“Be Conscientious Of Sustainability” 5 Millennial Marketing Strategies With James Ingram, CEO of Splashlight
By Chris Quiocho
“Be aware and conscientious of sustainability. How brands are contributing to sustainability in the environment is a very hot topic, and millennials are noticing which brands are making an effort and which aren’t. H&M has developed an entire new brand, Arket, around the basis of longevity and sustainability because it is so important to their target market.”
I had the pleasure to interview James Ingram, CEO of Splashlight. James Ingram brings over two decades of growing and leading content creation companies to his role as CEO and Co-Owner of Splashlight. Serving in his current role for fifteen years now, James continues to drive innovation within Splashlight — helping to make it the leading photography and video provider for retailers and brands. Always one to seek an advantage for both company and clients, James continually applies disruptive technology in order to deliver engaging creative content, whether photography or video — a hallmark of the Splashlight service offering. Lately, James has been spearheading a technology solution aimed at streamlining, personalizing, optimizing and measuring the best visual content for brands and retailers. By combining a strong visual style and a knack for innovative technology — James and Splashlight continually push the creation of visual content to new levels of personalization and effectiveness.
Chris: What is your “backstory”?
My path has been a bit unconventional compared to many others in similar positions. No one gets to the executive level without a lot of hard work. I started off in graphic arts at the age of 19 and worked my way through a variety of professions early on before deciding to pursue graphic arts long-term. Being that I don’t have a traditional education, I had to work diligently through different means to compensate. Even now I’m pursuing my Bachelors Degree at the Harvard Extension School.
It’s always been very important for me to stay intellectually curious, and develop a skill set and ways of thinking that influence managing a complex organization. In order to have sustained, meaningful conversation, it is very important to make that continual investment in staying aware and inspired. What I have learned on my professional journey is the importance and power of investing in yourself mentally and paying attention. Pay attention to the people you are working with and working for, and appreciate them. All of this has made me who I am and has gotten me to where I am today.
Chris: Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you started in this industry?
I’ll go with interesting first. Three years ago I embarked on a worldwide trip to go and meet with as many high level retail executives as I could. To ask them if our company could help do anything to addressing the future and improving their business. Traveling throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and all over North America, over the course of four months I listened, and learned, a lot. Each had so much to offer, I thanked each executive I met with a beautiful little gift.
As far as the funniest — or depending how you look at it, not-so-funny — story I have come across since starting in this industry. I would have to go with the time I was interviewing an individual for a controller position. His resume was extremely impressive — he had a very in depth and innovative take on cost analysis that would have been such a great asset to the company because it is so hard to come by. However, when I asked him about it, he started to stammer, start sentences without completing them, and then quickly caved and admitted that he had made it all up. He then proceeded to beg for the job anyway saying that he really just needed a job.
Chris: So what exactly does your company do?
We are a leading visual content creation company, partnering with innovative retail and brand clients including Target, Under Armour, Victoria’s Secret, and Aldo. By leveraging technology to gain measurable insights into the content being created for our clients, we’ve elevated the ecomm experience — bringing a higher standard of image-making to this high velocity, high volume platform. In doing this, we’ve opened up a world of possibility to the brands we work with, influencing the creative process and providing measurement of the imagery you see on a retailer’s e-commerce sites.
Splashlight’s use of Looklet technology is gaining great momentum. Looklet’s photo personalization capabilities address the growing needs of brands and retailers. Looklet is a full-production service that provides brands and retailers with high-quality images and creative styling tools through a cost-efficient, simple and scalable process. This is achieved by offering more targeted visual content based on trends, geographical markets, ethnicities and inventory allocation, all while reducing the time to market.
Chris: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
From streamlining production through innovative technology, to setting up studios in and around distribution centers, Splashlight provides unique solutions to all clients. We provide a high level of continuity and integration throughout the entire production process, all with a creative eye. Everyone involved in the process is a friendly face. Collaboration with our client partners is essential to achieving the highest standard in content creation and being our clients’ brand stewards. This allows us to proudly believe that there is no challenge that can’t be addressed.
Chris: How has technology changed the way you approach current and potential customers and clients?
Technology is new and exciting — everyone wants to be part of it. But what is different about Splashlight is how we use it. Technology has allowed us to develop an end-to-end system to streamline the production process into the upstream and downstream systems. This has helped immensely with everything from merch tracking, to who is on set, to where it is in the retouching process, and beyond. It has also allowed us to gain insight into the data points that make up an image. We have exclusivity to Looklet, a technology solution that allows for versioned content without the high cost of the post-production work. Seeing how important and vital technology is, Splashlight has a product in the pipeline to enhance the way that we create the highest standard of content. It is quite an exciting time.
Chris: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?
When reflecting on all of the phenomenal people who have helped me on the road to success, it is impossible to pick just one. I would say there have been two professional influences that I need to call out and thank. The first one is an Executive Coach I had — Wayne Matthews. I worked closely with him for six months and he really helped me to understand how to accomplish tasks through people rather than with people. It is important to guide thinking without telling individuals what to do. He really helped me to hone my soft skills as well as leadership skills. The second person I owe a lot to is my mentor of over 17 years, Robert Frost. He has been essential in giving quality and candid feedback and guidance throughout the years.
Where I am today is due to the guidance and support of these two great men, as well as my father. He has supported me through it all and I am very grateful for all he has taught me. I would highly recommend that everyone is well coached and has an incredible mentor.
Chris: What are your “5 ways luxury brands can stay relevant with millennials” and why.
At the end of 2017, I attended VOICES by Business of Fashion. I learned some really inspiring issues at that are still very top of mind for me. To utilize what really resonated with me, below are my top five ways to stay relevant with millennials:
- As the age of those buying luxury is getting younger, the importance of staying relevant to those audiences is important. An online retailer who is doing a good job of curating luxury brands to this style is:https://www.ssense.com/.
- Be aware and conscientious of sustainability. How brands are contributing to sustainability in the environment is a very hot topic, and millennials are noticing which brands are making an effort and which aren’t. H&M has developed an entire new brand, Arket, around the basis of longevity and sustainability because it is so important to their target market.
- Have a loud and clear voice surrounding key social topics. Millennials find this very authentic and it matters a lot to them. A great example here would be surrounding gender issues and the sensitivity around that. There are some great models out there who have busted the gender barrier and that is to be admired. Another example is the LVMH and Kering charter that has been drawn up with regard to the well-being of all models. It takes into account overall physical health, mental health, and additional measures for the minors to protect them.
- With this demographic, there is a large identity factor that plays into authenticity and individuality. Because of this, personalization and customization for luxury brands is going to be very impactful. This is a generation that knows that they want and aren’t afraid to shop around to find it. By personalizing the shopping experience, these luxury brands are able to provide a unique experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
- The final way would be through communicating the story of the designs by utilizing powerful storytelling through great imagery and video. This group is fascinated with the process of the design, the meaning, and the depth and authenticity in the design. Being that they also utilize social media to show where their preferences lie and as a way of expressing their values, having content readily available that they can connect to, align with, and that resonates speaks very highly to this demographic group.
Chris: Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to collaborate with, and why? He or she might just see this 🙂
What many people don’t know about me is that I am starting a charity that will be live at the end of 2018. We’ll be preserving the life stories of those diagnosed with early-stage dementia and Alzheimer’s. This is something I am extremely passionate about and am very excited to get off the ground. There are so many remarkable people doing incredible charitable work, and there is so much that I could learn by collaborating with them. But the one that quickly comes to mind is Bono and his work through (RED) for the fight against AIDS. He has such a wealth of knowledge and has done some truly remarkable work in the charitable space. I would love to see first hand how he scaled his charity to be so widespread and make such an impactful difference.