SM-365 Innovation Playbook - Lands' End - Envisioning the ...€¦ · The Innovation Playbook: Lands’ End: Envisioning the Non-Obvious M-365 p. 2 Forty-two percent of Lands’ End’s

CASE: M-365 DATE: 11/02/16

Debra Schifrin and Professor Jennifer Aaker prepared this case as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Copyright © 2016 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Publicly available cases are distributed through Harvard Business Publishing at hbsp.harvard.edu and The Case Centre at thecasecentre.org; please contact them to order copies and request permission to reproduce materials. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means –– electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise –– without the permission of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Every effort has been made to respect copyright and to contact copyright holders as appropriate. If you are a copyright holder and have concerns, please contact the Case Writing Office at [email protected] or write to Case Writing Office, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5015.

THE INNOVATION PLAYBOOK: LANDS’ END: ENVISIONING THE NON-OBVIOUS

I want to lead this amazing American iconic company to become a meaningful global lifestyle brand.

—Federica Marchionni, Lands’ End CEO, July 2016.1

INTRODUCTION

In 2015, Federica Marchionni left her position as the President of Dolce & Gabbana USA to become the CEO of Lands’ End. She came with a mandate to drive the $1.4 billion iconic American clothing company into the next era. Marchionni had been buying her son’s school uniforms from Lands’ End every year, but had never imagined that the company would be calling her for the CEO position. It was a non-obvious selection for the company—which focused on quality, affordable clothing—and a non-obvious career choice for Marchionni for those unfamiliar with her career path. She had started in the tech industry, moved into the luxury/lifestyle arena and then into couture and high fashion. Inspired by Lands’ End’s name, history, and philanthropy, she saw a huge opportunity to use the tools she had gained in her past experiences at Samsung, Ericsson, Dolce & Gabbana, and Ferrari and apply them to Lands’ End to create a meaningful brand and a sense of purpose. She had a good foundation to start from: the company, founded over 50 years earlier, had an attractive, large, and loyal customer base; a strong brand heritage and DNA; and a solid financial position. However, the message coming from both the financial and commercial markets was that the company had to change with the times. As such, Marchionni wanted to evolve and innovate Lands’ End so it could rebuild the product offer, delight loyal customers, and acquire new ones.

1 Interview with Federica Marchionni, February, 2016. Subsequent quotations are from case author interviews unless indicated otherwise.

The Innovation Playbook: Lands’ End: Envisioning the Non-Obvious M-365

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Forty-two percent of Lands’ End’s customers were suburban women between 35 and 54 who were buying for themselves and their husbands and children, and who had an average household income of over $100,000. While continuing to emphasize Lands’ End’s four pivotal values— quality, honesty, value, and trust—Marchionni wanted to grow the customer base domestically and globally. As part of that goal, the company developed a brand architecture strategy. It added a premium brand called Canvas by Lands’ End, a sports brand called Lands’ End Sport, and a Lighthouse by Lands’ End brand to be exclusively distributed at Sears. In addition, she expanded the product categories in shoes, accessories, and home goods. To grow the business, the company also developed new fits for different body shapes to attract more ethnically diverse customers (see Exhibit 1). Marchionni believed the company could attract the new generation without alienating existing customers. She said, “We know what can be appealing to new customers, and I need to bring our loyal customers with me on a journey to reach the new Lands’ End, and come with me step by step.” This strategy also laid the groundwork for international growth, as Marchionni explained, “If we could conquer the US market first, its ripple effects would help us expand globally at an even greater speed.” Given that the company had a majority direct digital business model, Marchionni wanted to drive a technological revolution to rejuvenate its digital presence for a broader audience and grow further in technological innovation and data utilization. She also shifted investment from traditional advertising to more digital design ads and streamlined catalog circulation to make it more efficient and simultaneously reduce carbon footprint. Internally, Marchionni’s goal was to infuse talent into the company and promote teamwork. But taking the company in a new direction meant change, which was hard for any company. So, in addition to carrying out large-scale changes in strategy, Marchionni faced an even bigger hurdle—changing mindsets within the organization—taking people from the past and the present into the future and activating a culture of adaptability.

LANDS’ END’S CHALLENGE: LEADING THE COMPANY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

When joining Lands’ End, Marchionni immediately saw the complexity of the organization, which had over 5,000 employees and a global presence. It had all the demands of a public company, including investor expectations and the need to strike the right balance between short-and long-term results. Other complexities were the macroeconomic headwinds (including currency fluctuations and erratic consumer spending behavior) and the adverse results of climate change, as abnormal seasonal temperatures around the country had negatively impacted sales of some items. Marchionni said the company needed to create a sense of urgency to innovate and respond to increasingly sophisticated and digitally savvy consumers—as well as the fierce competition from new brands entering the market, both online and offline. Marchionni immediately saw the need for a full transformation in infrastructure, people & processes, and in the business. She took action with a number of key initiatives, both short and long term, to start building the bridge to invest for the success of the future.

LEADING WITH PURPOSE

A critical element of Marchionni’s leadership style was her passion for leading with purpose. It aligned perfectly with the DNA of Lands’ End. When Gary Comer founded Lands’ End in 1963,


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he followed this core philosophy: “Take care of the customer, take care of the employees, and the rest will take care of itself.” Marchionni said that over 50 years later Comer still embodied the common values that Land’s End shared with its customers and its community: “He had the heart of a sailor. With a passion for the land. Who loved to give back.” In Marchionni’s first 90 days at the company, she made sustainability one of her top priorities. Lands’ End was determined to reduce its carbon footprint and engage in a number of partnerships to do meaningful initiatives around sustainability, schools, education, and family health. For example, its LandsFriendly initiative, announced on Earth Day in 2015, included the promise to plant one million trees in partnership with the National Forest Foundation. On Earth Day in 2016, the company encouraged its customers to “Take the Pledge to Plant,” and Lands’ End gave a free tree “grow kit” on April 22 with every purchase by direct and retail customers. For every tree that customers planted and registered at ForestNation.com/LandsEnd, the company planted a tree in a developing nation through Forest Nation. Lands’ End was also committed to the study of Alcatraz Lighthouse Restoration Project to help preserve the historical nautical landmark. The original logo for Lands’ End was a lighthouse, and Comer was a champion sailor and environmentalist. In an education initiative, the company supported the “Let Girls Learn” program, championed by the First Lady of the United States, which equipped disadvantaged girls globally with the power of education and development. Health initiatives included support for foundations that worked to prevent cancer, partnering with organizations such as the BCRF (Breast Cancer Research Foundation) and PCF (Prostate Cancer Foundation).

DESIGN FOR EMPATHY

For Lands’ End, Design for Empathy meant creating collections to attract different types of customers, a key component of which was its brand segmentation strategy. “Lands’ End” targeted the company’s loyal customers—featuring its traditional clothing line, but with more variety in clothing styles, shapes, quality of fabrics, and fits than it had before. “Lands’ End Sport” targeted performance and athleisure (athletic outfits also worn in other settings) and included a new surf collection. “Lighthouse by Lands’ End” products were sold inside Sears stores to continue the commitment between the company and Sears.2 “Canvas by Lands’ End” launched in April 2016 with the goal of creating a global reach and a halo effect that would bring new customers to all Lands’ End brands (See Exhibit 2). It featured modern styles and international fits that appealed to diverse body shapes and ethnicities, but also had an elevated design aesthetic that transcended cultures and borders. Canvas was designed to attract new customers and lure back forgotten customers, including mothers who had shopped Lands’ End for their kids, but did not find clothing they liked for themselves, so they left the brand when their kids grew old enough to choose their own clothes. Lands’ End developed the collection in Italy to create the same “wow factor” as high-end European brands, and manufactured the products in Asia so it did not have to compromise Lands’ End’s value proposition of affordable price and quality. One of the company’s most high-profile styles of the summer 2016 season was its star-print dress, part of the new Canvas line. It had a white background with blue stars and red accents

2 Lands’ End was acquired by Sears in 2002 and was spun off in March 2014. In 2014, Lands’ End became an independent, publicly traded company on NASDAQ.


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(see Exhibit 3). Marchionni called it an American Dress. “It is my American dream; it embodies the American dream. And we approved it on July 4th. It injects coolness into the brand.” The dress had two styles: A-line with sleeves (for $175) and tubino ($155). The fit was developed in Italy and made in Turkey. To develop the dress, Marchionni studied all the fashion trends of the year, and saw that blue, white and red clothing was popular. She then created her own version of that trend, focusing on styles that were up-to-date. Under her direction, an artist painted the design, which became the print of the dress. The styles became successful and were featured on major TV outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and Good Morning America. According to Marchionni, one key to the success of the company’s new segmentation strategy lay in the ability to cross-sell effectively amongst brands. She said that cannibalization would not occur because the brands had completely different target audiences: “In Canvas, you have a very stylish shopper with a younger mindset. The fit is closer to the body as a specific target. So the brands don’t have much overlap.” But, she added, “In addition, a woman who is buying Lands’ End can maybe find something nice from Canvas, and a woman who buys Canvas definitely can find something from Lands’ End because it’s a much broader offer.” Lands’ End tried a similar brand segmentation strategy in 2009 when it added a brand aimed at younger shoppers—but it did not succeed. Marchionni said the difference was that in the 2009 initiative, the company changed the fit of the new brand to be closer fitting, but the clothes were still casual and had the same functionality as the original brand. Eventually there was cannibalization and the company ended the initiative. As Marchionni was building the segmentation strategy, designing with empathy was always in the forefront of her decisions. She reached out to different communities to create new products and markets. In June 2016, she launched a surfing clothing category. She chose surfing because it was connected to water like the nautical heritage of Lands’ End, but she wanted to go beyond that in “conquering the young generation.” In conjunction with the launch, Lands’ End sponsored a surfing event in partnership with GQ in Montauk, New York. Marchionni said it came about when she asked herself how Lands’ End could get close to the surfing community: “It is not just that you want to do it and you have the product—you need to get customers, so you need to go where they are and present yourself there and be approachable—to distribute the product so people can buy it beyond our online and catalog. And then when surfers know about the products in the future, ideally, they will connect with us in those ways.” To further reach new audiences, Marchionni opened a successful pop-up store in Southampton during the key summer vacation and traffic season. The store focused on reaching new consumers and introducing them to the new Canvas by Lands’ End and Sport lines. Land’s End designed for empathy internally as well. One example was its “Cup of Customer” tradition, which was an email message that went out first thing every morning to Lands’ End employees. The emails contained notes and pictures from satisfied customers, and Lands’ End described these as “pick me ups.” In one instance, a happy customer sent a picture of her five daughters on the beach, all wearing matching Lands’ End blue bathing suits. The note read, “From five years ago—Probably the first and last time I got the girls to wear matching suits.” The Lands’ End response to customers who sent notes was: “Your notes motivate us to keep getting better. Because when you’re happy, it means the world to us.”


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The Catalog

Given that Lands’ End’s business was fundamentally centered on catalogs as a channel and platform, it was an important place for the company to enhance its strengths and design for empathy. The company reinvented the catalog by elevating the aesthetic, content, and overall presentation along with creating dynamic new product storytelling. It reintroduced its powerful storytelling throughout the catalog pages, revitalizing The “King of The Oxford” and introducing the new “No Iron Empire” concept around its iconic dress shirts. It also started moving away from studio photography and injecting its catalogs with real, dynamic personality, adding compelling narratives, and portraying an authentic, multi-generational and family-focused home environment that struck a chord with customers. To further connect to the core consumer during the fall season, Lands’ End wrote a “letter” to customers from Marchionni and her team that was published on the website and in the fall catalog, and also sent via email. The message focused on letting customers know that Land’ End was and would remain a trusted part of their lives. Even as the company continued to evolve, the trusted and iconic brand’s commitment to quality, durability, and timeless style would never change. According to Marchionni:

You innovate around your core. Creating real, authentic moments in the photography and powerful and interesting editorial content and product storytelling. Why? It’s very important that you start from who you are, so it is real, and then you build from there and create meaningful content and differentiation from others. It allows for a more meaningful connection to your audience if she can see herself in the story.

DESIGN THE STORY

Marchionni envisioned a new Lands’ End story that embodied her vision and strategy to build a stronger foundation, enhance the company’s existing strengths, and evolve the company along five key dimensions: 1) Product and Merchandising: Heighten product relevance and reinvigorate core customers. 2) Branding and Marketing: Foster brand awareness and strengthen brand identity. 3) Operations & Technology: Invest in infrastructure and upgrade technology. 4) Distribution: Penetrate distribution channels and unleash global market potential. 5) Talent: Continue developing & acquiring talent and excel through teamwork.

DESIGN TO SCALE: ACTION PLAN

Lands’ End was moving rapidly to put the strategy into action along each dimension (See Exhibit 4).


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1) Product and Merchandising Lands’ End sought to evolve into a go-to brand for customers seeking quality, value, style, and performance in products for all lifestyles and activities. Core customers had always been the highest priority, and Marchionni gave them the utmost attention to ensure their growing support through updates to the core collection that were in keeping with the brand DNA. Her mission was to create the most timely yet timeless products with the best quality and value. The focus was on increasing product relevance and reinvigorating the assortment with greater design appeal and innovation in traditional styles. On the merchandising front, the company streamlined its strategy and built on best sellers and key selling products. Thus, it rationalized assortment of its current offerings—reducing SKU count to make the collection more cohesive—and growing the percentage of sales of the top products. To support the strategy, Lands’ End underwent a global sourcing overhaul and grew sell-through to reduce aged inventory. Its merchandizing strategy also included capitalizing on high-ticket and high-margin categories: (outerwear, activewear, swimwear, and footwear (see Exhibit 5). For instance, Lands’ End launched a visually stunning outerwear campaign in October 2015, drawing on an epic journey to Alaska for inspiration (see Exhibits 6 and 7). The collection was conceived with the ability to cater to customers’ every need by temperature, material, silhouette, and functionality. For the summer 2016 collection, the company built the assortment around strong color and pattern stories that resonated with customers, and introduced a new Swim Separates Collection with the best seasonal colors, design, and innovation to make the offerings in beach living even more compelling. In addition, it introduced a new and elevated Lands’ End Sport line to serve customers of all ages across a wide range of activities. 2) Branding and Marketing Marchionni reinvigorated the company’s branding and marketing goals to increase traffic, demand and conversion, and to better position the brand against increased competition. In addition to elevating the catalog, Marchionni wanted to grow Lands’ End’s social media presence, which was still relatively new. The company saw an increased following thanks to its print and digital advertising campaigns shot by well-known American fashion photographers Bruce Weber and Mario Testino. These campaigns were widely publicized across major publications in the United States, Europe and Asia. The Lands’ End holiday campaign “We Believe in You” by Weber was an ode to Lands’ End’s loyal customers and focused on reinvigorating and engaging consumers in a holiday family story. Testino’s talents, combined with leveraging by actress Emma Roberts, were also aimed toward engaging new consumers and changing perspectives (see Exhibit 8). These campaigns strengthened the brand identity as an iconic American hallmark and developed a strong editorial voice that spoke authentically to multigenerational customers. Moreover, Lands’ End’s Super Bowl initiatives and celebrity endorsements served to grow its social media following, amplify awareness, and change perceptions about the brand. In addition, Marchionni made impactful collection presentations in three fashion capitals—New York, London, and Tokyo—to gain the acceptance of top media influencers in each city to spread the message.


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Marchionni encouraged the team to always conceive projects with a 360-degree mindset: “It is a mindset that allows you think across all categories, markets, targets, functions, and channels.” This was playing out as the company created a holistic global marketing campaign that integrated all touch points: print and digital advertising campaigns; websites; social media and digital partnerships; wholesale and retail initiatives; editorial projects and brand experience. Lands’ End successfully launched multiple 360-degree campaigns to different target segments, including a “Dear Mom” Mother’s Day campaign speaking to the loyal customer, a global social partnership with Hearst Media, Elle, the Sartorialist and Vogue to speak to the new generation of customers to launch the Canvas by Lands’ End brand; as well as Lands’ End Sport and Surf campaigns to drive awareness in more season-less product categories. 3) Operations & Technology—Investing in Brand Architecture and Technology The company planned to enhance technology infrastructure and improve order fulfillment across digital platforms. Lands’ End partnered with leading tech players to transform its operating platforms—thus better positioning itself to launch the expansion into wholesale, retail, and e-commerce. It also sought to dramatically enhance efficiency in merchandising, operations, finance, accounting, and technology. On the customer-facing side, Lands’ End dramatically enhanced the operational efficiencies and search functionality of its website. It also featured new storytelling content to increase sales, especially cross-selling functionality. It was laser focused on improving the online shopping experience for both core and new customers. In less than three months, it successfully debuted, and adapted to, a modernized microsite featuring a much cleaner interface. That site served as the testing ground to launch a multi-branded architectural site six months later. That site focused on showcasing each brand segment differently from the loyal core consumer Lands’ End site and showcasing key categories within the new Canvas by Lands’ End and Lands’ End Sport lines. Consumers could cross shop all the brands and find something that was targeted and marketed appropriately for them. The company also enhanced the entire website to feature an improved merchandising assortment and streamlined checkout process. The team also focused on revamping their loyal customer emails to begin to drive stronger engagement through morning emails featuring the daily customer-shared stories “Cup of Customer” as well as stronger product and editorial storytelling. In addition to revamping the website, the company unveiled the first shoppable digital catalog and began developing its first-ever mobile app to make the shopping experience as consistent as possible from all touchpoints. Thanks in part to the improvements made in the design and functionality of its mobile interface, Lands’ End began to see an increase in mobile traffic. 4) Distribution – Expanding to Reach New Consumers Lands’ End identified a number of opportunities to expand distribution channels, and had started that journey with initiatives such as its pop-up stores in 2015. In just six weeks, the company successfully built large-scale pop-up stores from the ground up that spanned up to 9,000 square feet on Fifth Avenue in New York City and Copley Square in Boston (see Exhibit 9). These two pop-ups were modeled after a ski chalet concept and were designed to be a fun-filled family shopping destination. Customers were able to experience the brand and products first-hand, and


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the company received over 133 million media impressions from these customers. Following its first foray, Lands’ End created additional pop-ups in 2016, with one prominently situated in the Hamptons and another in the heart of Soho in New York. All these locations were leveraged for testing new products and visual merchandising, and they served as a global window into the Lands’ End brand in high-traffic areas. In addition to launching a series of retail expansions, the company announced that in the fall of 2016 it would be selling Lands’ End Sport, Footwear, and an edited collection of Canvas by Lands’ End on Amazon. This would provide an additional channel for Lands’ End to introduce consumers to its new brands and expanded categories. As for the Lighthouse by Lands’ End brand, the company successfully formed an alliance with Sears to distribute the Lighthouse products exclusively at Sears stores nationwide—delivering merchandise with the same quality and value guarantee to which Lands’ End customers were accustomed. Lands’ End launched a successful nine-store test in late 2015 and early 2016 to showcase the Lighthouse brand, with a full rollout set to take place in fall 2016. 5) Talent – Aim High to Prepare for the Future To design new collections, reinvigorate existing collections, and revitalize the organization, Lands’ End was looking to elevate the internal talent while attracting industry veterans. Marchionni’s approach was threefold. A first goal was to protect the Lands’ End community, human capital, and culture. Second, the company would acquire best practices and expertise through recruitment of select seasoned industry professionals. Third, Marchionni and her team would mentor the entire organization to adapt to a heightened mindset of speed and innovation. In doing so, Marchionni blended industry know-how with the company’s own approach, enhanced creativity, and created greater synergies between teams. She spent half her time in Lands’ End corporate headquarters in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, to nurture internal talent, and half her time in New York City to merge global talent with the existing Lands’ End family. A few notable hires included Joseph Boitano, an industry veteran with three decades of experience at Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue, who joined Lands’ End as the EVP of design and merchandising. Scott Hyatt, formerly an executive from J.Crew, was brought on as the EVP of sourcing to overhaul the global supply chain structure. Martin Cooper joined as the creative director to bring design expertise from brands such as Burberry and Belstaff to the team. At the same time Marchionni elevated internal talents, including Becky Gebhardt, who was promoted to EVP, chief marketing officer; Mike Holahan, to SVP multi-channel marketing; and Angie Reiger to SVP, planning/US direct. Marchionni’s leadership philosophy to retain and improve talent included her belief that when leaders of companies focused on perfection, using that as a bar to judge employees, that mindset generally created a culture of fear of failing:

Companies who take this approach overlook the importance of empowerment and positive reinforcement on employees. It is much better to cultivate a culture that strives for excellence—continually raising the bar for teams to improve their


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performance and encouraging employees to engage in lifelong study, gather knowledge, act swiftly, and take an analytical and research-driven approach.

Marchionni also held herself up as an example for her employees. She said that throughout her career as she had moved through companies and industries that were quite different, she studied to obtain extensive knowledge in all those areas and learn how to adapt well to each one. She thrived on envisioning the non-obvious and adapting to changing conditions. She consistently challenged herself to enter new industries, explaining, “I took them as tremendous opportunities to defy pre-conceptions, over-deliver in performance, and harvest success.” She had been harvesting that success throughout her career and believed she would do the same at Lands’ End.

CONCLUSION

Lands’ End was well on the way in its first major phase of a multi-year transformation—evolving toward becoming a truly meaningful global lifestyle brand through growth, profitability, and adaptability. Marchionni had a strong vision and leadership and, while pushing forward as swiftly as possible, she was strategic in reading and reacting along the way, adjusting and pivoting wherever necessary. She was intensely focused on inviting the core consumer along with her every step of the journey and on bringing new customers to complement the Lands’ End family.

LANDS’ END POSTSCRIPT

On September 26, 2016, Lands’ End announced that Federica Marchionni had stepped down from her role as chief executive officer and resigned as director. Its board of directors appointed Joseph Boitano and James Gooch as co-interim chief executive officers. Boitano served as executive vice president and chief merchandising and design officer, and Gooch served as executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer. Land’s End was considering both internal and external candidates to replace Marchionni. Josephine Linder, chairman of the board of Lands’ End, said: “On behalf of the entire board, I want to thank Federica for her dedication and contributions to Lands’ End. Her Creative Vision has helped Lands’ End begin its transformation as a global lifestyle brand with a broader merchandise offering that is more relevant in today’s marketplace.”


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Exhibit 1

Lands’ End Collection Examples for Loyal and New Customers

Source: Lands’ End.


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Exhibit 1 (continued) Lands’ End Collection Examples for Loyal and New Customers



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Exhibit 2 Canvas Launch

Exhibit 3

Federica Marchionni Wearing Lands’ End Star-print Dress



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Exhibit 4 Design to Scale: Action Plan Multi-dimensional Strategy


Exhibit 5 New and Improved Product Offerings



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Exhibit 6 Lands’ End Outerwear Campaign Strategy


Exhibit 7 Lands’ End Outerwear Campaign: Alaska Epic Journey



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Exhibit 8 Holiday Campaign with Bruce Weber and Canvas Fall Campaign with Mario Testino



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Exhibit 9 Lands’ End New York Pop-Up Shop



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Appendix 1 Brand Equity and Brand Value

Since her arrival at Land’s End, CEO Federica Marchionni prioritized increasing the company’s Brand Equity and Brand Value. What are these two concepts? Brand Equity: A set of assets or liabilities that add or subtract value of a current or potential product or service driven by the brand. The three main categories are:

• Brand Visibility: The brand has awareness and credibility with a respect to a particular customer need—it is relevant.

• Brand Associations: Anything that creates a positive or negative relationship with or feelings toward the brand

• Customer Loyalty: Provides a flow of business for current and potential products from customers who believe in the value of the brand’s offerings and will not spend time evaluating options with lower prices.

Brand Value: The value of a brand represents its impact on the short-run and long-run flow of profits that it can generate. The problem with short-term profitability is that programs that are good at driving short-run products, like price promotions, can damage brands. But there are ways that a brand can deliver short-run financial performance:

• Brand Loyalty enables the company to reduce marketing costs, attract new customers via Awareness and Reassurance. It also gives the company trade leverage and time to respond to competitive threats.

• Brand Visibility provides an anchor to which other associations can be attached and is a signal of substance and commitment. Familiarity can also lead to liking.

• Brand Associations help communicate information, differentiate and position, create a reason-to-buy and positive attitudes and feelings. These are also a basis for extensions.

There is an ongoing challenge of demonstrating that there is long-term value in creating brands. There are a number of basic problems: brand is only one driver of profits; competitive actions intervene; and strategic decisions cannot wait for years. But there are some perspectives that can be employed to understand the long-term value of a brand.

• Estimate the brand’s role in a business: It can range from 10 percent for B2B brands to over 60 percent for brands like Jack Daniel’s or Coca Cola.

• On average, investments in brand equity increase stock returns—the ultimate measure of a long-term return on assets.

• Brands that have created enormous value exist: Apple, BMW, Whole Foods. • Consider what the strategic role of the brand is in supporting the business strategy:

How critical is it? Is price competition the alternative to creating and leveraging brand equity? What impact will that have on profit streams going forward?

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SM-365 Innovation Playbook - Lands' End - Envisioning the ...€¦ · The Innovation Playbook: Lands’ End: Envisioning the Non-Obvious M-365 p. 2 Forty-two percent of Lands’ End’s