Ep 21: GNCs Chief Brand Officer Ryan Ostrom on emerging from Chapter 11 and How Brick-and-Mortar Stores Are Central to the Brand Strategy

Published: Dec. 2, 2020, 8 a.m.

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The question of whether you should focus on digital or traditional marketing is a non-starter. Instead, you need to be wherever your consumers are \\u2014 that\\u2019s the best channel to reach them. This key insight comes from today\\u2019s conversation with Ryan Ostrom, GNC\\u2019s Chief Brand Officer. We start our episode with Ryan by clearing the elephant in the room, as we ask him about what GNC did to overcome their Chapter 11 filing. Ryan opens up his playbook and talks about how he redirected customers from their recently-closed locations to new storefronts. We explore more of GNC\\u2019s marketing approach as Ryan shares their brand and customer-first marketing philosophy and how distribution channels influence their branding strategy. While the pandemic has damaged many companies, we then chat about how COVID has increased GNC\\u2019s relevance. After discussing the vital roles that loyalty programs, franchisees, and on-the-ground associates play in GNC\\u2019s branding, Ryan unpacks how he adapted their content to target the emerging \\u2018exercise at home\\u2019 market.

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