The Weekly Roundup (week of 10.30)
Kim K is everywhere
1. The Couple Behind the Skims Industrial Complex
Skims is having an epic run. These past couple of weeks have included their star-studded men’s campaign, Nipple bra commercial, NBA partnership announcement, Swarovski collab, and not to mention Kim leading the latest Marc Jacob’s campaign! They’re everywhere. This story is about the married duo behind the Kardashian empire.
Emma and Jens Grede are veteran marketers and the married couple behind many of the Kardashian family’s brands. There’s Good American, a jeans company Emma founded with Khloé Kardashian in 2016; Safely, a line of natural cleaning products Emma launched with Kris Jenner in 2021 (reviews are mixed); and Kylie Jenner’s fashion line Khy, which debuted in late October with $200 pleather coats and $100 dresses. But the best-known brand in the Grede portfolio remains Skims, the shapewear line that Jens founded with Kim Kardashian in 2019. He is the chief executive and oversees marketing, while Emma is chief product officer and develops the clothes. In the weeks after I met the Gredes in Los Angeles, the brand debuted menswear and announced its role as the official underwear provider of American basketball. At a $4 billion valuation, Skims is thought to make up most of Kim’s net worth (though Jens shares a majority ownership).
2. The Evolution of the CMO
CMOs today are not just in charge of what a brand says, but building what is essentially its personality — and bringing that to life across channels, according to Nick Primola, EVP and head of industry leadership and the chief marketing officer practice for the Association of National Advertisers.
“Marketing today is more about creating value through the experience, which includes products, services and everything in between,” he said. “It’s a company-wide responsibility to deliver that value in that experience, and the CMO is now more of an orchestrator of that.”
With the emergence of digital marketing and all the analytics tools that have come with that, top marketers need to be more data-driven than they were in the past. Aspiring CMOs who spent the earlier years of their careers in creative or brand strategy, for example, will need to build their skills in data and analytics, and vice versa. Plus, they work more closely with teams across their organisation, from merchandising to product development to finance, and should develop if not an expertise, but a working knowledge of those areas.
3. The Most Hyped, Most Anticipated, Most Gossiped-About Collection Is Finally Here
Pheobe Philo emerges from her hiatus to drop a long-awaited debut collection under her new eponymous line. Personally, I loved it. If only I could afford it. Read about it here.
4. TikTok food critic Keith Lee validates Atlanta diners’ frustrations
This one caused a bit of a raucous on the internet. The discourse generated from a rather simple restaurant critique was somewhat deranged, but this is the era of TikTok and Twitter. It’s a stark reflection of the new world we live in and the large influence social media has on our consumption habits. Read here.