Interview with Rick Platt

Rick Platt
Group President
Sequential Brands Group

Marketing, advertising and publicity are very important for the success of a brand

Rick Platt, Group President at Sequential Brands Group, Inc. talks about various aspect of marketing and licensing of clothing brands with Fibre2Fashion Correspondent Ilin Mathew. Synopsis: Sequential Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:SQBG) owns, promotes, markets, and licenses a portfolio of consumer brands that presently includes William Rast, People's Liberation, DVS, Heelys, Caribbean Joe, Ellen Tracy, Revo and The Franklin Mint. Rick Platt has over 20 years of experience and success in Brand Management, licensing, merchandising, marketing and strategic direction. Rick started his career in retail, first with May Department Stores, rising to General Manager, then Ames Department Stores, rising to Merchandise Manager of Textiles. After 2 years in wholesale, Rick returned to the licensing business as Managing Director of Pillowtex, then a new licensing company that owned some of the largest textile brands in the industry - Cannon, Royal Velvet, Fieldcrest and Charisma. After 3 years of successfully licensing all 4 brands into the Home market as full lifestyle brands, Pillowtex was sold to Iconix. Next, Rick became President of the Waverly Home business. After that, Rick joined Brand Matter, the entity that owned both Ellen Tracy & Caribbean Joe, as President. Excerpts:

Sequential Brands Group Inc. (Nasdaq:SQBG) has a combined experience of 65 years in managing and licensing a large-scale and diversified portfolio of consumer brands. What is your take on preserving the brand's timeless heritage and expanding the consumer base?

Sequential Brands Group Inc. (Nasdaq:SQBG) is a pure-play brand management and licensing company. We own eight consumer brands that generate approximately US$1 billion in annual retail sales and we license them to world class partners, either retailers or vendor partners, who then make the product and sell them in the market place. The biggest concern or the biggest thing we focus on is making sure that we find the best partners for the business who make sense for each particular brand. Every brand comes with its own heritage and its own DNA so our job is to build on that with great partners, with great retailers and new product categories. To preserve the brand heritage and to extend the customer base, the best thing for us is to identify and bring on board the best partners who understand the brand so that we can eventually grow up. Once we have the right partnership in place, the extension comes from moving into new logical product categories and territories that extend the brand. For instance, a women's brand can launch accessories, scarves, footwear, etc. as part of its extension plan.

What advantages do vertically-integrated textile companies have over other firms that are engaged in production of only fabrics or garments?

Again, we are a licensing company so for us a vertically integrated partner is a better partner than someone who is only focusing on certain products. A company that can source the product, design the product, package the product, sell the product nationally or internationally, and market the product along with us are certainly better partners.

Q 3. You have once said, "What began as a women's blouse company has evolved to an offering of over 30 product categories, experiencing 4 years of consecutive double-digit retail sales growth." Can you comment on the strength of your balance sheet at this point, and are there any areas that you are working to improve right now?

The areas we consistently look to improve on for all of our brands is do we have the right licensing partner, are they appropriate for the brand, what new categories can be included and then exploring those new categories. With respect to our women's fashion brand Ellen Tracy, we are heavily focusing on international expansion. We have a very significant business in Korea; we are moving to Europe, we are expanding to Mexico and we are working on business opportunities in Asia and Australia.

Last year, the company has announced its plans to open international distribution in South Korea. What are the opportunities Sequential Brand is foreseeing in the country?

South Korean is a new and emerging market and we have seen a lot of success for our fashion brands there. I think the most important point is when we expand to a new international market it is very important to have partners who understand that market.

Can you tell us about the major changes in the branded clothing industry over the years, especially in terms of focus area, competitors, technology, creativity, etc?

The biggest change we have witnessed in the US market is that the market is dominated by a select number of retailers. So in the US, it is important to focus on where you want to position your brand. All of the brands are fighting for shelf space in the retail environment and having the right retail partner for each brand is really essential for its success.

What is the role of advertising in expanding the business and what are your thoughts on the whole new world of social media marketing?

Marketing, advertising and publicity are very important for the success of a brand. In terms of social media, it is also helpful to have a celebrity component attached to a brand so the social media can help drive the sales. We are very much focused on the social media aspect of businesses. All of our brands have a personality that we make sure comes through in our social media platforms whether it be Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. It is however still important to market brands through traditional channels like creative advertising, publicity and lifestyle events that support retail partners.

Quoting from the company website, "Sequential Brands Group believes that great brands are built one step at a time. They also need great people to help nurture and grow them." Can you elaborate on it?

In a licensing business, our asset is our trademark. It not only affects our brand it also affects our third party licensing partner. We have an incredible team on the brand management side that is very hands on with each of our brands ensuring that the essence of each brand remains authentic and translates into the marketplace.

How important is economic, environmental, cultural and social development globally with the efficient use of waste products as well as sustainable raw materials?

It is definitely an important issue and one that the textile industry is concerned with now more than ever, from the buyers to the vendor partners. In the licensing business, the only way to have control over this is to work with best-in-class companies that share our core values and meet a higher level of standards.

You have over 20 years of experience and success in Brand Management, licensing, merchandising, marketing and strategic direction. Can you tell us about the quality required to be a successful corporate leader of a textile and apparel company?

I have tremendous experience in international marketing, licensing and sponsorship and have had the opportunity to work with incredible branding and licensing companies like the NFL, MLB among others. I think the main quality required to be a successful corporate leader is credibility. We need to have a level of credibility in the market place where we are introducing our new brand. We are constantly talking to our vendor partners about coming on board and having a good reputation is everything in this business.

Published on: 05/06/2014

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.