Mammas Don't Lie

Alexa Kristin. Welcome back to episode seven seven. It's a special Mother's Day episode, which means we call our mama's. We're calling our mother's but we're also talking about things that are kind of big in and around the Mother's Day holiday, right And we went to at Landia's Twitter handle to talk to some of our most loyal friends and fans of the show, and we asked them, like, what are some of the brands that you think we should hash out and just like freestyle more things like

brands and behavior. One of the things that they said was subscription models, Like what's working? What's not working? Okam, can you lay a freestyle beat over this? Um? So let's talk about subscriptions because a couple of our Twitter followers, so Jennifer Are at tws are blog on Twitter, reach out to us and said, what I'm wondering about subscription boxes is how will they keep us coming back and

committing long term? Will they run out of steam? Which is something that is interesting in a world where we seem to be leaning more and more into customization and curation and personalization like real personalization Alexa, Curiously, no, do you subscribe to any boxes currently. I used to subscribe to birch Box. I did it because I didn't want to spend like forty five dollars on an eye pencil that I didn't know if I was going to actually love.

So it gave me options to try things and it they would send me stuff that I would never in a million years, like bright pink lips stains, which ps I don't wear. But I tried it and I was like, ah, I actually don't look bad in this, and it started making me think about other ways that I could, you know, challenge myself with color, etcetera, etcetera. And I really liked it.

So I also at one point had a very short stint with birch Box, and I think, what you just said was the reason it was a very short stint, which was instead of starting me with things that were personally curated that I hand selected, it was just sending me a hodgepodg of things based on like which j Lo dress I like. So if they gave you, hey, this month, you have a choice of tent because they do do this like this month, you can have like I want to want to pick all of it? Yeah, yeah,

I don't think that's a bad metal. We're also dealing with, like just the product in general for you was not right right because you're you are a makeup aficionado, But this doesn't just extend to me because you're welcome. I appreciate it. I have the Bronzer Queen. But I think what's interesting about it is I'm realizing that that doesn't just apply to makeup. So I'm also quarterly subscriber to

Rachel Zoe's collection, which she personally curates. Now every month there is at least one thing in that box that I'm like, this is amazing. The rest I typically gift and it's worth it to you? Is that? Is that why you can because that product, that one product I love is definitely worth or retails more than what I pay for the box, so that I appreciate, and I usually give the rest to other people, which they also appreciate. But I think what's interesting is that what I come

to understand and someone like, wait, this was re gifted. Luckily, I don't think the people I gifted to that re gift. I guess, no, I don't open it yet. It's like, I know, I'm not going to wear these like bottle cap sunglasses, like pass My Dogwalker loves bottle cap sunglasses

and she wears them. Um. But that said, the idea of them running out of them, I think is an interesting one because like all subscription models, so whether you're paying you know, X number of dollars for Netflix or you're paying for Nanda, Nime for the information like whatever it is, I think that those brands or media companies or whatever need to continually optimize to the person, not

necessarily culture. In this one instance that I think I will ever go on the record and say that when you so explain that a little bit more so not culture might tell Rachel's Oh, or Birch Box or even Netflix that you should be doing programming that looks like this, and so where is the human factor of like a little more context, a little smarter. I just don't think that the selection. I think it's a good point. So I what I think the issue is in a lot

of cases, maybe with like Birch Box. I don't know if they've changed it since I've I'm not a subscriber anymore, But their upfront process was a really really simple process. Right They would ask you your age, your skin color, what you like, are you into hair care? Are you into this? Are you into that? And maybe they need to update that a little bit more. How do they

do that? Do you know what I would do? I would start creating like lookalike segments, and I would start analyzing them based on certain things like if I could follow people like Lord Granti and I knew what kind of media they were consuming, what kind of clothing they were buying, Right then I could start looking at like what do you like? I would you know, Pinterest type likes? And how do you start doing that in mass? Yeah? What's interesting about what you just said, right is maybe

this is how these subscription companies sustain themselves. Is they need to diversify and filling the holes between the shows we watch between the boxes that arrive, right, how do you start to what you've said on many shows previous Alexas like, how do you market to the whole person? And so if you're a Birch Box subscriber and I continue to be a Rachel Zoe subscriber, I only get that box once a quarter. So how are you filling in the gaps? Are you driving me to watch more

content on Rachel Zoe? How do you extend the shelf life of my relationship with you beyond just the box to make me a brand up? Because I mean, if you look, okay, Prime is the best example of this. And Bezo said years ago when he started Prime's like Prime is the sticky to Amazon, meaning it is the actual glue that holds subscribers to buying on Amazon. It's only increased. I actually can't imagine my life without Prime, and I watch Prime content. So I watch Man in

the High Castle. I love Man in the High Castle. I watch a ton of content on Amazon. I watched movies on Amazon. You buy everyday products on Amazon? Me too. Yeah. So the interesting thing about Amazon and what you say, how Prime has become the glue and they've really been a product first company that then is then able to permeate and move into other industries because everything comes back to that transaction, right. They make it whole, They make

it real. At the end of the day, whatever they're talking to me about or interaction or an action, can go buy, watch, etcetera. One of our followers hit on the fact that Amazon is his favorite brand, but why don't they do more innovative marketing um and this particular Twitter followers says, I don't like the answer, quote unquote.

They don't have to, so I think the question is how what are you defining as you know, marketing They do alexa right, advertising, They absolutely have a storefront that is constantly marketing new products and new content. Amazon dot com, Yes, or smile dot Amazon dot com, which I thought was easy and brilliant. It's like, oh, I'm gonna buy more products because it's actually going to go to these charitable

organizations and associates. You. It makes you feel good about what you're buying, even if you're buying something that's like, you know, polluting the world, like diapers, which I buy

all the time. Yeah, I mean I get what this person is saying, but I don't know that Amazon necessarily needs to market in the way traditional companies do because their technology and continual pursuit of innovation as a tech company as a product to me, captures more attention in the headlines than is necessarily required by a brand that has to pay for that in terms of advertising. And so I'll just show you some of the chickiness of

our followers. But can we also say something like, there's a big difference between marketing and advertising, and we're talking about innovative advertising. I don't really think they need to have innovative advertising. Oh and by the way, didn't Burger King not have an ad that spoke literally straight to an audio home assistant? Yes, I mean, like it's happening all over the place. And what they've done is they've rooted themselves into the absolute doesn't home audio assistance. It

just it doesn't matter. Like they've rooted themselves into the cultural zeitgeist. Right. So it's like, you know, they're going to be advertisers that are advertising Amazons services and products and technology and Google or not. At the end of the day, it's all about that. There's two big players and audio home assistance. The biggest one right now is Amazon, what's interesting is that just to kind of give some

suggestions if Jeff Bezos might be listening. Um, one of our followers said, Jeff Bezos is too busy planning his deliveries to the moon to do any coal marketing, to which our other listeners said, so make a fly Me to the Moon music video shot from an Amazon drone, which I like. All right, well, let's move on to a different type of cult subscription, and that is the

rise of the independent class studios. So Brittany Casteen at agency Exect on Twitter asks the rise of studios and how their business models work, soul Cycle, exhal spa, everybody fights, et cetera, and how class past saw an opportunity. Her question really is how does that model also sustain itself? And why are people so obsessed with independent fitness studios. It's really interesting, you know, how are they gonna continue to survive? I think they're going to expand into totally

different areas. Is all about like spirituality, but they're doing in the fashion category right, So here's why I'm obsessed. Um, I just read a brilliant article about why soul cycle succeeds, and that's because soul Cycle does not consider itself a fitness studio. Soul Cycle considers itself a brand experience, right.

I mean, the founders of soul Cycle started the business presumably, and I believe I've read this on multiple occasions, because they were obsessed with the particular type of community that spinning created and then built the product into that. In my in my opinion, like if I was sitting in the room when that was found that it was like paying attention to everything from the sign in process to the candles that I use. So like Peltan Wright has

done this amazing thing. You have a sense of community. Now put the soul Cycle brand on the Pelton products, right, yeah, you can buy a sole Cycle bike. They're totally going after that. I mean, but I think it's what's interesting is going outside of the studio and where that feeling

of community extends. That's where they're going to happen. I always thought it was interesting, like why more brands and I don't even know that it was ever in the roadmap for sole Cycle, why more brands didn't penetrate the studio. And I actually respect and appreciate that they held the line on brands permeating their community what do you mean products? Why wasn't you know, um, a towel brand like in their sponsoring what you wipe your face off on the bike.

Why wasn't there an integration from you know, a smoothie bar or whatever the And I appreciate that. There was never this feeling of being sellout and penetration. It was just about that community. And so no matter where you go, that experience is consistent. They're branching into content. That's a deep fanaticism that I'm talking. They're branching into content um, which I think is brilliant. They have a great campaign out right now. They do different events throughout the year

UM that encourage riding but also a community. And they branched into clothing, which I own way too much of. So really, if you look at everything we just talked about, it's really some form of subscription or membership, right, and you feel like you're a member of Soul Cycle. You know to subscribe, but you feel like you're a member. Yeah, And what's interesting about that if we take it one step further, so brands and product focused companies have popped

up around subscription. We're starting to see it permeate into media companies where people for the first time almost really want to go back behind the paywall, and not because they don't want to be exposed to add they're going back behind the paywall and a subscription model because they

want access, and so that synergy exists. And what what's equally interesting is that now we're seeing brands, not like product brands and subscription but actual brands who don't necessarily have something to sell um in terms of what the community is meant to do. So you look at things like the Nike Run Club. I mean, presumably you're wearing Nike sneakers when you go to those when are apparable when you go to those events, it's not what it's about.

You have brand standing up museums, hotels, dinner parties, music, this music. So this idea of subscription and membership. I think something that you were talking about with your Soul Cycle fanaticism is that there's a now Soul Cycles built such a strong brand and you have such a strong relationship with it, you want to see it grow and you actually want to experience how you feel when you're in Soul Cycle or you come out of Soul Cycle in other parts of your life. That's a huge opportunity.

So to the brand marketers out there, don't count out experience, subscription, membership, and ultimately, above all community. So with that, we'll be right back with a Mother's Day special. Welcome back, everybody. We have a special segment on this episode, and it's all about the mama's, our mothers. We're calling them for Mother's Day, asking them what their favorite brands are and why why. You know, if I was a brand though, I would love this unfiltered perspective because they haven't. Right,

They're just gonna be totally unfiltered. It's like I love this yah and give you the real reasons why. Thank god we can edit. Okay, so we're gonna call g first. Yeah, A k A. Noreene is her real name. Ge is what we what the grandkids caller? Wait, you're like holding up a real telephone. That's how we're doing this. No, it's hooked into the thing. He's fine. Hello, Hi, Hi, Laura Louis. How are you? I'm really good. I feel sort of like Dorothy Letterman Dave's mother, though you totally

are Dorothy. Let him. You're coming in so clear all the way from where are you this makes me want to say, Mom, I just have to say this. Ma to meet, I just have to say that, Mom. Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day. Gee, thank you Louis and Laura. Mom. So you're on Atlantia. Welcome to Atlantia. Thank you. It's a wonderful place to be. So we want to ask you what are your favorite brands and tell what are you most loyal to? Okay, so Pandora, Pandora your big

music listener. What are your top stations? Gee? It depends on the mood I'm in, Like if I'm running around town and fire. Really, Mom, I didn't know that. GEI, why do you love Pandora? What turned you onto it? What makes you a loyal user of their platform? This is the best part. So, like on a Sunday night, You'll be sitting with my mom and she'll be like, oh, Pandora just eatmailed me if another survey to do? Right? Mom? It's hilarious. No, I like I like how they research

it so deeply. They're not in a hurry. Okay, do you want some more? Yes? Okay. Chase Bank, Oh, I know you had a relationship with that banker in Connecticut. You really liked him, not like's not like a romantic relationship, like, but she know about his kids and his whole family. Well, you know what I like about them? For the ball, I'm not crazy about credit, but I like the incentives that they give. That's the seventies hit bian you. Yeah, I guess so rewards. So you love the product, So

I love the product. Yeah. And I like the online ease of their app because I can get all the information I need. I can do everything I need to do, and I don't even have to leave my house to do it. I can deposit, I can do all that stuff. But it's fast and it's easy. And the thing I love about them is they keep improving the product, Like they keep improving their app, and they keep asking could we do it better? What would you like? You actually paid more attention to their app than I did when

they first started it. She's like, you can deposit the check from your house, Like, no, I'm going in the bank, Alexa. I mean, this is amazing. And we love the work that Kris and Lemco, who's the cmo gg over at chase um is doing to particularly target millennials and bring younger people into the fold. But I think it's encouraging to hear, and we'll have to share this with her. Hey, look,

it's not just for millennials. You've got an older demographic who also loves to bank um conveniently, and that might just be from their comfort of their home, not necessarily from being on the go. And I think that that's an interesting, you know, parallel for them to think about. So you're just the queen of consumer research. What else you got going? There's one more? Okay? Uh mail online? Who mail online? It helps me read the pulse of the cultural norms. So that's what I look at it.

I look at it for the big picture. Mail online for the big picture. Mom. I love that no one else would say that. Maybe people would say that. I mean, I'm not far behind my personal and the big picture does include the Kardashians. Let's just be clear. It's got a big picture. I mean, if you girls have an hour, we could talk about branding in the Kardashians. Oh well, that might be a special episode between you and I. You have to come back on You'll have to come

back when you're in New York. You need to come into the studio and hang with us. I love you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day by j by. So now we're going to call Barb, Barb in Jersey. We're going to see that Laura and Barbed have a lot of similarities. I don't know if we do. My mom would tell you we do. Do you Actually My mom is like five ft nothing, She's a little bit, but she might be more spitfire than me, for sure. For sure. Okay, I'm let's call Barb. It's gonna be a little bit different

on the total energy. Hi Laura, Mom, Hi Mom, let Barb. How are you good? How are you girls tonight? Mom, you're on a special Mother's Day episode of at Landia. Welcome a D A D. She just made an Italian land Well, Mom, you're on a special episode. We just got off the phone with Alexa's mom, who told us about some of her favorite brands, and want to hear from you. What are the things that you have been

most loyal to or obsessed with or obsessed with? Okay, in my fifty nine plus years, I have been obsessed with the clinicque she called it. She knew you were going to say clinic. If there's one thing I remember growing up, it is that green freaking box and you having that silver lipstick, same color for as long as what's the name of the color? Mom? Did move by? Where do you buy it? Mom? I was a loyal Macy Ease girl, but now I've been going to Alta.

Oh why why the switch? Well? Alta does offer me points on my purchase, so I always use my coupons, but I can use my points for other things on my purchases. Weren't we saying you're a makeup fanatic? So earlier in the show Barbed, Laura and I were talking about how Laura's like a makeup fanatic, where I am like completely the opposite, and I think the apple does not fall far from the tree on this axis. Skincare, you're more of a blushed girl. Mom, I'm definitely a bronzer.

She's a tenderheart girl. Um, she has far fair too. I like happy. Um. Actually I use aromatic, but it's really it's tented, almost like the truly oil of the seventies. Okay, we just talked to my mom and we're like, Mom, you're a hippie, Barb, you also are a child of the seventies. Mom, what are things? Mom? And there's somebody who's not on social media. How do you discover new things? Um? Probably male like direct mailers, circulars that come to the house,

or when I'm shopping, you know, store displays. Do you talk to your friends about it? Absolutely? One of my best friends uses clinique as well. They stick together, Yes, stick together? Mom? When when when did you cancel your A O L subscription? Probably January? Tim Armstrong, You're welcome for that one loyal dial up legacy user in New Jersey. I bet there's many women like me out there. There are you know, you know what to like being in education.

The kids are the ones that keep me young. Love set. Mom. Where do you get your news? My news lare you'd be impressed? No, I do go online. I only get the Sunday paper now, but every day I do read j dot com news. Well barbe happy Mother's say, Happy Mother's Day. Our episode. I feel like you're an extension of more so, I feel like you could be my second daughter. Thank you. Remember I'm your cleaner, more polite, more midwestern daughter. Right. I never hear the F bomb

out of your mouth. That's not true, But I appreciate you lying for me, Mom. I love you all. Colator thanks all right, love you, good luck to night you guys saying bye. So on this special Mother's Day episode of Atlantia, we hope you all had a good time with your mom's and thank you our moms for having fun and actually picking up the phone. I think we might do a mom swap. Have Barbed coming in Nebraska and she would love it, and she would definitely come

back with those shirts. That's a property of Nebraska. She would come home with that. She's like four of them. Meanwhile, G G and I would be on the Hollywood Hunt. You guys would be in l A and the Armenian section of l A where they all go to eat. You know, they all like go eat at the Armenian like part of Angeles. Didn't know that. So we're gonna do a mom swap. But that said, we have a couple of people to thank Cam and Drew's our producer.

Thank you Cam for calling our mothers mothers Andy Bowers, Matt Turk and the rest of our family at Panopally. Thanks for listening. We'll be back in two weeks within all new Atlandia. Full disclosure, Our opinions are our own, have some of it as well as you continue to fun with it, then it's worth go. By bye, Thank you, you're welcome. By H