Coach CMO Sandeep Seth on why technology shouldn’t come first

This article on Coach is part of our Vogue Business Membership package. To enjoy unlimited access to Member-only reporting and insights, our NFT Tracker and TikTok Trend Tracker, weekly Technology and Sustainability Edits and exclusive event invitations, sign up for Membership here. As Tapestry’s largest brand, Coach is experiencing an ongoing revitalisation to build relevance with younger consumers as the parent company — which also owns Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman — works to reach $8 billion in revenue by 2025. Sandeep Seth, Coach’s global CMO and North America president, has overseen many of these efforts since he joined the company in 2021. Much of his role includes navigating how the brand tests and evaluates new technologies and platforms to increase engagement, generate new audiences and ultimately lead to sales. During the Vogue Business Technology Forum, Seth spoke to senior innovation editor Maghan McDowell about his strategy for success, which relies less on old-school KPIs and more on new measures of success, such as engagement time and search interest. A key philosophy, he says, is to extend brand storytelling across platforms in a way that is appropriate for the medium and integrated into wider campaigns, rather than as standalone ideas. “Technology doesn’t come first. What comes first is consumer behaviour, and understanding how consumers live their lives.” This is represented in the Coach’s recent campaign for its well-known Tabby bag, which launched with a traditional ad campaign this spring featuring celebrities including musician Lil Nas X, Camila Mendes, Kōki, and Wu Jinyan. The brand opened an experience during Metaverse Fashion Week that invited visitors to complete a series of challenges inside a larger-than-life virtual bag; they were rewarded with free digital wearables and the option to try on the bag through AR try-on. The experience was considered one of the more successful of the event because of the higher-than-average dwell time; visitors spent 31,194 minutes in the experience over the four days it was open. Seth says that the numbers during MVFW were higher than expected, and, even more importantly, the brand learned key insights into a successful virtual event. “The key here is testing. But, it’s very difficult in today’s world to master everything or anything because technology is changing so rapidly. So, by the time you master a particular platform or technology, it has evolved into something else.” The efforts around the Tabby bag extended with a partnership with Teen Vogue, an AR try-on experience via physical store windows outside of its Soho location, and in a new “Coachtopia” project to use material waste and digital identities on new Tabby styles. The idea for the recent Tabby campaign, he adds, started with insights gathered from speaking with consumers; Coach learned that what people carry in their bags is not just physical products, but emotions, Seth says. Acting on data like this — both qualitative research (informed by pre-testing) and quantitative data — has become a core strategy for Coach and for Tapestry, which now has a central team that has created a user-friendly, intuitive platform for use across all its brands. The data is used to help inform product design, communications and experiences. Seth considers this approach akin to co-creation. “It’s always the right mix of magic and logic,” he says. While sales are always a key barometer of success, he takes the pulse even earlier through organic search — which can be the first indicator that the market is moving, he says. “It’s a real indicator that I have interested people in something and they’re looking for you. They want to know more about you. They may not be ready to buy yet, but I have finally made that difference because when you’re searching something, you’re putting effort, and that only happens if you’re interested in something.” Going forward, he is excited to experiment with artificial intelligence. “There are going to be a lot of positives and negatives, but AI has the power to complement human creativity in a way that is better for everyone. I am personally very, very keen on seeing how this evolves, and I want to be part of this journey.” To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here. Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.

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