This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, breaks down why entertainment has become retail’s latest buzzword... from Fanatics launching Fanatics Studios to Gap appointing its first-ever Chief Entertainment Officer.

Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga debate whether retail entertainment is a true growth engine or just modern marketing, why Fanatics’ sports flywheel gives it a massive edge, and whether Gap’s LA-based “fashiontainment” strategy will drive ROI or simply add cost.

⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.

#Fanatics #Gap #RetailEntertainment #Retailtainment #BrandMarketing #RetailStrategy #RetailFastFive #OmniTalk

Entertainment is this week's buzzword or is it retailtainment?

I can't wait to get producer Ella's take on this one because I have a feeling I know where she's going to go at the end of the show, but maybe she's going to throw me for a loop.

But entertainment is the week's buzzword.

With Fanatics launching Fanatics Studio and Gap Inc.

Creating a chief entertainment officer role.

According to CNBC and PR Newswire, Fanatics launched a joint venture with OBB Media to create content at the intersection of sports and culture with projects including ESPN's Spies, a Tom Brady documentary.

Oh yeah, you know I'm going to love that one.

Gap Inc. Also appointed Pam Kaufman, former president of Paramount's international markets and consumer Products, as its first ever chief entertainment officer to lead its quote, fashionment strategy.

Gap Inc. Is also opening a Los Angeles office on Sunset Boulevard to embed itself in the entertainment ecosystem, building on partnerships like Gap's Better in Denim campaign with Cat's Eye and, and Old Navy's Disney collaboration and Crystal Ball Time.

If you look into the future, who will wear its entertainment strategy better, Fanatics or Gap?

I think this is a really easy question.

I mean it's Fanatics, it's sports, this is America.

They have the flywheel.

I mean sports might be the only thing left to unite us as a people anymore.

So I think that Fanatics has the best, the best forecast for this.

And especially if you, I think if you look at like just all the success that even independent sports creators have had on their own platforms.

Look at Barstool Sports for example.

Like it doesn't take much to be successful when sports is your groundwork, is the, the groundwork that you're working off of.

So yeah, I think that that goes without saying.

I'm a little surprised it took them this long to do that.

But, but I have no doubt that they will figure out how to create just as quality of content and be more flexible.

They're not working like backward like ESPN is or some of the other sports networks to try to move into a new way of creating entertainment.

They're starting with a clean slate with brand new consumers across multiple demographics because of all the other sports betting that they have the, you know, the apparel, they have data from what people are buying.

Like they are just in a perfect position to make this work.

Now the only thing I will say, Gap obviously is in a totally different spot.

Um, I think you really have to look at them differently.

I don't think that you can compare.

I'm not surprised to see them taking a page out of the Mattel book with Richard Dixon still at the helm.

But I think that this is, this is going to be a valuable role for Gap.

But I think it's actually just this generation or this era's creative director when it comes to marketing.

I don't think this is going to be like we're going to be seeing full on episodes that are, you know, inspired by, you know, Gap apparel or a sweatshirt or something.

The way that Fanatics, I think can do this, I think it's really going to be about, you know, how are they getting cat's eye in to create unique content in this studio.

I think it's just going to be like a new, a new photo studio or a new creative studio that Gap is using to create some of their own organic content that will help drive marketing traffic to the brand.

So I don't think that they're the same thing, but if I have to pick a winner, it's 100% fanatics.

Oh, 100% it's fanatics.

100% it's fanatics.

I mean the tie ins are endless sports.

You even mentioned the memorabilia side of this too, which is a play that Fanatics is all in on.

So.

But yeah, and, and, and Gap, like I, I 100% agree but I want to ask you a question too because like I, it feels like I had success with Barbie and I'm going to replicate that kind of thing with Gap.

But like, do you need a whole LA division on Sunset Boulevard to do this?

And like that seems like a gigantic one waste of capital to me because I'm with you.

It just seems like, you know, even the cited examples in the press release, those are just garden variety marketing.

So I'm not seeing how an entertainment office on Sunset Boulevard is necessarily going to soup that up in a way that's going to pay back with ROI over the time.

It just seems super expensive.

Yeah, I think it's be, I would say, you know, do brands have their own photo studios and video studios to save money on fees that they're paying?

Absolutely.

So if they got a smoke and deal in L. A where all of the talent is that they're going to want to do collaborations with instead of, you know, expecting people to fly through to San Francisco like that, that it just, again, it's marketing.

It's not about a content studio and like massive, you know, Paramount productions, this is about how they're Thinking about, we had success with Cat's Eye, we had success with this choir.

Now what can we do?

We can have it in L. A and we can shoot it all ourselves on our property without having to hire people.

Like this is just making their marketing better.

And so I don't hate it.

I think it's just how it's being.

It's.

I think they're trying to capture this like chief storyteller role.

This, you know, this director, this fashion tainment thing.

Like they're trying to gather PR for that.

But I don't think that's what this ultimately is about.

That's interesting too.

Like, you know, I keep going.

I actually I texted our buddy Simeon Sewell the other day when I was at NRF and I said to him what was the number you said?

Remember when he, we interviewed him and he said there's, there's a number that you know, that especially results just can't get above.

And he said it's like 3 billion to $4 billion.

And like that's when I started thinking about these strategies where I'm like these strategies, they only work for a time when you leverage the marketing up because you're just.

The payroll veto's are just simply shifting the share amongst themselves each and every year based on what the trends are.

And so yeah, I mean I can buy into what you're saying but like at the end of the day, like I don't know, it's just, it's not going to move, it's not going to move the needle long term from a differentiation perspective, but who knows?

Yeah.

Wow.