MCM’s Dan Manioci: ‘You have to be quick and respond to the customer in real time’

“You have this preconceived notion of what it’s like [to work in-house at a luxury brand], but it’s so much more work than I could have ever thought,” Manioci said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “On the publishing side, you have to understand how to manage a budget, so I had that [expertise] coming in. But you also need to understand what makes the consumer engaged, what makes them move and what the trends are. … And you need to understand consumer profiles; how the retail industry works, in fine detail; and who the key players are at the wholesalers. For example: Who are the merchandisers you need to be listening to? It’s a true education. And I think that’s what has also made me stay [at the brand] for as long as I have. I’ve been learning from all these amazing people.”

At the same time, he’s led key moves that have worked to fuel the brand’s revenue and engagement. Over the last couple of years, those have included building marketing plans around buzzy brand faces including Billie Eilish and Cindy Crawford. And, more recently, he’s elevated MCM’s digital presence as part of a new strategic direction. 

In 2023, MCM launched a company-wide plan that included updating the creative team and upping the focus on digital channels and young shoppers. 

Manioci discussed the brand’s new focus, including how it’s resonating in the rapidly evolving luxury climate. He also shared the strategy behind MCM’s recent presence at men’s fashion week and the factors behind its increasing success in the ready-to-wear category. His below comments from the podcast have been lightly edited for clarity. 

The importance of brand heritage 

“Any luxury brand that I watch who has been successful — like Louis Vuitton or Goyard — at the end of the day, they showcase their heritage first. If we are not constantly reminded of where [the brand] started — as consumers, we move a mile a second — we forget. And we give loyalty to people that might intrigue us in different ways. So you have to stay close to that. And I think that’s one of the things we can do a much better job of. … I saw this opportunity to communicate the story more — because once you do that, people get really excited. They want to be a part of it; they want a piece of it. [The fall 2023 campaign featuring] Cindy [Crawford] was sort of like the ushering in of this reminder of the important heritage that MCM holds. And we’ve seen our customers respond and take action. So you’ll see a lot of that going forward, in terms of us activating [around that] in different ways.” 

Acquiring new customers in the post-pandemic era

“[We’re acquiring customers] through many different channels — mostly through our e-commerce. That’s a huge focus. A lot of consumers have been buying differently since Covid, and we as consumers expect more from the brands we purchase from. … It’s very important that we exist in this [new omnichannel] ecosystem. We [as consumers] want to get things quickly when we want them. And if we don’t, we will go somewhere else. So, No. 1, we had to figure out a way to compete with all of that. And so we looked at our systems, asking, ‘Are we up to speed?’ ‘Do we need to bring new partners in?’ We did that, and we assessed it quickly. Our business took off during Covid, and we worked quickly to make that happen. … You have to be quick on your feet and you’ve got to respond to the customer in real time. …We see customers enter our channels through e-commerce because we have paid media running — they might see an advertisement. But we also understand that our customers are shopping us in other places — they might be buying us at Neiman Marcus or Saks. We’ve got to be creative to compete. So we activate: We advertise, we use different influencers, and we leverage their audiences — because we truly believe that, if you’re finding the right people that represent your brand, they’re naturally going to pull [the right] people in.”

Why participation in fashion week matters

“It’s important for a couple of reasons. No. 1, it’s [necessary in order] to be taken seriously by the industry. Like it or not, we sit amongst our peers — and you want to be respected, you want to be held in a specific regard, and you want to be seen in the right places at the right time. So, that is the formula of why fashion week, in general, [matters]. Why [participation in] Milan [Men’s Fashion Week Spring 2024 in June 2023 mattered to us] was because we have a couple of executives now with Italian roots, including one who is on the creative team; we wanted to travel to Milan because we thought it made sense with the new team we’ve worked hard to assemble. And we thought, ‘Let’s do it at a time that will catch people a little bit off-guard,’ because we know women’s is the big fashion week, right? We knew men’s [fashion week] would be a little bit quieter, and we’d have that opportunity to get a lot more people under our roof to showcase what we’re trying to do.”