In this week’s episode of Earned, Brit Starr sits down with Iris Coker, former director of influencer relations and social media at Kate Spade New York.
Iris dives into how their team balanced rich heritage with the dynamic demands of Gen Z. Explore the fusion of tradition and innovation and discover how community-driven marketing is shaping the future of influencer success at Kate Spade New York.
To start, we dive into Iris’ journey from agency life to leading innovative strategies at Kate Spade New York. Iris shares how the brand successfully merges its cherished legacy with modern influencer dynamics, particularly through TikTok. We explore how creators have become central to Kate Spade's strategy and blurred the lines between organic and paid media. Iris discusses the balance of honoring Kate Spade's heritage while appealing to the ever-evolving Gen Z market, emphasizing the importance of community input and risk-taking, illustrated by campaigns from Set Active and Huda Beauty. Iris provides insights into Kate Spade's new leadership direction, which promises to redefine consumer connections with a focus on sustainability and innovative influencer strategies. To close the episode, Iris shares her experiences from orchestrating an influencer trip, highlighting the transformative power of learning from industry leaders, underscoring the humility and openness that drive innovation and success in this dynamic field.
Check out highlights from the episode below, or or tune into the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!
The following interview has been lightly edited for concision.
Iris Coker on bringing creators into your community: “We try to approach every single [creator relationship] as a partnership. It's super bespoke.”
Brit Starr: I am a marketer, not a creator, and I have endless respect for creators and what they do. I feel like there's increased acknowledgement of creators as business owners and brand owners. They're not just media channels, they're not just producing great content, they are business owners, and they are founders.
Iris Coker: Yes, definitely. We certainly look at them that way, and we look at them as partners in everything that we do. It's definitely beyond just sending someone a brief and saying ‘go shoot this bag and make it cute and then come back to us.’ We try to approach every single one as a partnership. It's super bespoke. We love to have relationships with all of our creators.
On top of that, we like to tap into trends and understand what people want to see from us. For example, we bring creators to our press previews. We want their opinions, and we want them to see the collections ahead of launches in the same way that we want the press to see it, because, quite frankly, it's important for them to get the content out there as well. There are just as many eyeballs, if not sometimes more, on creator content. Every day, the creator economy continues to grow and become stronger and stronger. There's so many different ways to tap into [the creator economy] beyond just hiring someone to create content for you.
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