Stitch Fix Brand Reinvention
Expanding the business to maintain 20% YoY growth, built around the understanding that algorithms without empathy would fail in personal services.
Strategic Challenge
In 2019, Stitch Fix faced pressure from investors and competitors to automate their styling service completely. Wall Street pushed for cost reduction through AI-only solutions, while Amazon's algorithm-heavy approach threatened market share. The temptation was to follow Big Tech's playbook: replace human judgment with machine efficiency.
Strategic Vision
We developed a counterintuitive strategy: double down on the human-AI partnership model while competitors pursued full automation. Our insight was that personalization without empathy creates transactions, not relationships—and relationships drive lifetime value in personal services.
The "Marketing Engine" strategy positioned Stitch Fix as the only "empathy platform" that used AI to enhance human stylists, not replace them. We created segmented customer journeys that celebrated the stylist-client relationship while showcasing algorithmic precision.
The Work
- Repositioned algorithms as "stylist superpowers" rather than replacement technology
- Built customer acquisition around relationship stories, not efficiency metrics
- Created "The Power of You" brand platform emphasizing personal connection at scale
- Developed segmented content strategy treating each customer as individuals with evolving style needs
- Designed personalization technology that made stylists more effective, not obsolete
Leadership Transition
New executive leadership arrived with a traditional tech company mindset, viewing human stylists as "expensive inefficiency." Despite our research showing that stylist relationships drove retention and satisfaction, the decision was made to eliminate human touchpoints in favor of pure algorithmic recommendations.
Market Validation
The strategy's correctness became evident post-departure:
- Customer satisfaction plummeted when human stylists were removed
- Retention rates collapsed as relationships disappeared
- Revenue declined significantly as the service became transactional
- Competitive advantage eroded as Stitch Fix became indistinguishable from other algorithm-driven services
- Stock price fell 90%+ as the core value proposition disappeared
Strategic Insight Proven
The market confirmed our thesis: in personal services, algorithms are tools for humans, not replacements. Companies like Sephora, Nordstrom, and premium personal styling services doubled down on human expertise enhanced by technology, capturing market share from purely automated competitors.
The lesson: true personalization requires both data intelligence and emotional intelligence. The future belongs to companies that understand technology serves relationships, not the reverse.
Our initial insights drove the empathy-centric campaign, “We See You,” which broke right at the opening of the 2019 Oscars. A storybook approach to show the moment that the relationship between stylist and client makes a difference in everyday life. Because, really, We See You.
Just a small amount of the OOH for the campaign, focused on transit takeovers and common spaces that we could dominate at scale. Showing early the importance of the relationship between stylist and client was the first way for us to create separation from the competitive set, largely box companies that didn’t really understand you.
As we looked to expand the business even further, we realized that what we were chasing after was a series of behavioral and emotional barriers and levers with our audience. Our qualitative and quantitative research studies led to a unique segmentation model, referred to as the Spectrum of the Relationship With Style, which is how we approached building an engine that could substantially increase the TAM of the business.
Showing how the brand’s footprint could expand to meet a much wider range of consumers.
Foundational to the strategy was the rebranding, ultimately dropping “Fix” from the brand name to open new market opportunities.
The stitch- concept was sufficiently flexible to adapt into new go-to-market packaging.
The evolved brand film, shining a light on the most important asset of the business: the bridge we build between us and you.
