Mia Fileman 0:05
Life's too short for crap marketing. The Got Marketing? Podcast is for marketers, business owners and entrepreneurs who want marketing that's fun, accessible and meaningful. Join me, Mia Fileman, for inspired chats with my favorite marketing insiders about marketing that works, campaigns that inspire and the fads, fakery and false prophets to avoid.
Hello friends and welcome to the Got Marketing Show. Today I am co hosting with the incredible Emily Lambourne, our digital strategist at campaign Del Mar. Hi Em!
Emily Lambourne 0:42
Hi! Thanks for having me back.
Mia Fileman 0:44
Of course! I mean, it is your podcast to people don't know that. But you actually do most of the heavy lifting of the podcast, I just get to come on and do all the talking.
Emily Lambourne 0:55
Is that why it's so scary for me to be on the other end of the mic?
Mia Fileman 0:58
I think a little bit. Yes. So today, we're going to talk about one of your favorite brands. This was your idea for the episode, we're going to talk about Fayt the label, which is an Australian fashion brand. And there's a lot of things that are going to come out through this episode. But one of the things we're really going to focus on is the dichotomy of a personal brand and a brand brand, a non personal brand and how that intersects using Fayt the label as an example. So why don't you start us off by telling me why you liked this brand so much.
Emily Lambourne 1:33
Oh, gosh, well, it goes way back. Obviously I am the Gen Zed. I was raised by YouTube and beauty YouTubers and all those things. So anyway, Brittney Lee Saunders was just always on my radar as a tween teen, kind of, you know, she's always been there. So when it was announced that she was launching fayt the label it was obviously destined to be love at first sight, you know? And then, you know, this brand has kind of built alongside my marketing career and just watching it kind of grow as I grow and understanding what they're doing. And now being able to look at it and pick it apart is just like, amazing. I love Fayt the label. And honestly, their clothes are fantastic as well. So I'm all for this episode.
Mia Fileman 2:20
Yeah. Okay, so she's like the Britney Spears for Gen Z. What Britney Spears was to us, the millennials.
Emily Lambourne 2:27
It's also like the local Newcastle girl like you know, she comes from down the road basically. So it's, it's that to put it nicely as something fantastic came out of Newcastle it's a little bit aspirational. It's almost like Britney was just the local girl that went to Newcastle High School, wherever it was, and she's she's made this massive name for herself and she still stays in Newcastle. So it's, it's really Yeah, aspirational. Like I said,
Mia Fileman 2:54
I think Newcastle is awesome. Like where we're thinking about where we want to settle long term and Newcastle is top of the list, like the beaches are better than Sydney. So good.
Emily Lambourne 3:05
I am biased because yeah, I've lived here my whole life. So, you know, being able to just jump on the road and be at the beach within half an hour is just the best thing ever. And I don't know how people live anywhere. They can't do that. But yeah, Newcastle is great. But you know, it is a it is a regional city. So it does come with limited opportunities. So like I said, it's, it's great to see that Britney's, you know, been able to achieve this and Newcastle is Fayt's flagship store. It's where the warehouse operations are. Everything is in Newcastle. And it's actually really inspirational to see, you know, Newcastle girls getting to work with Brittany Lee Saunders, in her warehouse and in her office. And you know, like I said, to have it just be down the road, it almost feels a little bit surreal, because it's such a massive brand in my mind, and it's like it's so close to me.
Mia Fileman 3:51
Yeah. Okay, so how old is this woman? What is she achieved? Give me the sort of top line here.
Emily Lambourne 3:58
she has this really interesting backstory that she tells on her Instagram about how she kind of tried everything. She knew she wanted to make it big and it took a few tries to get there. But um, you know, she talks about how she had a fake tanning business and she was selling hand decorated mobile phone cases and then kind of you know, had a crack at this YouTube influencer thing and it really took off even now, a few years after she's last year this used her YouTube channel. She still has like 1 million followers and you know, that's that's pretty big considering it's not active. But um yeah, so she's she's kind of dabbled in everything and nothing quite stuck. And while she was in her peak influencer phase, she had a skincare brand or health care brand of some sort that didn't work out for her. So she went back to the drawing board and landed on Fayt the label and this one's just taken off. It's just, you know, Everything that the brand stands for is exactly what people need what people want. She's listened to her people and and she's built this brand based on, you know, her best crack at solving this problem for women, which is sizing and availability of sizes. So, you know, she's landed in this really great place. Yeah.
Mia Fileman 5:23
So she's just clocked over 31 years old, and she's got this extremely well known Australian fashion brand with now retail stores and a thriving e commerce business. So she's done quite well for herself. Yeah, I'm curious about what the YouTube strategy was, what was she posting on YouTube?
Emily Lambourne 5:45
It was it was very much you know, 2010s influencer content try this spicy food, tackle this balloon challenge that kind of, I guess junk content that people look back now and cringe but it was exactly what was happening at the time on YouTube. It was it was beauty influencers it was try this new Maybelline lipstick it was. Yeah, let's go on holidays together. It was vlog style content. It was almost like that. I mean, for the lack of a better word. She was an influencer. It was influencer content on a YouTube channel. She did brand deals and all of that jazz that you would expect from an influencer. But it was just so authentic. It was just authentically her, it was her personality. That was kind of what sucked you in because it was just infectious. And I even actually watched a YouTube video yesterday in preparation for this podcast episode Mia. And it's just you just get sucked in. It's just she just has that personality that just, you can't turn it off. You can't look away. It's incredible.
Mia Fileman 6:52
Yeah, I was talking about that on an episode with Jarrah about how much is charisma and magnetism when it comes to to marketing? And how much is it, you know, what you're offering the product itself for the unique selling proposition? I think that there is there is a lot to be said for just that sheer magnetism that somebody like Britney Lee Saunders has,
Emily Lambourne 7:16
it definitely does a lot of the heavy lifting, I feel like yeah, you can have the most tried and tested product everyone wants it but you have to have at least somewhat of a personality to be that interesting person that people you know want to gravitate towards.
Mia Fileman 7:33
Yeah. So you mentioned that she's got a really wide range of clothing is this the unique selling proposition of Fayt the label what has made this brand so successful? Do you think apart from her, leveraging her influencer status.
Emily Lambourne 7:49
I said, when she was building this brand, she was really listening to people like she really got a feel for the clothing industry in Australia at the moment and ran with that and decided that my clothing brand is going to be size six through 26 and it's going to be stocked in all stores at all times. So you can go into Fayt the label and Newcastle or the Sydney store or wherever which one it is whichever store it is, you're always going to find if it's in stock mind you it's everything's out of stock get Fayt the label because it's so in demand at the moment, but you can go into the store and there will be you know, six through 26 on the shelf and that that was the big thing. Because obviously, the average size in Australia at the moment is a size 18. And often clothes are designed with you know, smaller measurements in mind. So her whole thing and fates whole, you know, key point of difference is that the clothes are not just scaled up in size, they're actually designed with the larger sizes in mind, it's not just we have to cater for this market. It's we are going to create clothes for this market. And I think that is why it's so successful.
Another key point is that they took this insight of you know women hating shopping because sizing is so all over the place and they've kind of tackled that head on by making shopping in fayt stores. As nice as it can be, as lovely as it can be. They've got the most amazing stuff in there. I was actually in the Newcastle store the other week and the women in there are just so lovely. All they want to do is help, tell you you look great. Grab you sizes. It's just the most incredible experience. And I think that plays into the brand as well. It's that six variants. It's how it makes it's how it makes you feel it's how the clothing makes you feel. And because it does fit really well. You're always going to have your size. It's a pleasant shopping experience. And I think that all contributes to just how successful the brand is.
Mia Fileman 9:51
I feel like so many other mainstream brands are sleeping on the fact that the average woman size now is a size 16 to 18, You know why? Are they not catering to this market that is the average. And I think she's just been very, very clever to cater to the market. This is no longer a minority, you know, size 26. These are not niche, minority sizes. These are some of the mainstream sizes.
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Okay, so they have a great product with a unique point of difference, which is a guaranteed size, the range, how are they marketing this brand, what's working in terms of the marketing strategy.
Emily Lambourne 11:19
So they are obviously on socials, their Fayt the label Instagram account, you know, promotes the product. And Brittney Lee Saunders herself does the same thing. They have this really interesting strategy of dropping new products every single Wednesday. And the hype they build around these drops every single week is incredible. So they've actually set up a Facebook group called Fayt society, which you could join in the incentive to join this Facebook group was a discount code. And that was how they got I think the group is sending 14,000 people currently. And in this group, they give sneak peeks, they share pictures, and behind the scenes of, you know, shoots and things like that. It's just this kind of momentum building every single week that really sells this whole drop. So there was a massive drop a few weeks ago, and it all sold out within three or four hours. There wasn't there was slim pickings after after that evening of the sale.
So they're on their socials as well, you know, filming behind the scenes content showing everyone kind of what goes into a shoot day. And they love this trend that they jumped on of kind of showing samples of as they're testing samples as they come in. So that was That's really clever as well, again, building the hype, you know, you see something now it's not coming for six months, and you just can't wait.
A lot of the heavy lifting, I feel like is done by Brittany herself on her personal account. You know, she's wearing things that maybe are out of stock. So she's saying, this is Fayt the label. It's not in stock right now, but it'll be here soon. And you know, sharing days in the life of her at shoots and in the office and in the warehouse and you know, kind of picking orders on her account. Another really fun thing that they do is they have Britney's Nan, it hasn't happened for a little while, but they would bring Britney's Nan into the store and show her around. And yeah, this is the store one and what do you think and you know, Nan's walking around saying this is lovely. This is lovely Brittany, this is this is amazing. I think we all need that kind of hype man in our life. But yeah, that's the kind of content they're sharing. But yeah, like I said, in terms of strategy, it's just hyping up this this drop every single week they've got emails, so it all kind of works together like a mini campaign, if you will, every single every single Wednesday there's emails going out this social content, it's hyped in the Facebook group the sneak peek.
Mia Fileman 13:58
I saw the Nan video I thought that was so clever. Yeah, because it's so relatable in terms of both running a business and then you know your mum and your grandmother being your number one fan, but also, it just gives to me such down to earth girl next door. Regional Newcastle vibes, even though now she is probably a millionaire and is killing it. She's doing the opposite of success signaling the opposite of wealth signaling, which if anyone's listened to this podcast for five minutes, they will no I just absolutely detest it. I just think that there's nothing worse than just flashing your wealth and your success around and I just love that. She has gone the other way and it's it's really down to earth and you feel like by supporting her you're supporting the underdog even though she's not the underdog anymore.
Speaker 1 14:50
Yeah, I don't think she qualifies as the underdog anymore. She's quite big. Yeah, you're right. And like I said she kind of cements that with the current Instagram content, it's very behind the scenes, you know, she has a thought and it goes on an Instagram story. And I kind of love it. It's kind of unhinged. Sometimes. Yeah. But like she's doing the target hauls, she's actually wearing her clothing brand, you don't see that. If we're thinking of other brands like showpo. You know, you're not going to see the founder of showpo walking around in the $50 showpo dress because she's a millionaire. She's not wearing a $50 showpo dress wears Britney is actually, you know, repping her products and her brands and backing it and saying like, yeah, sure, I can afford to go high end, but I want to wear my stuff because I basically just designed a clothing line for myself, which I really love that. And like I said, same. Yeah, like I said, being local Newcastle girl, it's almost that like, you don't need to be from a big city, you don't need to have this. You know, obviously she's she's had this past have failed businesses, but you don't need to have this background of, you know, business knowledge or anything like that to be as successful as she is. And it's, it's really aspirational for someone like myself, because it's like, Britney did it. And she's still a real human being. And, you know, that could be me one day. I'm just, you know, little old Emily from Newcastle, but it's like, no, well, I can I can do this. This is something I can do. And I can be successful like her.
Mia Fileman 16:27
Yeah, absolutely. And do it really ethically as well. Yeah. And also change the world for the better. You know, when you said or she does a drop every Wednesday, I'm like, oh, fast fashion. But it's not fast fashion. And having a look at the pieces that have really classic. That's it's not, you know, live life love on a t shirt. Yeah. And the fact that its size inclusive, just makes me feel so good about that. Because this has been a problem in the fashion industry for years. And all that, and also down to size six as well.
There's actually a lot to unpack with her marketing strategy. She's currently running a collaboration with an Australian beauty brand called Lust minerals, or is she involved with that, but it looks like they've got a collaboration going. I'm not entirely sure what her relationship is with lust, minerals, but they're definitely doing something.
Emily Lambourne 17:38
Yeah, they often have like, bonus kind of gifts that they send out with their orders. You know, like every order gets a lollipop. But every now and then must be brand deals where they come in and they'll just pop something in I think I think I know what you're talking about. Now they had a they had a product that they were putting in packages that were going out. Yeah, that is another that is another element. You're right, they they do collaborate, I'm pretty sure they've had like local jewelry makers in the area. And they've had their products in the stores. So again, supporting local, I love that as well.
Mia Fileman 18:11
I think it's a lead generation strategy to build the list for lust minerals, it's just a $400 gift of clean beauty and Fayt the label. And all you need to do is just enter your email address. So it's basically a lead magnet, but it's a giveaway lead magnet, and it's time limited. So you've got 12 days left to do it. There you go. So yeah, just a good way of obviously building up the email list for lust. She's also got a podcast, right?
Speaker 1 18:39
Two! Yeah. Wow. She's been on her scrollers with her friend Matt, who goes way back to YouTube days, which is kind of just like, you know, you and I having a conversation about anything that pops into our head. It's a little bit of a chaotic podcast again. But she also has just launched this big business podcast, which is talking all about her kind of how she's landed where she is talking about opening like Fayt retail stores and hiring staff and what happens when staff leave and kind of tackling those lack tricky business questions. Because, you know, like I said, people are seeing her be such a successful business owner. They want to know how she's gotten there. So yeah, and she brings guests on to this podcast, and they're not really used, like for Fayt, specifically are like they are I mean, they talking about, you know what it takes to open a new store. Actually, last week, they announced the new store, the fifth Fayt retail store, and it was really clever what they did. They announced it in the podcast episode. And they teased it all over socials where they said so the next Fayt store is going to open in bleep. And they believe now see how to go and listen to this little short 15 minute podcast, so I would love to know the data on that podcast. But I reckon it would be at least five times the listener base because everyone's so interested in where this story is going to be. Like I said her, her fans are so vocal. So you know, they're calling for stores all over their, the country. And yeah, to put it in this podcast episode, you can only find out here for the next 48 hours before we announce it on socials. Yeah, it's great.
Mia Fileman 20:28
Yeah, it's an interesting strategy in terms of the fact that like, generally, you would channel all of your marketing towards like one goal. And you'll be like, okay, Fayt the label, let's use our podcast, our personal brand, our YouTube, everything to build up, Fayt the label and use a real human and an influencer. And someone charismatic as the face of Fayt the label, who also happens to be the founder. But she's, she's doing something different in terms of the strategy is that she wants all of these things to be successful, not just fake the label, she wants a successful podcast, and she wants successful collaboration. So she just uses all the channels and all the platforms to cross promote everything. Yeah. And so this is going to pop up here, and this is going to pop up here. And it's not all funneling towards one place. It's an ecosystem. Really?
Emily Lambourne 21:20
Yeah, that yeah, and they all hold each other up. It's built. It's just building on top of everything. It's, it's really interesting, you're on? Yeah.
Mia Fileman 21:30
And then she's just like, well, whatever I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do it really, really well. And right now, there's Fayt the labels really hot. So I'm gonna use that to promote the podcast. And then if I build the Podcast, the podcast will promote Fayt the label, it's, it's not putting all of your eggs into one basket, which I am all for.
Speaker 1 21:48
Yeah, it also feels like a bit of a nightmare, because they have like, I want to say like four Instagram accounts between all of the brands. And just sounds like four full time jobs. So that's, it is interesting, I would be interested to know how many marketing staff she has on hand. But yeah, you're right. And it's, it's really interesting to say, they're not reusing content. It's not, you know, just popping it is sometimes but it's not just popping a reel on Britney stories from the fate label page, just to get it out there. But it is content specific for each individual channel that just promotes the other one, if you know what I mean. It's like, they're not just doing a podcast about the next drop that's coming out. They're talking about the next door that's opening, which is relevant to the podcast. But in that they're promoting the new drop.
Mia Fileman 22:42
It seems like she's on a mission to be a big name in Australian business. And not just be a fashion brand founder, but also an entrepreneur. She also wants that, you know, that Savvy Business Woman title as well, which is same as Jane Lu. Same with Samantha Wills, same like they, it's not just about, because what it sounds like from what you said to me, Fayt the label might not be good for her, she might run it for a couple of years, sell it and then start something else. And so she needed to take Britney Saunders with her. Yeah, so it's really a very strong personal brand strategy. That then has morphed into other brands. But at the end of the day, it's it's going to be all tied back to Britney Lee Saunders. Which is an interesting lesson for the, for the listeners, in terms of like, what should you focus on? Like, should you focus on a product or an agency and that brand? Or should you focus on your personal brand? And I guess it depends on what is your end goal. But I don't think you can ever go wrong with personal branding and building value under your personal brand. I mean, LinkedIn is all personal branding. Now there is I honestly don't know what the point of a LinkedIn company pages other than when you're hiring, so that people can see that you're a legit company, but your LinkedIn profile is under your name. And, you know, humans buy from humans I don't want to buy from corporate entities. So I think that any time any investment in your personal brand is going to pay off like I mean, we see that with Campaign Del Mar right like it is it's you and I but there is a strong Mia Fileman personal brand there as well.
Speaker 1 24:31
Yeah, I mean, Campaign Del Mar gets its authority from you. So that's that's kind of the benefit of building that personal brand. And, you know, showing that, yeah, sure. You've got this business. The business does this, But you're the human behind the business is the reason that you're qualified to do what it is you're doing. If you're providing a service. It's because the human behind the business has learned to provide that service either through, you know, 20 plus years worked in the industry or, you know, whatever it may be, but you can't, you can't instill that human trust into a business brand, you have to kind of build that with the personal brand behind it, I feel like.
Mia Fileman 25:15
definitely in service based businesses so like in a marketing business like Campaign Del Mar, that's exactly what we need to do, because people are entrusting us to, you know, give them marketing training and advice. And so with that requires a whole lot of credibility or authority trust experience. But in the example of Fayt the labels a product based brand, yeah, it requires less of that thought leadership and authority. And she has no expertise in fashion, other than she's cool. And she's she's knows how to dress and she wants to look good. So it's, it's interesting how, and I hear this a lot from product based brands, and I don't want to be my brand. I don't want to be the face of my brand. I want my product to be the hero. And I'm just like, yes, but I can name the founders of Frank body. Because before anyone gave a shit about Frank body, they needed to lend some personality, some humanity to this unknown brand. And now that everyone knows Frank body, we can, you know, we can forget the name of the know the names of the original founders. But that's what helped build Frank body is each of those. I think it was three women, and maybe one dude, but they didn't ever talk about him. Going out there and really campaigning about this brand that they were building for everybody. Yeah. And they did a similar strategy to what Fayt the label is, is doing, which is this idea of build in public. Do you agree?
Speaker 1 25:15
Yeah, definitely. Like, you almost feel like an insider in Fayt the Label, you see kind of what they're doing as they're doing it, especially in this this Facebook group. And it's really interesting watching it being built kind of from the inside out, you kind of have an insider view in it, because you are a part of this, you know, VIP circle Facebook group, but it's also very public, it doesn't need to just be in that private channel. And in this Facebook group, in particular, I'd like to unpack it a little bit because it's something that really grinds my gears is when people expect small business to be everything to everyone. You know, we already Fayt the label already has sizes six through 26. That is their USP, it's their key selling point, it's what they want to be known for. And people love the brand so much so that they want everything from Fayt the label. So you see people in the Facebook group, you know, requesting absolutely ridiculous things like Fayt scrubs, Fayt bridal wear, Fayt maternity wear, Fayt, you know, breastfeeding friendly, and you know, it's all great. It's all nice to have things but it goes against who fate is and what fate wants to achieve. And their whole kind of style, not not not kind of their mission of the sizes and availability of sizes and positive experience. But the style is that elevated basic, so people requesting all of these things from this small business don't realize how much actually goes into producing these these drops every week. Like you said, you know, too much is not a good thing. But I just wish people would let the brand do what it's good at. Instead of demanding all of these extra things from it. You wouldn't go to a seafood restaurant for a nice steak so I don't see why. I don't see why Fayt the label has to cater for every single style that people request.
Speaker 1 26:50
Yeah I think it's like a symptom of her own success because she has made it size inclusive. People think it's like it's on like Donkey Kong now. Yeah, like everything's on the table and everything you know, and sometimes not sometimes always you should manage your audience's expectations about what's reasonable. And because she's got a very approachable, amenable manner people are sort of, I guess she's giving an inch and they're taking a mile and and it's it's always disappointing when a brand has to constantly be like, No, you can't have this and this competition is like and then this is not redeemable. And this is not possible. And you're just like, but you know why they've done it because, you know, the internet has just become full of people who are very demanding and very loud in their in their protesting as well.
Mia Fileman 28:52
A good example of that is Mecca's beauty loop, which is, you know, their loyalty program. And from the beginning it was always like you get what you get in the Mecca beauty loop and there's different tiers. And we were just happy to get something. But now it's just become I can't believe I only got this. And it's so shitty. And this is not good. And it's like this is it's a loyalty program like they're, yeah, it's their own fault. Like they've set up these expectations that you're gonna get all this cool product. And there were some years where I mean, I got $100 worth of product in the beauty loop. Yeah. And then when you open it up, and you've just got to face masks, Mecca branded face masks, you're just you feel a little bit shortchanged. And then most people are going to be really happy with what they've got, like 90% of people are probably happy with what they've got. But we only hear from the 10% loud minority. Right? Yeah,
Speaker 1 30:43
it's actually really interesting. I say this all the time that I would love to do a study in people's like, inflated sense of importance now that they have a platform to put their opinion out. 30 years ago, they didn't have Facebook to write a bad review, or Google Maps or whatever it is. But now that it's kind of available, everyone thinks, you know, I have this platform. I'm gonna put my opinion on it, because everyone needs to hear what I think. But yeah, that's a really good point. And it's, it's almost like it was going to Well, the Mecca beauty rewards program. And you know, it's gotten too big. And now it's too hard for them to manage. So it's just kind of slapped together, like, like you were talking about with Claire a few episodes ago, how you know that the availability was a problem, because if it's out of stock, it's out of stock, but they're not communicating that properly. Yeah, it almost seems like, it's gotten too big for them to contain, and it's too hard. So it's just, here it is, if it's not good enough. So be it. And yeah, mega customers are getting to the point where it's like, well, what am I spending all this money every single year to maintain my level three, when I'm not satisfied with this rewards box? You know what I mean? And I think there's a real kind of, I know, I know, personally, I don't shop at Mecca anymore, because they've put their prices up and, you know, cost of living and all that jazz. But yeah, it's almost like that. The real kind of reward and the real benefit of being loyal to that brand is no longer satisfying. So why would I stick around, you know what I mean?
Mia Fileman 32:17
It's a shame, because I mean, as I've talked about, with Claire, I would have shopped at Mecca regardless, like, you know, it's fantastic. And I've always looked at the beauty loop as just a bonus, like an icing on the cake. It's like a reward for loyalty. That's what it's there for. But it's not the reason to keep me there. It's just a little surprise and delight almost. But I actually think that what's happened is that the beauty loop program has become too expensive for Mecca, or they're getting a lot of corporate pressure for profitability, hence why they've probably increased their prices and have decreased the value in the beauty loop. And they're just trying to squeeze out as much profitability. This happens all the time with major brands. You know, I've worked in big corporate, and it's, you know, you invest so much into a brand and you pay for all this advertising, and you get to that cult status, and then you you want to try to reap some of those rewards, and then start to extract the value. But this is going to end very badly for Mecca, because they have now conditioned their audience to expect this wonderful beauty loop. And then they're going to just rip the rug out from underneath them. And people are actually going to switch to Sephora. Even though Sephora doesn't do like a beauty loop at all, like this. purely out of now, frustration with mecca for something that was was just was just a nice thing. It was just a cherry on top. But it wasn't the key thing that's like, it is now undermining everything else that they do brilliantly the shopping experience, the range, the Facebook group, the tutorials, they're amazing makeup artists who work there, all of it is now being undermined by this fated loyalty program.
Emily Lambourne 34:02
I do wonder if it's because you know, the brands that are out Mecca, you know, are American brands that weren't in the Australian market for such a long time that they maybe were more willing to give out like promotional products to go into these beauty loot boxes at one point, but now that they're kind of cemented in the Australian market and they're known and their love, they didn't have to give away as much they don't have to, you know, do these promotions with Mecca to get people to try their new products. It's really I feel like that could play into it as well. But yeah, you're right it's it's almost become an expectation people, you know, what, then extra value, And again, it's extra. It's not it shouldn't be an expectation. It should just be a nice thing.
Mia Fileman 34:47
Yeah. Going back to Fayt the label and this notion of building in public. I personally absolutely love the videos in the warehouse, where I we've spoken about this before you and I about this idea of how the sausage is made, you know, she could just be showcasing incredible models wearing her products in like, you know, flagship stores. But she's showing us the warehouse, which is it looks like a warehouse. And she's talking about returns and the number of returns that they get. And sometimes these returns have obviously been worn. You mentioned that there was a pair of pants that was just like ripped to shreds and someone's tried to return it for a refund. Yeah. And I just freakin love that because it almost goes against traditional marketing. And now we're starting to go into this controversial anti marketing nonconformist marketing, which I think is so refreshing, where a lot of brands are like, no, no, no, we're done with the shiny veneer and everything's perfect. I'm going to spill the tea on what it's really like being a 31 year old, ecommerce fashion brand label and what I deal with on a daily basis in terms of shit customers, let's be honest. And then, by doing that, she becomes even more relatable. And dare I say authentic? Yeah, I can hate that word, but also is training her customers. So when I saw that video, I was like, no one else is going to try this on for size. She is. It's a really clever and light hearted way to sort of basically say don't send us returns that have been worn. Yeah. Which I think is a really nice way of doing it. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 36:37
And it's almost like injecting her personality into the Fayt brand. I mean, obviously, she's the one doing the video. So it's going to be her. But I love watching the videos of you know, watching them pick orders. And it's actually a really big incentive in this Facebook group. People when the big clothing drops happen every week, we'll post a screenshot of, you know, I've ordered $2,000 worth of clothes, and then Britney will come in and say, oh, okay, we'll make a TikTok about it. And then they'll film themselves packing that person's order. Love that. First of all interaction interaction with this Facebook group is amazing. But I mean, people are making these huge orders at the thought that Brittany might pack my order. And there was actually one they did, where she ordered an obscene amount of clothing so much. It was like a full box, we're and they actually ran out of lollipops in the warehouse. So they had to run to Costco and going back and they said that 70 lollipops in her package. They just give all these into this package. So yeah, it really is that behind the scenes, and I think, again, that's what makes it that actually relatable instead of that hashtag relatable that we talk about, have the you know, come with me to work while I sit in the office and watch the plebs downstairs packing orders for me know, she's actually like on the ground, drinking her pink V. Doing these fun things with her team. It's really, it's also really refreshing to see her interacting with her team. You know, it's doesn't look like a workplace that, you know, they would be scared if the boss is on the floor, if you know what I mean. Yeah. So she's, you know, kind of showing her customers what to expect on these in this content that she's creating. You're right, and you have that pair of pants that was sent back. I don't think it was a return. I think it was just an auspost lost package that had just been through the four then somehow made its way back and it was like white pants and they had just like dirt all it was yeah, it was pretty funny. It was a whole she turned into a whole series. Yeah, and the other. The other really fun piece of content that she's created, they've created they've bought a van for the brand because they're warehouses in one end of Newcastle and the shop is in the other end of Newcastle. So they've obviously got to ship stuff back and forth and down to Sydney and for last two weeks on her personal Instagram stories they're saying we've bought a Fayt van it's so exciting getting the fake van you know we've got lollies in the back we've got stuck in the back we've got this and then we're getting it wrapped with the branding and then we're teasing this this wrap on on this car for like I want to say the two weeks that they were talking about it and they filmed this really really funny. It was a dance number in their new warehouse because they were also moving warehouses at the same time this woman just seems to have so much going on in her life. It's a bit full on and they did a full Greased Lightning dance number with this new van in the new rap to launch it and they're saying you know if you're a Newcastle Honk if you say the Fayt van and all that all that fun stuff, so and just Yeah, I just I just love it and I love it. You genuinely feel like you're a part of the fate family like you feel like you could work there. I feel like I could just go in and pick up the little scanning down and start packing orders because I've seen how they do it on Instagram. I'm sure I could have a crack at it.
Mia Fileman 39:57
Yeah, it's such a good lesson and just like any thing is content. And it's like, yeah, you know, I think we overthink things as business owners, we're like, oh, no one's gonna care about the fact that we got a van. And it's like she's made it. She's made it into content, like anything.
Emily Lambourne 40:13
It's actually it's a skill that she has that she can turn. She just makes anything exciting. It's I don't know how she can make a full week of content out of purchasing a van. But she did.
Mia Fileman 40:24
If you can do that, that's incredible. Because coming up with good content is the whole ballgame. So the fact that she just has that ability to be like, Alright, we've got a van, let's brainstorm. What's this going to be? How are we going to leverage this?
Emily Lambourne 40:40
Yeah, but it's not just stuff, either. It's, it's all got an objective at the end of it, you know, it's the the fake van has been branded. So you're seeing it around Newcastle, and you're starting to like, Oh, I wonder what fate is I'm gonna Google it. And it's building that kind of brand awareness around around their local area as well. And, like you said, the packing of orders and the returns process and all that jazz, it's educating the customers. And in the Facebook group, they've got this kind of really nice community happening, where the website only shows the clothes on maybe two women on two different sizes, but the Facebook group has become this kind of catalogue of, alright, I'm, I'm a size 20. And I want to see what these jeans look like on a size 20 body. And you can be really specific in there, I can say, I'm five foot five, and I weigh this many kilos. And I want to know what size jeans to buy. Everyone showed me a picture. And it's it's also just like, that user generated content that they're using as well sometimes gets shared on their social. So you know, people in Fayts fits or whatever it is. But yeah, it all has this kind of objective at the end of it. Rather than just being stuff it's not. It's not just content for the sake of content, it's it's all has a purpose,
Mia Fileman 41:53
I think the van is is another example of like, we're furthering this journey. This is the next big step for a brand to have their own van like, you know, first we have a warehouse. And then we have a head office. And then we have a retail store. And now we have five retail sales. And now we have a van and this idea that you're going on this success journey with them and you're living and dying by her wins and her failures, which she does talk about as well. And she's been very clever, some of the campaigns that she has run around mistakes that have happened, like she had this corset that was came, but it was the wrong size. So she just decided to make it a gift with purchase with anyone that placed an order, which is just so clever to turn what could have been a bit of a disaster if she had tried to sell this at full price this core set into this amazing sales opportunity. Because then of course, everyone jumped on placed an order and was like I maybe this course it's gonna actually fit me really well. And it was actually a corset, some sort of
Emily Lambourne 42:56
Yeah, it had it was it was a top with straps too long. Yeah.
Mia Fileman 42:59
Yeah, this is just way too long, which is I bet for some people, it's gonna work really well. And if you want to alter it, you can we're giving it for free, we're definitely not going to sell it. And I was just like, that's awesome. Any final thoughts about fate, the label? What do you think that other entrepreneurs, business owners, ecommerce founders can learn?
Speaker 1 43:18
I think fade the label is just a lesson in kind of letting your personality shine through and kind of being the real human behind the brand as well. And you know, there's nothing wrong with showing how the sausage is made behind the scenes, people love and inside, look, they want to feel special, they want to, they want to feel like they know something that no one else does. So that's a, that's a key lesson to take away from Fayt the label. And I also really loved what you said about building the personal brand. In case you do want to take it away from what you're doing right now, you know, we've all got, you know, different paths that we want to follow. So if you put all your eggs in the Fayt basket in the one basket, you never know what's going to happen 10 years down the line. So there's nothing wrong with building your personal brand.
Mia Fileman 44:06
Completely agree. Awesome, great chat, I will put in a whole bunch of links to for people to go and check out Fayt the label in the shownotes. But thanks so much for CO hosting this episode with me.
Speaker 1 44:19
And thanks for having me on. Thanks for helping me unpack my love of fate and understand why. Why it's good.
Mia Fileman 44:25
YeahI can tell that you're really, really passionate about this brand. And it's I guess it's an occupational hazard when you work in marketing and a brand really nails their marketing. You're just like, I have to support them.
Speaker 1 44:36
Yeah, actually, that's a really good point. I feel like I know, we've gotten to the end now. But I feel that you know, you're a marketer and you you sometimes think I'm immune to all marketing. I'm not going to be tricked by you, I can see straight through that content strategy and blah, blah, blah, but Fayt the label is kind of the first brand that I got sucked in I 100% got sucked in and I'm okay with that. Yeah, you know, between between the ads ads in the Facebook group and just the the personality and Britney Saunders herself. It's just like I said, you can't stop looking. I just, I just want to see I think I'm on the website at least once a week just to see what's new. What's really bad but yeah, I get sucked in.
Mia Fileman 45:16
Oh my same I spent 1000s of dollars on new luggage because I was just obsessed with July's LinkedIn marketing strategy. It's just this is, like I said, occupational hazard. Yeah,
Emily Lambourne 45:29
I understand.
Mia Fileman 45:31
Alright, chat to you soon.
Emily Lambourne 45:32
Thanks, man.
Mia Fileman 45:34
Thank you, you listened right up until the end. So why not hit that subscribe button and keep the good marketing rolling. Podcast reviews. I'll have warm hugs. And they're also the best way to support a small business. You can connect with me, Mia Fileman on Instagram or LinkedIn and feel free to send me a message. I'm super friendly.
