levi's

In this podcast episode, Jonathon, the founder of Perikles, discusses his startup aimed at improving voter confidence and participation by providing quality election information. Jonathon shares his journey from feeling uninformed and apathetic during the 2016 presidential race, to creating an app that could help others navigate the political landscape. He emphasises the importance of maintaining unbiased information on the platform, and his hopes for increasing voter engagement, particularly among young people. The conversation also touches on the impact of AI on politics, the transition from a 9-5 job to a personal project, and the importance of embracing fear in the pursuit of big goals.

Our first interview of the year is with the ever insightful Ira Kalish, Chief Global Economist at Deloitte. More and more the ever shifting forces of the macro-economy are informing retailers' strategies, and we can't think of a better guest to help us make sense of trends in inflation, interest rates, labor markets, and more. 

In a wide-ranging discussion we learn Ira's outlook on pricing across a spectrum of commodities, whether the US will sink into recession, and how China's surprise re-opening will impact global markets. We also go deep on the challenging labor market and his fascinating belief that some companies are engaged in "labor hoarding." This is truly a can't miss episode.

But first we dip into the week in retail news, including what to make of surprisingly strong US GDP numbers, the continuing strength of most labor markets, and how long COVID is keeping a large number of workers on the side lines. We also unpack Whole Foods plans to add stores and Amazon's jacking up of grocery delivery prices before opining on Wall Street's love for layoffs at Wayair. We close by trying to figure out all the activity in the once sleepy mattress market and why Levi's had a pretty decent quarter when many of its customers are flailing.

******

We're headed to Las Vegas in March for another edition of Shoptalk. Retailers and brands can get a Shoptalk ticket for a reduced rate of just $1950 rate here using our special discount code RBREMARK1950.

About Ira

Dr. Kalish is the Chief Global Economist of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. He is a specialist in global economic issues as well as the effects of economic, demographic, and social trends on the global business environment. He advises Deloitte clients as well as Deloitte’s leadership on economic issues and their impact on business strategy. In addition, he has given numerous presentations to corporations and trade organizations on topics related to the global economy. He is widely traveled and has given presentations in 47 countries on six continents. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The Financial Times. Dr. Kalish holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Vassar College and a PhD in international economics from Johns Hopkins University.

About Us

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.

Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,      The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext!  You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. 

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor, board member, and keynote speaker focused on strategic growth and transformation and the impact of digital disruption. He is the author of the bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption and the forthcoming Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption , which will be published in April 2024 and is now available for pre-order at book retailers everywhere. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on social media..

Don't forget to join Steve's new Linked Group for his new book.

Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice, a keynote speaker around the world and consumer growth consultant.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,   The Voice of Retail, plus  Global eCommerce Leaders podcast, and The Food Professor , Canada's top food industry podcasts and one of the top management podcasts in the nation according to Apple, with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.    You can learn more about Michael  on  LinkedIn. 

Be sure and check out Michael's Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

This stupid stuff actually happened and here's the proof.  Happy Holidays everyone!

HOV Grinch 

Police dress as Grinch and hand out onions

People find out what nutcrackers are for

Musk’s jet tracker banned from Twitter

Old Levi’s sell for $114k

World Record video game collection

World record most pairs of underwear in 30 seconds

World's tallest hairstyle

World's shortest man

South Korea passes law to make everyone younger 

Criminals steal bull sperm

Man shoots KFC employee because they were out of corn

High on Life

Fortnite addiction lawsuit

Children’s book made by AI

Scientists kill cancer with AI words

No AI art protest

Thief trapped in locked store

Scientist find snake clitoris’s

Gabriel Iglesias spends $100k on his dogs Quinceanera 

Phillip and Brian talk with Dr Amy Gershkoff Bolles about how having an innovation strategy that connects to your larger corporate strategy and a very disciplined approach, looking for opportunities that add value for your business and most importantly for your customers, is key to longevity. Evaluating opportunities in the digital and technology space, given how much opportunity there is, is a very important discussion. Listen in to hear what they are doing at Levi’s, and how the future there is bright.

It’s in the Jeans

• It’s so important to be both building for scale and testing and learning simultaneously
• Innovation is in the lifeblood of Levi Strauss and Company, and has been for 170 years of business
• Amy and her team developed a scorecard and framework that allows them to objectively assess new technology or digital opportunities and evaluate how they work with the overall corporate strategy
• Data, AI, and digitization can be used to make very meaningful differences in the costumer experience, and we are really at the beginning of understanding how to use these tools effectively
• “We're in the first inning in terms of the opportunity that lies ahead for data and AI and digitization to impact consumers and businesses. And I'm really excited to see the next eight innings that are in front of us.” - Amy
• The lines between the digital world and the physical world have been erased, especially for Gen Z consumers, so a brand must provide that seamless experience for consumers
• Levi’s has used data and AI to develop a comprehensive loyalty program that provides opportunities for consumers to have a personalized experience that is tailored to their needs
• “What future commerce perspectives and enterprise value might incorporate ten years from now could be a million things, but if you don't have the right framework in place, you won't be able to build for the future.” - Phillip
• Levi Strauss and Company is partnering with Silicon Valley Bank to find new and exciting start ups to work with that will continue to advance their strategy and approach to providing unparalleled experiences to their customers

Associated Links:

• Get ready for Archetypes, our soon-to-be-published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.com
• Get your tickets to our Archetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FL
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!
• Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Learn more about Dr Amy Gershkoff Bolles and Levi Straus & Co at LeviStrauss.com or on LinkedIn.

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• What it was like growing up with three sisters and entrepreneurial parents in Pasadena, California and how living in an entrepreneurial household gave her the drive to start her own business
• Why she believes her nurturing personality has helped the growth of True Botanicals 
• What her time working in marketing at Levi’s taught her about marketing and communication
• How following the death of her beloved mother led her to take the leap into entrepreneurship
• What the grueling process of fundraising was like and how she continued to push through it and why she deems it important to be selective
• What she’s learned about herself in the hiring process, and why managing optimism is important
• What she believes makes a great leader, what she’s learned about hiring the right people, and why it’s important not to sweat the small stuff

To Find Out More:

https://truebotanicals.com/

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

• Get 30% off your first 3 months with Malomo by going to: https://gomalomo.com/stairwaytoceo
• Use the promo code STAIRWAY200 for $200 off Outer furniture by shopping HERE
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Quotes:

“I really enjoyed connecting and I feel the power of marketing is to connect with potential customers.”

“There's no question to me that whole nutritive ingredients could make beautiful and extremely effective products.”

“My goal was to create products that were so beautiful and effective, that even if you did not care at all about using clean products, you would want to use our products.”

“Over the years, I've learned how to not think too much about the past or the future, and to really respond in the moment to the opportunities that are there and, what's the best path forward and each day sort of answering those questions.”

“The goal in the end is that this entire industry changes to better serve the health of people on the planet.”

“The key is to be incredibly selective about the people that ultimately invest in your company, because you will be interacting with them for a very long time”

“Just because you connect with somebody doesn't mean you necessarily have an aligned vision around how to grow the business.”

“I've learned that it's a lot easier to let go when you really trust somebody and you feel aligned with their vision around how to build the brand and grow the business.”

“Some founders are the founders who are meant to scale a business, and hire a team of a hundred people to run it. I am not that person. I am definitely more drawn to the creative process of researching, learning, and growing.”

“I would say productive, direct communication and not sweating the small things is incredibly valuable, and it's brave. It's brave to talk about things that are uncomfortable.”

“Just knowing that the challenges will come and keeping my knees bent, you know, meeting them with my best thought processes and problem solving skills is really the best you can do and, and rolling with it”

“The lesson I had to learn the hard way was knowing when it was the right time to make my transition from CEO to founder and bringing in the right person to help scale the business.”

“Hire someone amazing and then give them the room to do their amazing work.”

“Expecting some challenges and being ready to meet those with a lot of flexibility and determination is just part of it. So if, if you're up for both sides, you know, the freedom and the hard work and the challenges, then I can't think of a better career.”

Shawn Forbes spent ten highly successful years as a fashion director at Macys, an expert in the color, texture and intuition of fashion. As an executive at Levis, she loved the people she worked with but was not doing those creative things she most enjoyed. As the bread winner and provider for her Bay Area family, she could not easily leave the paycheck and insurance. Then, she was laid off (along with 700 others). Yet, instead of dread and fear, Shawn felt relief and enormous opportunity to explore her unique gifts and use them to help others become their best self. On this Swan Dive, we explore how being pushed off the cliff can actually become a swing of joy.   

Share your Swan Dive at www.swandive.us

CVS launches "Beauty Mark," its truth-in-advertising campaign; while AI is generating plausibly "real faces." Meanwhile, companies like SuperPersonal are putting customers into model try-on videos. Have "deep fakes" - AI algorithms that map faces and micro-expressions onto stock footage - come to retail? How can they help? How can they hurt?

Show Notes:

Main Takeaways:

• Brian and Phillip are podcasting live from #Shoptalk2019!

• Deep fakes are getting a little too real to be comfortable.

• Personal body mapping for try-on is becoming a reality.

• Can companies figure out how to keep their data in-house?

Who's Waldo: Can Humans Even Spot Deep Fakes Anymore?

• Deep fakes are becoming more and more realistic, and it's getting creepy.

• Future Commerce was ahead of the curve in starting to discuss the phenomenon of deep fakes, which became a buzzword in 2017 when anonymous Reddit users began to use AI to map video streams of celebrities faces onto pornographic images.

• Deep fakes have moved beyond the original use-case, and have also been used in political situations, which can have serious implications, especially as deep fakes are getting harder and harder to distinguish.

• Also: an effort to combat photoshopped images and promote body positivity, CVS has launched a truth-in-advertising campaign called Beauty Mark, that puts a watermark on all untouched photos, and forces outside brands to identify any untouched images in their promotional campaigns.

• There are plenty of start-ups that have sprung up around this phenomenon, one being Truepic, an image-authentication company dedicated to combatting fake social media accounts, doctored photos as well as deep fakes.

• Want to be even more creeped out by all of this? There's a former Uber developer who has come up with a fake-face generator, and the images are a little too close for comfort.

• And just in case all of this isn't bad enough, here's a "deep fake" image of Steve Buscemi's face on Scarlett Johansen's body at an award's show.

Personalization in 2020: Turning Regular People Into Models:

• Personalization, especially in retail has become a theme of 2019, and the tech is finally catching up.

• Phillip says that while most virtual try on applications are not very good, Warby Parker has changed the game.

• Warby Parker's AR powered virtual try on is so good, it's almost like looking in a mirror, and they are using the same depth map as Apple's facial recognition software for iPhone.

• Another company that's working to change the virtual try-on experience is SuperPersonal, an AI-powered virtual dressing room experience that would allow retailers to "multiply e-commerce photography to account for different ethnicities, skin-colors, and age-groups, without the need to shoot multiple models".

• "Personalization in 2020 is the whole website is literally you".

• Brian makes the point that because of the last 6-8 months of advancements in AI and machine vision, models will not be needed, and will only be required as "aspirational content."

Levi's New Story: From Finished Goods to Customizable Clothing:

• One session that was good at Shoptalk was the keynote by Marc Rosen from Levi's, in which he talked about how Levi's was going to be offering customizable jeans.

• This changes Levi's from a company that just sells the finished product, to one that sells unfinished products that can be customized by the customer.

• And this is changing Levi's entire business model because now their fulfillment centers are part of the supply chain because they are becoming part of the manufacturing process when they process these customizable goods.

• And Levi's has eliminated a lot of the process that used to require manual labor to increase efficiency, replacing the old methods with laser-beams and finishes.

• Levi's has also hired an AI officer, to get better omnichannel data on customers.

How Can Companies Get to Know Their Omnichannel Customers?

• So because 2019 is the year of clientelling, retailers and brands are having to build relationships with their customers, and they need the data to do it.

• Phillip points out that the more companies aggregate the data in-house and operationalize it as a tech company, the more they will be able to figure out what works, and what doesn't.

• During Brian's interview with Chris Homer from thredUP, Chris mentioned that thredUP has a policy of testing internally, and figuring out what works in-house, before bringing in tools to supplement those processes.

• Companies need to figure out what works best for them and double down on that, and they also need to build real systems to house all the data that is collected, in order to utilize it effectively.

There's so much more to see and experience at Shoptalk2019! Stay tuned for more insights, and highlights from the show! Also, let us know, what was your favorite part of #Shoptalk2019 so far?

Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners!

Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster.

When a company is as established as Levi’s (founded in the late 1800s), they have to continue to please generations-loyal customers and solve new problems for younger jean-wearers. With each initiative of marketing and product development, Levi’s ensures customer satisfaction by hitting the ground, listening, and learning from the consumers in their markets.

Skateboarding? They created an ultra-durable pant that doesn’t look flashy, based on feedback from skateboarders and skateshop owners around the globe. Stretchy-but-not-saggy fabrics, double layer pockets, and specially sewn belt loops are just a few of the features that set the pants apart. To send the message of their commitment to skating, the company helped build new skateparks and continues to give hands-on support to communities all over the world.
Commuters? When Levi’s team members realized how inconvenient it was to have to change into and out of different clothes when they commuted by bike to work, they developed the Commuter Line, with extra durability and stretch -- again, still looking like the standard Levi’s jean -- to accommodate this energy-efficient mode of transportation.
Sending the message of practicality, community support, and high-quality, Levi’s also launched pop-up workspaces for a month at a time in various cities. Offering free tailoring, bike tune-ups, wifi, coffee, and workspace in each city developed quick rapport with consumers -- once they were able to stop asking, “Wait, it’s free?”
Ultimately, each product and marketing concept begins not with a design or a bottom line, but by understanding the person who will be wearing that pair of jeans.

Key Takeaways

• Finding people passionate about the same causes as the brand and
  supporting them. Levi’s helps build skateparks around the world and
  hosts events but doesn’t slap their logo on every piece of
  construction.
• When a company’s been around since the 1800s, the product will mean
  different things to different people. From miners to rappers to
  skateboarders, durability and quality speaks across boundaries of
  interest.
• Dig into the roots before launching a new product: Levi’s traveled
  around the world talking to skateboarders and skateshop owners
  learning their pain points.
• They’ve developed the umbrella social hashtag #supportskateboarding
  so that their work in different parts of the world can still be
  linked together.
• Commuter Line was born from the Levi’s team who rode bikes to work
  but couldn’t find a comfortable, durable pant. They added in stretch
  and reinforcements while maintaining the regular “jean” look.
• Pop-up bike events with temporary workspaces, free wifi and coffee,
  bike tune-ups, and tailoring provide value for Levi’s customers (and
  potential customers) in large cities around the world.