ANINE BING: A Brand Driven Strategy

[Music] From consumer insights across the world to the latest tactics and trends, you're listening to leap into luxury, the GoTo marketing podcast for luxury brands. I'm Natalie and today we're talking to Anna Camela, Chief Strategy Officer at Anina Bink, the Global Fashion Power House inspired by Scandinavian simplicity and powered by American energy. The eponymous brand is now in their 12th year of business and growing stronger by the day. Former model, Anina, set up the brand from a garage in Silver Lake in Los Angeles in 2012. Fueled by Bing's huge personal profile on social media and the wide appeal of her timeless yet modern and affordable luxury pieces, the brand is now a global success and this month is rolling out their latest campaign, front by Kate Moss. Anika, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. So you've been with the brand from the very beginning. It must have been incredible to see how much the business has scaled and in the last decade and be so involved in that process. Could you tell us a little about your journey so far with Anina Bink? Yes, of course. So Anina and Anika, they started the company in June 2012 and I joined as the first hire in August of that same year. And the first few years of the business, we did everything from packing orders, customer service to dreaming big. And you know, we built this company together, brick by brick, with a focus on creating a healthy and solid business and where brand building has been at the centre of absolutely everything that we've done. My own background is that I have a mastering business and economics and where brand marketing is my specialty. But naturally, I've been wearing so many different hats, depending on the business needs. And so for many years, I was, I was CEO, but that into the chief strategy role in 2020, I believe it was. And so today, the business has grown to more than 200 employees and over the years now, we've been able to hire specialists across the board. So the last few years, we have all been able to sort of hone in on the specific areas of the business where where we are the strongest. I sit on the executive team and I oversee brand marketing, creative services and HR. Incredible. I have such a kind of insight into every element of the business, must afford you an amazing amount of kind of insight into how, how things are and where they need to go as well. Yes, absolutely. But also, there's nothing to be said for, for all those hats that you're wearing at the beginning for packing, for getting your hands kind of stuck into every aspect of it. There's something to be said for how you've built a relationship with the brand as well and how that's gone on for years now. And then how that feeds back into the work that you're doing now. But at what point did you know things were going to skyrocket to the place that they are now? You know, it's, it's so many small moments across the years. I think when you build a company from the ground up so much of it is to recognise the smaller wins and sort of see progress on a on a smaller scale. It's important to have milestones and feel that you're making that progress to keep you going. One of the big ones and this was really early on. It was when Rosie Huntington Whiteley stepped into our small and very humble office in in Silver Lake and picked up her favorite pieces and a day later seeing her in the daily mail wearing an inner-bein head to toe. But then even more so, then seeing orders coming through our system from customers all over the world, warning those same pieces. And that was definitely a big moment for us, seeing how it was all connected. But I think overall, you know, seeing women on the streets, different parts of the world, wearing our places and shoes and sweaters and just realising that the brand has sort of grown to have that white footprint and global recognition. It's nothing that makes me more proud than that. What would you say your biggest challenges are as a brand? I mean, you have seemingly endless wins. There must be some challenges. Oh yes, definitely. Absolutely. Macro-economic society. Last year we were fortunate enough to grow more than 20% top line. We're a profitable business with zero debt. So, you know, this means that we can control our own destiny and we're in a very fortunate position that way. With that said, a growing business means that you need to keep a very close eye on your inventory, not only to make sure that you have enough inventory, but the right inventory and that it sits in the right places. So, we have 24 retail doors and encountering more to come this year and we have a really strong and solid wholesale business and obviously our e-commerce business as well. So, just making sure that we can fuel our revenue channels at all times, depending on, you know, the customer needs and wants. It's something that our team is lazy focused on and we can never really take our eyes off. And then with having more than 200 employees across the world, also making sure that we're all holding hands, walking in the same pace, towards the same sort of North Star and everyone being tapped into our mission and what we hear to do is it's always something that you need to pay a lot of attention on, honestly. Yeah, definitely. It's lovely having so many employees, but it does mean that everyone has to kind of keep walking that same path, which is hard. Yeah, yeah. But it's quite easy when you've got such a clear sort of distinct brand that has been set out by Anina and yourselves. To the point where you're not a brand and forgive me or correct me if I'm wrong, that follows trends that kind of picks up certain things that are happening in the scene and then drops them later on, which surely means that you can only grow from strength to strength, essentially. You're not kind of jumping on the bandwagon of certain things, trying to be that next trending product. Would you say that that's been something you've done on purpose or is this just a reflection of how you guys feel? No, absolutely. It's been a very deliberate move. So we are focused on timeless and effortless and classic pieces that stand a test of time. It's always been part of the brand strategy and DNA and something that, you know, Anina had a very sort of clear mindset on. And we're here to build a modern day fashion house and the brand decides every piece with the modern woman top of mind. And we want to create these building blocks in her wardrobe. And so far it resonates with her. She keeps coming back and continue to build out her wardrobe with our brand. So we're very grateful for that. I mean, timeless kind of iconic looks. It makes sense that you would partner with the likes of Kate Moss on your latest campaign again, a timeless icon. It feels like everything has been so thoroughly thought through. Obviously speaking to the chief strategy officer, I'm imagining that's your influence there. So when it does come to allowing that modern woman to express herself through these staple Anina being pieces, who is the person that you're speaking to when you're creating them? What is your customer persona? Our customer really ranges. And we're lucky to have such a strong and loyal consumer base that spans different demographics. But our core customer would say are females in the 20s to 50s with an interest in fashion. She is looking for these timeless and classic wardrobe staples that make her look and feel confident. And again, as I mentioned before, you know, she wants to invest in quality pieces. That's the test of time. And we're lucky that she's coming back to us for those pieces. It's fantastic to see because the brand and the pieces that you're putting out, like you say, are so timeless. But they also flex with the different consumers. So I've seen women in Paris, for example, wearing Anina pieces maybe a little more put together than we was in London and they look a bit more polished. But the style of the brand just flexes so easily with each woman in each kind of area. Yeah. And I think we're creating a canvas for her where she can really put her own personal style and mix and match depending on other pieces she might have in her closet, right? So I think that is one of the reasons why we've seen such a success with sort of our classic collection. But then obviously we have our seasonal collections where a few pieces are more trendy, so to speak. But we're trying to give her a little bit of everything, but where the majority is quite classic. So speaking of those customers, what kind of marketing methods are you finding them most receptive to at the moment? Good question. Well, I think what we've seen being very successful for us is to have a toolbox full of different tactics. I think the most important thing is that she recognizes us no matter where she goes. So a few years ago we started tapping into sort of more traditional marketing methods working with billboards and the traditional marketing tactics that most luxury brands are kind of known for. But at the same time obviously being very personal social media has always been very crucial for us. And again, just showing up where in her daily life and making sure that we become top of mind for her has been very important for us. I saw your wild posts, actually. You were doing lots of fly postering or wild posting for a little bit. And they looked incredible. It's such a beautiful, kind of historic way of marketing that's been brought back in more recent years in such a trendy, fashionable way. It's the sort of juxtaposition I suppose between this beautiful imagery or beautiful kind of items, pieces against everyday life. And it's a lovely and refreshing way for consumers to be marketed to in a way that's not nearly as invasive as they've found digital marketing methods to be lately. Which is really nice. It's nice to see when brands do that. Very great. Yeah, it's nice to see people leaning back into the old ways. But talking of the kind of more tech savvy customers, so people who are used to engaging with you on the social media platforms, you know, that's something we talk about a lot on this podcast at the moment is the technological and even just platform advances with AI and AR and the Metaverse, which is something that kind of terrifies me, frankly, and even TikTok, which has really disrupted things, you know, it operates in a completely different way to any other social platform. Some brands have chosen to dive into these newer mediums and some have been a bit more cautious when adopting them. What's your take on these new tools? Yeah, so we really would what we believe is best for brand. And we don't rely too heavily on one specific platform. Ultimately, we want to be where our customers and this is the most critical. So if it does and they're happening, we'll obviously evaluate the social landscape closely and determine along with our community what is the next move. We've been tapping into TikTok. We obviously had a huge press on Instagram right from the start. And, you know, we're trying to learn as we go and see what resonates. With that said, brand is extremely important to us. It has always been and will continue to be. So we need to make sure that wherever we are present, if you'll on brand, if that makes sense. Yeah, exactly. And I guess with, you know, TikTok, I saw a stat that said your UGC was up 70%, which is absolutely incredible. But it does mean then I guess you have less control as the brand and it's a delicate balance, isn't it? It's that kind of evolution. Yeah, absolutely. With that UGC and that online community, I suppose, that's been built up over, you know, since day one, I guess. How have you been doing this? I guess, how have you embraced drop culture around that? And what kind of effect has that had on brand sentiment? So weekly drops have always been part of our strategies. Since, since we first launched, we knew that we needed to take an innovative approach to be recognized and trusted as an authority in the marketplace. And we knew that we needed to keep the consumer engaged. And this is why we decided to focus on the CNL by now model, which at the time was breaking new grounds in the industry. It wasn't really any brands that did that at the time. But we saw that it really resonated with our consumers. They kept coming back wanting to see that newness. And in addition to it, we sort of built out our classic collection. So she knew that these are the pieces we're always going to keep in stock. She can always come back to them. But where the sort of seasonal collection we divided into these weekly drops and having that newness was definitely successful for us. I guess also quite relevant as well to your audience who are, like you say, so socially engaged in that constant newness is almost an expectation. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think obviously over time, more and more companies and brands have started to take on this model. And I understand why because it gives you as a brand something to always speak to. And we all know that you're going to stay relevant. And you have to come up with new things to market to customers in order for that engagement to be there. Yeah, totally. Talking of relevant. How pivotal do you think any in his personal social media following has been in the success of the brand? I mean, she's obviously wildly successful on Instagram. Yeah, it's been hugely important. This brand was was born on social media and Instagram has been such an amazing marketing channel for us throughout our history. And having an in at the forefront of this channel with her large community and community that she built throughout the years, right, has been enormously impactful. We were definitely one of the first brands to see the power of social media when any nico launched a brand and when I joined. I think we had a few thousand of followers on on Instagram. And so, you know, det timing of when the brand was launched and also the growth of Instagram couldn't have been couldn't have been better. And over the years, we've been able to really become a community driven brand and where we build out this enormously loyal customer base and it continues to grow, which is fantastic to see. When the brand is so intertwined with an in her and her personal brand, how do you separate that and strategize for social media content for the brand separate to an in her? The brand was built with the intention of being able to stand on its two feet and obviously in the early days, and Nina's presence was 100%. I think our social strategy reflects that fact that we've been very focused on making sure that the brand can stand stand alone. And as our global awareness and pressing grows and evolves, we've crafted strong positioning that guides the brand and therefore also our social strategies point of view, separate from Nina so that she can continue to to share the things that she authentically loves, sharing with her community and they community wants to see and that being her life and her experiences and behind the scenes at work and so forth. But striking a balance between the luxury landscape and the familiarity of our customer may feel, you know, it can be delicate for sure, but our community has proven that they are here for it. They want both and more and more people today, especially across the younger generations are actually coming in through the brand's presence first, but it's something that we, you know, continue to keep a close eye on and we want to have presence in both. We've spoken a lot about social media and that makes sense with the brand like yours that was almost, you know, born out of that, but you do also do a lot of physical activations and more traditional media. When it comes to those kind of activations has the pandemic or the cost of living crisis, for example, made any changes to your strategy or I guess it obviously would have made changes, but are they changes that you are going to take forwards with as the brand grows. Well, I mean, overall the brand is very thoughtful and deliberate when it comes to child strategies and taking into account brand priorities and profitability. It is super important for us and it has been from day one that we have a healthy business that is profitable and that we can control our own destiny. I mean, the pandemic and when it hit like, oh my god, we saw challenges across the board and you know, with everyone starting to work from home, that meant that all our processes and strategies had to pivot. We were fortunate enough to be quite quick to adapt and started to produce pieces that we could see that our customers really wanted to fit into the wardrobes at the time. So, for example, we launched an enemy sport during the pandemic and naturally a lot of our marketing strategies were kind of pulled back. We knew she wasn't out and about in the same way that she'd been previously and at the same time when we all were released back into reality, we decided to open up our marketing spend again and quickly sort of go back to the things that we knew worked before and tested into new things as well. So, I think key to success here is that even though our business now is so much bigger, trying to continue to have that entrepreneurial mentality and having your ears really close to the ground and not being afraid of making mistakes and also learn as you go and figuring out what actually resonates like we know things change really quickly and we're just going to be quick on our feet to adapt to it. Look, we've got sports range. Yes. The pandemic saw a really big boom in e-commerce sites in kind of luxury fashion houses going online, something that they were hesitant to do pre pandemic. And since then now that we're all sort of back and out and about you guys have plans to expand a lot more of your retail sites. Is that right? Yeah, so over the last let me get the facts straight here. I think over the last 18 months we've opened 50 new retail doors and more to car. Wow. Yeah, I know it's absolutely crazy. But retail has always been such an important part of the enemy being brand. We're super focused on global expansion and these retail doors, they serve as a place for us to showcase the enemy in a big lifestyle across the board. They're super important for brand building for us and naturally they also play a role in supporting our other revenue channels e-commerce of course, but but also wholesale. They ultimately in many ways they are like a big billboard for us. But our customers being able to touch and feel the product and getting that one-on-one styling advice from our amazing staff and also being able to from time to time see those exclusive product offerings retail has always been and will continue to be important for us. You mentioned global expansion there and I did read that you had launched on T-MOL to continue the brand expansion into China which is a massive move and congratulations on doing that. Could you could you tell us why you've chosen to go that way? Yeah so I think it was about a little bit more than 18 months ago now that we launched our T-MOL business and we've seen tremendously strong results and that gives us confidence to continue to invest in the market. We Adina and I and Olivia were CEO and our VP of brand marketing Aaron. We went out there in September of last year and had our first ever brand activation to celebrate the launch of our Kate Moss campaign. It was tremendously successful as well so all of these facts made us confident to continue to do more so we're opening our first retail door now in January and we're going to have yeah we're going to have four doors in China opening this year so it will be a very very busy year for us and super exciting. Super exciting. Well, cities you're opening in? So we're going to be in Shanghai, Beijing, in Genzen and yes so those three cities to start with. We will have a good variety. Yes. Thank you for letting us know guys. Nice okay so just to get this straight we're opening more retail stores. We're expanding into China. We're growing exponentially. We're partnering with Kate Moss. What else are we doing? What's in the what's in the work? Anika can you give us a little insight into what you've got planned? Do we need to do more? I don't know where you go from that. No, I mean 2024 will be such a busy year for us. What's so amazing is I've obviously been with the brand now since 2012 and every year it just gets more and more exciting. I can't believe it but in addition to all of the things you've listed here if we just take a focus on sort of our product so we've identified a few focus categories being shoes and handbags specifically. In 2021 we launched our first like real big brand marketing campaign with a bag that we call the Niko Bag named off the our CEO and husband Avanina and since then we've been able to identify you know the sort of ideal positioning of that category both from a design perspective but also price and quality and we believe that we have a lot of opportunity with that category alone and shoes as well. So we've invested into our design team. We brought in additional experts in these categories to support the growth and naturally we will also push these categories from a marketing standpoint. So you'll see more from us when it comes to shoes and handbags and yeah just focusing in on those categories but no doubt 2024 will be another busy year for the team and for the brand overall. So stay tuned. I mean that all sounds great Annika but it does not sound great for my bank balance because it's not me at shoes and handbags. I have a shoe problem so this isn't good. Well I'm glad to hear that even right. Amazing. Thank you thank you so much for joining us Annika. This has been so great. I cannot wait to see what you come up with in 2024. Oh well thank you for having me. Where'd you go from Kate Moss? Yeah exactly. Well thank you for having me. Thank you for being a fan of the brand and I hope to you in person soon. Thank you. Thanks so much for joining us and enjoy that warm weather in LA where very jealous here in London. We'll do. If you enjoyed this episode follow us at Leap Intellectuary podcast on Instagram for updates on who we'll be speaking to next.