It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Innovation: The Top 5 Takeaways From HypeHour #6
2020… it’s been quite a year, no? We’re a week into October, and the biggest sales season of Q4 is right around the corner – Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday shopping. However, thanks to COVID-19, this year’s experience will look quite different than what we’re used to. With more people turning to e-commerce alternatives to avoid crowded stores and shopping malls, brands are vying for attention via tech-savvy innovations, while also trying to ensure authentic, trustworthy, and immersive interactions.
HypeHour #6 took place on Wednesday, September 30, and our team covered some major Q4 predictions and industry shifts that will undoubtably help brands and retailers thrive in today’s “New Normal.” As you may already know, the HypeHour is a monthly livestream event that covers relevant topics and brainstorms creative ideas with the industry’s most advanced minds. Meet our panel of experts who joined us for HypeHour #6: “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Innovation: Your Questions Answered LIVE!”
- Andrew Catapano – SVP of Digital Strategy & Marketing at BDSmktg
- Kelly Campbell – Senior Marketing Manager at BDSmktg
- Erich Leyendecker – Director of Client Servie at BDSmktg
- Elizabeth Jones – SVP of Experiential at MAG
You can watch the livestream video above, or you can read the detailed transcription below! Or – if you just want the highlights – here are our top takeaways from HypeHour #6:
1) This Year, Authenticity Will Be Key For All E-Commerce Retailers
2020 has been a year full of change, and Q4 is teeing up to be one of the most dramatic transitions the retail industry has ever experienced. Holiday sales in the U.S. are projected to reach $1.5 trillion during the October-December shopping season, and e-commerce sales will grow by 25% to 35% year-over-year. Additionally, 85% of retailers believe online sales will increase this holiday season compared to last, with 61% expecting higher engagement through social media channels. That said, it will be key for brands and retailers to develop and maintain a sense of digital authenticity and personalized customer service in order to make up for the lack of in-person interaction in retail environments. Since 81% of consumers agree that they need to be able to trust the brands that they buy from, creating an authentic, trustworthy, integrated, and seamless shopping experience will ultimately enable brands and retailers to coast confidently through Q4 into the new year.
2) Comfy Clothes, Self-Care, And Gift Cards Will Be Major Categories
Thanks to major changes in consumer behavior over the past seven months, holiday shopping trends and popular product categories will look different in 2020. With people spending more time at home and adapting to working from home vs. the office, products like casual, comfortable apparel will be extremely popular in 2020, with 80% of shoppers planning to purchase casual clothing. Per usual, electronics and toys will be two big categories to watch; 74% will purchase computers and accessories, 72% will purchase video games, and 77% will purchase children’s toys this holiday season. With an increasing emphasis on all things “self-care,” personal care products will also be in demand – things like face masks, at-home hair cut kits, and even household cleaning supplies. Last but not least, gift cards and e-cards will be popular, especially as consumers try to avoid handling cash. In fact, it’s forecasted that shoppers will spend $200 more on gift cards this year compared to years past.
3) Tap-A-Tech Allows E-Commerce Brands To Provide A Personal Experience
86% of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brand they’re most likely to support. However, with more people relying on e-commerce this holiday season, it will be difficult to offer the same type of in-person experience that promotes brand loyalty. Enter: Tap-A-Tech, a digital-first solution that allows brand associates to connect one-on-one with shoppers via a mobile device. With a simple “tap” of a button or scan of a QR code, a shopper can instantly connect with a Tap-A-Tech rep, who can then conduct a product demonstration and answer any questions the consumer may have. One brand that’s already using Tap-A-Tech is De’Longhi, for its fully automatic, high-end espresso machines. If a customer has a question about an espresso machine while browsing the De’Longhi website, they can simply click on an icon and connect with a rep who can demo the machine and explain exactly how to make an excellent cup of coffee.
4) Virtual Events Are The “Next Best Thing” In Experiential Marketing
COVID-19 obviously changed the experiential landscape in many ways, and marketing experts have been forced to pivot plans and develop alternative solutions to keep consumers engaged. It goes without saying that virtual events are taking over the experiential space right now, and they’re also helping to permanently change the events and meeting industry as a whole. From live concerts to virtual conferences, award ceremonies, and training sessions, everything’s happening online. Seven months ago, nobody could predict the success of such endeavors, but now there’s a very real chance that these newfound strategies will stick around for good. And, of course, there are some logistical benefits to comingling in the digital space. For example, virtual events are much less expensive to pull off, as there’s no need for food, drinks, travel, and attendee lodging. However, experts agree that virtual events will never be able to fully replace in-person experiences, or the magic that happens when people come together IRL.
5) The Brandfluencer Program Can Bridge The Gap Between Company And Consumer
People love to buy from other people; it’s simply human nature. The BDS Brandfluencer program takes advantage of that fact and allows brand reps to connect with consumers by immersing them in a brand experience, and all the positive emotions that come from buying a particular product or service. When a brand or retailer partners with BDS via the Brandfluencer program, they’ll have the ability to pick the category, demographics, and goals, and then BDS takes over. BDS finds the experts (be it cake bakers, jewelry makers, or fitness enthusiasts), and then sets up and manages the campaign. The Brandfluencer program is a video-powered, digital-first strategy that humanizes the shopping experience and allows consumers to engage with a brand social media channels and personal conversations. The purpose of the Brandfluencer program isn’t to be promotional. Instead it’s to connect with consumers in an immersive, authentic, and surprising way that doesn’t feel like a traditional “sales” experience.
If your company didn’t have a digital-first strategy before COVID-19 hit American shores, it’s very likely that you’ve had to develop one within the last seven months. There are still three months left in 2020, and they’re all extremely important, especially since the holiday shopping season is typically the most lucrative time of year. If you’re still behind your financial goals for this year, it’s not too late to get started on your very own innovations. Hey – 2021 is right around the corner, so why not set yourself up for ultimate success in the new year? Did you like any of our ideas for Q4? Let us know in the comments below or on our social media channels!
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Innovation: Video Transcription
Speaker 1 (00:11):
BDS presents The HypeHour, with your hosts Andrew Catapano and Kelly Campbell, featuring special guests Erich Leyendecker and Elizabeth Jones. Today’s topic: it’s beginning to look a lot like innovation. Let’s get started. Here are your hosts.
Kelly Campbell (00:36):
Hello.
Andrew Catapano (00:39):
How are you, Ms. Campbell?
Kelly Campbell (00:44):
We’re here again.
Andrew Catapano (00:44):
We are here again, and we have today’s topic: “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Innovation.”
Kelly Campbell (00:47):
Yeah, very exciting.
Andrew Catapano (00:50):
It is very exciting. I am very excited to get into today. Q4 is almost here. Things are looking a lot different this year. It’s time to throw out the old retail playbook, welcome in 4th quarter, embrace it to meet today’s customers. Don’t know where to start? Today is your day, right, Kelly?
Kelly Campbell (01:14):
Yeah. I know. Q4 starts tomorrow. I can’t believe it that we made it to this moment. Very exciting. It’s been quite a year. I’m sure most people would agree. We’re really excited to dive into the holiday season. I know you are Andrew. I am too. We’re just so excited to be able to answer some big questions today.
Andrew Catapano (01:36):
Today we are going to cover the hot-pressing video-first strategy topics, Tap-A-Tech, Story Streams, Brandfluencer, BrightShop. Got them all on the board here if I forget them, but I won’t, because these are the video-powered, digital-first transformative strategies, and today we are going to talk about how we can … real-world concepts, real-world ideas, key takeaways from some of our experts on the panel. But I am just excited to dive into it, but before I do, Kelly, I said we weren’t going to get political on this show.
Kelly Campbell (02:13):
Oh no.
Andrew Catapano (02:15):
I know, right? We’re not supposed to do that. But the debates were last night, and I made a decision. John, do you have the image? I have made a decision. I am writing in my own candidate. John has an image of the candidate I am writing in. He needs a vote for him. If you’d like to vote for him, his name is Mason. We are writing him in, and I’m writing him in. I might as well throw mine in, right?
Kelly Campbell (02:43):
He’s adorable. You always have a surprise for us.
Andrew Catapano (02:48):
Don’t forget.
Andrew Catapano (02:50):
All right. Let’s dive right into it, Kelly. We like to start our shows off with a little humor. Brought back the hats, right?
Kelly Campbell (02:57):
Yeah. We’re back with the hats. We started with the hats, and we got away from the hats for a while. Everybody started going back to the hair salon, so I guess it wasn’t a big deal, right? But, you know what, we’re harking back to the very beginning with this. We’ve got our hats back on today.
Andrew Catapano (03:14):
Because we’re bringing back how it all started. I tell people all the time, if you didn’t have a CTO before, COVID became your CTO overnight. He or she is an ambitious driver of digital-first strategies, and he or she is telling you that you’ve got to embrace some of the concepts that we’re going to talk about today. But today is all about, how can we do it today? Can you give me some ideas that we can still execute in 2020? If we’re a little late to the party, throw out some concepts to us, and even if you can’t do it in Q4, which we’re recommending that you try to focus on a couple of these things that you can still do, hey, 2021 first quarter’s right around the corner. We know that. But let’s dive into some of the stuff. Kelly, who do we have today?
Kelly Campbell (03:56):
We kept our guests a surprise this time around, but we are so excited to have Erich Leyendecker from BDS here today. He’s the director of client services here. He’s been with BDS for quite some time. He is the expert on anything having to do with retail here at BDS. He actually was a market development manager for BDS, then left and went to a different company, and then came back. We call those boomerangs, which we love them. We have so many people who come back to BDS. It’s awesome. And he’s been back since 2013. He’s worked on all sorts of programs on amazing brands throughout his career at BDS. His favorite sport, fun fact, is hockey, and he’s a diehard New York Rangers fan. I also love hockey too. We have a lot of hockey fans here. He’s also a fellow New Yorker. Andrew, he’s with you. And then he’s got a family. He’s got two daughters, and he’s been married to his wife 15 years. Thought we’d throw in a few extra little tid bits about our guest today.
Kelly Campbell (05:03):
And then we’ve got Elizabeth Jones from our experiential team. She is the SVP of experiential and she oversees all different types of aspects of the business, new business, active productions, largescale corporate events. You name it, she’s owning it. Very exciting to have her on board to talk a little bit the experiential side of things and what they’re seeing and then how it all works together in today’s environment. She loves logistics. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard that, but she loves that, and she thrives in just playing a key role across the business from ideation to project management, everything. She’s quite the expert in the experiential world, and we are so excited to have her on today. Fun fact about her is she loves to ski and spend her winters on the slopes and her summers in Cape Cod, and it’s with her husband and her dogs. We have dog lovers here.
Kelly Campbell (05:58):
We’re so excited to have both of them on today to join us for this amazing conversation. Can’t wait to dive on in. Excited to have them.
Andrew Catapano (06:03):
Fantastic. Kelly, I just want to prepare our viewers for what today is. Today is a roundtable. Today is an open discussion. It’s an open forum. Consider this a FaceTime meeting, a livestream meeting, team’s meeting, Google Hangouts, whatever you consider you using for your team’s meetings. This is it. We want to welcome the questions. We want to provide real-world scenarios and solutions. We’re going to provide you some feedback of some clients that they’re telling us on sales calls. We’re going to give you some ideas that we’ve already been pitching to clients, some ideas that have been taken by clients, and some things that you can do real world today. That’s the roundtable, and we’re going to give each one of these 10 minutes to discuss. Is that right?
Kelly Campbell (06:51):
Yeah. We’re excited. This is the first time. We have a clock and our goal is to beat the clock with our topics. We’re excited to be doing that today as well.
Andrew Catapano (07:03):
All right. Let’s set the stage you and I, Kelly. Let’s just have a bit of an open conversation here, and then we’re going to bring in our guests and we’re going to start the clock.
Andrew Catapano (07:11):
Why are we talking about this? US holiday sales 2020 are projected to be 1.5 trillion over October through December shopping season. We know that at least 10% growth from 25% to 35% of e-commerce sales. I know it’s not on my cheat sheet here. There’s also been this talk of whether Black Friday is dead or not. We don’t know. We have some ideas. And whether Cyber Monday for the first time ever is just going to crush Black Friday, because of the whole aspect and the whole landscape of where we are.
Andrew Catapano (07:44):
So how do we continue to connect all of this digital traffic? How do we connect the lack of maybe what was before, all of the traffic in retail? We just may not have it this year. We know that, by rule or by teaching our customer how to behave through this COVID transition. We’re looking at how we connect those customers to our brands, but I love what we’re going to start talking about, but how do we make that authentic still? How do we still do that authenticity? How do we still give that retail, that human connection that can’t be compromised? We can’t abandon that, that experience. How do we immerse our customer and how do we immerse our brands into that?
Andrew Catapano (08:31):
Kelly, tell us a little bit of what consumers are looking for from brands now.
Kelly Campbell (08:36):
Yeah. That’s been one of the biggest questions that we’ve had a lot of interest around: what is going to be the biggest things, what are people looking for now. Really it’s authenticity, it’s trust, it’s personalized customer service, and it’s being also vocal about social issues. That’s really become a priority for consumers going forward. 86% of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor in their decisions in which brands they want to go with and they like and support.
Kelly Campbell (09:08):
And then, on the flip side of things, trust is so huge in factoring into these decisions as well. 81% of consumers say that they need to be able to trust the brand that they buy from, which that means you have to put in a lot more work to be able to create that connection and make it trustworthy too.
Kelly Campbell (09:29):
Then, on top of that, 73% of consumers say customer service and customer experience is an important factor in their buying journey. We all know that a bad customer experience, I’m sure you all have experienced it yourselves. When you have a bad experience, it really does factor into your decision. “I don’t want to go to that store. I don’t want to experience that brand again.” It really does factor into the decision.
Kelly Campbell (09:55):
And then of course the social issues: that’s been a huge thing this year obviously. 64% of consumers would buy from a brand or boycott it solely because of its position on a social issue or political issues. It’s definitely been at the forefront this year for sure.
Kelly Campbell (10:13):
So very interesting things that we’re seeing in regards to that one question that everybody has.
Andrew Catapano (10:19):
Kelly, I know you’ve started and, as we introduce our guests … I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when we talk about authenticity, you talk about trust, and you talk about this seamless interaction obviously between customer and brand and retailer. It’s really what we thought before: really hard to replicate. But we hired this CTO, and they told us, “You have to. You don’t have a choice. There’s no choice.” You must figure out how to replicate an authentic, trustworthy, integrated, seamless experience in some cases, maybe for a period of time, without the social component, without in person, sorry, in-person component.
Andrew Catapano (11:05):
Now obviously those have been rolled back. Now obviously we’re able to go to the stores and the brands that we know and love, but it’s different. It’s different. And I want to tell people that, even if … Take this with you. Even if we go back, COVID’s gone, vaccine. Everything is back and we know that’s no longer the situation. These tactics will outlive COVID. You can go to the bank with that. We are training our customers how to behave right now. Some cases, we’ve given them a little taste of the fantastic sauce that grandma’s been cooking, and they want more of it. They want more of it. Well after grandma’s gone, they’re going to want more of this recipe. Even if you think this is a waiting game to get through COVID, it’s not. A lot of these things are here to stay. A lot of these things need to be embraced in holiday. But, past holiday, they are, in some cases, going to become the norm.
Andrew Catapano (12:07):
Kelly, let’s look at some of the biggest categories for holiday this year as compared to last year.
Kelly Campbell (12:11):
Yeah. One of the biggest questions as well is what are people going to buy this year. Obviously, it’s been a very different kind of year. A lot of people at home, a lot of people trying to figure out their workspace in their own home environment, and then also having kids at home as well has really thrown into a different experience that we never could have imagined before.
Kelly Campbell (12:34):
Some of the biggest things that we have are apparel. It’s still big. It will always be big, especially for the holidays, but especially clothing for home, for this new environment, a little bit relaxed work style, working half in home and even in the office. Apparel’s still going to be huge.
Kelly Campbell (12:55):
And then, of course, electronics and toys: how can we keep our kids entertained? I know, Andrew, you just bought something for your son that you even saw on TikTok I think you were telling me.
Andrew Catapano (13:06):
Off the TikTok, that was right.
Kelly Campbell (13:13):
Lots of different opportunities for electronics this holiday season, for kids’ toys, and just entertainment in general.
Kelly Campbell (13:20):
And then personal care items. Now that we’re all at home you’ve got to take care of yourself. I know that many other people are also worried about this I call it the maskne or macne or acne, facial products, things like that. Personal care items are going to be really huge. Also, just it’s a nice way to step away from this home environment that we’re now in.
Kelly Campbell (13:43):
And then gift cards, that’s easy. You don’t have to shop for it as hard, but it’s also an easy way to avoid handling a lot of cash. It’s a great touchless experience, especially those e-cards, things like that.
Kelly Campbell (13:57):
That’s the answer to one of the biggest questions we’ve also gotten, is “What do you buy this holiday season? What are we going to see come out of this?”
Andrew Catapano (14:06):
Yep. I’ve heard apparel, electronics and toys, personal care. Health and beauty industry is … I could speak a whole HypeHour on where I believe that’s going. And then, of course, gift cards.
Andrew Catapano (14:20):
Let’s jump into some of the ideas. I know we’re a little bit ahead of time, Kelly.
Kelly Campbell (14:24):
We are. That’s amazing.
Andrew Catapano (14:26):
It’s amazing, but I want to make sure that, if we need extra time to talk about really how people can start to use these brands, retailers, both direct consumer online and in store, we’re going to give you all scenarios of how you can use these. Please feel free to ask any questions. I’m going to give you my best pitches on how I believe these can be used, and we’re going to talk to the experts on how they’ve been using them in real-world scenarios to work with their brands.
Kelly Campbell (14:57):
Yeah. We’re excited.
Andrew Catapano (14:59):
Let’s take that 2:48 off the clock, let’s start another 10 minutes, and let’s bring them in.
Kelly Campbell (15:09):
All right. Welcome.
Erich Leyendecker (15:11):
Hello.
Kelly Campbell (15:11):
Beth and Erich, it’s so awesome to have you.
Elizabeth Jones (15:12):
We’re happy to be here.
Erich Leyendecker (15:12):
Absolutely.
Andrew Catapano (15:14):
Hey, guys. How’s it going? Erich, good to see you as always. Beth, great to see you.
Erich Leyendecker (15:17):
Good to see you, my man.
Andrew Catapano (15:19):
I love that you guys are wearing the hats. New to the Hive and wearing the hats. Love it.
Erich Leyendecker (15:23):
We got the memo.
Andrew Catapano (15:27):
All right. I know you guys know what the topic is. I know we rehearsed a little bit of this. You know I’m going to go off script. You know I’m going to give you some serious questions about how people can use this today. But I want to tell you guys we’re looking at two people right now who are real-world scenario using these strategies for their brands, and I want to hear from them.
Andrew Catapano (15:47):
Kelly, why don’t you start us off? I believe we’re going to go to Tap-A-Tech first, right?
Kelly Campbell (15:52):
Yeah. We’ve gotten a lot of questions around Tap-A-Tech, one of the Hype Hive solutions. We can’t wait to talk to you both about how you’ve actually been able to bring this to life for some of your clients. I know, Erich, you’ve been heavily involved in this and taking the concept from start to finish and also bringing it to life for your clients. Tell us a little bit about Tap-A-Tech and how it has translated for you. What has your experience been like? Is it complex? What can people expect with this process?
Erich Leyendecker (16:29):
It is not complex at all. I think all the complex work was before.
Andrew Catapano (16:35):
Let me back up for a second. Why don’t we tell them what Tap-A-Tech is real quick just so we know. We’ll tee this up. Erich, if you wouldn’t mind taking it, tell me what is Tap-A-Tech and why is it important, and then we’re going to get into the follow up.
Erich Leyendecker (16:52):
Tap-A-Tech takes our demo representatives that would typically be in store and it takes them off site. If we see what happened with COVID and the retail stores closed, customers had no way to go in and experience a demo in person, and a lot of people rely on that to make their purchasing decision. Tap-A-Tech, we can either place a code on a website, which puts a little bubble, so as customer are on our website, they can click on the bubble and it’ll connect them to the rep, or, while a customer’s in store, they can scan a QR code and that instantly connects them with our demo or sales representative, and they are on brand with that client. Typically, they’ll have products right in front of them that they can demonstrate for them.
Andrew Catapano (17:36):
Now, so we have clarity, we’re talking about it’s a code that can be put on a consumer’s website quick and easy. It’s a piece of Java Script code, throw it on what we call the PDP page, which is the product display page, or the category page. It opens as a widget or a badge on the website that a user can click, and without loading any software or any other application can immediately connect to a virtual service representative anywhere in the world in seconds via video chat with no other application. Is that it?
Erich Leyendecker (18:12):
Correct. Yeah. Andrew, it even gets a little bit more granular for that. If a customer’s on a specific product page or at a product skew, the representative that’s receiving the call, they’ll see exactly what the customer’s looking at. When they answer, they know exactly which product to have in front of them or to start talking about. When we look at in store with the QR code functionality, when a customer scans a QR code, our rep will see where that customer is calling in from.
Andrew Catapano (18:40):
All I’ve got to do … Now let’s get to the QR code. I’ve got the digital application of it, install a piece of code on my direct consumer website or a third-party rep with retailer, whatever I might like to do. Within seconds, I now have a widget on my website that can connect to a virtual sales representative anywhere in the world, take multiple calls, do whatever they have to do. We’re going to get to location in a second. But then I’ve got a QR code that I can just use our merchandising team, install at point of display or anywhere in the aisle or even on the packaging, but I know there’s a time to product that. I can get that thing printed out. Merchandising in retail. And then, because the QR code is now native to both the iPhone and the Android device, all I have to do open up my camera, scan that QR code, out pops a rep and I’m talking to him, whether in store, on the go, or at home. Is that a fair statement?
Erich Leyendecker (19:38):
100% right. The one thing I do want to call out, though, is that the customer’s camera is not on unless they want it to be on, and they’re prompted before they connect with the agent if they want to put the camera on or not, but it does let them know you will not be on camera.
Andrew Catapano (19:51):
Okay. I understand it, too, Erich, the differentiation of it is there’s no software to download. We’re on a livestream right now. I’m talking to you. I see you on video. People may go, “That’s not new. Zoom does that. Teams does that. Skype does that.” What is different about this is no software. I am video chatting directly through my phone or directly through my computer, and all I had to do was visit a website. Done.
Erich Leyendecker (20:19):
Yep.
Kelly Campbell (20:20):
That’s so easy.
Andrew Catapano (20:23):
Amazing. Kelly, I think we’ve got some questions. I think I can ask Erich about the deployment strategy he’s got going on in New York, right?
Kelly Campbell (20:32):
Yeah. I know. That was actually going to be the next thing that I wanted to talk about, was bringing it to life. That was the second part of this. It’s what it is, but then for you, Erich, you’ve taken this concept and then bring it to life for your clients that you’re working with on a daily basis. How has that process been? Can you give us an idea of what to expect with that? If someone were to be interested to try something like this for Q4, what does that process look like at a really high level?
Erich Leyendecker (21:05):
It’s not complicated at all. We just need to get involved with their web designer or whoever manages the website on the backend and their marketing team, because there’s some marketing stuff that they want to put up on their website, like the banners and the bubbles or whatnot. But once it’s set up … In New York, at our office and in one of our representative’s homes, we set up a full display. When customers call in, it’s going to look like they’re actually in a retail environment, and they’ll have all the demo product right in front of them. Everything’s set up from lights to audio and video as well. Again, seamless. Once a customer clicks on the button or scans the QR code, it gets them in touch with us. It was a very quick process. It wasn’t hard. Even for our reps learning how to use the software, it was one, two, three, so simple. All they need to do is check that they’re in and that they’re available, and, once a customer comes in, click on it.
Erich Leyendecker (22:04):
The other nice thing about it too –
Andrew Catapano (22:06):
Right now, right, Erich? You’re doing this right now for De’Longhi in New York. Is that correct?
Erich Leyendecker (22:11):
We are in the process of testing this week. We’re all set up. Tomorrow I’ll be back in the city again. We’re going to be testing this out, and we’re going to test it through the weekend. We go live next Thursday.
Kelly Campbell (22:22):
Awesome.
Andrew Catapano (22:22):
Can you tell me about that campaign specifically? What are they doing and what does the program look like?
Erich Leyendecker (22:28):
Yeah, sure. We’re focusing on a lot of De’Longhi’s higher-end Espresso, their fully automatic machines, which, some customers, they may see these and they may get a little intimidated by them. They’re big. They’ve got a lot of buttons. But they’re very simple to use. Now, if a customer is on De’Longhi.com in the United States on what of these product pages, they’ll see that they can talk to somebody live. When they connect with them, they go live in studio with that person, and our reps will be making Espressos. They’re going to be in-home baristas right in front of them, making coffee and demoing out all different products.
Erich Leyendecker (23:02):
Here’s the nice thing too, which we didn’t talk about before, is our reps will be able to add product to cart, add accessories, and, from there, the customer just needs to check out. It’s seamless for them.
Kelly Campbell (23:13):
That’s amazing.
Andrew Catapano (23:15):
Beth, this is in the MAG office in New York, right?
Elizabeth Jones (23:17):
Yes. We’re very well caffeinated over there.
Andrew Catapano (23:22):
To break this down, and then, Erich and Beth, I need you to help me. De’Longhi took Tap-A-Tech, installed the widget on their direct consumer website. On their direct consumer website, they will or now have a widget a user can click. Once they click that, they’re immediately transported via their phone, if they’re on a phone or desktop, to a virtual rep that is sitting in a makeshift De’Longhi café that we designed in New York offices in MAG, taking calls, answering questions about the machines live on click. Is that what’s happening?
Erich Leyendecker (24:00):
That’s what’s happening.
Kelly Campbell (24:01):
Amazing. I can’t believe we’re actually here with this sort of technology. That’s what’s unbelievable to me. I know we have one minute left on the clock, so we’re going to switch to Story Streams really quickly, because it does tie in with Tap-A-Tech a little bit. It’s actually what we’re doing right here today. We’re doing a Story Stream. It is livestreaming, but it’s also taking a story and bringing it to life through livestreaming for your customers and really creating this scene. While Tap-A-Tech is really that final closing the sale, Story Stream sets it up with a bit of a story.
Kelly Campbell (24:44):
I would just love to dive in. We have 45 seconds left I believe, but we’re going to get there. Is there anything that you can talk about from that standpoint, Erich? I know you’ve been on that side of things too. Maybe one tip that you could give a brand today on implementing their own Story Stream program.
Erich Leyendecker (25:03):
Yeah. This takes now where someone needs to click on a button to do that demonstration where they’re going to a webpage. This is just using their own social media pages. It doesn’t matter which social media campaign it is or which site it is. It’s going live and doing demonstrations on there so that they’re hitting a broader audience. Where Tap-A-Tech is one on one, it’s our rep with that customer, doing the livestream or the Story Stream, you’re broadcasting to your entire audience. As people are scrolling through their wall, they’ll see it and they’ll want to interact with it.
Andrew Catapano (25:35):
Let’s stay on this for a second. Programming note: I don’t know why we did Story Streams and Tap-A-Tech together. That’s on me. Story Stream should probably have its own 10 minutes, but we’re just give it 30 seconds.
Andrew Catapano (25:48):
Erich made a good point there, but I need the audience, the people watching this, to understand. The differentiation I believe, Erich, if I’m hearing this correct, between Story Streams and Tap-A-Tech is that Tap-A-Tech is the one to one “I want to talk to a rep right now.” Story Streams is this canned video content that can either be livestreamed like we are right now but available for watching later to do basically demonstrations and educational pieces or immersion pieces. For me, if I were a De’Longhi, not that the decision makers are on this livestream, but, if they are, I can tell you where to send the checks for Story Streams in a second if you need to know. But Story Streams and Tap-A-Tech, to me, work together. If you have Tap-A-Tech, and let’s says there’s reps not available at the time, or let’s say I’m not ready to do a one on one but I still want to be immersed in the brand and understand more, Story Streams gives you that ability to just watch videos that were shot earlier at a later time to further be immersed in the brand. I believe they go together, but, Erich and Beth, I’ll defer to you guys. Does that make sense?
Erich Leyendecker (27:03):
It does. Imagine focusing on just one product skew and putting the URL for that product skew in the comment section when you’re going live. If a customer wants to interact with the live person, they just click on that and they’ve got their own digital person that’s helping them out.
Andrew Catapano (27:19):
I love it.
Kelly Campbell (27:21):
That’s awesome. We’re going to move on, because we’ve got a jam-packed schedule. We’ve got two or so more solutions to talk about for the holidays. Let’s talk next about BrightShops and just the virtual ecosystem that we have going on here as part of the Hype Hive. This pandemic obviously has changed the experiential landscape. Beth, you are no stranger to that. You have had to pivot like no other on the experiential side of things. How has that evolved for you? Can you give us a little bit of a behind-the-scenes view of what that experience has been like? How receptive have brands and consumers been to that pivot from in person to virtual?
Elizabeth Jones (28:09):
Of course. It goes without saying that virtual events are taking over the experiential space right now and just the events and meeting industry as a whole. Everything from your live concerts to conferences and awards programs and training sessions, everything’s being brought online.
Elizabeth Jones (28:30):
If you were to go back six months, all of these brands, all of these attendees, ourselves included, we needed to take a leap of faith in this virtual world. Now people are getting comfortable with it. I see it just continuing to evolve. I see more virtual events. I see the risks, brands being more willing to take risks, more engagement, more customization, because now we’re all a little bit familiar with it. We’re really excited about that.
Kelly Campbell (29:01):
Awesome. Talk to us more about some of the things that you guys have implement don the experiential side of things utilizing virtual to connect with customers in a new way. What impact has this had? Where are some of those a-ha moments that you’ve had throughout this entire experience?
Elizabeth Jones (29:22):
It’s been a wild ride. We’ve seen everything from hosting HR summits online to global training sessions for Microsoft. We’ve launched products through Facebook. We’ve just simply had networking events where we’ve had summer socials for clients where they just want to get their team together, they want to get off Zoom, they want to do something different. It’s run the gamut.
Elizabeth Jones (29:48):
I think the biggest things that impact that are what platforms are we using. It’s not a one size fits all. How many attendees are we looking at? Are we looking at multiple time zones? There’s so many factors that go into it that originally a lot of people weren’t aware of, but the cool thing is is that we’re able to see the benefits of these virtual events more than the limitations at this point.
Kelly Campbell (30:14):
Yeah. I want to throw that question … Sorry, Andrew. Were you going to jump in on that?
Andrew Catapano (30:20):
I just want to say one thing for our viewership at home. I know people don’t like the horn, but I’m going to give it to you again. I give Beth the horn. I’ll tell you why: because what you guys are doing at MAG is nothing short of a miracle, a BDS experiential. You took an entire model that was predicated on social connection, on an in-person connection, and absolutely pivoted to taking that digital, and, if I’m hearing you correctly, Beth, and I know we’ve had a couple of moments on this …
Andrew Catapano (30:56):
First of all, the fact that you are there and you’re smiling is a testament to how strong you guys are, first of all. Second of all, I asked you this question yesterday. If COVID wasn’t here, we know that maybe you wouldn’t be as ambitious about virtual as you are. Okay. That’s a fair statement. But now that you are, can it really replicate the in-person experience? Can people really say, “Sure, I’ll hold a virtual event. It’ll be the same?” And, if not, what can they expect and what recommendations can you offer as they now have to embark on this? They have to.
Elizabeth Jones (31:36):
As Kelly said, as lover of logistics, I can confidently say no. Virtual events will never be what on-the-ground events are. There’s a magic that I just truly feel you can’t replicate. But I think the difference in the world that we’re living in right now is that virtual events aren’t just an alternative to in-real-life events. They’re THE alternative. We have to go that route. We can’t compare it to on the ground, but the benefit is that our bread and butter is on the ground. We constantly are just asking ourselves what can we do to make this event a true event. Just like Erich is saying, how can I make the retail experience as close to the real retail experience as possible? It’s all in the details now when it comes to the virtual events.
Elizabeth Jones (32:22):
But yes. To answer your question frankly, it will never be the same, but we’re going to get as close as we can.
Andrew Catapano (32:29):
What does digital look like for holiday parties? Are you getting phone calls for people to do virtual holiday parties?
Elizabeth Jones (32:35):
We are. It’s a world I never thought I’d live in. We’ve got our in-house DJ ready to go. We’ve got everyone practicing dance moves. They’re picking out their avatar outfit. We’re excited.
Andrew Catapano (32:49):
It really is an immersive event you guys have created, an immersive online experience. I’ve not attended one yet because we’re so busy on all of us driving our own initiatives, and I’m a little embarrassed to say that because the feedback I’m getting is it is amazing. You can create your own avatar. There’s DJs there. They’re talking to each other. And it’s all in this virtual world that is immersive and sometimes more memorable in some cases, if I’m not mistaken. It’s a whole new world for people.
Andrew Catapano (33:22):
And this is something you can pull off today. If someone called you tomorrow … First of all, I don’t want to ramble, but tell me a little bit about that process, those events. Do I have that right? Then, second of all, how quick can someone pull this off? If they called you tomorrow to host a holiday party virtually, could you do it?
Elizabeth Jones (33:40):
I’m being paid to say that we can do it. No, I’m joking. I know this is the answer that no one wants to hear, but it truly depends on a lot of key factors. Yes, if you were talking a holiday party, we want to get a simple networking event together, we’ve got content readily available, then yes, two to four weeks, no problem. If we’re thinking about something that’s more on a global level, we have multiple time zones, we are starting from scratch as it relates to the content, we’re sending teams on the ground to get the footage, that, we’re looking at six to eight weeks plus. It really does depend on what the brand is coming to us with and how much customization do they want to include.
Andrew Catapano (34:26):
Cheddar: difference in cost, Beth. What am I paying for a virtual event as an experiential? Am I getting two for one? Am I getting double the cost? What’s happening?
Elizabeth Jones (34:37):
The per-attendee cost is going to decrease virtually. There’s inherently expenses, like food and beverage, venue, certain production costs, etc., that you’re just not going to face when you’re doing it online. That’s something that I can’t avoid. That’s the case.
Elizabeth Jones (34:58):
What I think is important is that the impact is still … It’s less investment. It could live longer than on the ground because you can make everything VOD and people can access the event even post-event.
Elizabeth Jones (35:16):
It’s interesting. That’s why I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I think we’re headed in a direction where we’re going to get back to live events. We’re already seeing it. But I think it’s going to be an interesting combination, a hybrid approach.
Andrew Catapano (35:29):
I’m going to let Kelly jump in. I never let her get a word in otherwise.
Kelly Campbell (35:32):
I’m jumping at the bit to ask my next question.
Andrew Catapano (35:38):
I want to ask one more and then I promise, Kelly, you’re on. There’s two things you brought up. Sometimes experiential … You know Jonathan is a dear, dear friend of mine, a leader of your division and business, and I challenge him a lot, because, from a digital perspective, we’re always challenged with return on investment. We’re always challenged with “What’s the ROI? What can someone see as far as a return on their investment?”
Andrew Catapano (36:00):
You just raised the point here that you did not mention in our pre-shows, which I think you missed. You’re telling me that a return on investment here is sometimes a lot more provable and live longer past the event. I’d like you to tell me why specifically you made that statement.
Elizabeth Jones (36:18):
I wouldn’t say that the KPIs are more valuable. I would say that they happen more in real time. I think you can get instant analytics by doing virtual events. Even just through the registration process, you can see what topics people are resonating towards. You can see the dwell time. Are people falling off after 30 minutes? Should we make our keynotes shorter? I think that the real-time feedback of virtual is key, but you get that in real life too. It’s just I think more of a post-event process than it is in the moment.
Kelly Campbell (36:57):
That’s awesome.
Andrew Catapano (36:59):
To be honest, but I got to ask one more, Kelly, because you just said something that I think is genius right there. Do you think … Let’s say, and I’m just spit balling here, because I said this was going to be a working meeting. What you just said right there hit me so hard. If I was considering a big live event, let’s say next year, if I were in the position of doing that and you were to tell me, “Why don’t you host a virtual event to test a lot of the stuff that you would do at your live event to make that live event even more impactful, because the cost to test that stuff at a virtual event would be a lot less than testing it during your live event?” would that be a fair statement and something that you would recommend?
Elizabeth Jones (37:43):
I think it’s fair. I do. My answer to that would be I would actually take it a step further. If you’re going to do this, I would almost do a small in-person audience plus a larger virtual audience, that way I think you’re testing both IRL and online.
Andrew Catapano (38:01):
Fair enough.
Kelly Campbell (38:01):
There we go. A/B test in the digital world.
Andrew Catapano (38:07):
Did I take your questions? I’m sorry.
Kelly Campbell (38:10):
That’s okay. It’s all really, really good stuff.
Kelly Campbell (38:13):
I do want to make sure we touch on BrightShops, though, because this is also an experience in itself, even though it’s virtual. But some of those same things apply to creating a BrightShop.
Kelly Campbell (38:27):
Before we dive into this and before we go on to our next topic, if anybody doesn’t know what a BrightShop is, maybe, Andrew, can you give us a little overview of what that BrightShop is and what that experience is like, taking this in-real-life thing and then making it virtual?
Andrew Catapano (38:48):
BrightShop in a nutshell is a direct-consumer retail environment that is not open to the general public, and it’s purposed only for digital sales. What a BrightShop really is is a customized … And it can be small. It can be grand. It can be brand focused. It can be retailer focused. But it is a custom-built solution designed and developed by the MAG team, Beth and her team. And then what we do is we erect it somewhere. We place it somewhere, whether it be in Irvine or Columbus or York or some other location. It can also be done at a retailer or a brand location. And then we use that to livestream, to sell a product, to do Tap-A-Tech. And, Erich, you can tell us exactly how a BrightShop is working up in New York for De’Longhi, and you can give us a real-world solution about how they use the BrightShop. But that’s what it is.
Kelly Campbell (39:46):
I was just about to throw it over to Erich. We would love to get your thoughts on what that experience has been like. It’s definitely something that’s owned by the brand, and it’s your own environment. Can you tell us a little bit more about how that works or has worked for the clients that you’re working with?
Erich Leyendecker (40:06):
Yeah. The one we have in New York is set up to look like in a kitchen. It has the Espresso machine set up on tables so customers, as they interact with our demo rep, they can see what it can look like actually in a kitchen environment.
Erich Leyendecker (40:24):
In addition, like what Andrew was saying before, it doesn’t have to be Tap-A-Tech. This can be livestreaming as well. While they’re working with customers, they can also be livestreaming on websites, also generating traffic to their dot-com.
Kelly Campbell (40:40):
That’s awesome. I could even imagine it. You’re trying to figure out how much space you have on your counter. You can actually see it being set up in a similar environment to what you have as a consumer. That’s pretty amazing to even just be able to do that, let alone then to broadcast different types of scenarios and things like that through Story Streams and obviously have that one-on-one connection through Tap-A-Tech. BrightShop’s really brings it all together, right?
Erich Leyendecker (41:10):
Absolutely.
Andrew Catapano (41:12):
You and your team design the BrightShops, right? If a client were to come to us from an experiential standpoint, because you’re so used to designing experiential pop-up shops and spaces and retail environments, you take a customer’s vision and you actually build a BrightShop environment rendering so they can see it and then see how it would look and then have input. Is that a fair statement?
Elizabeth Jones (41:36):
That is a fair statement, except I don’t design them. I will give a shoutout to my art director.
Kelly Campbell (41:42):
They’re amazing.
Andrew Catapano (41:45):
Go ahead, Erich. Sorry.
Erich Leyendecker (41:45):
Andrew, real quick. With our BrightShop, this was designed actually by the client. They provided the backdrop and the tables that we’re using. If the client, they don’t want to design it, then we can do that for them.
Andrew Catapano (42:01):
Outstanding. Now, you have this BrightShop. We put it somewhere. In this case, we put it in the MAG offices in Manhattan. Then we can staff them with Tap-A-Techs. We can do livestreaming from there. We can do social media from there. We can do influencing from there. And then we design our staged environment to sell digitally and virtually. Is that correct?
Elizabeth Jones (42:24):
That’s correct.
Andrew Catapano (42:28):
I should hear people scratching out checks right now. I don’t know why … I’m not trying to sell. If I was on the brand and retail side, I’m only fortunate enough to be on the marketing side, but I can’t imagine people not getting involved in this. We’re not pitching. That’s not the point here today. But I am so excited about this stuff, because I do believe it can be done today. These are leaps that can be taken today to have your best fourth quarter and best holiday. This is not stuff you have to consider a year sales cycle. This is stuff we can make a phone call today and have you virtually connecting to your audience and your customers tomorrow.
Erich Leyendecker (43:04):
And, Andrew, we’re talking about this in a sales solution. We haven’t even talked about the training solution on this. We can send QR codes out to our retailers. We can send them to stores that we typically can’t touch with our field marketing team. They can scan this QR code and then can get Zoom right into our BrightShop and a person can see this person’s calling in from this store and they want a training. We can now train that associate from anywhere interesting he world on whichever product they want to learn more about.
Andrew Catapano (43:38):
That can also work … Erich, you get a gold star for the day. I did not even think about that. I’m always thinking of the QR code in store for the customer too. What if I’ve got ASRs, assistant sales reps, or reps in those stores and they’re just not as knowledgeable on a specific question that a customer has at that time, what’s stopping them from scanning the QR code and going, “Hey, I’ve got a question about the ink capacity,” or about whatever it might be, the amount of Espresso beans that have to go in? I’m not a coffee drinker, but my wife loves coffee. I actually will be doing Tap-A-Tech to understand how I can make the perfect pour from De’Longhi. But they can use this device in order to connect to a rep as well and do field training. Brilliant.
Kelly Campbell (44:23):
This is amazing. I can’t, again, believe that the technology is here. I know we’ve dabbled in a lot of this over the years, but with this year being the year of the pandemic forcing everybody to think a little bit differently, it’s also allowed us to really match the world and the world to match what we’re doing here at BDS. That’s pretty awesome.
Kelly Campbell (44:49):
I know we’ve talked a lot about some of these solutions. We have one more to get to, and the last one is all about Brandfluencer. Andrew, you actually set it up perfectly when we were talking about BrightShops. You can do all different types of activities, from sales to that one-on-one interaction through a BrightShop, Tap-A-Tech, but you can also do social. You can do content. You can do influencing from there too. You can repurpose. Brandfluencer dives down that path as a next step in taking the people that you have in these spaces, and then also, on the flip side, utilizing a lot of the people that we have here at BDS and have worked with us for so many years and are experts on different types of products and things. We have so many experts in our virtual building I guess you can say that this Brandfluencer’s really this opportunity to tap into those different experts through social and get your products out there in a new and different and authentic way. It’s not your typical influencer model. I want to be very clear about that.
Kelly Campbell (45:59):
Andrew, I want to ask you some of these questions, because you have been very involved in this. I know, Beth, you guys work with influencers a lot. You know that side of things from an event standpoint. And then, Erich, on the flip side of things, you’ve got team members who have their own passions on the side too. You guys can also chime into these questions as well. Let’s talk about this one, Andrew. I know you’re involved in it. Can you tell us a little bit how Brandfluencers came to be and where we’re at now with it and give us a little bit of a sneak peek?
Andrew Catapano (46:35):
Kelly, you know this one is the thing for the anchor, because it’s my favorite. It’s absolutely hands down. You started this off with authenticity. You started this off with communication. You started off immersion. You started us off with creating connection.
Andrew Catapano (46:51):
Brandfluencer is about using people who love to use the product inside of their own lifestyle, inside of their own social media, talking to their audience about your product in their lifestyle. I know we spend all kinds of time on social media, but we all know the most authentic purchase that we can make is watching someone use something in their lifestyle where you want that same emotion or activity to happen to you, so you equate the use of that product to whatever emotion they’re having to trigger the same emotion with you. It’s not rocket science. That is marketing 101. We’re all focused on being promotional. For all the people who are on this livestream right now, Beth knows this better than anybody. The way to really get someone to purchase something is to immerse them into the brand, is to connect with them in an authentic and surprising way that doesn’t feel like you’re selling to them. The way we can do that is to take their social media, their following, and then give them a brand they love to use in their lifestyle and have them promote it for you.
Andrew Catapano (48:09):
We tap into MAG’s unbelievable team in order to help with this influencer model. We tap into the BDS field team, who loves to use these products. You pick the brand. You pick the category. You pick the demographics. You pick the goals. We find the experts. We do the rest. It’s as simple as that.
Andrew Catapano (48:30):
I love this strategy. Beth, tell me a little bit about why your team is uniquely situated to do stuff like this? We’re just taking the people who love social media, who love this, and we’re just using them in a different way.
Elizabeth Jones (48:46):
I think you hit the nail on the head with the authenticity of these individuals. I think that’s key. At the end of the day, we’re all human and we’re looking for this emotional hook. It doesn’t have to be emotional in the traditional sense, but the relatability, just to be able to see someone use it in their own environment, be able to relate to it. I think that’s key.
Kelly Campbell (49:10):
I think, Andrew, one of …
Andrew Catapano (49:11):
Go ahead. Sorry.
Kelly Campbell (49:13):
I was going to jump in, Andrew. One of the things that you said earlier when we were talking about this is that it’s not about talking about the product. It’s more than that. It’s showing the end use case of it, the lifestyle aspect of it. You can be passionate about something, and we have a lot of people who are passionate about a lot of different things. We have parents. We have jewelry makers even. We have bakers and fitness enthusiasts and things like that. But I think, at the end of the day, the goal of this is to really bring to life that use case and make it real for the person, the friend, the family member that’s looking at it as well.
Andrew Catapano (49:54):
I have currently right now three products in my house that my wife bought off of the TikTok, three products that she wasn’t being sold to but watched TikTok videos of people using the product and said, “I’ve got to be buy that.” That’s how it happened. If you don’t believe that’s how commerce is done … We’ve all done it.
Andrew Catapano (50:15):
I was talking to Patty Morehouse who leads one of our other divisions in our sister company, and she said, “Andrew, this is an unbelievable idea, because the biggest problem that brands have is generating that content, curating that content.” They all know they need it, but they don’t know how to do it.
Andrew Catapano (50:32):
So we’re going to leverage Beth’s MAG team, we’re going to leverage the BDS team, we’re going to leverage the thousands of reps that we have that their primary job is to sell, is to immerse, is to provide experiences, and we’re going to take those experiences, taking your brands, utilizing their social, and generate that content that we know is gold in selling products and services. That’s it.
Andrew Catapano (50:59):
For me, that model all working together … We’ll maybe get into it at a later show of how they all get integrated. But that model of influencing people and selling to them just by relating to them emotionally, I’m telling you, you want a great fourth quarter, you give us a call. We’ll show you how to make that work. I’m biased, because I love that program.
Kelly Campbell (51:27):
That’s awesome. With the few minutes that we have left, I have one final question for everybody. I want you all to jump in because I think it’s really awesome. We have all over the years worked in different silos, on different teams, and done our own things. Then, this year, we all got thrown together in a situation. I want to hear from everybody: what has that been like to collaborate and to work together, even though we’re virtually doing it and we’re not physically in person? We’re doing it right here, which is amazing, and it’s something that we’ve talked a lot about at BDS and something that we want to translate outside of these walls, virtual walls I guess you could say. But how has that process been for everybody, working with different teams and getting integrated to bring these to life? Erich, you tell us.
Erich Leyendecker (52:20):
Before COVID, we have a few different divisions and sister companies with BDS. But before, just trying to find out how do we add experiential marketing, how do we add the digital marketing aspect to it. This happened, and everyone just came together and said, “We have to solve for this problem,” and we all came together, worked it out. We pivoted, and we made it work.
Erich Leyendecker (52:51):
It’s been an incredible journey. It’s been awesome to meet some new people and to learn about what they do and really realize, wow, we should’ve been offering this all along. It’s opened your eyes up to what we can do. Like I was saying before, Andrew, with adding the training aspect to Tap-A-Tech, that’s something we haven’t even talked about yet, but just, as we get immersed into it, going, “This makes sense. We could also be doing this. Why aren’t we doing this?”
Erich Leyendecker (53:22):
I think the future is very bright. I think we’ve been extremely innovative, and it’s awesome. It’s been a great experience.
Kelly Campbell (53:29):
Beth, what about you, your insight on that?
Elizabeth Jones (53:33):
I absolutely agree. I think that what really puts us in a unique position is that we’re all in the same boat. We might wish we were moving in a different direction or on a different boat, but it’s not just consumers going through this. It’s not just our brands going through this. We’re going through it too. I think it puts us in a really unique position to influence consumer behavior, because we’re right there with them. I think that it’s only brought our teams closer. We crave the engagement just like everybody else. It’s really been special.
Elizabeth Jones (54:07):
Right now we’ve got west coast, east cost, Midwest. It’s really something special.
Kelly Campbell (54:15):
That’s awesome. And, Andrew, Hype Hive, it brings it all together. I think that’s the most amazing thing about this suite of solutions here, is that it really does utilize all the best things about what BDS has to offer, and I’m sure you would agree with that.
Andrew Catapano (54:32):
I will tell you it has been an amazing journey. As a leader of digital innovation for over the last decade, I can only say I told you so.
Kelly Campbell (54:43):
Always a surprise.
Andrew Catapano (54:50):
The doors that COVID has opened, we look for the silver of every lining, all the silver lining … I haven’t got the metaphor correct. But the ambitiousness that we can have for digital-first strategies right now, the true integration that we can have with the sales team in order to offer these, the partnerships we’ve been having with MAG to do some virtual and digital stuff for them, all of it coming together, but I will take a page out of Erich’s book and tell you that everybody coming … Our mantra … I don’t want to share too much of the leadership stuff that we go through. Our president, Sean Ludick, has come up with the hashtag stronger together. It may seem a little bit disingenuous to some people, but, to us, gone through it and watching this team come together that maybe has never worked together this closely, I will 100% tell you we are stronger together, and it has been an amazing journey to watch everybody put personal, professional thoughts behind them and all come together to watch this digital transformation happen and see how we can integrate all these strategies together. It’s been fun. I’ve loved it.
Kelly Campbell (56:05):
Thanks so much, Beth and Erich, for joining us today. We are so happy that you joined us for this amazing conversation. Thanks so much again.
Elizabeth Jones (56:17):
Thank you for having us.
Erich Leyendecker (56:19):
Yes, thank you for having us.
Andrew Catapano (56:20):
Thank you guys. A pleasure.
Kelly Campbell (56:22):
That’s the show. I know we’ve had a lot of questions. We ran out of time. We thought we would beat the clock on a couple of them, but we got a lot of great questions. Andrew, any parting thoughts there?
Andrew Catapano (56:39):
Kelly, I cannot believe it’s been, what, six months, six months since we first put on these hats. I see you’ve got the livestream studio set up there. We’re live here in Columbus. We have the one set up in Irvine now. We’ve got the one set up MAG. We had a prime shop going for De’Longhi in New York. It’s been an amazing journey.
Kelly Campbell (56:59):
There are also other things coming down the pipeline.
Andrew Catapano (57:03):
It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you, Kelly, this close over the last few months. You’re an amazing person.
Kelly Campbell (57:08):
Awesome. Thank you so much, Andrew. Of course, if you do have questions and you didn’t want to ask them today but you still have questions and you do want to ask them, shoot us a note, email us, direct message us on social, easiest way ever. We would love to hear from you. And follow us as well for more updates and things to come from BDS, along with all of these amazing innovations that we talked about today. Thanks, everybody. We will see you guys soon.
Andrew Catapano (57:40):
See you soon.
Kelly Campbell (57:41):
Bye.
