Chris Norton: 0:04

Hi everybody, welcome back to Embracing Marketing Mistakes. Today we're doing a campaign crunch and we've got in the studio with us. I've got two glamorous assistants. Am I allowed to say that I don't know? This is about mistakes. I've got Lauren Smith, who sits opposite me, and I've got Becca, who we were down in London last week. So welcome to the show, guys. Hello.

Chris Norton: 0:27

Now you're both on the show, because A Will's too lazy to come on the show and talk about this particular subject area and B because you guys know this area better than I know it and we can talk about. We can let the audience hear a whole about it, so why don't we delve into what are we talking about today, lauren?

Lauren Smith: 0:45

uh, yeah, so we're gonna look at, um, maybe, which is molly may's clothing brand and what they did for, like, community engagement for the international women's day. Okay, um, yeah. So basically international women's day was a while ago now but um, maybe had a bit of a wobble as a clothing brand when it started because, um, it's sort of molly may's brand, so there's a lot of hype around it, a lot of kind of anticipation and stuff. But one of the batches of one of the blazers, I believe, which was like one of the most highly anticipated products, um it, it was delivered to the customers but made with the wrong fabric, um, so it kind of didn't really stand up to the quality that people were expecting. So they had a bit of a wobble with that.

Chris Norton: 1:26

And then there was a backlash, wasn't there a bit of a backlash? Yeah, I started trying to do some. There's some sort of pr handling of it because the product wasn't good enough yeah, there was a few other things as well, wasn't there?

Lauren Smith: 1:36

yeah?

Chris Norton: 1:37

also there might be people out there my age group who don't know who molly may I mean. Don't worry, I do know molly may is, but if you don't, know, who molly may is.

Lauren Smith: 1:45

Molly may is the, I'd say, the biggest female british influencer, right, yeah definitely yeah.

Becca Quinlan: 1:50

So she, I think she was an influencer technically before she went into love island, but that's where she sort of found fame on love island. Can't remember how long ago that was now years ago was it like maybe like five, six years ago yeah, it's quite a while ago and she's half of a power couple. Yeah, on off, on off depending on the question mark over that.

Lauren Smith: 2:09

Who knows what's going on with uh tyson fury's brother tommy right that's correct yeah um, but she is, she's a business woman in her own right and she's done really well with with her success and stuff. So maybe it was the clothing brand that she launched back end of 2024. I had a bit of a wobble, as I said, and then they kind of went a bit quiet, um, kind of with the comms, you know, just keeping it to be a you not really doing too much. Um, the core audience for context is kind of like young, young, professional, young female professionals, like busy women in the UK that are kind of working hard head down, um, very much like Molly herself really. Um, so that's kind of what they've been doing with the comms so far, just keeping it really core to the audience.

Lauren Smith: 2:48

All of that kind of aesthetic comes through kind of the socials and their activities. But then International Women's Day in March, they wanted to do something to give back to that community again. So kind of, in summary, the brand had a pop-up coffee and sweet treats van which is like perfect for the audience, like it's a bit of a, it's a bit of a known thing and it has been in the past year that everybody loves like a coffee and a sweet treat, especially the audience, like I would say that it's definitely like aesthetic as well, isn't it?

Becca Quinlan: 3:16

That she doesn't really drink alcohol a lot, that sort of thing. She doesn't sort of go out and party. She's very much sort of isolated.

Chris Norton: 3:22

yeah, sweet tree very gen z yeah a bit more slow living yeah, and that was the base of the pop-up.

Lauren Smith: 3:30

Really, it was a van in Lincoln Square in Manchester City Centre which is where the brand's based that's where Molly lives.

Becca Quinlan: 3:38

She lives in Manchester, right yeah it was in partnership with Sage Coffee Machines. Yeah, um, it was in partnership with um sage coffee machines as well, um, because she has one in her house which she shows how much documentary.

Chris Norton: 3:49

How much is a safe, sage coffee machine?

Becca Quinlan: 3:51

I think this they must start from at least 500 pounds.

Lauren Smith: 3:54

I think, yeah, they're like top end, like you can do the ones that they do the proper, like roasting and stuff, and you tap down the coffee shout out to sage if you want to send a free coffee machine to our office.

Becca Quinlan: 4:03

Yeah, we'd love one in the office I'm actually barista trained this is free advertising for them.

Lauren Smith: 4:07

They want to be all over this shit okay, yeah, um, yeah, there's a few partnerships within it, um, and it's nice because a lot of them were. It was very well thought through. Basically, was this, this whole pop-up like it, really aligned with their audience and was also received really well, and all of the partnerships that were within it were tailored to kind of like female-led businesses. So, sage, they had an all-female barista team there helping her out with the actual kind of logistics and stuff. They used North Star Coffee Roasteries, which are literally around the corner from us Leeds-based One out the front, aren't we?

Chris Norton: 4:39

Yeah, right in front of our office. It's all coming together.

Lauren Smith: 4:42

Yeah, their female run they also. Is it North Star?

Chris Norton: 4:46

I know that we're deviating, but is North Star Coffee called North Star Coffee because they're based in the north or is it because it comes from?

Becca Quinlan: 4:53

probably there's only one way to look, and that's the North Star.

Lauren Smith: 4:55

Are they based in Leeds? Do we know? I think they are based in Leeds.

Becca Quinlan: 4:58

Jamie, do we know I?

Chris Norton: 5:00

manchester and leeds. Yeah, yeah, great coffee. By the way, again, if you want to send us some free coffee, anything for a free plug, no jokes, go on, carry on um, they also had.

Lauren Smith: 5:10

Um, they had like the sweet treats element of it. It was um. That was a female run local business in manchester that molly may kind of always has always gone to for the, since they've been running up running basically like in a youtube video she's always referencing this kind of like baker that she goes to who's got her own pop-up van. So that was kind of like integrated in that. It was all kind of like celebrating women and giving back to that community, especially after that initial wobble. And it was just received really well. It was pop-up van. Molly was there herself because she wanted to kind of say hi to people and be making the coffees. They and, as expected, it's like the Molly Mae effect, like the queues were huge. Everybody was really excited. People were there kind of lining up from well early in the morning.

Lauren Smith: 5:59

They only announced it the day before.

Chris Norton: 6:01

Right.

Lauren Smith: 6:01

On their socials.

Chris Norton: 6:02

Sounds like one of our events.

Becca Quinlan: 6:05

She took the cameras with them, didn't she for her documentary as well, so the timing of it was also good for that.

Chris Norton: 6:11

Everybody loves a pop-up van though, don't they?

Lauren Smith: 6:15

especially when there's free stuff?

Chris Norton: 6:17

yeah, okay, and so do we do. We know what effect it's had on the, the fashion brand itself. Have you got any idea of on the business impacts? Obviously, the thing about molly may is she's going to get a lot of hype and influencer sort of credibility and enthusiasm around the brand. Let's queue up going. Did they get to meet you when they got a coffee?

Lauren Smith: 6:35

she was there standing yeah, yeah, she was really keen to do that because I know that in one of their initial pop-ups when the brand launched that was in london the pop-up was kind of tailored as more of a come and look at the clothes and molly was kind of getting mobbed but she was. She really wanted to be able to say hi to everyone but she couldn't because there was too many people and it was stopping the flow through the store. So when it came to this one she wanted to do it totally differently and have the logistics in a way that she could have a bit of a face time with everybody that was coming and getting their coffee. So she was in the van, she was walking around, she was able to kind of speak to everybody and it kind of you could see how she took kind of the key learning from that first one and aligned it even more to the brand and what it's about and her impact in it as well.

Chris Norton: 7:15

So do we know how Molly, how Maybe is doing, maybe, maybe, do we know how they're doing?

Lauren Smith: 7:21

So I think, in terms of like ROI of this one, there was, from like a press office perspective. There was a little bit of regional coverage, as you'd expect, but I think this was definitely more of like a social first kind of yeah, clawing back the reputation kind of activation giving back yeah all over tiktok, wasn't it?

Lauren Smith: 7:38

all over tiktok. The ugc was insane, like it was amazing from their point of view. They did sort of reels throughout the day on the brand's page, so obviously only did the announcement the day before, but it had obviously an official hashtag and official keywords kind of thing.

Chris Norton: 7:51

And where does she, she sell her products? Is it TikTok shop or is it direct online On the website? On the website, yeah, on the website.

Lauren Smith: 8:00

So yeah, in terms of like ROI I think it was more of like a community engagement kind of piece and like really just reiterating that they do understand their audience and they want to give back and they want to kind of be in that space, um, and claw back that reputation basically, and I think it worked really well it just fascinates me.

Chris Norton: 8:18

If these influencers are making you know because you see them popping up with their makeup brands and all these different brands they're trying to make, trying to make hay while the sun shines whether they do actually make hay or whether it's whether the, whether it sounds like she's got loads of, whether all the hype and the publicity and the social, all the stuff that we do for our brands yeah, whether that has a massive impact on their, on an influencer's fashion brand, would fascinate me.

Chris Norton: 8:42

I'd love to know how she's doing it by the end of this year. Do you know what I mean?

Becca Quinlan: 8:45

I do think it is interesting with the fashion side of. She's got other brands which do really well. She's got filter by molly may, which is a fake tan brand, and she's is she the global ambassador for beauty works, yeah, extensions with them for a while. She's got her own range, yeah, yeah. So she sort of does other things. But it's interesting with fashion because I think generally I've not heard as a lot about maybe than I thought I would yeah, not after that initial the initial kind of wobble with the launch.

Lauren Smith: 9:08

But I know that. I know that with the launch it did sell out, obviously, yeah, and I think that's kind of wobble with the launch, but I know that. I know that with the launch it did sell out, obviously, yeah, and I think that's kind of always going to be the case with anything that Molly touches.

Becca Quinlan: 9:17

Yeah, definitely.

Chris Norton: 9:18

Everybody says everything that Molly touches turns to gold.

Lauren Smith: 9:19

Yeah, Um Wow.

Chris Norton: 9:22

So we need to get her on one of our campaigns. She'd be too expensive, though, wouldn't she, to be involved in a campaign. Yeah, what do you reckon?

Becca Quinlan: 9:31

oh god, I don't know hundred a thousand oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, at least yeah yeah, yeah, well, there you go definitely definitely because, yeah, anything she does, it sells out or, yeah, breaks the internet in some sort of way, doesn't it? Yeah?

Chris Norton: 9:46

so is there a template or anything that so, if I'm a marketer listening to this, is there a template that we can follow that she's done? That would work, or is there is this success purely down to the hype that's behind it? You know, an influence like Molly May.

Becca Quinlan: 9:59

I think it all comes down to um authenticity really, because she's so relatable and she knows her audience so well yeah and she gives a lot away.

Becca Quinlan: 10:08

You know, a lot of influencers are quite, they get keep a lot of sort of their personal life, which is obviously fair enough. But I think because she gives so much back with her youtube videos or now the documentary and she's so open, yeah, um, that I think that attracts a lot more sort of attention on her in a positive way and she's sort of more respected and people trust her judgment if it is to do with the product. So I think if you were relating this to a PR campaign or any sort of social content, it always comes back to how authentic you are being to your audience.

Lauren Smith: 10:40

Yeah, like really understanding the audience and I think everything that they did with that pop-up was just really thought through and like really to the core of the brand, like the fact even it just being like a pop-up in a convenient location where their audience are kind of going about the day to and from work, and to the things that they were giving away the coffee and a sweet treat, which again is totally aligned. The fact it was international women's day and kind of everybody that was involved in it, the different kind of brands and collaborations were all focused on kind of women and female led, which again totally aligns with, maybe totally aligned with, the day. I think it was just like really well thought through. So, yeah, to take a learning from it in terms of sort of pr activation, just making sure that everything really aligns with with the brand but also with the core audience and what they want and what they would actually appreciate.

Chris Norton: 11:24

So when we last had Becca on the show, she shared um uh interesting mistake that she'd made. Uh see, seeing somebody into something quite um that they shouldn't have seen. Lauren, is there anything that that you want to share that you've been involved in? That has, um not gone entirely to plan.

Lauren Smith: 11:41

Yeah, um. So I'd say, a few years ago, when we were working with a sports nutrition brand, we were doing a shoot and we needed an apartment set up for it. So we got in touch with one of the businesses down the road that has an apartment above it. I just told them we were doing a shoot A penthouse Not quite a penthouse, it's more like a kind of inside kind of brick wall interior.

Becca Quinlan: 12:06

But it's yeah.

Lauren Smith: 12:07

Like Airbnb style apartment but not Airbnb Um, and they wanted to come down and confirm, confirm the details and stuff. So I was like, okay, fine. So I went down um, spoke to the manager and they said I just want to confirm are you filming for porn?

Chris Norton: 12:21

Um and we weren't just for be clear, it's just for every record anywhere. We weren't?

Lauren Smith: 12:29

we were not. Why wasn't it?

Chris Norton: 12:30

the first thought, why did they think we were I?

Lauren Smith: 12:32

don't know, I don't know, like it's just, it's just a shoot, like that's not an uncommon thing to do a video shoot just for socials.

Chris Norton: 12:40

Yeah, just for a brand campaign like just to be clear, they were happy to have the porn oh yeah.

Lauren Smith: 12:45

Well, yeah, they were already kind of half confirmed before. But then that's what they thought.

Chris Norton: 12:49

But it was, it was not that right maybe the moral of the story there is to always be clear on your brief to your venue just just for a brand campaign uh, and stick to coffee and sweet treats.

Becca Quinlan: 13:05

Sweet treats, thanks for coming on the show guys.

Chris Norton: 13:08

Becca, thanks for being a stand in, will you were much more entertaining and thanks, lauren for coming on and sharing your campaign and your fuck up as well. It was good and thanks everybody for listening. If you like the show, please leave us a review and actually get in touch with us and tell us if you've made a mistake. If you like the show, please leave us a review and actually get in touch with us and tell us if you've made a mistake. If you've made a mistake, even if you want to keep it anonymous, drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you and talk about it on the show. So, yeah, drop us an email to podcast at prohibitionprcouk. That is podcast at prohibitionprcouk, and we'll see you soon. And we'll see you soon, thank you.