OSPREY LONDON: Blending Legacy with Digital Innovation

From consumer insights across the world to the latest tactics and trends, you're listening to leap into luxury, the go-to marketing podcast for luxury brands. I'm MJ and today I'm joined by Lana Rush, head of marketing at Osprey London. From professional athlete to marketing powerhouse, Lana knows exactly what it means to rise to the challenge. And today she's sharing her playbook for standing out in a fiercely competitive digital space. We'll dive into how she's helping a heritage British brand evolve without losing sight of what makes it iconic. Lana, it's so lovely to have you on the show today. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, I'm really excited. And I also can't give myself a better intro than what that was. So thank you very much. Amazing. Well, we're so excited to have you on, mainly because we're really curious about how that heritage history and how all of that tradition is brought into the digital space in such a strategic way. So it's a really excited to learn that from you. And Osprey has such a rich heritage. How do you ensure that the brands core DNA is preserved and celebrated as you modernise its presence in that digital space? Absolutely. So Osprey London a bit about the brand. So found in 1980, it's Graham Ellison is basically at the helm of it. And he founded the brand, basically started it as a belt company. So he used to actually be the one making the belts kind of doing all the craft and everything. And he built it slowly and slowly with his samples. So he used to take it to the lights of John Lewis and Harrods and everything. But he actually used to take his samples into Buckingham Palace. And like my favourite story about the brand is that he actually used to give it to Princess Diana and would have meetings with her. And she would pick her samples and would then wear his belts for the season. Oh my god. Congrats on getting a name drop of Princess Diana in the first 30 seconds. What a flex. But from there obviously evolved naturally into bags being obviously leather. The founders absolutely love leather and kind of all the rich heritage that goes along with that. And yeah so 45 years later we're now a premium bags and accessories brand obviously founded in the UK but very much aspirations to kind of grow internationally as well. Amazing. And you've obviously got a hugely rich story there. There's a massive history to the brand. How do you balance that tradition and tell that story with innovation, especially in a digital space or their particular digital content formats or campaigns that you use to help convey that message because it's a really good story. You want to get it across. Yes. I joined the company a little under two years ago now and very much came in with the goal to bring the brand along for kind of a customer today and then also tomorrow and that is digital first kind of all the way through. So when I came in I was like alright this is where we are. You know Graham what do you want to do and he said okay I want to talk about this celebrate this this and the other then went away and kind of put together a plan and we've three darn our brand guidelines but also gone through this entire process of kind of building what we can say is our digital flagship store and under no kind of circumstances of the way that we've been going through this has been to like a brand complete transformation everything. We're literally just reconnecting exactly who the brand has always been which is Graham kind of at the centre of it and his wife Alex so where obviously founder led but family ran and basically just want to reinterpret that for customer today. So previously we were on magento which is kind of like a very archaic and my least favourite. Oh no. God that was that. Yes that's a throwback. I know that name. Yeah. And I come from like a Shopify background so I came in and I said alright let's do this isn't this and I kind of went to our head of e-commerce who was amazing and so I just wanted to update the banner it looks a little old like let's do a few small tweaks here and there he went away and spoke to the developers came back and said okay this is going to take three months. That's okay. We were kind of digital it's not going to go like this and that kind of kicked off the whole project so we went through the whole process of looking at all the different e-commerce platforms and whether all of our digital agencies and because we are founder led we've chosen people that really one by into the brand but are completely design focused and also fashion focused so we've gone with centre which is the leading fashion e-commerce platform. They have the likes of Paul Smith on there and Luca Faloni and Caws as well so it kind of was our opportunity to be like okay do we want to sit with the crowd within Shopify or do we want to actually make a start to kind of go and be at the forefront of where we were probably about 20 years ago with physical retail so we made that decision which has been really exciting so we've done kind of a full re-platform complete kind of tech re-stack overhaul brand kind of complete overthrow of our brand guidelines 10 voice photography we've completely changed everything but it has been always at the core to kind of recenter our founder story and our heritage and that's where we are today. That's amazing because so many people you build the brand guidelines I say this is someone who's just redone our own brand guidelines so I know what I'm just making process and because it's such a little process you kind of just think okay they're done we don't need to do that again but the landscape changes so much so it's amazing that you've had the autonomy and freedom to come in and say actually this is something that needs addressing and we can evolve it and kind of start everything again that's fantastic. I also feel like it's quite rare you're in such a wonderful position I mean firstly the first two years you say you've been there for two years you've been busy. Yeah I know it's a big mess. No messing around. Such a unique position and I was actually so weird that we're having this conversation because I was speaking to someone that tree last week who is a founder of a very well-known heritage brand in Britain I'm not going to say who it is because I'm really hoping you will join us for another. I don't know about this conversation so my ears are freaking out. I was basically saying like you know he was the fan he's very kind of hands off with what they're doing in the marketing space but I was essentially telling him like he's in a great position because he's got all of this history and all of this storytelling capability but he's still at the helm and he's still able to kind of to live it quickly and as it's not this kind of big archaic machine that can't keep up and that's actually such a gorgeous position for you to be in where you can be agile and you can be quick to react to kind of what's happening in the world but you're so backed by all of that heritage and a lot of those disruptor brands that are coming through right now and they're a lot of them because of the digital boom it's so much easier for these disruptor brands or these new modern brands to come through that that's going to be the weapon that you're able to use to kind of solidify yourself and that's fantastic. I mean what's been the most surprising challenge or always suppose learning when it comes to bringing a heritage brand into this digital age? Hmm I think I'm going to go back actually to what you said previously and then I'll move on to the questions but on brand and kind of refocusing that and kind of going back to what you said I remember the process of when we kind of looked at initially kicking off our brand process and we looked at all of our different competitors so British luxury brand is probably the most generic term of all time and it's really not exciting at all but with all of them honestly you kind of go and you'd look on all of the about pages and pretty much word for word they were the same and like it do not want to be this at all and what's really nice is that we're British but also full of personality which is exactly who they are so it was a nice opportunity to actually do something that was incredibly unique and they were hand I wouldn't say that they were hands off at all I mean they're in the business every single day but they definitely work with you and we'll tell you exactly what it is that they want and then it's you might want really to kind of go away and be like all right we put together a few different variations and then we'll come back so there's a really nice back and forth process but because like he's not techy so yeah he's kind of has people in his team and in his company then that's their job to do and that's very much the same with me in terms of kind of finding the right partners and also taking his vision and translating it today that is then also probably the biggest challenge because as a founder led brand minds and opinions can change quite frequently so whilst we you know we've been around for 45 years and because of our kind of rich physical retail dominance through kind of the last few decades we're a household name brand so you think we were incredibly you know structured and set up that is not the case at all so we are a small team and we work kind of as a founder startup brand in a way so there it's nice so if something changes you can you can be quick to react and kind of you need a team around you and also the right partners around you to make sure that can happen but if you go and you work on building something for weeks and weeks and weeks and you know he is a creative and we'll go and see something like okay no change of direction let's go and do this that is probably the biggest challenge in a day to day in terms of kind of forward planning but then also being able to react quickly as well yeah okay so there's a lot of pivoting pivoting is good pivoting and agility means that you can kind of I guess move with the times which is exactly what you want to do and you've spoken shortly before about the digital flagship store firstly what does a flagship mean in a digital space and then how does that complement your physical footprint with retail because you as you said you've got a big physical retail footprint you're a household name how are you going to balance the two of those aspects it has been a journey yeah sure but pivoting is good I think if you don't then as you guys have kind of alluded to already things can get stagnant and they don't necessarily move along so it's definitely that's one to make it super clear that it is a it's a challenge but challenges aren't bad. I think if you kind of move along and you do something over and over again and there's really Not a lot to kind of work with that can be way worse. I worry if you're not challenged if you're not challenged But kind of back to doing digital flagship and everything so are so we have 13 physical stores at the moment in the UK And we very much have planned to expand that both with like fun pop ups doing activations We have or we've been growing our wholesale presence and then within marketplaces as well So all in all we have a really great kind of physical Presence in the UK and also in the US as well now But in terms of our online I think because it's so you know It's at your fingertips whether I don't know if you guys are the same But if I go into the store or into a store I'll probably go and check the website out last time in there I want to know about the brand a bit more about the products if I don't want to necessarily go and Hound someone working in the store. I can find all of that out online and by connecting the two You're kind of just opening the windows So we say it's like the window into that into our world and it's our brand universe So well on a very much remote kind of a product point of view but also from a brand experience as well So whether that is omnichannel so we work with ingrade, which is a great partner So we're doing kind of whether you order in store we can do for film it online and vice versa as well So we want to be there to age our customers We don't want to be hindrance and also physical and online aren't two separate entities I think it can be quite challenging coming into what was once a physically dominant, you know Brand they hate online and they're like you know, we're competing against you We don't want to talk to you or anything. We really want to work together and we really want to grow and kind of foster Both sides of the company because they're really important And our digital flagship so whether yet going back to products So whether it is our PLP and you can kind of have the best product imagery We have a huge focus on video at the moment because you know you see an image and I'm like okay But in relation to what is this actually kind of how does it actually move with leather as well It's so much about the materials and the kind of the malleable aspect of it as well You want to get a feel of how it's actually going to interact with you Yeah, and we found the video is the best way to do that So we're hugely investing in that at the moment We're also massively kind of focusing on filtering and that sounds incredibly boring But kind of when you walk into a stop and we've just launched something called the GIF finder And which is really cool. You're like okay, so I'm here and I'm shopping for my mum And I know she likes brown leather bags, so I'm probably going to go walk towards that So we're putting filters at the forefront of everything so you kind of go in and it's a shuffled layout And you go and you select so I want to do for Mother's Day I want to do brown bag and I want to pick leather So then we'll curate to your own edit based on your own kind of personalities And it's literally kind of you land on the landing page and it's three short taps at max And then you kind of have this display of everything that you're looking for So we're trying to boost customer engagement We want people to stay on site for longer and really spend time with us whether that is creating kind of a wish list And I'll go into like what we're building next a bit later on with loyalty Or actually just kind of enhancing product discovery whether their install online That is how we see our digital flagship store That's amazing because there's nothing more off-putting for me anyway Is then when you've got choice overload like there's some websites you know with this Hundreds and hundreds just hundreds of products and I'm like I can't, I just can't There's awful restaurants with a thousand items of them in the menu No, no, no, just help me a bit Exactly, yes Yeah, yeah It's the same And we work with GrabAnna and the most amazing design led agency I've ever worked with before And this Swedish to the hyper-organise and kind of balance the chaos of British energy really nicely But having literally for us having the right partners has been everything And it's definitely not a one-man band especially as a small team Interesting because luxury retail I suppose Traditionally has always been about the experience though of a servicing The thing that draws the people in is that it's a whole activity you know Rather than just going and shopping and and a lot of other brands have struggled to translate that into a digital space I mean how are you particularly managing the kind of sensory high touch experience in that digital environment So that you're not losing the essence of that in-person activation I mean you can never replace the experience of going into store It's so nice kind of walking in and like something catches your eye and like oh my god I need it now But with our kind of development of a product display pages We're doing a lot of work below the fold so you have your you know your carousel and everything But below that doing so uswatches are actually of our product materials They're not just random colours or panting colours They're of the material to give you a close-up And then when you go below it's very much a discovery So it's like learn more about this product we have something called reasons to love which is our like usp Of our pdp versus kind of our competitors We don't want people to kind of come on and read lots and lots of words We want to show them in kind of a very short snapshot I mean my my tentative fans are really short and I know everyone else is as well Yeah so for the very short amount of time that we have everyone we want to give them as much as they can But it doesn't replace shopping online I mean I think that's just that's like marketing summarized isn't it Yeah that we can have so much we want to tell our customers we have to be able to do it in such a small amount of words So we have to that's the biggest challenge of all We've just sorted marketing and summarized marketing And make it look nice So there's obviously a lot of attention being paid to the digital transformation And you've said you want that on me channel experience for customers How are you ensuring that happens with the physical stores do you work quite closely with the teams for sure there's a synergy there Yes so I cover online and physical retail Okay So I'm speaking to the store managers every week getting feedback from them It's really it's a different beast because you have people that are coming in versus like what is a digital interface So you have so many different sets of needs and customer profiles and very specific geographic locations as well So whether it's the product that you're merchandising or the different permissions or different offers or Upside crossover all of this fun stuff is completely a different mindset So you can't approach them in the same way which probably yeah It's probably another challenge but it's really exciting We're doing a rollout at the moment of having a lot more kind of digital screens and stores So we can showcase video and like actually really inspire shoppers when they're there as well Pass it just being product But then also I mean that we're doing a lot with loyalty so making sure that if someone comes in store and they shop with us We follow up with the mafterwards We want to know how their experience is but then doing bounce backs to make sure that they come back again So it's again a super integrated online offline But in terms of moving things along you can't just do Brief it in a kind of a complete overhaul every single year Yeah It's a very different way of working I mean a lot of brands are struggling right now with that I suppose a fractional audience they're speaking to especially heritage brands where you've got the the in store shoppers The the die hard stands of a brand Yeah and then you've got this new exciting audience This digital first audience Yeah where a lot of brands are struggling is is how their Traditional brand guidelines translate in a digital space You mentioned that you've just had a big brand guideline overhaul I mean how if you approached that from a traditional point of view as well You're making it so that it's so that it's able to fit all of these different spaces Yeah so because we are found a lead they are at the core So we're not reinventing the wheel and we're not kind of coming up with something out of the blue Graham is also incredibly customer focused so he's like we are a customer first brand We're there to essentially cater for our customers And in doing so we started by looking at our customer profiles So we have our and and this is probably quite different to the way that other people work So they're not based on gender or demographic or age It's their type or way of shopping Oh that is different I've never heard of that It's going well for us at the moment Yeah I like it We might revisit it but I'm not asking because every like most brands have their customers So as they have names for them and I was going to ask you what the name we do You do There's a little bit of controversy in the office about the names of them so we're not going to talk about that But we have the names of the personas so we have our heritage customer Our Gifter Our rationaliser and our pleasure seeker So with all of them they're very different sets of needs and wants So you've got your like And we drop her name Maggie is our heritage customer And she has been coming to the brand since like the early 2000s and 90s She knows she likes this style in this colour She's going to come back time and time again and that's that We've got your Gifter Good old Maggie she's that Gifter you know through licking all of our data across the RM These guys shop once a year every single time at the exact same time of year or twice a year So they're either shopping for two gifts or on seasonally So whether it's new drops or sale or whatever So again they need to know you know it's GifRap available Can you buy this that also goes with this and it's a very different way of thinking A rationaliser so we have a huge outlet kind of channel with our business There's a lot of brands do and it's brilliant but we need to make sure that they Well we know that they're probably cross comparing our prices versus our prices on John Lewis And our prices on like necks and davenoms. So we need to make sure that we're looking after them and also not competing with a marketplace at all but putting our best foot forward and giving them other ways that they combine to the brand. So that's where loyalty comes in massively and they can kind of long term grow with us. And the fun one, so Julia is our pleasure seeker and she is the one is very much our fashion customer and is aspirational and what a lot of our campaign imagery and visuals is based around. So Alex Graham's wife is our kind of premium women's word designer and she does all of our fashion lead pieces. So this is again a very different handwriting, a different customer, they know like this season they're shopping sweet in Walker and we're, yes we are. So we're making sure that it looks absolutely gorgeous. We're styling it in the right way and all of this. So I think I forgot a new original question. It was, it was brand guidelines. We were talking about. Oh yeah. Sorry, wait a minute. No, it's a good tangent. Yeah, you always know it's going well when we completely forget. But yeah, so based around that we then kind of took these guys founder and also what they wanted to get out of the brand. So we are lighthearted. We don't want to take ourselves too seriously. We are very much here to have fun and yeah and that's it. So we kind of reframed that in a way. But in doing so kind of centered our headquarters. So about three years ago our founders moved to this grade two heritage listed estate in Hertfordshire. And it's absolutely gorgeous. And it very much mixes old with the new. So you have the heritage of this building but they're bringing in so many new materials and kind of love of craft and kind of different things here and there to make it brilliant today and to kind of improve it. And that is almost an metaphor of how we look at the digital flagship saw and the way that we're growing. So we're taking something that is so rich and old and it's so inspiring with its heritage. But we're taking all of these new aspects that are really, you know, we love and we're going to build something and build something that's even better. So it's taking a love of old and an inspiration of new and just kind of pushing the brand along. I love that. Because it's seen it sounds really considered. I think I think something that we've probably all noticed of later historic and heritage and big name brands trying to jump on trends. Yes. And actually risking their brand identity to do that a little bit just for kind of some short term results. So it's nice that it sounds like you're doing this really thoughtfully and in a considered way. Yeah. I mean we don't have any outside investment in the brand. So whatever we do as a business is put back into the business. So we don't have these ridiculous kind of investors pumping millions in. So you can take a risk and if it's not, you know, we can do a quick campaign and completely re-change your structure and that's fine. We have always been a brand that grows slowly over time and it's very much thoughtful and considered and that's exactly how what we're doing now. You mentioned earlier that a lot of your campaigns are driven by Julia. Have there been any, especially from in a digital way, that you've felt have really worked? If they're all, are they all targeted at Julia? And are there any that you feel have really excelled? If so, why? That is a good question. So my favourite campaign, I mean again, I've only been there for just a little and two years, but I'm lucky enough that the kind of the creative side and the digital kind of web beside base it with me. So one, I think there need to be incredibly interlinked and it can be really tricky when you have your creative team and your digital team because you're both fighting sets of needs that are really hard to then match up together. But my favourite one, so we did our Christmas campaign at the who, which is our home in Harbourshire. And basically it married up gifting. So Q4 is like our biggest time of year. People go nuts gifting, you know, actually leather goods, who doesn't live a bag or a pass or anything. But we essentially staged a day and we worked with our branding agency to put the campaign together, love of miles and then brilliant. And essentially every room was a different story. And it was kind of the way that probably URI would have your Christmas morning. So it wasn't super polished and it wasn't like, I mean, it was incredibly campaigned. It looked amazing, but the goal was not to be okay, you need this perfect Christmas dinner table and like there's no wrapping paper lying everywhere. But so in the morning they wake up, they go wake up, they go get their presents and there's like scenes of them actually like ripping their paper off and actually holding their bags laughing, having fun. There's very few post-perfect situations lying up and you then kind of you link your gifter coming in. Your people that are potentially your heritage customer can kind of link to the, you know, whether it's nostalgia of shopping with the brand or just maybe having received a present in the past. And then also Julia, your aspirational. So you want to obviously the products within the campaign where are hero pieces. So it was a nice mix to kind of take all of our different touch points together and bring it to life. So we had our morning, we then moved into, they were like drinks by the fire and our founders got involved in the shoot. So we ended up creating like a very family scene. Which was nice. And then we finished in a big dinner party. So again, it was evening, slightly more adult, like literally just having fun, spot wine on the table, got food everywhere. And yeah, it's very much just like about injecting fun and everything and that and we had an amazing Q4 and it was just after we launched our website in October. So it was a nice combination for it all to come together. One, obviously, it was everywhere on web or ads. It was absolutely everywhere. And then obviously in store as well. So it was a kind of a full circle activation, which was great. But for me, so I grew up playing tennis and was lucky enough to play a Wimbledon. I was at major in Australia, open and everything. And with that, I had some amazing brand kind of partners. And I was able to work on it from the talent side. And not necessarily on the brand side. And that was where I completely fell in love with the campaign. So I think when you find a product and you match it with a really fun purpose or something that resonates to people, you can create something that is incredibly special. And that is what I think I find the most fun in my job at a daily campaigns. It sounds so great. We'll go off and look at that. Actually, that's a really cool one. Also, I kind of like Christmas with you know. I don't like it when it's like, you know, I'd bet it's a super polished Christmas. Yeah. That's not really my day. A Julia would be the type that would wear, you know, red lip and heels to Christmas. And I'm very much a pajamas girl. Big time pajamas girl. Do you know what that means? I am. So nice for a job. Okay, so I don't know if you're a ladder to tell us this, but we want to know what's coming up. What's next? What's coming up for this innovation versus tradition around? A few things. So when we launched in October, so it was quite a short project. We kind of signed contracts and everything in March and we went live in October. So first port of course, okay, it needs to be operational and functional. People need to shop and get their products in a really seamless way. But when we were doing all the designs and everything, we kind of very mapped what the next few phases looks for us. So at the moment, or we first quarter, we took a bit of like taking stock and being like, okay, where are we? How is everything performing? And now we're moving on to kind of improve everything. So we're improving elements of the PDP and kind of customisation and our product listing pages and then also building out our brand universe as well. But the big one for me is our loyalty. So we've chosen not to do it with a partner or find another plug-in that actually build out a custom hub. So very much, we're going to call it the Osprey Club and it will be no points. We're not going to try and pressure people to spend more money to kind of move up, but actually, so another thing about our website, it's there's an element of we call our Easter Expriors. So when you're going and you're exploring online, there are certain things that we'll we hope bring delight or joy to someone. So it will be the same thing in our loyalty program. And so it will start, you know, you come in, you get the norms, I like access to sales, free returns and everything. But then also kind of custom landing pages, products that are kind of hidden from our main website and everything. And every time you'll move up into a different tier, there'll be different Easter eggs or different parts or things that we hope. We'll surprise and kind of ask people to come back and stay and kind of spend more time with us, which is nice. I think the one I'm most excited about is essentially extended returns, but completely reframed is doing something called like the Osprey Trial Shop. So when someone has, and we know they're a trusted customer, a shop with us more than once, we will be like, okay, is there anything on site that you know, no attachments or anything, we want you to go and try and explore more styles, try this for an extended period of time. And if you want to keep it, you'll buy it, if not return it like no hassles. So we want to lower, lower returns, right? Obviously. But actually get people to go for maybe they just shop across body bags. Why, why don't you go and try a tote or vice versa? So yeah, we're trying to grow a category. Come on Maggie. Try a tote. Come on Maggie. I know. There's only so many persons you can buy. Get a backpack. How do you move between the tears? So literally just based on patches or numbers of packs. - That's all the old sold, aren't you? - I am still salty about a certain airline's restructure of their little skis. (laughs) I'm like, anyone who's not based on spend. - Yeah, it's like, I think it's a really good move to kind of reward people irrespective of. - Exactly, yeah. - And points make sense for some brands that you're not buying a million one handbags every year. It's a considered approach. We are, we say, so we're mid market in the premium space. Having an accessible price point is incredibly important to us, like we're not superlux, but we're also not, you know, something that you can buy and not really think about it. So we don't want people to be shopping with us every single month. Like I think that's probably quite wasteful. - Yeah. - And it's a long time. - It's a long time. - We've got trying a million handbags this year. - Stop shopping. (laughs) - Keep shopping. (laughs) - Amazing. Well, I feel like we could chat forever and I have so many more questions for you, but time, time is not on our side anymore. So, but thank you so much for coming and speaking with us. It's actually been a really, really interesting conversation. - Yes, thank you so much. - Thank you so much. - Thank you. - It's been great. - Thanks for listening to Leap Into Luxury. Don't forget to subscribe for more insights into the world of luxury. Or for more information about Leap Looks and the work we do, head over to Leap.lux or find us on Instagram at Leap Into Luxury Podcast. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]