category happens in just a few years. Founders hire product talent to stay atop a growing diversity of SKUs – many of which were barely intended upon the start. Imagine a shoe company designing luggage or a luggage company designing dress shirts, for instance. For a generation of consumers, the business cycle of more isn’t just student loans, rising rents, or WeWork’s demise. It’s also representative of the brands that we consume. Every brand seems to be out to get bigger, faster, and stronger – a subsconscious reminder that we are to do the same. This is beginning to change.

In a recent conversation between AdWeek’s Ann-Marie Alcántara and I, we discussed these concepts in a marathon of off-the-record discussion. To combat the hyper-growth narrative required to achieve venture funding, the early stages of  today’s upstart brand would resemble more of a publisher or community than a retailer. The rationale is simple: a customer is fleeting, a community lasts. This is most often reflected by brands with stronger organic presences. Brooklinen is the example of the hour.

Brooklinen: A “Bedroom” Brand

No longer just a bedding brand, Brooklinen wants to own the bedroom much like Away aims to own travel. Their strategies diverge from there. Brooklinen is in a class of digitally native bedding companies to include: Parachute Home, Buffy, and Hill House Home Inc. Founded in 2014, the company reported nearly $60 million in 2018 sales; the wife-husband duo has only raised $10 million to date, a capital constraint that likely influenced their growth path from product company to category presence. In this case, capital constraint proved an effective growth mechanism.

Screen Shot 2019-10-28 at 3.51.34 PM
From: earthy-minimalist at Brooklinen

In contrast with many of today’s top digitally native brands, cofounders Rich and Vicki Fulop shunned the traditional “category expansion” playbook in favor of a two-way marketplace format that compliments the aforementioned trend undercurrents.  Consumers will reward the brands that offer value without trying to do it all. As such, the launch of the Spaces marketplace gained wide media attention thanks to savvy messaging from the founding team and public relations work by Ogilvy’s Lindsey Martinez, Brooklinen’s public relations firm on record.

Spaces will feature 100 products by 12 partner brands (in addition to the total 89 products created by Brooklinen). Designers will include some independent artisans, as well as recognized brands such as Simply Framed, The Sill, Floyd and Dims, among others. [5]

The launch piqued the curiosity of a number of industry observers who weren’t yet familiar with Brooklinen’s marketplace partner RevCascade or the SaaS company’s tech stack. Rather than expanding beyond the brand’s 89 SKUs by developing or white labeling other in-category products, Brooklinen partnered with RevCascade to launch a two-sided marketplace. With a monthly average of 600,000 – 650,000 visitors with purchase intent, offering complimentary products from fashionable brands like The Sill accomplishes a few things: it monetizes existing traffic while rounding out the consumer’s interpretation of how Brooklinen fits within their lives.

Brooklinen expanding to a marketplace isn’t necessarily a new concept, according to Web Smith, the founder of retail research platform and community 2PM. It’s what Smith calls linear commerce, in which a brand uses an existing audience to monetize further revenue, growth and traffic. [6]

Is Brooklinen any less of a category brand than Casper? The short answer is no. In fact, the market may reward the bedding company for its two-way market strategy. RevCascade provided the tools necessary for Brooklinen to launch a hybrid marketplace that featured (1) wholesale (2) direct (3) and drop-shipped merchandise. In this way, Brooklinen’s approach is reflective of the Law of Linear Commerce.

With so many new brands in different categories, it’s difficult for any company to “cut through the clutter,” Fulop said.

Brooklinen’s founding team paired an existing audience (of 600k MAU) with an additional commerce opportunity. In their case, they did so without any additional hiring, development, or marketing hindrances associated with new product launches. With their approach, they offer new products while maintaining their focus on the production of quality textiles.

In a comment to 2PM: Josh Wexler, cofounder of RevCascade:

RevCascade enables any retailer, eCommerce merchant, or publisher to launch their own curated marketplace or dropship program to elevate their brand, better serve their consumers, and generate new revenue with zero inventory risk. Brooklinen’s approved brands (aka sellers or suppliers) use RevCascade’s “onboarding wizard” to create their profile, upload inventory, and set shipping preferences. In parallel, by leveraging RevCascade’s automated Shopify integration for product data, inventory updates, and transaction data, Brooklinen was able to launch their marketplace in less than 30 days

Anchored by a strong affinity for the company’s core products, Brooklinen gained a competitive advantage by both measures: DTC and marketplace. Consider Verishop, a popular, well-led, and well-capitalized marketplace that launched in July of 2019:

[table id=49 /]

Whether we are discussing Pattern Brands’ approach to remedying burnout culture or the cycle of more’s influence on an ever-crowded market of high-growth brands, Brooklinen’s partnership with RevCascade may serve as a path forward for many of their counterparts. Consumers have grown weary of companies that are looking to grow for the sake of growth. To these consumers, it’s a reminder of their own fast-paced, high-pressured lives.

Consumerism will always exist in some form or the other, but the clutter of brands looking to grow to the next milestone may fall out of grace with many. From Marie Kondo to Core Meditation, clutter culture has become a catalyst for burnout remedies. Experiences that provide ease, value, and simplicity will be rewarded in today’s market. It is a brand’s responsibility to contribute to the solution and not to the cycle of more.

Read the No. 336 curation here.

Report by Web Smith and edited by Tracey Wallace | About 2PM