Commerce Outsights: Sep 30, 2024

What comes after attribution, brand marketing IS performance marketing, and Nutter Butter’s weird social media content.

I’m finally back from my honeymoon in beautiful, beautiful Brazil, which also means this newsletter is back from its month-long hiatus.

As we get back into the game, we’re bringing you a couple of fresh perspectives on how performance and brand marketing are evolving to keep pace with the digital advertising landscape, plus the story of Nutter Butter, a brand that’s finding social media success by being weird—very weird.

To top it off, we’ll talk about mmERCH’s latest genAI+NFT+NFC fashion project, how Digital Product Passports are driving circularity for Coach, and finally—just like everyone else—what’s to love about Nike’s new CEO.

As always, I hope you find these stories informative, helpful, and dare I say, a little inspiring. Happy reading!

Does your brand need help with strategy, design or development?

For over a decade, we’ve been shaping, launching, and scaling shopping experiences for category disruptors such as Cometeer, Framework, and Huckberry. No matter where you’re going, we can help you get there.

Book your consultation →

Attribution is Dying. Clicks are Dying. Marketing is Going Back to the 20th Century (5 mins). As tracking and attribution are made more complicated by privacy regulations and technologies such as genAI, marketers are rethinking their reliance on clicks and data-driven metrics. Out with click-based attribution and data-driven optimization, in with creativity and directional lift measurement.

Understanding the Role of Brand Marketing for Digital Products (8 mins). Speaking of measurement: For most operators, brand and performance marketing are two distinct concepts—which implies it's impossible to quantify brand marketing ROI. But what if that wasn’t true? It may be time for a new taxonomy of marketing strategies.

Nutter Butter Committed to the Bit—It Paid Off a Year Later (6 mins). Nutter Butter’s social media content is nothing short of creative—some may even say (and I wouldn’t blame them) disturbing. Despite that, they’ve persisted, betting on the power of consistency to build a loyal following. A year has passed, and it sure looks like the weirdness is paying off. GO AIDAN.

🔒 The Web3 Fashion Brand Combining Generative AI, NFTs, and On-Demand Manufacturing (8 mins). mmERCH is doing some pretty cool stuff to push fashion forward. Their latest drop features one-of-one items that combine NFTs, generative AI, and digital-product-passport-powered digital twins. As the Web3 craze dies down, we're excited to see a few long-term builders emerge.

Coach Enables Instant Resale via Poshmark (6 mins). Why are DPPs relevant, you ask? Well, Coach has just upgraded their Digital Product Passports to enable instant resale through Poshmark. This is beautiful on all fronts: It’s a step forward for circularity, and it helps Coach acquire first-party data and drive customer engagement. It made us even more bullish on DPPs and the opportunities they open.

Former Nike Employees Are ‘Elated’ Over New CEO Elliott Hill (7 mins). Pretty much everyone at Nike is rallying behind Elliott Hill, the newly appointed CEO. Hill is a Nike veteran, and employees are optimistic that his leadership will bring a return to the brand’s values—although reversing course will take time. If you've been living under a rock, here's a recap of Nike's recent troubles.

We don’t accept sponsorships for this newsletter. All product recommendations come from our consulting team.

Impact. If partnerships are a key part of your growth strategy, Impact is worth exploring. It’s a platform designed to manage and scale all types of partnerships—affiliates, influencers, and more. We’ve worked with several clients using this tool, and its streamlined workflows and robust tracking capabilities make partnership management a lot more fun.

Does your brand need help with strategy, design or development?

For over a decade, we’ve been shaping, launching, and scaling shopping experiences for category disruptors such as Cometeer, Framework, and Huckberry. No matter where you’re going, we can help you get there.

Book your consultation →

🎁 Our latest blog post explores how DTC e-commerce brands can elevate their gifting experience, turning it into a powerful driver of customer loyalty and growth. Check it out!

🛍️ Curious about extending your Shopify POS? We’ve covered how to build POS extensions that customise your system for better functionality and a more tailored customer experience.

If you’re in Italy, you can find us at a bunch of events in the following weeks:

Going to any of these? Let us know and stop by our booth—we’d love to chat!

That’s it for today!

If you’ve come across any interesting articles, podcasts, or products we should check out, you can email us at [email protected].

See you in two weeks! 👋