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Review Imminent?: Lululemon names first chief brand officer amid increased Q4 guidance (Score 98)

Yoga clothier Lululemon will bring its brand awareness to new levels under the leadership of Uber Eats's former global marketing head, Nikki Neuburger. As Lululemon's first CBO, Neuburger will lead future creative storytelling marketing actions and sustainability functions, per the press release. We could see Lululemon enter more experiential campaign initiatives to push its storytelling vibe to younger female generations since Neuburger also brings community-building and digital experience from Nike Running. 

**Neuburger starts on January 20th; while we can't absolutely confirm her email address, we're fairly certain it's nneuburger@lululemon.com.**

Lululemon is focused on expansion and plans to utilize Neuburger's understandings of global and regional growth to do so. As the brand begins to define its brand presentation, we may see increases in digital channels across all regions. According to a recent press release, Lululemon now expects its Q4 2019 net revenue to reach around $1.37 billion - $1.38 billion due to unexpectedly high holiday sales. So, given the elevated potential dollars and new marketing leader, I'd say sellers and agencies should keep Lululemon on their radars for new initiatives in 2020. This company's fiscal year ends in February.

According to Adbeat, Lululemon spent significantly more on digital display in 2018 than in 2019; from January 2018 - 2019, it spent an estimated $549.8k, whereas from January 2019 - 2020, it spent $177.6k on this channel. It spent the most on YouTube video ads (40%) in the past 12 months; these published to sites such as youtube.com, time.com and coolmathgames.com. Programmatically-placed ads took 49% of spend from January 2019 - 2020 through networks such as Microsoft Advertising ($43.9k) and Google Search Partners ($33.4k); Microsoft Advertising published ads onto sites such as yahoo.com, mapquest.com and reference.com while Google Search Partners published to ebay.com, people.com and target.com, to name a few. 

iSpot approximates Lululemon last placed national TV ads in the summer of 2017 (July), spending ~$139.1k. It's possible Neuburger could choose to allocate spending dollars toward this channel, but given the younger demographic, there may be a higher chance of her focusing on boosting digital display and social media initiatives. Yogis may not find a whole lot of meditative inspiration by watching TV, but they would likely see Lululemon ads while using exercise-related apps via mobile. 

Sellers -- Neuburger will likely target US females, particularly Gen X and millennial professionals who can afford these high-end athletic products. Most Lululemon stores are scattered throughout the Northeast, Southeast and eastern Midwest, but there are also plenty of stores on the West coast, as well. See store locations to find out if you should worry about local ad space. Otherwise, focus on digital channels and pushing the e-Commerce business.

Agency readers -- We believe 180LA still handles creative work. Neuburger may choose to assess these relationships when she gets to the office, so get on Lululemon's radar now; that way, you won't be rushing to get her attention. Given the success of sales, she may keep the current agencies on roster and add a social, digital agency or an official AOR. 

Note: Lululemon is headquartered in Canada, so you might want to familiarize yourself with its Anti-Spam Law (CASL) before reaching out.