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Hello and welcome. You're listening to
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Marketing Matters on the Wharton podcast
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network, our weekly podcast where we
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analyze the latest in advertising,
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marketing, customer behavior, retailing,
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new product launches, branding. I'm
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Barbara Khan, the Patty and JH Baker
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Professor of Marketing, and I'm joined
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by my co-host, Americus Reed, the
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Whitney M. Young Jr. Professor of
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Marketing and the brand identity
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theorist. Hello, Americus.
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>> Hi, Barbara. Barbara Khan, you are the
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wizard of the seventh floor. I have a
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question for you.
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>> Are you ready?
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>> Yeah.
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>> Okay. What do
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the K-pop demon hunters,
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Wednesday Adams, Alaba and Glenda, the
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Chicken Jockey, and Laboo have in
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common?
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>> I am guessing that they are trendy
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Halloween costumes. Are they?
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>> You are 100% correct. Then of course you
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know what I'm going to ask you because
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you are the wizard of the seventh floor.
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So what have we got that could possibly
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plug me in to the latest and greatest
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knowledge of Halloween commerce in the
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world?
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>> We have Mr. Halloween himself.
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>> Yes.
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>> Stephen Silverstein who's the CEO of
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Spencer Spirit Holdings. Well, and
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what's particularly relevant today is
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spirit, which is popping up all over
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everybody's cities everywhere.
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Amazingly, they just appear um because
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it's the witching hour. We're just days
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before Halloween. So, Stephen, we are so
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happy every year to have you come back
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and tell us the greatest, best news
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about Halloween, what's in, what's out,
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how we can win this holiday. Welcome to
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the show. Well,
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>> I'm happy to be here.
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>> One of the things I've noticed, like
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every year when I walk around in Philly
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and look at the Halloween decorations,
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it just seems to me, and you'll have the
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numbers to tell whether this is true or
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not, because this is just anecdotal,
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that people are getting into Halloween
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more and more and more every year. It's
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kind of like, you know, when it used to
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be Christmas shopping used to start in
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July. Now, like it seems like Halloween
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decorations start in September and
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people start planning their p parties
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and all and and I imagine even before
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Halloween itself, people are wearing
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costumes to parties and things like
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that. So, is it that Halloween has
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become a month-long holiday? Well, you
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know, look, it definitely is uh taking
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much deeper roots in into across many
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different demographics. And so it really
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is sort of this universal experience
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that everybody seems to be looking for.
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And it seems to happen at just the right
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time. Uh you know, you have that
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opportunity, the the leaves are turning,
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it's a little crispy, and boy, Halloween
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is is on everybody's mind uh right now.
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And uh you know I think about people
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participating in it. You talk about
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decorating but parties, parades, trunk
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or treats, uh lots of different uh you
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know varieties and and that's what makes
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it so f so much fun is you know you can
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do it a little you can do it a lot. Uh
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and there are no gifts involved. So it's
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uh that's
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>> yeah that's a good let me you know like
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just about the timing. So, I know and
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we've had you on the show before, but I
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can't guarantee that every year people
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listen. The same people listen. So, they
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may not understand your business model,
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which is these stores pop up. Yeah.
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>> You're just at the right time and
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they're always in a different place even
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though you come back to Philly all the
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time and you have more than one and
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they're just never in the same place.
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And so, like in thinking about when the
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holiday starts and when you start
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planning, when do your stores open? Um,
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and and is that the same date? And how
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do you do all of that? Do they open like
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fully? Do you like gear up? Like how
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does that all work?
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>> Is that just one question?
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[laughter]
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>> Yes. Uh, yes. Start with uh question
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number Yes. 4 A subp part C. Uh, well,
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let let's start with the fact that we're
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247 365 Halloween. So, I've we've got
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about 500 people that are full year-
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round uh employees of of Spirit
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Halloween. And it is more than a year-
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round process. Uh you can't do what we
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do just by popping up. It's not just a
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good idea. It's something that's got to
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be uh uh planned uh at a great detail
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level and engineered right down to, you
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know, sort of the minute. Um but as far
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as the question you're asking, so uh the
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stores physically begin opening uh the
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beginning of August. Uh and this year
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we'll have 1546. We have 1546 locations
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across the United States and Canada.
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>> Um and the opening process takes uh to
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get to that number. You know, we're
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staging through that. Uh we get them all
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open pretty much by the middle of
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September. So, it's pretty much a six-
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week process to get all those locations
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open. But, um, but it is definitely a
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year- round process to be hiring, to be
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buying, to be planning, to be uh
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merchandising, etc. Um, and so we open
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August 1st. Uh, generally speaking, that
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is our grand opening. This year was a
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little different because of some of the
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challenges we had with supply chain. Um,
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but we intend to open on on August 1st
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and we close uh November 1st or 2nd.
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Wow, that's incredible. I just want to
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jump in really quickly, Barbara, because
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I want to build on your point. You you
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were asking a very important tactical
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question here. I also want to step back,
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Stephen, because today in my class, I
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was speaking on startups and pop-up
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stores as a as a mechanism to help build
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the brand. And I was mentioning you and
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the OG, Stephen,
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>> you are the original guy. You are the OG
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of the popup stores. And so t build on
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Barbara's point about all over all of
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these years as an institutional
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knowledge that you have been building
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and acrewing and how that is like
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leading you to being more and more
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efficient doing this over time. That's
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an that's a hu that must be a huge
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advantage that is almost impossible to
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copy. Speak a little bit on that.
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>> Yeah, I mean so I personally have been
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do working with this team for over 20
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years. Um, and I've been in retail for
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longer than that and and around retail
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for a long time. And I I'll tell you,
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you're honor, a very significant aspect
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of how we've gotten to where we are is
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this constant uh uh challenge to improve
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and and re-engineer and rewrite the
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scripts. Um, the beauty of this as a
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retailer is every year we get to start
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over.
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>> Um, and so you know that
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>> I guess that's a beauty. [laughter]
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Well, it that's the challenge, but it is
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the beauty because we have the ability
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to, you know, sort of incrementally
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every year add new levels of uh of
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performance and, you know, sort of learn
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from what we have done in the past and
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where we where the opportunities are.
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And you know, I was just on the phone
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today with my partner talking about this
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past weekend, our biggest weekend, what
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some of our the observations were and
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where the opportunities are. And I was
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very excited because, you know, I was
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listing 12 or 15 different things that
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boy, we could really uh we could really
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improve upon because it all happens so
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fast that you can't really you you can't
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really make those adjustments while
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we're in the game. But a post uh the
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post script really starts to be uh you
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know when we're working on next year and
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the year after that. And you know, you
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we joked about AI a little bit, but
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we're very excited about h the
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possibilities that AI will uh bring to
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improve our performance because part of
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this you know 1546 locations opening up
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is really the ability to to sort of see
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at a detailed level um you know kind of
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where we might be going off script or
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where we might be going off the rails
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because there's a lot of things
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happening all at once. Um, and we need
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to be able to get and when we can uh
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visualize those details, we will
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actually significantly improve our
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>> overall. So, let me ask you a couple
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question. There's so many things I want
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to ask you, but let me just start with
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one. Let's start with the AI thing. One
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of the things people say about AI is
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that it helps you micro segment more.
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Um, how different are your stores in all
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these I mean, you have all these stores.
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It's all happening at once. Can you use
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AI to like maybe in in California they
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like, you know, Gavin Newsome costumes
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and in
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>> [laughter]
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>> uh who knows, you know?
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>> Yeah.
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>> Well, you know, I I'm not thinking about
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that so much right now because, you
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know, to get to the product side, that's
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even a higher level of sophistication
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that I'm talking about. I'm talking
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about if you think about this this store
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opening process,
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>> we really engineer each day the number
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that the steps you take each day that
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lead to the next day and the next day
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and the number of people and the hours
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and what should be accomplished. And so
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it's really going through that
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microscope of the process and are the
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are these stores on track? Are they
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keeping up?
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>> All the stores must be different too. I
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mean
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>> well they're different sizes and shapes.
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So that's one of the things that's a
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that's a a variation. But that but you
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know you've got you've just got a lot of
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activity that you are and in many cases
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you know you say we're in different
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places every year. Actually about 35% of
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the time we're in the same location. And
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when I say the same location I know it
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won't feel like you because the truth is
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what I call the same location. You
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wouldn't. If I'm in the same strip
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center I call that the same location.
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That's
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>> that may be cheating a little bit, but
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it's at least we're in approximately the
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same the same location. But no, we close
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every single store and we reopen it. So
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every year there's got to be an ability
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to, you know, sort of reorient and re
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recover it. But the other side of this
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is we're trying to make it very very
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simple, straightforward process. You
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know, you just keep it absolutely
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uh, you know, as much cookie cutter as
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we possibly can. And I know that doesn't
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sound great, but to do this 1550 times,
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it really helps.
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>> Right.
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>> Well, you know, I want to build on
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something else. You said you've been in
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retail forever, you know, and you
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started like at Bloomingdales and Macy's
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and in real traditional retail. Um and
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then I guess the biggest one was when
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you were on linens and um what linen
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what's it called?
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>> Linens and things.
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>> Linens and things. Yeah.
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>> Yeah. Like is that still around? Is that
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>> No.
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>> No. Yeah. So anyway, but so like I I
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I've heard you say this that you believe
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and as much as you can probably buy
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these costumes online on Amazon, I
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imagine, but you believe in the value of
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the physical store. And what you're
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talking about is like
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>> really digging into the value of this
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physical store if you're going into all
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of this effort to get them all up.
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>> There there's no question.
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No, you can't buy these costumes online
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because we're almost
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call it 100% vertical. We're not, but we
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have most of what we do we make and
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source and design and direct. So, yeah,
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you can buy them from me online or buy
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them from Spirit online, but uh it's not
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there's not a big marketplace for the
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things that we're doing. Um, and you
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know, sort of particularly now as we get
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into the last week and you say, you
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know, this is the triple witching hour.
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Well, you know, you got that party and
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you got to have that costume. Are you
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really going to trust it? Uh, is it
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going to get there on time? And so, we
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really go right up to the very end. And
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if you go into our stores this Thursday
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and Friday, I guarantee you there will
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be a line from the from the front to the
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back. But the other part of it is not
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just about the last minute shopping. I
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make a very big distinction from my own
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experience that walking into a Spirit
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Halloween store is it is in of itself a
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Halloween experience. It's immersive.
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It's appealing to your five senses. Um
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it's it puts you into a Halloween mood.
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It gives you all kinds of ideas. It's a
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social experience. It's a human
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experience. You take your selfies. You
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try you try on the mask. It's a it's
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it's a joy. And you know, so it's I I
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kind of say you can buy online, but you
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shop in a store. And shopping in a
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Halloween store in particular is a whole
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heck of a lot of fun.
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>> Yeah. Let me jump in on build on
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Barbara's point, too, because Barbara is
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one of the gurus of customer experience.
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She talks about this all. She preaches
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about this, okay? She's like a
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[laughter] she's in the pulpit preaching
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about this. And what I love about what
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you do and talk on this, Stephen,
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because there's a human there's a
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there's a HR issue here that's so
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critical for the stores, right? If it's
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going to be an immersive experience, you
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got to walk in and the people that are
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representing, the people that are the
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stewards of spirit, they got to be in
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alignment with all of the things that
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create the organizational culture that
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you have sort of built. And so talk
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about how to make sure that when an
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Americas and Barber walk into the store,
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the people who greet them are in
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alignment with the experience that
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you're trying to portray for us. Yeah,
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it's a a huge point 100%. Uh it's a
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joyful experience and that joy is
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infectious. uh and people generally who
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are working in that store um are in some
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way really connected to to Halloween and
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spec specifically to Spirit Halloween
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and what we do. Um and I'll just mention
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one thing that really I think represents
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our heart and I think is representative
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of what why Spirit Halloween is sort of
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a a different experience, a different
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brand. Um we've been working since 2006
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on a program that we call Spirit of
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Children. Um and what we've what we do
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through through our people and the
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reason this is successful is because our
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front line really believe in the
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importance of spirit of children. Spirit
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of children for spirit of children we um
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take donations on behalf of local uh
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children's hospital specifically the
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child life department. So, in
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Philadelphia, Children's Hospital of
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Philadelphia, CHOP, um we've raised over
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$1 million through this this program
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that goes directly to the hospital.
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>> Um and not only that, but we throw a
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Halloween party in the hospital itself.
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We bring costumes and art projects and
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and music. And it's it's not it's this
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is what I call our heart because they
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know that their work is really giving
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something back to the communities that
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they're in. Um and many many people talk
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about that connection as one of the
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things that really makes them feel good
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about working for Spirit Halloween. Um
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and to date we've raised over $150
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million
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for 160 hospitals since the the since
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the program started. This year we'll
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raise close to $20 million. We're
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donating at least $100,000 to each of
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our our partner hospitals and and it's
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because of the people on the front line.
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It is not there's nothing self- serving
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involved. This is absolutely because
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these people and if you go into the
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store and I hope you do um they every
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time we get a donation we ring a
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cowbell. Uh I can tell you that story a
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long way ago but they but that bell
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should be ringing. Um, and it's just an
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indication of the it's the period on the
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end of the sentence. You've had a great
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experience in the store. You come in and
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can would you would you would you you
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know sort of support the children in the
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hospital in your community and we do
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that all on grassroots. That's all done
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internally. It's all done by our people.
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So I think that's representative of
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immense
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>> Yeah, that's amazing. You know, talking
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about the the labor issue for any
00:16:03
retail, that's a huge issue. you have so
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much turnover in instore employees. It's
00:16:08
a really hard thing to manage. And here
00:16:10
you have this thing where the stores
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open and close. But given that that
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happens, I think you said in past years
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that you have people who come back
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>> um to your stores,
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>> loyalists all the time. You know, we
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hire 50,000 people for this for this
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endeavor. Um and you know the D the DM
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level uh that's the district store
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manager that we they manage three stores
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or so.
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>> Um we have over 400 and change 400
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people there. Uh
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>> 70 plus percent of those come back to us
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every year.
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>> Wow.
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>> And I think you know sort of it's
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indicative of where their heads are at.
00:16:50
We're kind of a part of the gig economy.
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You mentioned Christmas. you know,
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people come to work for us, they get
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Christmas money without having to work
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for Christmas. And [clears throat] it's
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just a, you know, it's a combination of
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a lot of factors, but yes, people come
00:17:04
back to us year after year,
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>> which is amazing given that it's hard in
00:17:08
retail in general, and you're making it
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even harder by uh making it all. But
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you're mentioning Christmas, so we got
00:17:15
to say, you mentioned this that you've
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done it, you you were doing it before.
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This isn't the first year you thought
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about it, but you said you've been asked
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a million times, why don't you just do
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another holiday and you were going to
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you've dug into Christmas, right? So,
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>> yeah. What's the story there,
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>> Julie? What Yeah. What's happening?
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>> Yeah. I like to say if I had a nickel
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for every time somebody asked me that
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question, I have a whole bunch of
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nickels. Um, [laughter]
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>> so five million nickels is still a lot
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of money, right?
00:17:41
>> Yeah. [laughter]
00:17:43
>> Yeah. So, so yes, uh what's really
00:17:46
different now, first of all, Christmas
00:17:47
is a very different different uh uh
00:17:50
competitive environment, right? It's,
00:17:52
you know, we don't just by magic deserve
00:17:57
to be in the Christmas business. We I
00:17:58
always feel like if you're going to
00:17:59
bring a something to the uh you know, to
00:18:02
the competitive world, you got to have a
00:18:04
reason. And what's the reason that the
00:18:06
guest can articulate as to why are you
00:18:08
there? Um, and so what kind of took us
00:18:11
so long is we we couldn't really answer
00:18:13
that question.
00:18:15
>> I just want to say one thing. What
00:18:16
you're saying is Christmas is a way more
00:18:18
competitive market than the Halloween
00:18:20
market. Is that what you're saying?
00:18:21
Okay. I just want to make sure way more
00:18:24
you know because look there's a lot of
00:18:26
really good good people and who make a
00:18:28
pretty big commitment to to Christmas
00:18:30
from you know the mass%.
00:18:33
>> So you got to bring something. We got we
00:18:34
got to bring something. And and we
00:18:37
couldn't really answer that question.
00:18:38
what was our value proposition? And so,
00:18:40
you know, but the landscape has changed
00:18:43
and the landscape of Christmas,
00:18:45
particularly what we call the curated
00:18:47
specialty Christmas market. We had
00:18:49
people like uh Pier One or you had even
00:18:53
Bed Bath and Beyond, you know, who was
00:18:55
who were there, you know, sort of in the
00:18:56
mid to better market, uh not in the
00:18:59
commodity world, uh you know, to me. So,
00:19:02
what we came up with was we're sugar and
00:19:04
spice and everything nice and emphasis
00:19:07
on the spice. Uh, what I mean by that is
00:19:10
we want we want it to be a fun store.
00:19:12
Uh, just like we talk about Halloween,
00:19:14
fun is so much fun it's scary. Uh,
00:19:17
Christmas has got to be so much fun it's
00:19:18
merry. And so that's [laughter] where we
00:19:22
are going with it.
00:19:24
>> And uh, so but very much testing this.
00:19:27
We don't you walk in and you know we
00:19:29
don't have the the uh uh the ego or the
00:19:32
arrogance to believe that we're just
00:19:34
gonna you know [clears throat] storm
00:19:35
this and not really earn it. Um so we
00:19:39
have 30 we had eight locations last
00:19:40
year. We have 30 locations this year
00:19:42
mainly in the northeast but as far west
00:19:44
as Chicago. Um and uh you know we are
00:19:48
we're going to learn uh and understand
00:19:51
how we can you know sort of u bring
00:19:53
something that'll be meaningful to uh
00:19:56
this event as well.
00:19:57
>> So what are you selling? Is it decor it
00:20:00
is it Christmas gifts decoration?
00:20:02
>> It's it's a combination again a curated
00:20:05
assortment. So there specialty we're
00:20:08
trying to bring something special and
00:20:09
it's it's fun. Uh we have a couple of
00:20:11
categories that we're really digging
00:20:13
into. Decor being one of them.
00:20:16
>> Um uh uh but also based on our sort of
00:20:20
Spencer roots. Um we have a lot of
00:20:22
wearables and fun family attire.
00:20:26
Everything from sleepwear and loungewear
00:20:28
to uh outrageous sweaters. That's where
00:20:31
a lot of the spice
00:20:33
>> of course but they are over the top. I
00:20:36
mean you go in there I I guarantee it's
00:20:38
over the top. There's sound. They're
00:20:40
ugly. They're outrageous, but they also
00:20:43
have sound and lights. They're going to
00:20:44
be audacious. Yeah.
00:20:46
>> Oh, that makes so much sense. And that
00:20:48
differentiates you. And when we do
00:20:50
Christmas morning, my kids have to get
00:20:52
into these ugly pajamas. So, it's not
00:20:54
just ugly sweaters. It's all Instagram
00:20:57
has asked you to be I don't know who
00:20:58
started this crazy thing, but it does
00:21:00
seem to be a thing.
00:21:01
>> Yes. That's interesting. But so, so
00:21:03
Stephen, because this is Barbara's
00:21:05
making a very important point here,
00:21:06
which is and I I want to pull this back
00:21:08
into our world. Barbara, which is the
00:21:10
world of brand extension.
00:21:12
>> Yeah.
00:21:12
>> Right. And sort of thinking through like
00:21:13
what do we have a permission structure
00:21:15
to actually go do based on the equity. I
00:21:17
love what Barbara's pointing out.
00:21:18
>> Custom costume.
00:21:19
>> Yeah. That and the fact that you're
00:21:20
pulling in a little bit of the Spencer's
00:21:22
DNA in there that the fun, you know,
00:21:25
speak on that because you you obviously
00:21:27
you went from 8 to 30. That's like 4x.
00:21:29
So you you learned something. So
00:21:32
>> do people know Spirit and Spencer are
00:21:34
connected? Do they know that?
00:21:35
>> No, they don't. and and in fact it it
00:21:38
doesn't matter because these Spencers.
00:21:40
So yes, Americas, you're right on on
00:21:43
target here. I kind of say in the
00:21:45
background this is if Spencers and
00:21:46
Spirit had a baby, they had Spirit
00:21:48
Christmas.
00:21:49
>> So and and when you said talk about
00:21:51
brand extension, that's a really very
00:21:53
very good point. Even the times before
00:21:56
where we had tried a a sort of posth
00:21:58
Halloween um uh strategy, we never were
00:22:02
willing to put the spirit name on it
00:22:04
because we weren't going to attach that
00:22:06
until we really had felt we had a
00:22:08
concept that could be related to
00:22:13
Halloween. Absolutely.
00:22:15
>> We're never going to put that that brand
00:22:17
is is, you know, platinum plus and we're
00:22:21
never going to do anything to really we
00:22:23
don't want to disappoint. We don't want
00:22:24
people coming in there like thinking
00:22:25
that we're just being opportunistic or
00:22:27
that, you know, we're just mailing it
00:22:28
in.
00:22:29
>> Absolutely. That's your mean. Yeah.
00:22:31
>> Yeah. And that's, you know, to your
00:22:33
point, Barbara, why would someone come
00:22:35
to a store? Because we make it worth
00:22:37
their while because it's a it's a form,
00:22:39
it's a destination form of use of time,
00:22:42
entertainment, immersive, etc. And so
00:22:45
all of that is part of the the Christmas
00:22:47
execution as well.
00:22:51
>> So So where's the Spencer piece of it?
00:22:53
So like that's like the wing.
00:22:54
>> So the Spencer's is is to America's
00:22:56
point, you know, where we we emphasize
00:22:58
the humor, you know, it's sort of
00:22:59
finding the humor in some of the, as I
00:23:02
say, some of the spice that's in the
00:23:04
sugar and spice. And so Spencer's, you
00:23:06
know, Spencer's is has that pop culture
00:23:08
kind of DNA that that we share with uh
00:23:12
that we share with Spirit.
00:23:14
>> Yeah, we all have
00:23:15
>> when he was going down to all the way
00:23:17
down to Laboo, you know, now you're
00:23:18
really getting the heart of pop culture.
00:23:21
We all have our Spencer stories from
00:23:23
high school. [laughter]
00:23:25
All of us, man. That's an awesome
00:23:27
awesome brand. [laughter]
00:23:29
>> We We will keep them to ourselves.
00:23:31
>> We will. I'm going to my grave with my
00:23:34
secret.
00:23:34
>> You closed Spirit Halloween on November
00:23:38
1st or 2nd. And when And is it now is it
00:23:40
called Spirit Christmas? Is it in the
00:23:42
same store?
00:23:43
>> And then is it like one day or a week or
00:23:46
how? Uh we will be open by uh the
00:23:51
following Friday.
00:23:52
>> So that's when So that's the 6th.
00:23:56
>> Um we actually, if you want, in all in
00:23:59
all honesty, we actually have five open
00:24:01
right now. Um because we we wanted to
00:24:04
get a jump on the uh on the schedule a
00:24:06
little bit.
00:24:07
>> So we have a couple five that are open.
00:24:09
Um and we'll open 25 by Friday, November
00:24:12
6th.
00:24:13
>> I mean, you're talking about supply
00:24:15
chain merchandise. I can't I can't
00:24:17
picture it. I mean, because you have a
00:24:19
lot of SKs in I mean, how
00:24:21
>> Barbara, this is the This is the popup.
00:24:23
This is This is the popup Jedi. I mean,
00:24:26
are you [laughter] kidding? Like, this
00:24:27
guy has I mean, come on. Cut it out.
00:24:31
>> I want I invite you to come on down, see
00:24:33
what See what we're doing back there.
00:24:35
But yes, so so we to reveal one of one
00:24:40
issue, we uh we've already sent the
00:24:43
merchandise to the stores. So the stores
00:24:46
that are converting have already got the
00:24:47
merchandise there and that's will be you
00:24:49
know so
00:24:50
>> so they're like back office back stores
00:24:53
in these stores there's
00:24:54
>> well there's yeah
00:24:56
these are larger stores so they tend to
00:24:58
have other than the five we opened uh
00:25:00
prior to
00:25:01
>> any in Philly any Christmas ones in
00:25:03
Philly
00:25:04
>> uh we'll be in Cherry Hill Cherry Hill
00:25:06
nice
00:25:07
>> it's worth a trip
00:25:08
>> yeah absolutely little trek over the
00:25:10
bridge that's incredible that is
00:25:13
>> well good luck with that I Love the idea
00:25:15
of it's got to be different and I love
00:25:18
the idea that it's consist. I like it
00:25:20
that Spirit and Spencer had a baby. I
00:25:22
just love that.
00:25:23
>> I love that too.
00:25:24
>> But but it's true. Like it is amazing
00:25:26
this Instagram culture and how all this
00:25:29
stuff
00:25:30
there. It's very experiential but you
00:25:33
need to buy things to fit into the
00:25:35
experience.
00:25:36
>> Um so you take the experience home with
00:25:38
you.
00:25:38
>> Yeah. I mean look we're we very much tap
00:25:41
into uh social media. that is very much
00:25:44
a part of our you know strategy in terms
00:25:47
of you know what how our conversation
00:25:50
how are we uh communicating with our
00:25:53
fans and you know sort of what are they
00:25:55
saying about us
00:25:56
>> I'm curious then because I talked to D
00:25:58
we talked to Duingo when the guy told us
00:26:00
what his social media strategy was and
00:26:03
I'll tell you what he said and then you
00:26:05
tell me what you do he said he hired a
00:26:07
creative person and then just let her go
00:26:11
but they test test test test.
00:26:14
>> So it's not it is science, but he
00:26:18
doesn't tell her what to do, but they
00:26:20
test what works and what doesn't. That's
00:26:23
Do you remember America? Isn't that kind
00:26:24
of what he said?
00:26:25
>> That's kind of what he said. Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:26
Yeah. Yeah. So So what is the Because I
00:26:30
also to build on Barbara's point,
00:26:31
Stephen, correct me if I'm wrong, but I
00:26:32
believe that the spirit social media
00:26:34
team is like
00:26:36
>> they'll clap back at you, man.
00:26:38
>> Oh, yeah. [laughter]
00:26:39
>> Right. They're not weeping willows.
00:26:41
>> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:26:43
>> Well, you know, he look your your your
00:26:46
best advocates are the the fans
00:26:48
themselves. So, the best clapbacks
00:26:50
actually come from the people from the
00:26:52
the the people who are defending us and
00:26:54
that really becomes very authentic.
00:26:56
>> Um, but yeah, when SNL did a little
00:26:58
thing, we came back a little bit, but
00:27:00
that's part of it. We're very fluid.
00:27:02
It's very much a part of our, you know,
00:27:05
branding to to, you know, sort of sort
00:27:07
of be in that zeitgeist and, you know,
00:27:10
we we certainly can't buy it. Um, but
00:27:15
we're certainly willing to be a part of
00:27:17
the joke and uh part of the part of the
00:27:19
fun. And I got to tell you, you know,
00:27:22
we're we're we're certainly in in no way
00:27:24
buttoned down about it. Uh to the point
00:27:28
that some of this comes from out of the
00:27:30
blue. Like we had no idea that SNL thing
00:27:32
was happening.
00:27:33
>> We had no idea. I don't know whether you
00:27:35
saw a naked gun for they they unraveled
00:27:39
the banner. We have no idea when these
00:27:41
late night guys go and they hang the
00:27:43
banner on uh Yankee Stadium or on the
00:27:46
Capitol or that's amazing the veteran
00:27:49
stadium when Philly's lost. You know
00:27:50
this is but but that's [laughter] you
00:27:52
know just keep the do keep the
00:27:54
conversation going and uh you know sort
00:27:57
of have a let it let it fly. The brand
00:28:00
is part of culture. I love this,
00:28:01
Stephen. Yeah.
00:28:01
>> Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:02
>> And that's when it's authentic and the
00:28:04
fact that the people are local, the the
00:28:06
charity is local, the stores are local.
00:28:10
>> Yeah. It's authentic. That's the magic
00:28:12
word in social media.
00:28:13
>> Yep. Awesome.
00:28:15
>> Well, Stephen, we are out of time. Thank
00:28:17
you so much.
00:28:20
>> It's amazing.
00:28:21
>> Thank you so much for joining us. So,
00:28:23
where can our listeners know to go to
00:28:25
find out where the stores are or if they
00:28:27
want to buy online? Well, you can still
00:28:29
buy online, but uh it's going to be a
00:28:31
little dicey. Spirit Halloween.com.
00:28:34
>> Go to the store.
00:28:34
>> Spirit Halloween.com. And there's a
00:28:37
store store locator. There's a little
00:28:38
arrow and pop the arrow. It'll give you
00:28:40
a uh a store locator. We have five more.
00:28:43
What is it? Five more days. Five or six
00:28:45
more days.
00:28:46
>> Um [clears throat]
00:28:47
so, uh you know, if you're last minute,
00:28:50
>> just prepare to dance while you're in
00:28:52
line because the music will be good.
00:28:53
[laughter] I promise you that.
00:28:55
>> Maggie, do you have your costume? You
00:28:58
know, I'm I'm still struggling, Stephen.
00:29:00
I'm a little bit late this year, so I
00:29:01
have not picked out my costume yet.
00:29:03
Barbara, how about you, Barbara?
00:29:04
>> No, I haven't yet either. I might use
00:29:06
the one I bought last year. I keep mine.
00:29:09
I That's thing. I think everybody thinks
00:29:11
you need a new costume, but like
00:29:14
[laughter] yeah,
00:29:16
>> I I guess it is about variety. Well,
00:29:18
anyway, thank you so much, Mr.
00:29:20
Halloween, for being here with us. And I
00:29:23
can't imagine, but you're not very busy
00:29:25
right now, so thanks for taking the
00:29:26
time. 100%. Thank you so much.
00:29:28
>> Happy Halloween, everybody.
00:29:30
>> Same to you as well, sir. We really
00:29:31
appreciate you.
00:29:32
>> Thank you. That's all we have time for
00:29:34
today. Thank you for listening. We'd
00:29:36
like to thank our producers, Dion
00:29:38
Simpkins and Marissa Rena. And we'll be
00:29:40
back next week. Till then, this has been
00:29:42
Marketing Matters on the Wharton
00:29:44
podcast. I'm Barbara Khan here with
00:29:46
America's Reed.
