Purpose-driven Marketing with Jann Parish, CMO and President of Girls Like You

 It has to start somewhere. It has to start some time. What better place than here? What better time than now?
 You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
 Hey guys, what's up? It's Ryan Alford. Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. Here we are in a holiday season.
 We've got our toasty fireplace actually brewing here on the TV screen. It's making me feel warm.
 And I'm also feeling warm with our latest guest here. Jan Parrish, great to have you Jan.
 So good to be here. Thank you.
 Yeah, so hey, I like that cozy background there in the home like most people.
 I think all of our most of our guests these days have been at home and abound.
 We're fortunate enough to have a spread out office so we keep things warm in the studio and light.
 But Jan is the founder and CMO president extraordinaire of girls like you GLU glue for short.
 So did I title everything right, Jan? I mean, you're a woman of many capabilities and things that we'll get into.
 But you were in a lot of hats there, GLU.
 I'm sure yeah, the start up mentality right a little bit of everything.
 Exactly. Start up life, which you've had some experiences here recently, including your own.
 So I know we'll get into that.
 But so Jan, first and foremost, I guess we're staying safe and sound this holiday season.
 Anything crazy on your end? Are we trying to keep things as normal as possible?
 Exactly that as normal as possible. It's a beautiful snowy day here today in Ohio.
 So you know, it's all nice and snuggly inside the house.
 And yeah, we're going to hopefully it'll stay like this throughout the next couple of weeks.
 I get to the holiday season and get to spend some time together makes it so much easier to be indoors when it's so beautiful and winter.
 I am jealous of the snow. We're still dreaming here like last night.
 I don't know what it was here in upstate South Carolina.
 We had like three inches of rain. It was 36 degrees. So we're like this close to having some precipitation frozen type of precipitation.
 But I was just rainy and jockey. So we're hoping that we can pray every all of my kids.
 My four boys under the age of 11 and they're all praying for a white Christmas.
 I'm like, I wouldn't count on it.
 No, I grew up in Texas and Texas was the same thing.
 Every year, I wanted that one white Christmas and one year, like just randomly, it got to 32 degrees and it snowed for about 15 minutes.
 And it was like, it was the best day ever, best Christmas ever.
 It didn't stick.
 The one Christmas I can remember here in South Carolina, it was like gone by 2 p.m.
 Like the morning. So like a dusting, but we don't get so fortunate.
 But we do get wonderful weather in South Carolina. So no complaints.
 Jan, let's tell everybody, let's let's start down the path here and give everyone the background.
 I know you've been in fashion design and all those things being the CMO at several large companies and VP of marketing.
 Really heavy and impressive marketing background. But let's just kind of give everybody that background on Jan.
 Yeah, sure. So I would say from this time I was eight.
 I knew that I wanted to work in fashion and marketing and some capacity marketing probably less.
 So if you asked my eight year old self, you probably would have heard I want to work in, you know, be the editor of Vogue magazine.
 What I knew was that I wanted to be creative and I wanted to find ways to be creative.
 And to express myself and most importantly through clothes, it was just something I felt really strongly about.
 You know, over the years, I started first in Texas and I graduated from TCU and actually ended up going into technology because that's what you did in 2000.
 It was the tech boom and that's where you started. So I work for Texas instruments.
 Working on DSPs. And if there's one thing that didn't look like another, it was Jan Parish and digital signal processors.
 I was there for a couple of years and moved to New York City and by sheer just wit and verb and tenacity found my way into the fashion space.
 I started with magazines. I was with a title called DNR and it was a men's publication that was tied to women's more daily.
 And then I just kind of worked my way up. I left from there to go into the beginning of my marketing career, working with a company called Kellwood, who did a bunch of kind of early ox brands, like Baby Fat in my Michelle and XOXO.
 And then grew into beauty and was at Lori Al for a while.
 After Lori Al, I went to Calvin Klein and that really began, I would say close to a 15 year stunt between Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
 I worked for Calvin for a couple of years, was then recruited to Tommy Hilfiger than the parent company who owned both of them acquired Calvin Klein.
 So the bulk of my work has been with those guys and it's really been about rebranding and creating really moments of inspiration for the consumer and tying it as closely as I can to end execution and monetization of that experience.
 So in 2008, it was magazine spreads and beautiful content and that sort of thing. And as time marched on, what I loved was the science that began to show up in the marketing space.
 And it was taking the beauty that came from the fashion imagery and turning it into content they could share with the consumer and they could engage with one of the big feathers in my cap was in a couple, it was several years ago with the hashtag my Calvin's campaign,
 which was one of the first fully monetized kind of social media campaigns in the industry featuring Justin Bieber.
 And then I found my way to Victoria's secret and for a few minutes after that, found my way into the cannabis space and through all of that, I've had this really strong desire to start my own company.
 I've had a lot of experiences with a lot of big places and now I sit here in the little studio above my garage, which is, you know, glue headquarters creating this kind of next big dream.
 That's awesome. A lot to impact there. We have more in common than I realized I did six years in Manhattan, but on the agency side, working with Hill holiday and now what's EP and co here in Greenville.
 There are Boston agency as Hill holiday is and then we have I opened their New York office XEP who's owned by Hill holiday and IPG.
 The large larger holding company and so worked on Verizon, iPhone, Apple, Samsung, large brands and have to watch that transformation from print and traditional mediums into what's now the digital, the art and the science of marketing.
 So I love that and I love the perspective, you know, we work with a lot of boutique type fashion brands and we really love the visual content of it.
 But the only thing that's kind of been maddening and I was curious your take on it is as much as I love the science and we're a digital agency, but it's been a little all the talk of performance marketing and everything like that.
 I hate how the brand and some of the visual aspects of branding has gotten pushed down a little bit. I don't know your perspective on that, you know, working and kind of coming like me, wearing both sides of the fence in a marketing world, how you feel about that.
 Yeah, it's a funny thing. I completely agree with that. I would say there was a point in time where we worked really hard to make sure every image that found its way into any channel kind of beyond traditional print was as beautiful as print and then realized that was untenable.
 And there was this crazy aspect of like, okay, what do we let go of in that process and what do we create from it.
 And what I have found to be really remarkable through all that particularly when you think about content creation is really what's input into the hands of the customer and the end consumer and what they can do.
 And while not nearly as polished, sometimes a lot more interesting and it's been really cool to kind of see how creativity comes to pass in these times.
 What I find to be kind of a drag is when you put all those algorithms behind it, what actually gets to the forefront of the consumer's attention.
 And sometimes the really good stuff doesn't make it. It doesn't fit whatever crazy thing is happening inside that science part and that can be totally maddening too.
 So yeah, it's an interesting mix. I, you know, what comes to life is can be really beautiful and really unique. And then you wait for it to really hit and sometimes it doesn't and that can be just totally bonkers.
 Yeah, it does because sometimes we now producing some of the best, you know, videos and when I say best, I mean, sometimes it's not even production value, but the what you feel like is quality concept and strategy and consumer insight.
 And then, you know, it gets beat out by whatever the borrowed interest of the day is from, you know, TikTok or otherwise, which can be maddening like you said with the algorithm.
 But what's been like the biggest, you know, before we transition into everything that's happening with girls like you, what's, you know, you talked about it and kind of that love of the consumer.
 You know, I hear that I read that in some of the other pieces you've talked about, which really hits with me.
 But is there any like, you know, any big like your biggest takeaway or your biggest insight that you feel like you've brought now owning your own business from all those experiences? Is it just kind of leaning into that customers or something else?
 Yeah, there's, you know, there's a couple of things that come into play there. I think the first is that idea of leaning into the customer. I think it's really easy, particularly as a founder to fall in love with your own work and your own experience. Right. And, you know, because it's your baby, just as, you know, as your daughter or your sons in your case.
 And, you know, I think that through all of these years of training, you developed that ability to be able to separate.
 I guess it would be just the passion for the work from what the consumer is going to want from you. And I think maybe there's a little bit of ego in there that comes with that too, that you have to part with.
 But it took, it took, you know, a good portion of my career to come to that place where you can really make that point of differentiation. And as I've launched glue.
 And that's exactly right. You know, what we're so early. I mean, we're, you know, two months into existence in the consumer space, you know, nine months, you know, from back where I sit.
 And it's all test and learn. Like you can't love anything too much. You have to be willing to put a couple of other things out there, see what sticks, change your website around.
 Change the way you're doing emails and see how the consumer responds.
 What inspired, so let's just drive jump right into girls like you and the glue that holds and brought it together.
 I imagine family and some inspiration, but let's let's talk about what what drove you to start girls like you and really maybe just the nuts and bolts of what it is.
 And giving our listeners kind of that background on glue.
 Sure. So glue stands for girls like you and the brand was built around the premise that it takes courage to grow up.
 A big piece of growing up naturally is kind of the physical changes that happen as you do.
 And whether you're a boy or a girl, those are experiences you have. And we chose to focus really on girls and those who identify as such and what that experience looks like.
 So I have been in, you know, women's focused brands for a long time. And most recently with Victoria's secret.
 And it was I would say largely born in my time at BS where I was seeing the consumer was beginning to differ in the way that they chose to express themselves and what we were seeing an advertised thing.
 And the way we were expressing the brand and it got me to thinking I was like, well, so if we're to think about where the world is headed and what the generation of young women and what they're going to expect from us and, you know, how the way they're going to communicate about themselves, it's different.
 And I didn't want to create something that was going to really be an outward projection of an idea of just mine.
 My hope is that this is a community kind of focused thing where it becomes a product and content and experiences that come from the greater some and from, you know, all the individuals in there.
 It's why it's not called girls like us or girl like me.
 Yeah, you know, so, you know, that was really the idea behind it. I'll tell you truthfully the concept itself came from conversations with my daughter, Lila.
 So my daughter, Lila, I'm looking at a picture right here right now of the website is the darkheaded little girl on the picture.
 She's not so little anymore. She's 12. She died if I told her she were little, but.
 It's just a TikTok star. All right, I got to know is that who we're seeing on TikTok.
 You're seeing her and you're also seeing a woman who actually was my next door neighbor several years ago.
 We were living in New York and she was a babysitter.
 Yeah, and so a big part of me and then my my focus in business is really making sure I can, you know, grab young talent and bring them along for the ride.
 That's the case and Evelyn, who's a lot of the most the most the girls you're seeing or the main girl you're seeing in a TikTok videos.
 She's amazing. So yeah.
 And that is that's not that is or isn't your daughter.
 No, that's Ellen that is our intern and Lila is in about half of them.
 So you see here, they're both darkheaded. So it's kind of.
 Yeah, so.
 Evelyn, excuse me, Evelyn and Lila, they bring that aspect that kind of self expression moment to the brand.
 And so where we had gotten started was actually a couple of years ago, my daughter came home from school and she's like, oh, hey, we're going to have.
 And every we all go to this that the body talk in school in a couple of days.
 And I was like, oh, yeah, how you feel about that? And she's like, I mean, it's kind of weird that my home room teacher is going to be the one who's going to give us, you know, this, this big talk.
 And I was like, you know, I had never really thought about it like that because that's just the way we do things, right?
 Like the same thing that happened to me growing up in Texas all those years ago.
 I remember it was my home room teacher as well. I don't know why, but I remember that.
 You know, the gift to those home room teachers.
 Oh, I got the short straw.
 You know, and I think there's just this like just mass of different ideas and things that are unexplained or maybe the young woman has her own kind of view of what that is.
 But without the experience of having individuals to talk to about it, it's, it's a scary thing.
 And so we decided that at that moment, like what we were going to do was create a brand that helped to spell the myths associated with growing up.
 And, you know, it can be everything from dealing with, you know, loneliness and the time of COVID to also to, you know, how to care for your body, how to care for your skin.
 And the experiences that come along, social dynamics, all of that, none of that is off the table.
 So when we were looking at how we could work the content with the, with the product, the first place we launched was actually with this idea of an at home manicure kit.
 And if you can imagine it's like March, we're all staying at home.
 You forget what the outdoors looks like, basically, because we were all a little too afraid to leave.
 We thought, well, why don't we create something that would give you a point of engagement with your friends.
 And we created this kit. So all the items associated with giving up, giving yourself a manicure come in this kit, a bunch of fun colors.
 All the beauty that we have designed is all organic, it's natural, it's non toxic.
 The nail posh mover is a brand new product that's built, it's made out of soy oils rather than acetone.
 So create something that was beautiful, useful, and then package it in a way that it can be engaging.
 So the girls like you box, actually, the product that it comes in, the box itself has a place that's been engineered to hold a smartphone.
 So that gives you a chance to watch the videos that we produce. You have the nails or Netflix now on screen.
 And that basically gives you a tutorial on there of how to do your nails.
 And it also gives you a place of engagement and conversation.
 And you can use that phone stand. In fact, all of our TikTok is shot using that phone stand that comes with the glue kit.
 And because it makes the perfect extra entity to help you kind of get your point across.
 And then from a branding standpoint, from where you and I sit, Ryan, it's got our logo on it, it has identification, it's easy to get to our site from the information on the box.
 And it's a good place for a young girl and for a young woman to express her creativity.
 So as we kind of get out of the holiday season, we're really focused on gift giving, we're going to move into talking about what kind of the winter blues look like for this generation.
 And kind of the effects of technology and the combination of really just kind of the outward projection of everybody's having fun when, you know, life is hard and it's hard for everyone.
 And what are the stories that we can tell to bring comfort to the audience and to bring them along and, you know, find some humor in it too.
 This is a woman after my own heart in many ways, starting an e-commerce brand with community in mind with the content to create user generated content.
 Like, this is like the rock star plan for how you start an e-commerce business.
 I'm just going to give you props.
 I don't pump.
 If you listen any, if you go, listen, I don't pump up my guests, like just naturally, that's just not my style.
 But we work with enough e-commerce brands that come in the door that want to hire us.
 They're when they've either grown, they can't start growing anymore. They want to grow more.
 And I look at them and they're in a, they have a commoditized product and they don't have, they have no community.
 And they think that doing sales every week is going to sell product.
 And it starts with community and you guys have started right square in the middle with that.
 I think it's brilliant.
 And I love how you're creating content and, and, and, and really building around the story of your audience in narratives that mean so much to them.
 And something that's so underserved, which is whether it's the youth, girls, boys, whoever, and them kind of getting an image for themselves and helping them develop that.
 So kudos all around for the approach.
 And now, now that, not if I've made your head big, it's been intentional because it's, it's really is great.
 It really is great.
 I love the community aspect.
 Well, thank you very much.
 We're super excited to get it off the ground and see where it can go.
 It's been a true labor of love.
 There's like 27, you know, there's, there's no hours, you know, totally away from it or it doesn't cross my mind or hit a dream or anything.
 Are we a subscription base?
 So, you know, there's a few things that I hear with monetization of this.
 You know, obviously selling the boxes and the kits, having worked with companies that get involved in doing the boxes, the birch box, those kind of things.
 It feels like a blend of selling product that's branded as well as potentially the kind of box think.
 Maybe dive into that a little bit of the monetization aspect of this.
 Well, let me tell you a little bit about how we're approaching that.
 So what, the one thing I was most afraid of was I didn't want to create something that was e-commerce focused.
 That was a one time purchase.
 So I was going to spend my life and, you know, my daughter who's very closely involved in this, just trying to acquire new customers.
 Yeah.
 I'm going to be able to back again, right?
 So part of the methodology to the brand is to tie the storytelling to the product launches that we'll be doing as we go.
 And then once we're a little further on, we're so early in phase one is where you'll see the beginnings of the subscription based business.
 So our second launch is focused on skincare.
 There's two kits that will be launching one called all clear here and another one called seeing spots.
 And it's beauty, it's skincare products to you can basically mix max to cut to kind of what you need most.
 And the hope is that through kind of bringing in that information about the consumer, the answer was much like you see a lot of other e-commerce businesses.
 And then really kind of coming back with all the tools and tech that come along with marketing now.
 So we can start to create that subscription moment and really develop a sense of loyalty and long term relationship with our consumer.
 And that's the content piece.
 The product can take you so far.
 There's loyalty associated with that, but if they believe in you and they believe in what you have to say, that's how you're going to keep them.
 So this always be GLU flu branded products that you're selling.
 Is it always going to be your products or would potentially be a conglomeration or a, you know, I'm blanking on the word.
 I think you know what I'm asking.
 It's like cross promotion or other partners.
 It's a great question.
 So right now we're starting with flu.
 There's a couple of things that have come my way that are interesting that I'm looking to probably include in the site just for an overall experience.
 And we'll see just their testing and learning what sticks and what you want.
 I would love to bring others along on this experience.
 I think the content component of what we're trying to accomplish makes a lot of room for that.
 You know, all in due time, trying to keep the type A under control and this personality and kind of take each step and sequence appropriately.
 It might be the start of the next Glossier, but with a more purposeful mission and function here.
 I sure hope so.
 Yes, I know.
 So talk a little bit more about, you know, that you have a daughter.
 I'm sure that inspired it.
 I mean, is there is there any other like natural inspirations that and I mean, obviously like in my monologue on how great this is.
 I mean, the importance of this with girls and their self image and those kind of things.
 But there are other things that have just been natural care points for you that have really tied you to this.
 There's been your daughter as much as anything.
 So I would say it's just the aspect of womanhood that's really, you know, really created the moment.
 And I think that you.
 I think it's a word you could use, but I don't like it as much because I think it has different implications.
 You know, I came up initially in business and an environment that was, you know, pretty, pretty dominated by men.
 It never bothered me because I just didn't choose to make it a point of differentiation.
 We're all just going to be great business people.
 As I went along and, you know, looked at who was applying for jobs and that sort of thing.
 What I really wanted to do was be one of the individuals who could bring somebody along and then have them pay it forward.
 And then they, and then that person would pay it for it.
 And hopefully over time, we would have this really neat network of individuals who, you know, have a shared experience and are focused on kind of the idea of community.
 Much like I started when describing only for start speaking.
 And I found that to be really effective as I've moved up and it's meant great relationships and great sounding boards and interesting people to talk to along the way and, you know, that what you can learn from people that you bring into your circle and what they, and what you can teach them is they're both important.
 As I approached this business, it was all of that.
 It was the spirit of openness and, you know, vulnerability.
 It's, I think, you know, for me, early in my career, that was a hard thing to do.
 Not anymore. I'm a grown up now on them and kind of be who I'm going to be.
 But at that point, it was, and I want to make that part be as easy for young women as they grow up as possible.
 And that's where this idea of like the interaction with the box with your phone or, you know, girls like you and not girls like me.
 It's the identity is open and allows for individuality.
 And I think what's been super cool as I've talked to, you know, these young, these young people who live in Gen Z, whether boy or girl is, they're down.
 I think to see that and it's, it's been also really interesting because the product itself, nail polish once upon a time was girl focused.
 Or at least that's the way it was projected and the amount of these kids and, you know, people I've come along with that have bought them that it's not about a gender thing.
 It's about a self-expression thing.
 And that's cool too. So, you know, it could just as easily be girls and guys like you, you know, and all in due time.
 You know, I love it. Talk, you know, we're marketing podcasts. We've been talking some marketing, obviously, holistically.
 What are the marketing avenues, you know, as being a startup, you're two months in, out to the consumer.
 What are you guys leaning on from a marketing perspective for telling, obviously building the community, which is going to be, you know, the big play and for to do some lifting for you.
 But what are the channels and kind of the what's the marketing plan for glue?
 Sure. So, you know, we launched that a relatively auspicious time, so it's going to be the craziest year, I think.
 Go figure, I feel for every startup.
 You know, I think what I'm really focused on and kind of where both Lyle and I agree is that it's the trust building exercise that comes first.
 And so, you know, right now, nobody knows us for anything else. And so it's, I think the user generated content will come as people become more familiar with the brand and understand what we stand for.
 So, our focus has been largely on awareness driving and we've been focusing heavily on digital marketing.
 A lot of the backend boring stuff with how we approach search.
 And the hope is to begin to syndicate some of the content that we're generating for the website, as far as the articles go that live in the girl care section of our website.
 And using that as kind of the initial entry point into the business.
 And there we'll continue to launch new tutorials and do what we can to keep the site fresh. And as like the Google machine comes to know us and understand that that will start to kind of pull forward more and more.
 The next big thing I would say as we get into the spring season away from kind of the crowded holiday season is going to be how we how we focus on press.
 I'm paying top of funnel today. I know conversions going to take some time. And I think that's okay. Well, I can't take forever because you know, I got to sell something. But, you know, really want to get out there and get people talking and kind of grow from that perspective.
 Well, it seems like an easy story for people to get behind on the press realm. That's another reason it's brilliant. It should just as you start to get some traction. I think, you know, whether it's the I mean, you can see I could see it on so many different avenues, you know, see I see you on the today show. I could see you on, you know, a lot of different of platforms and telling that.
 But in power, you know, power met feels right, but it's it's more than that. I'm feeling more than that here. The whole self care and the it's more.
 I don't know finding yourself and there's just more to that than just empowerment. I think there's a deeper opportunity here for you guys.
 And what what's what are we wanting? I hate to say you're two months in, you know, I'm used to this question. So it comes to my head. It's like, where are we headed? Like where's Jan headed? Maybe it's not just glue, but what's what's the future hole? Where do we want to be? You know, whether that's what the brand or you got tremendous marketing background.
 Is it like startup startup or die here? Where's it all headed? You know, I, I've done the big company thing and I love the big company thing. And there's not this. I would definitely never say it's never going to happen again.
 But I've had this real desire to lead from a full kind of enterprise, you know, everything from the production and the finance and all of those things I've spent all these years building beautiful marketing machines.
 I'd like to see if I could get to some of the other pieces too. And it's just a personal challenge. As the business continues to grow, my hope is that it can we can find other supporting kind of categories to add to it. And it doesn't have to be glue. It could be blue boys like you. It could be many other things.
 But I could like a look at, you know, a different stage and the individual's life and focus and if I'm, you know, dreaming now is like also thinking about what happens at 45 plus, which would be, you know, and then some relatively short orders, something completely relevant to me.
 And so, you know, it's, the world I think right now is kind of so open, you know, there's so much going on. And I think that there's never been a bigger consumer appetite for businesses that are new.
 I've seen it even in the way that some of my unintentional habits have been from shopping for this holiday season, where can I shop smaller, where I can I, you know, expand beyond just kind of traditional retail and do some and find something cool and interesting and different.
 And I like that I'm hoping that I can create and bring other people along to help create these really cool just kind of different ways and different products that can make our likes better.
 I love it. And they've said that the pandemic has grown e-commerce and the type of discovery that you're, you're talking about like seven years and seven months or nine months or whatever it is like the trajectory of it.
 Yeah, I did not only one in my circle who is starting a new business. I like the idea of a passion economy. It's kind of cool.
 Well, let's tell everybody where we can follow all things girls like you and Jan keeping up with Jan and everything that's going on with the brand and you.
 Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity. So you can find glue girls like you at beautybyglue.com.
 We have our first wholesale account with a boutique and so-ho called flying solo that will be in for the next several months.
 That is a 382 Broadway.
 We can find us on social at the handles at glue stick together across all the majors.
 We are on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.
 And then personally, I am really active on LinkedIn. I encourage anybody who found this conversation interesting to please reach out to me.
 I'm Jan Paris, two ends one are in Paris, two ends in Jan. And yeah, that is the world of glue girls like you.
 And that is just where the pop up is that was my apartment condo was Barclay Towers, which is right in Tribeca and downtown.
 And I saw right down Broadway up to the Empire State Building from on the 52nd floor.
 And so I can envisioning where 352 is and so get out and check out the pop up and you know, it's outdoors.
 Or in some way, shape or form I imagine or outside or somewhere safe.
 And so get out and check out the pop up. I really appreciate Jan Parish coming on today. Jan, really appreciate your time.
 Yeah, it's a great Ryan. Thank you so much for inviting me along.
 My pleasure. Let's stay in touch and maybe do a fall up here in the six or eight months. I want to see where things are going.
 We really appreciate Jan coming on. Go as she said, fall along with everything girls like you.
 We can be found at the radcast.com for all future updates and episodes at all of our content.
 You can follow me at Ryan offered on Instagram. And we will see you next time on the radcast.
 Yo guys, what's up, Ryan offered here. Thanks so much for listening. Really appreciate it. Do us a favor.
 If you've been enjoying the radcast, you need to share the word with a friend or anyone else.
 We really appreciate it and go leave us a review at Apple or Spotify. Do us a solid.
 Tell more people, leave us some reviews and hey, here's the best news of all.
 If you want to work with me directly, you want to get your business kicking ass.
 And you want radical or myself involved, you can text me directly at 864.
 729-3680. Don't wait another minute. Let's get your business going.
 864-729-3680. We'll see you next time.