Polly Wong

If it feels like customers are harder to win over right now, it’s because they are. Across categories and price points, we are all scrutinizing purchases more carefully, weighing alternatives more thoroughly, and demanding clearer value before we buy. Several forces are converging to create this moment of heightened selectivity. Consumers are more informed than…

All marketing leaders have been there: you get a monthly sales report from your email manager and then your social manager and then your direct mail manager and by the time you add it up, it’s two times more revenue than what actually happened. At the same time, we know you have to have multiple…

The COVID-19 pandemic has left a mark on nearly every aspect of life. The ways people shop, make purchasing decisions, and perceive value have fundamentally shifted over the past few years. When we emerged from the pandemic, it became clear that many of the changes in consumer habits were here to stay. Retailers that once…

As the dust settles on the direct-to-consumer (DTC) boom, a new era of fashion entrepreneurship emerges, characterized by an innovative approach to company building within a transformed industry landscape. There are many remarkable journeys of these visionary founders exploring the uncharted avenues they tread upon to achieve growth, while also seeking insights from agencies deeply entrenched…

It’s been more than five years since direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) legends like Warby Parker, Away, and Everlane came of age and completely upended the retail ecosystem and forever changed the way we think about building brands. Barriers to entry collapsed. First-party data and social media forged ongoing, direct relationships between new brands and their customers. It was a heady bunch of years to be…

In case you missed it, the holidays are in full swing. Media outlets have started reporting on the top toys for the season, Amazon.com is moving up Black Friday to start now (!), and the threat of supply chain snarls and shipping delays are prompting consumers to get out their credit cards early this year.…

We've recently passed the one-year mark for the pandemic economy, with all of its volatility, uncertainty and disruptions. Among the most emphatic takeaways is that direct to consumer (D-to-C) has proven incredibly resilient through these changes. In some sense, it seems obvious in retrospect, that brands built on the potent combination of direct distribution, online…