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Growing Sales with Bitmojis – a Lesson for Home Builders from Ralph Lauren


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How resilience, agility, and focusing on what matters most lead to success in both retail and in home building.

Ralph Lauren Bitmojis on Snapchat
Ralph Lauren Bitmojis on Smapchat

Who knew Ralph Lauren had their own Bitmojis? In a recent webinar featuring Matthew Shay, President & CEO of the National Retail Federation, and Patrice Louvet, President & CEO of Ralph Lauren, the two men discuss the importance of resilience and agility in 2020. Hired in 2017, Patrice is a brand guy and was brought on board to, “write the next great chapter of the iconic brand.” How the company interacts and engages with consumers is where Patrice centers his attention. And that is why, when the pandemic hit, this rather traditional brand stepped outside the box and designed their own Bitmojis for Snapchat. Launched in August, there have already been more than 3 million downloads. Building amazing partnerships with social media in recent years is one of the company’s greatest strengths.

An “opportunity in crisis,” the shift to digital moved light-years ahead in 2020.

Heavily focused on what the digital age wants, Patrice believes digital will become like electricity – we won’t notice it, but it will be everywhere, and it will power everything. An “opportunity in crisis,” the shift to digital moved light-years ahead in 2020.

What was most interesting about this webinar is how retail and home building share many of the same challenges and goals. To move the company forward in the Twenties, Patrice has 5 primary areas Ralph Lauren is targeting:

  1. Elevate and energize the brand – bring in a new generation of consumers.
  2. Shift to direct-to-consumer. Stores will continue to play an important role, but online sales are growing.
  3. Digital
  4. International expansion
  5. Develop high-potential, under-represented categories
Robot finger touching house icon - a symbol of the digital revolution
A tech-savvy generation of home buyers has accelerated the digital revolution.

In the homebuilding industry, the pandemic along with a tech-savvy generation of home buyers has accelerated the digital revolution. Sales centers will still play an integral role, but much of the interaction between builders and buyers will take place virtually. International barriers are being toppled as builders crisscross “the pond.” Landsea Homes and Sekisui House (Woodside Homes) are just a couple of examples. And, builders are constantly working to develop under-represented categories – affordable housing for one.

Also needing attention are four areas affected by Covid that Patrice believes are here to stay:

  1. Health and safety have become a huge factor in human behavior and will continue to be for quite some time, if not indefinitely.
  2. The move to connectivity – people are not going to quit using apps and having home deliveries. Mom and grandpa just learned how to do all that!
  3. Consumers are looking for a personalized experience.
  4. Importance of values and purpose, “What difference will we make?” Consumer response to companies focusing on these has been amazing. Authenticity is a core Ralph Lauren brand value.

With the world staying home, resilience, agility, and focusing on what matters most have become critical to the success of every business.

Three valuable lessons Patrice learned from Covid:

  1. Focus on what matters most
  2. Resilience
  3. Agility

Companies who quickly learned these lessons and adapted have survived and even done well.

This insightful webinar brings home the importance of your brand, company culture, and marketing. As home builders, our industry tends to not be on the cutting edge. We have been building and selling homes the same way for 100+ years. Builders have been making strides forward, but nothing prepared us for the events of this year. With the world staying home, resilience, agility, and focusing on what matters most have become critical to the success of every business. Engaging with consumers online is key. This is where Zoom, Online Sales Counselors, CRMs like TopBuilder and Lasso, chatbots like those powered by AtlasRTX, and online marketing tools including Interactive Floor Plans, Virtual Tours, Matterport Tours, and Visualizers play an integral role. Focusing on what the digital age wants, and thinking outside the box (Snapchat Bitmojis anyone?) to write the next great chapter of your iconic brand are keys to success.

Interactive Floor Plan
Drive engagement on your website with the Outhouse Interactive Floor Plan.

On a final note, Patrice talks about citizenship and sustainability. Companies like Ralph Lauren cannot be successful if they don’t take the lead. Consumers and partners expect it. “People will remember you for what you did and the way you behaved.” These words hold true for home builders as well.

Musings from Home Builder, Author & NAHB Speaker Alan Trellis


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“The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.”
— Dennis Gabor

Randomness and circumstance combine to create the daily environment in which we must live, and hopefully thrive. But to believe that these alone determine our destiny is to incorrectly account for our own decisions and actions. Our future is as much about what we do with the hand we are dealt as the hand itself. It is up to each of us to be the best that we can be – to do the most that we can do. Poor circumstances can make this harder, and at any given instant guarantee that our best will be unacceptable, and the most we can do be insufficient. But if we consistently address both the good times and the bad with courage, determination, and thoughtful creativity, we can always impact the outcome of our lives and our decisions. We can always, to some degree, invent our own futures.

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”  
— Reid Hoffman

This quote relates directly to an article I wrote entitled “When Truisms Collide”. In that article, I discussed how two conflicting quotes, generally considered as truisms, could be in direct conflict and yet both be true. The answer to this inconsistency is relatively simple – which truism is correct depends entirely on the circumstances and environment of any given situation. Mr Hoffman is entirely accurate in his assessment if there is huge pressure to get to market and grab market share before a competitor beats you to it. This would be particularly true in the case of new technology-driven products, where obtaining a foothold is the highest priority.

For a homebuilder, particularly one with an excellent reputation, I would argue that it is equally important that while our new product need not be perfect, it should not be embarrassing. The cost of reputational damage must always be weighed against the advantages of being first to market. History is filled with unsuccessful product pioneers, whose market share was stolen by the second round of  better designed, better performing, and better priced  alternatives.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened”.
— Dr. Suess

Many great quotes are similar in that they are variations on a core theme. The fundamental message contained here is “Be Positive”. “Every cloud has a silver lining” and ”Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism leads to strength” are just 2 other examples of this pro-positive theme. Yet here, Dr. Suess has expanded the base message of positive versus negative to one of appreciation versus lament, with the added message that everyone get’s to decide the outcome of this contest through their individual perspective. To quote another quote, we each get to determine if, in our mind, the glass is half full or half empty. The amount of water in the glass doesn’t change- how we chose to see it is what changes.

“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way”
— Napolean Hill

Most of us dream, at some time, of doing great things. Yet true satisfaction and long term success come from hard work, commitment, and attention to detail. Big things consist of myriad small things, and getting these right is the foundation on which big ideas, big plans, and big business success are built. As builders, we should understand, better than most, the importance of a solid foundation, and strive to do the nagging, every day small things we must deal with in a great way. Only then, will you be capable of accomplishing great things

Submitted by

Alan Trellis, Author, NAHB Speaker, and co-founder of Home Builders Network.

Alan Trellis

With 40 years of experience as a custom home builder and consultant for the home building industry, Al is co-founder of Home Builders Network, which provides management consulting, marketing, residential design, and land planning for home builders throughout North America. Collectively, their clients build 3,000 homes per year, for a sales value of $1.2 billion. Al is the author of many books on residential construction; has served as chairman of the NAHB Custom Builder, Education, and Business Management committees; and is a leading speaker at the NAHB International Builders Show (IBS).