MISTAKES YOU DID NOT KNOW YOU WERE MAKING, 17 JADE SWEATERS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE, 13 SHOES WITH CATS ON THEM THAT WILL MAKE HIM PURR!
Millennials, the new target demographic, lived in a tough world. They came of age in the shadow of 9/11. The job market was dismal when they graduated from college and even worse when they came out of grad school. They wanted to consume content that was funny and optimistic and demanded a maximum investment of two minutes. They didn’t languidly browse through magazines for hours. They swiped, they liked, they tapped, they shared. Most important, they didn’t care if content was branded as long as it made them LOL or ROFL.
The new app would optimize the consumer magazine experiencewith a fully integrated shopping platform, allowing the magazine to reap the revenues from an industry it long helped to build and sustain with no real return. Oh sure, fashion brands had always paid money to advertise in the magazine’s pages. But that was nothing compared to what they stood to earn from Eve’s new plan for one-tap shopping off every item pictured.
The technology had been developed by a friend of Eve’s from Harvard Business School. Together they had figured out how to layer fashion editorial over shopping cart code.
Eve asked everyone in the audience to pull out their tablets, an unnecessary overture since most were already on their owners’ laps. She asked them to log on to Glossy.beta.test with their last name and the password Cygnus.
“One hundred sixty-seven million people shopped online today. In the next year they will spend one hundred billion more online than they did last year. That’s one hundred billion dollars just out there, up for grabs. If you make it super hard for people to shop for your product, you make it super hard for people to buy your product.” Imogen was amazed at how many times Eve could use the word “super” in a single breath. “We make it super easy to shop and buy. After you checked into the conference this morning, our engineers created an account for each of you. We deposited a hundred dollars into each account. Now play around with the site.”
Glossy.com’s new content populated the screen behind Eve.
Everyone clicked on the shoes with cats. Black Chuck Taylors with cat faces, purple boots with tiny cat tails attached to the heels. Hovering over each piece of content was a bright starburst that screamed BUY IT NOW.
Eve grinned.
“BUY IT NOW!” she yelled.
And with one click, two hundred audience members made a purchase.
“Your information is already in the system. We conveyed it to the individual retailer. We know
where
you want it shipped. We know
how
you want it shipped. No need to go off the page. Your receipt willbe emailed to you. You can continue reading now, with the knowledge that your product will be on its way to you within the next eighteen hours.”
The crowd was delighted, but Eve really got them with what came next. This is what had investors salivating.
Eve showed chart upon chart of numbers on the giant screen. The real cash cow would come after year one of the application’s launch, when they could harness data on when, where, why and how their customers shopped. The collection, storage, and sorting of that data would be worth billions to brands.
Eve received a standing ovation. Even Imogen couldn’t help but be impressed by the girl’s performance and charisma.
She was excited and terrified all at once. With Eve at the helm of Cygnus and Cygnus ready to launch into Glossy.com, she didn’t understand what the company needed from her or why they were even keeping her on board.
Imogen felt small next to Eve, her former assistant who was now a big bright shining star in this room full of young people who had no fears about their own futures. Eve was a tech darling.
Imogen kept clapping and smiling. God, she felt so uncomfortable. Wasn’t it time to leave already?
—
“Teeny Tiny Video, Great Big
Millennials, the new target demographic, lived in a tough world. They came of age in the shadow of 9/11. The job market was dismal when they graduated from college and even worse when they came out of grad school. They wanted to consume content that was funny and optimistic and demanded a maximum investment of two minutes. They didn’t languidly browse through magazines for hours. They swiped, they liked, they tapped, they shared. Most important, they didn’t care if content was branded as long as it made them LOL or ROFL.
The new app would optimize the consumer magazine experiencewith a fully integrated shopping platform, allowing the magazine to reap the revenues from an industry it long helped to build and sustain with no real return. Oh sure, fashion brands had always paid money to advertise in the magazine’s pages. But that was nothing compared to what they stood to earn from Eve’s new plan for one-tap shopping off every item pictured.
The technology had been developed by a friend of Eve’s from Harvard Business School. Together they had figured out how to layer fashion editorial over shopping cart code.
Eve asked everyone in the audience to pull out their tablets, an unnecessary overture since most were already on their owners’ laps. She asked them to log on to Glossy.beta.test with their last name and the password Cygnus.
“One hundred sixty-seven million people shopped online today. In the next year they will spend one hundred billion more online than they did last year. That’s one hundred billion dollars just out there, up for grabs. If you make it super hard for people to shop for your product, you make it super hard for people to buy your product.” Imogen was amazed at how many times Eve could use the word “super” in a single breath. “We make it super easy to shop and buy. After you checked into the conference this morning, our engineers created an account for each of you. We deposited a hundred dollars into each account. Now play around with the site.”
Glossy.com’s new content populated the screen behind Eve.
Everyone clicked on the shoes with cats. Black Chuck Taylors with cat faces, purple boots with tiny cat tails attached to the heels. Hovering over each piece of content was a bright starburst that screamed BUY IT NOW.
Eve grinned.
“BUY IT NOW!” she yelled.
And with one click, two hundred audience members made a purchase.
“Your information is already in the system. We conveyed it to the individual retailer. We know
where
you want it shipped. We know
how
you want it shipped. No need to go off the page. Your receipt willbe emailed to you. You can continue reading now, with the knowledge that your product will be on its way to you within the next eighteen hours.”
The crowd was delighted, but Eve really got them with what came next. This is what had investors salivating.
Eve showed chart upon chart of numbers on the giant screen. The real cash cow would come after year one of the application’s launch, when they could harness data on when, where, why and how their customers shopped. The collection, storage, and sorting of that data would be worth billions to brands.
Eve received a standing ovation. Even Imogen couldn’t help but be impressed by the girl’s performance and charisma.
She was excited and terrified all at once. With Eve at the helm of Cygnus and Cygnus ready to launch into Glossy.com, she didn’t understand what the company needed from her or why they were even keeping her on board.
Imogen felt small next to Eve, her former assistant who was now a big bright shining star in this room full of young people who had no fears about their own futures. Eve was a tech darling.
Imogen kept clapping and smiling. God, she felt so uncomfortable. Wasn’t it time to leave already?
—
“Teeny Tiny Video, Great Big
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