From left: Tina Sharkey, Julie Rice, Charlotte Koh and Jennifer Aaker at the 2019 Forbes Women's Summit.Representation, relationships and rewarding the community are key to how brands connect with their customers. Though Reese Witherspoon’s book club Hello Sunshine, Soul Cycle, WeWork and Brandless seem like different businesses on the outside, leaders at these companies shared strategies that overlapped.
“We co-create alongside the community—anyone in retail has heard of omnichannel and D2C,” Shakey said of the multichannel approach which her e-commerce company manufactures products which it sells direct to customers. “It’s not a channel, it’s a relationship.”For SoulCycle founder Julia Rice, who joined WeWork as the chief brand officer in 2017, personifying a brand is key to finding the distinct voice that speaks to potential customers.
“When you look at the mission of SoulCycle, and the mission of WeWork they’re absolutely the same,” said Rice. “They’re both businesses where the product is community.” The market for consumers attention is crowded. Curation has helped Hello Sunshine put women at the center of the stories it suggests.