Latest / The Curve / The brand no one saw coming back.

Transcript

The brand no one saw coming back. · The Curve

0:00
So Sophie's away this week, actually.
0:03
She is probably, I don't actually know where she is right now.
0:05
She's probably swanning somewhere in Vietnam with her new biff.
0:11
But we have an extra special guest here to take over, Soph, and watch out, Soph, because I reckon this gal is going to be giving you a run for your money.
0:21
But we are very lucky to have Indy Leishman here in this virtual studio with us.
0:26
Hey, Indy.
0:28
Hi, Vic.
0:28
Yes, I'm coming for your job, Sophie, so watch out.
0:31
Watch out.
0:32
Yeah, we wanted to thank everyone who submitted.
0:36
We have, honestly, like an incredible Rolodex now of people that, you know,
0:41
we could almost make ourselves redundant, to be honest,
0:43
that wanted to do this co-hosting gig.
0:46
But we chose Indie.
0:50
She came through our socials.
0:52
And I'm pretty excited for this podcast.
0:55
I absolutely am too.
0:56
And I feel like we have had a friendship for many years.
1:01
And it's been, in my head, a long time coming.
1:04
I've just been absolutely chomping at the bit for the opportunity.
1:07
So when I saw this advertised, I thought, this is it.
1:10
This is the moment.
1:12
Sophie's gone.
1:12
I'm coming in.
1:13
I'm going to take over.
1:14
Just kidding.
1:15
We obviously love Sophie just here cosplaying her for one day.
1:19
But no, I was like, I don't know.
1:20
I always get a bit nervous.
1:21
I'm like, oh, who's it going to be?
1:22
Who's it going to be?
1:23
and then yeah when the girls told me that it was going to be you I was like oh amazing sweet so we
1:29
go way back amazing but yes we do actually go way back don't we we absolutely do and we really do
1:34
have um two fantastic guys from New Zealand to thank for this because do you want to tell the
1:39
story of how we met or shall I our exes were cousins thank you to those two boys pop off to
1:45
those boys thank goodness they brought us together but no India is based in London and I'm I'm coming
1:52
back next week.
1:53
And honestly, it feels like I've been gone for so long, but I'm really excited to
1:56
come back.
1:56
But do you want to tell people a bit of your background, a bit of where you work,
2:00
what you do?
2:01
I would love to.
2:03
So I am also in the podcasting space.
2:06
I work for a startup in London
2:09
called Flight Story.
2:10
People may be familiar with some of our shows.
2:12
We've got the Diary of a CEO
2:14
is one of our big shows.
2:15
We also have Begin Again with Davina McCall.
2:18
We've got We Need to Talk with
2:19
Paul C. Brunson, The Line with Dr. Kristen Holmes, and also Hot Smart Rich with Maggie
2:25
Sellers-Reham as well.
2:26
So quite the list or the slate, I should say, of amazing shows.
2:31
And yeah, I work in that startup and it is honestly my dream job.
2:36
So love being in the
2:37
podcasting space and any opportunity to be on a podcast, I will just, yeah, jump at the opportunity.
2:44
How was that for a commercial plug?
2:45
I know that was spot on.
2:47
I was like,
2:47
Like they must be sitting in Flight Studio being like, thanks, Cindy.
2:53
It's Hot Smart Rich.
2:54
Is that the new one that they've recently bought under the Flight Studios umbrella?
2:59
Yeah, it is.
3:00
It's actually hosted by Maggie Sellers-Reham and she is based in LA.
3:05
So it's actually our first acquired podcast.
3:08
So a lot of the other podcasts have been built from the ground up in Flight Story and Hot
3:13
Smart Rich is the first one we've acquired.
3:15
And it's been fantastic.
3:16
Like we have only been going for, I'm going to say approximately maybe three months or so.
3:21
And yeah, Maggie's the best.
3:22
She's super, super intelligent.
3:24
She gets incredible guests, but she's really fun with her conversations.
3:28
She's talking all things business and female ambition and sort of a similar vibe, I would say, to the curve.
3:34
Maybe slightly more business, slightly less finance, but we're calling it pop business as the category.
3:40
Going after pop business.
3:42
Yeah.
3:42
I love that.
3:43
Can we do pop investing?
3:45
Pop investing and pop business.
3:48
I love that.
3:48
So I was going to come back and we completely changed the podcast.
3:51
And it's like, we're actually a pop money and a pop investing podcast.
3:54
She's going to be like, what?
3:57
Anyway, okay.
3:57
Finance news.
3:58
There is so much going on right now.
4:01
And I feel like I say this all the time, but just everything to do with the Iran-Israel-US
4:10
conflict is causing such ripple effects around the world right now.
4:14
and I mean I've had friends message me being like hey Vic you know what's what's happening
4:19
people are kind of worried I also feel like we've kind of been hit left right and center every year
4:26
and I thought this year was going to be the year of you know no cost of living crisis no COVID
4:32
no you know no Trump tariffs and we're gonna have a year of kind of smooth sailing but oil
4:38
oil prices going through the roof we the people need a break I know no one can afford to do
4:42
anything anymore.
4:44
Like it used to be fun and now it's stressful and no one can have a baby.
4:47
No one
4:48
can buy a house, not to be all doom and gloom.
4:51
And I know it's a lot worse for the people in the
4:53
Middle East and, you know, we are still very privileged, but it's, it's been a tough time
4:58
and it's continuing.
5:00
And I feel like, I feel like I'm complaining a lot more in the last few years
5:04
than I have in a long time in terms of like the impact that the world is having on my finances.
5:10
but in reality, yeah, when I just rattled off all those things
5:13
we've actually had to deal with in the last kind of six or seven years,
5:16
it's been quite a lot and it has impacted people.
5:19
And even just watching the news headlines come through,
5:22
it's like oil was at $56 a barrel in December
5:25
and it is now, because of the Middle East conflict, $100 a barrel.
5:32
Like that is an 80% increase.
5:35
And oil, I thought petrol and us having to fill up our cars
5:38
was the biggest impact, but it is literally used in everything like makeup, shampoo and conditioner,
5:47
clothing.
5:47
So you've got like nylon, polyester, you know, they use oil for those fabrics,
5:52
your toothbrush, furniture foam.
5:55
Like I was like Googling what is oil used in and it's literally
5:59
everything that we have in our households.
6:01
And if anything, this war is looking like it's going to
6:04
be going for much longer than we expect.
6:06
I love how Trump was like, it'll be over in a few weeks.
6:08
Because I'm like, when have you ever heard of a war being over in a few weeks?
6:11
He's full lying.
6:13
He's lying.
6:13
And I have been thinking the same thing.
6:15
I think when I first sort of was hearing that they were talking about oil prices going up,
6:20
I immediately was thinking, okay, flights.
6:23
And I'm thinking, okay, you know, petrol in the car, gas in the car.
6:27
But the reality is it's basically cost of living.
6:30
It's everything.
6:31
and if it isn't makeup or it's groceries getting delivered to the supermarket by trucks or it's
6:40
the oil that's in certain ingredients it really is everything and I think that is probably something
6:46
that I don't want to speak for everybody but for me I think it's taken some time to sort of connect
6:51
the dots and realize that actually this is impacting everything and I think even you know
6:56
I spend quite a lot of time traveling to the US for work.
7:01
I have been going to sort of LA sort of
7:02
every other month for probably coming up a year now.
7:06
And I consistently get the same flights.
7:08
So it will always be like a Thursday afternoon at 3pm.
7:11
And then I fly back on sort of a Friday at
7:14
five and it's the same airline.
7:16
And that flight has, I would say quite consistently been around
7:19
360 pounds for an economy basic fare the whole time.
7:23
Like it really doesn't move too far out,
7:25
even if it's two weeks out or a month out, it's sort of standard 360.
7:30
And I'm heading back to the
7:31
US in a couple of weeks and I was having a look at flights again.
7:34
That flight is now sitting at
7:36
about $475.
7:37
So no.
7:40
And then you think about flying to New Zealand, like how the hell will we ever
7:43
afford to go home?
7:44
I'm never coming back.
7:46
It's like airlines, it is their biggest, it is their
7:48
biggest expense.
7:50
And there's also the added, you know, debacle of people not wanting to fly
7:55
through the Middle East.
7:57
So there's flights that are now being, you know, the flights through Asia
8:01
and the US, if you're trying to get from the bottom of the world to the top, are now in such
8:06
high demand.
8:07
But a lot of airlines have actually come out saying that they're seeing, they're
8:11
having quite good financial results.
8:13
And look, this is a lot of the US airlines and its reporting
8:17
season at the moment in the US, which is when public companies report their financial results.
8:21
and they're all coming out saying like things are looking great travel demand is bouncing back and
8:25
like everyone's feeling really you know optimistic about the future I'm like yes but those are the
8:31
the previous it's that you know you're reporting on the on the previous kind of three three months
8:36
or 12 months and it's like people want to know people are concerned about the future not the
8:42
not what's happened but I think people are still feeling optimistic in terms of the spending
8:48
the ability to spend on flights.
8:50
But what I think is now we're starting, we will see start to come
8:54
through, is inflation.
8:56
When oil has gone up 80% and we're just talking about it being in absolutely
9:00
everything, that has to filter through to inflation.
9:04
And we are starting to see a lot of
9:07
central banks.
9:08
So they're the banks that kind of set the interest rates at each country.
9:12
We are seeing, we saw the Bank of England is looking like it's going to hold its interest
9:16
rates so it's not going to cut them and I'll just take a minute to kind of explain like in Australia
9:23
they put their interest rates up so they put up interest rates to kind of curb inflation because
9:29
it means that people spend less so therefore inflation kind of gets contained and so yet the
9:35
fact that they you know in in the UK they're not cutting interest rates which they were going to
9:41
because if you cut interest rates people were encouraged to spend and then inflation kind of
9:44
runs away.
9:45
So they've kind of got this weird thing they have to juggle at the moment where,
9:49
okay, a lot of economies around the world are not doing that great.
9:53
Like if we take New Zealand and
9:54
the UK, they're not doing that great.
9:56
But we've got this inflation that looks like it's coming,
9:58
but we can't lower interest rates to help the economy, which is encouraging people to spend
10:05
more and go out and kind of boost the economy.
10:07
So a lot of the economies get in this weird
10:11
predicament of they might increase interest rates to stop inflation, but it gets you into this
10:19
period of what we call stagflation, which is really, really dangerous.
10:23
Let's double click
10:23
on stagflation.
10:25
Stagflation.
10:27
So it's when the economy is like stagnant.
10:29
So that's why you get
10:29
the stagflation.
10:30
So you've got a really slow economy, like in New Zealand at the moment,
10:33
really slow economy in the UK, really slow economy right now.
10:37
And when you have a slow economy,
10:40
you reduce interest rates so that you know things like debt you can take on debt debt's cheap you
10:45
can then start businesses or go out and spend more money you know credit card debt is cheaper like
10:50
all of that like when you lower interest rates people don't get as much return on the savings
10:54
in the bank so they go and spend it like it it helps stimulate things but the central banks
11:01
don't want to do that right now because if they stimulate the economy too much then it leads to
11:09
inflation and they're trying to control inflation.
11:11
So stagflation is when you have a really slow
11:14
economy, but you have high inflation at the same time.
11:17
So you're kind of stuck in a rock and a hard
11:19
place and you're kind of going, we need to increase interest rates to control inflation,
11:23
but we can't because the economy is really bad.
11:25
And they kind of, yeah, you're in a bit of a
11:28
pickle and it's not good from an economic standpoint.
11:32
Okay.
11:32
So then my second question
11:33
becomes, and obviously I appreciate you can't give us financial advice, but at a time like this,
11:39
what is actually the smart thing to do with your money?
11:42
And I understand that that is a super, super broad question,
11:45
but responding to specifically what we're speaking about,
11:47
what should people be thinking about?
11:49
Good question indeed.
11:51
That's a million dollar question.
11:52
Perhaps the billion dollar.
11:54
Yeah, brilliant.
11:55
Kind of two things is there's always business cycles, right?
11:59
Things happen in cycles and they tend to last kind of maybe five years
12:05
is what they say is like a typical business cycle
12:07
and then things will get better or worse depending where you are.
12:11
So look, I know it's a really
12:13
boring answer, but with everything going on in the world and people, I'm still guessing what's
12:18
going to happen.
12:20
Will we end up with getting super high inflation or maybe it will just be a non-event
12:23
and I don't know, Trump will pull a hat trick and something else will happen.
12:27
Stranger things have happened.
12:29
Exactly.
12:30
Sounds like a boring answer, but diversifying, investing in different countries,
12:35
really, really important.
12:36
Investing in different assets when you can.
12:40
So the property market,
12:41
the stock market, that kind of thing.
12:43
And also, I think in a world if we do get really high
12:47
inflation, just making sure that you have a budget, you know your expenses, so you can start
12:54
if you need to, knowing what to cut back on or what not to or what's costing you lots or,
13:00
I don't know.
13:01
Look, I don't think it's going to get dire.
13:02
I think it's just more,
13:03
probably don't panic you know we'll get through this um it might be unfortunately another tough
13:09
year i don't know there's just been a lot of increased volatility in the world lately and
13:15
the best thing that you can do the best defense is be diversified and just like keep investing
13:19
through it because you don't know we might come out of this absolutely fine and if you've kind
13:23
of sat on the sidelines and been like oh i don't want to invest you know then you might actually
13:27
We were more worse, more worse, worse off.
13:31
Great English.
13:32
More worse.
13:32
Yeah, more worse off.
13:33
Yeah, yeah, I'm flying.
13:34
But interestingly, in Asia, they've started to do some.
13:39
So Asia's really, really reliant on oil from the Middle East.
13:43
I did hear this on your last week's episode.
13:45
Yes, yeah.
13:46
And then I heard some examples of things they're doing already.
13:50
They've already started to put in place because they're like, oh, gosh, we've got some reserves,
13:54
but we're going to run out.
13:55
So, well, you know, hopefully they don't run out, but, you know, we need to start cutting back now.
13:59
And so places like Thailand has introduced mandatory work from home days.
14:05
So people don't use scooters and cars to get to work or public transport.
14:09
In other countries, they've started to mandate days that you can use your car.
14:16
So certain days are like no car days.
14:18
In the Philippines, they've introduced a four day work week.
14:21
These are drastic matters and they're making these changes very, very quickly, which, you know, is a little bit concerning, isn't it?
14:27
How fast that's been implemented.
14:29
I know.
14:30
It makes it feel quite real.
14:33
It's kind of giving, dare I say it, the COVID and the pandemic, the panic buying toilet paper.
14:38
Yeah.
14:39
It is kind of giving a little bit of that same sort of vibe, but perhaps these are very smart measures.
14:43
And do you know what's funny?
14:44
I was talking to my mum about it and she sort of said the same thing,
14:49
that there had been sort of whisperings in New Zealand of having to ration fuel.
14:54
Now, I don't know if that is, you know,
14:56
I don't know if that's actually the conversation in New Zealand right now
14:58
or if she's just talking to her friends about it,
15:01
but that's quite interesting because we are an island.
15:04
Yes, and we had the, I watched the news the other night
15:05
and there was, they had level one.
15:08
I can't remember the different levels, but it was like four levels of extremities.
15:11
extremities and like the last one was like we have to completely save and like no one's allowed on
15:16
the roads and I was like oh my god this is giving COVID vibes so and for anyone who wasn't in New
15:21
Zealand at the time during COVID we had this like traffic light system and it was like level one
15:26
you were just social social distancing level two you were only allowed to be in you know have
15:31
maximum gatherings of 25 people in restaurants with only doing takeaway level three anyway
15:36
it's giving hallmarks of that and I'm like oh dear gosh oh dear gosh actually very incredible
15:40
that you can even remember those different tears.
15:43
I feel like that information went in one side of my brain
15:45
and completely out the other.
15:46
I actually was speaking to my mum
15:47
because the last oil crisis was in 1970s
15:52
and my mum texts our family WhatsApp the other day
15:56
and she was like, back in the 1970s,
15:59
we had to ration days that we used the car
16:02
and everyone had stickers on their cars
16:04
and you were allowed to use your cars on certain days
16:07
and it's quite wild.
16:09
And then people that were well off and had two cars were allowed to have
16:12
two stickers.
16:12
And like, imagine having only allowed to use a car on a Wednesday and then
16:16
someone sees you on a Thursday and they're like, hang on a second.
16:18
Victoria's out.
16:19
I've seen her.
16:19
She's getting coffee in her car on a Friday.
16:21
She's only a Monday permit holder.
16:23
Like what is she
16:24
doing?
16:25
It is so bizarre.
16:27
And I know I don't want to make light of huge, you know, geopolitical
16:31
events, but it is genuinely, you do have to sit there and think what the hell is going on.
16:36
Yeah.
16:36
We are now in a place where these sort of measures are even being considered.
16:40
Would we have ever expected us to regress to such a place as the 1970s?
16:45
100% and that a war in the Middle East between two countries can impact the whole world in some degree.
16:53
It's still quite crazy that we're so reliant on, you know, a small part of the world.
17:00
But you know who is winning out of all of this?
17:02
Please, tell me.
17:03
BP and Shell.
17:04
Their share prices have done so well.
17:07
So the people who invested in BP and Shell, let's say towards the end of last year,
17:15
obviously maybe had some feelings that something might unfold.
17:20
Now's the time to sort of get involved in those businesses, invest.
17:23
Do you think there are, again, I'm asking for financial advice, but not asking for financial
17:28
advice.
17:29
Are there opportunities, do you think, that we should be looking at and considering in
17:33
terms of investments or areas to invest in?
17:35
I know we sort of spoke about that a bit earlier,
17:38
but is it like perhaps renewable energy or is it maybe it's local tourism if people can't really
17:44
travel?
17:45
Yeah, look, I think, look, some people will want to take advantage of this, which I
17:51
think is like a short-term trend.
17:53
You know, the oil price, there's always, it always corrects back
17:58
to, you know, kind of reasonable levels.
18:00
In 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out,
18:04
we saw the oil price go up, you know, higher than it is right now.
18:08
But yeah, if we look at the share
18:10
price performance of the S&P 500, the top 500 companies in the US, 2022 was a terrible year.
18:17
The stock market was down 20%.
18:18
So oil can have an impact on the stock market.
18:22
But we've rebounded
18:23
And we've had two years since then where the stock market's up over 20% per year.
18:28
So this is kind of, well, I hope a short-term impact.
18:33
But so look, there will be people that are like, you're right, they could have seen that
18:36
this was going to happen or they could see tensions rising in the Middle East and they
18:39
bought BP and Shell and their portfolios are now up 30%.
18:44
But for me, I think this will create a surge and hopefully a realization that the world could be so disrupted because of its reliance on oil.
19:02
We need to accelerate renewable energy projects around the world.
19:07
And yes, that's a longer term theme, but I am a long term investor.
19:12
We're not reactive investors on this podcast.
19:15
No, exactly.
19:17
And yes, the oil price has gone up and oil producers like the BP's and Shell's are doing
19:22
very well right now, unfortunately.
19:24
But I'm a long-term investor and long-term, I think this will be a big kick up the bum
19:29
for the world about getting their A into G with moving more towards renewable energy
19:35
or diversifying the energy sources, right?
19:38
Preach.
19:39
Yes.
19:40
Great.
19:40
I've just spilt coffee all over myself.
19:42
Oh, no.
19:42
Are you all right?
19:43
Yeah, no, no, I'm fine.
19:44
It's ever so slightly on your chair is my concern.
19:47
Oh, it's all right.
19:47
Do you know what it's reminding me of?
19:49
Did anyone see those memes of that guy, Jake Shane?
19:52
I don't know if you saw him.
19:53
Do you know him?
19:55
Oh, he's so funny.
19:57
He's so funny.
19:57
And he's basically, he was signing some autographs the other day.
20:01
I'm going off on a random tangent here, but I have to explain myself.
20:03
I'm clearly embarrassed.
20:05
He was signing some autographs with like a Sharpie, like a Vivid,
20:09
and he like put it in his mouth for one second.
20:12
And then when he pulled like to the side and then when he pulled it away, he had this like
20:15
black mark on his cheek and he sort of like also dropped the vivid.
20:19
So then it like marked his top.
20:20
And I've now done that with coffee.
20:22
So me and Jake Shane, yeah, cut from the same cloth.
20:24
But anyway, we move on.
20:26
I don't know why I find him hilarious.
20:29
He could do anything and it would make me laugh.
20:32
Yeah, he is the funniest creator.
20:33
I really do think that too.
20:35
Yeah.
20:36
He's so awkward.
20:37
So awkward, but kind of like confident, but then funny.
20:40
I don't know.
20:40
Yeah, he's great.
20:42
We've also had some news from Gap, actually.
20:45
So I mentioned it was reporting season.
20:48
So we've got a lot of companies reporting financial results.
20:51
And it is a really interesting time to kind of, if you're invested in the company, you
20:55
can see how it's done.
20:58
Any outlook statements that the management team gives is always like really good indication
21:02
of how well or bad things are doing.
21:04
Or if you're interested in the company or whatever.
21:07
Anyway, so Gap has come out and announced its financial result.
21:11
And it has, it produced $15 billion in revenue last year.
21:17
And this is its eighth straight quarter of sales growth.
21:20
So that's like growth on growth on growth, you know, like in eight consecutive years.
21:25
And this is so wild because Gap has had such a rebrand.
21:30
It was so uncool and kind of going nowhere.
21:34
And now it's just had such, it's got such a time in the sun right now.
21:39
and it's kind of had this whole movement back to its basics and focusing on its core and also
21:46
you know what also helped is that cat's eye campaign oh that was iconic that was and such
21:53
a fu to what was the brand with sydney sweeney american something american eagle american eagle
21:59
yeah that was iconic and i love that it was um callous milkshake oh my god it was so good bring
22:05
that song back like that almost needs the um you know murder on the dance floor sophie alice
22:10
bexter got the salt burn resurgence let's bring back milkshake i heard s club 7 on the radio this
22:15
morning wow and oh my goodness what a i knew i knew every lyric which song was it yes oh tune
22:25
yeah honestly on the motorway just going through every single word and i was like every single
22:31
lyric and i was like wow that's quite crazy that i can remember this from like 20 years ago
22:35
They are also due a reunion tour.
22:37
They really are.
22:39
Yeah.
22:39
Side note, just pivoting back to Gap for a second.
22:42
I find it always interesting that we call it Gap,
22:44
but if you're in America, they call it The Gap.
22:46
Yes.
22:47
You notice that?
22:48
Yeah.
22:48
But you know what's really interesting?
22:50
So I was having a bit of a search around yesterday to
22:54
talk a bit more about this topic.
22:56
And I thought this was fascinating.
22:58
So do you know what sort
23:00
of the success of Gap has been largely attributed to?
23:04
Well, the Cat's Eye campaign.
23:07
No.
23:07
The Cat's Eye campaign.
23:09
But also,
23:10
they basically, their current CEO is a guy called Richard Dixon.
23:15
And he actually has
23:18
previously been at Mattel.
23:20
And he is sort of cited or credited, I would say, as sort of the lead
23:25
architect of Mattel having this like resurgence and Barbie having this real revival.
23:31
So when he
23:32
arrived at Mattel, which I think was like a minute, say 2014, the sales of Barbie were basically
23:39
in like double digit decline, like it's not doing well at all.
23:43
And I think it was in a stage where
23:45
lots of mums and people who would have maybe historically bought Barbie dolls has sort of
23:50
turned away because they felt like the brand was slightly outdated or like it didn't really
23:55
promote realistic body standards and it wasn't representative.
23:58
And he basically went in and
24:01
changed everything.
24:02
So he created like dolls that had new body shapes, new ethnicities.
24:05
They did
24:06
more sort of real world collaborations.
24:08
And he has like literally put Barbie back on the map
24:12
so much so that it went on to, I guess, culminate in the Barbie film that came out,
24:18
the Greta Gerwig film that came out a few years ago, which I think was like one of the highest
24:21
grossing films in the US of 2023.
24:24
Look at you with all your facts.
24:26
I know the student becomes the master, if you will.
24:29
Just joking.
24:31
Absolutely not.
24:32
But he has
24:33
basically come in, you know, to Gap and is now having, you know, we're seeing phenomenal success
24:37
with Gap.
24:38
And I think it's quite interesting to watch what he has done with Barbie, what he is
24:42
now doing with Gap.
24:42
And I think the takeaway here is like, wherever he's going, we need to be
24:46
investing because this man knows what's up.
24:49
I was about to say that I was like, those are the CEOs
24:52
that you follow because they have such a good track record.
24:55
They're almost like founders,
24:56
right?
24:56
They like, they, they want to leave a legacy and actually turn around a business and
25:01
not just get a few years of good profit growth and say, see you later.
25:05
But you're so right that
25:07
as you were speaking, I was like, this is what I want to say.
25:09
And you took the words out of my
25:10
mouth.
25:10
We're like one of those couples that just finishes each other's sentences, aren't we?
25:14
Stop it.
25:15
Yeah.
25:15
So kindred.
25:16
But no, it's, it's pretty remarkable, I think.
25:18
And do you, do you see that,
25:20
are there any other, and I'm really putting you on the spot here, but are there any other,
25:23
it's almost like a serial CEO, a serial successful CEO that you might look at and think
25:28
what they've done here is brilliant.
25:30
You may not have any off the top of your head.
25:32
Off the top of my head, like there is founders that have been bought back when a business is
25:37
struggling.
25:38
So like Steve Jobs, for example, you know, he got oust from Apple like years ago and
25:44
then you got bought back and it's like been amazing when I have seen it or when you when
25:49
you know this is going to be kind of a good CEO is usually someone let's say a Netflix announced
25:55
that you were taking over as CEO and it announced good god poor Netflix that Indy Leishman was
26:01
taking over as CEO and if I didn't know anything about your history usually if the share price
26:07
goes up on that announcement people who know your history and know that you previously were at
26:13
yeah disney and you did a great job and now you've come to netflix so the likelihood is going to do a
26:17
good job so usually if there's an announcement of a ceo change and the share price goes up
26:21
people are like woohoo either the previous one was an absolute dud and they're just like thank
26:25
goodness or the track record um is usually pretty good of where they were even if they weren't ceo
26:31
right if they might have been like an absolute gun head of asia or head of americas or you know
26:37
something like that.
26:38
But yeah, it is.
26:39
You're so right.
26:40
If you saw this guy leave Gap and then he
26:45
popped up at Nike or something, you'd be like, okay, well, you know, the probability he's going
26:50
to do a good job here is pretty high.
26:52
So he is actually, funnily enough, he's still quite young.
26:55
He's at 58.
26:56
I mean, I don't know if people necessarily agree that that's quite young,
27:00
but to me, he's a young king.
27:01
Yeah.
27:02
For a CEO, that's pretty young.
27:03
Yeah.
27:04
So I think it will be kind of interesting to watch where he goes.
27:08
I mean, he might stay at
27:08
Gap Forever, who knows, but yeah, pop off Richard, Dick Dixon doing his thing and killing it daily.
27:14
Also, yes.
27:16
Talk to me.
27:16
We have some other news with a retail brand, Joe Malone.
27:22
Yes.
27:22
You know,
27:23
the amazing perfume.
27:25
I just always go into the stores and kind of spray myself, pretend I'm
27:28
looking to buy something and then walk out because I can't afford it.
27:31
How many, how many people are
27:34
doing that?
27:34
Because every single time I fly internationally, I'm straight to the Jo Malone.
27:38
And I try to be really coy and I'm like, um, yeah, yeah.
27:41
I'm just, um, oh, I've never seen
27:43
this brand before.
27:44
Oh yeah.
27:46
Oh, accidentally slipped.
27:47
A little Blackberry and Bay.
27:48
Yeah.
27:49
I'm like, like hosing myself.
27:51
And you see them coming towards you and you're like, oh,
27:53
leave, leave, leave, leave.
27:54
Yeah.
27:54
You're like, oh, what's over there.
27:56
But you know what?
27:57
She
27:57
has tried and tested joe malone perfume my god i actually it's the only perfume i wear well this
28:03
is super relevant for you she's actually being sued uh joe malone terrible she is being sued
28:09
by este laura uh because she used her own name so she is a person joe malone is actually a person
28:17
she used her own name on a perfume that she created for zara so back in when was it 1999
28:25
she sold joe malone the brand which was also her name to estee lauder and as part of that deal she
28:34
actually gave up the rights to use her own name which was so wild imagine imagine not being able
28:40
to use your name i'm like it's mental yeah it wasn't even called joe malone perfect it was like
28:46
in the um the packaging it said a creation by joe malone and now she's being sued by estee lauder
28:51
And she says, you know, as part of that deal when she sold to Estee Lauder, her selling her brand was the worst decision of her life, which is so sad.
29:01
It's honestly terrible.
29:02
And she, so funny, not funny story, actually.
29:04
No part of the story is funny, but, you know, it's one of those things people say.
29:08
She has come on one of our podcasts again.
29:11
Shameless plug.
29:13
She did come on Begin Again with Davina McCall, and she talked a lot about that experience and just her whole life in general.
29:20
But what I thought, you know, was, I guess, just so sad is she obviously sold these rights back in 1999.
29:30
And I'm sure, you know, she sold them for a lot.
29:32
I don't think they've announced exactly how many million it was, but I'm sure it was a comfortable, you know, sum.
29:38
But I just think what is interesting is she had, I think I read somewhere she had a non-compete until like 2011 or something.
29:45
It was 2010, 2011.
29:46
him.
29:47
And she's basically come out saying the reality is it's a lifetime non-compete because
29:51
if your name is your name.
29:53
And what I find also quite interesting is she went on to create
29:58
another brand, which is called Joe Loves.
30:00
Have you seen the packaging for that?
30:03
Yeah.
30:03
Yeah.
30:04
I'll be brutally honest here.
30:06
For a long time, I did think it was like a dupe brand.
30:09
Like I really
30:10
was like, this is horrendous.
30:11
They really need to get a new product designer.
30:13
It's the packaging is
30:15
not giving.
30:16
And I was like, that's so funny.
30:18
Someone's obviously just trying to, you know,
30:20
rip off Jo Malone.
30:21
Then I worked out, oh, actually it is the OG Jo Malone.
30:24
But it's just so sad,
30:26
isn't it?
30:26
You know, and it's something you wouldn't necessarily think about having a lifelong impact.
30:31
It is strange that a lot of skincare and beauty brands are the founder's name.
30:37
Like Bobbi Brown,
30:39
The same thing happened to Bobbi Brown.
30:42
She got bought out by Estee Lauder and had a non-compete and couldn't use her own name.
30:47
But if you think about a lot of the brands, like Charlotte Tilbury, Emma Lewisham, like they're all their own names.
30:53
And it's quite –
30:54
Bold.
30:55
Yeah.
30:56
It's like, why is it just in the beauty space?
30:58
I don't know because I suppose it's almost the same as if you think of fashion brands as well.
31:02
Like didn't the same thing happen to Kate Spade?
31:04
Yeah, true actually.
31:05
So Kate Spade is another one.
31:06
So she went on to change her name, I think, as well.
31:09
She actually became Kate Valentine so that she could start a new brand.
31:13
Like she changed her legal name.
31:14
I guess it's a good learning, right?
31:16
You know, the sparkliness of a great deal, like Estee Lauder coming along wanting to
31:20
buy Joan Malone probably was like so incredible for her that she didn't think it through or
31:26
didn't think that it would be a big deal.
31:29
And so it's probably just a good reminder, you know, whatever size the deal, if it's
31:32
if it's a smaller transaction or a bigger one,
31:34
just taking the time to think about or get legal advice on the impact that
31:39
could have financially and in terms of opportunities for yourself or other
31:44
businesses that you want to launch in the future.
31:46
Yeah.
31:47
Cause that would really suck.
31:49
Well,
31:49
at least we could still make businesses called Indie Leashman and Victoria
31:53
Harris.
31:54
There we go.
31:54
The world's our oyster.
31:56
It's interesting.
31:56
No one's taken either of those names yet.
31:59
They're so catchy as businesses,
32:01
right?
32:01
Joe Malone, if you want to take Victoria Harris, it's, you know, go nuts.
32:05
I'm okay with it.
32:07
It's like you notice that with law firms as well.
32:09
It's always like last name and last name.
32:11
Like it would be Leishman and Harris and Leishman.
32:13
Yeah.
32:14
Or something.
32:15
Yes.
32:15
So it's almost like the beauty space seems to have it legal.
32:19
Maybe we should start a podcast from a media company called Leishman and Harris.
32:23
We'll have to bring in Horright.
32:24
Leishman, Harris.
32:25
How would it go?
32:26
I don't think Leishman's going first.
32:27
Surely that's last.
32:28
I think it's like Hallwright Harris.
32:31
And Leishman.
32:33
And partners.
32:33
And partners.
32:34
Definitely and partners.
32:38
I love it.
32:38
Okay, well, that's what we'll do next.
32:40
Yeah, watch the space everywhere.
32:42
Big things are coming.
32:43
Coming in hot next year.
32:45
And lastly, we've got some rumours out of Unilever
32:51
that they are going to spin off their food business.
32:56
Now, Unilever is a absolutely massive company.
33:01
It's like one of the top five companies in the UK.
33:04
It is a hundred billion pound business.
33:07
It is got 400 brands under its umbrella, like from personal care to household goods to,
33:15
you know, you've got Dove, Lynx, Vaseline, Dermalogica under the skincare brands.
33:21
You've got like Persil.
33:22
You've got, honestly, yeah, I think you'd be quite surprised at the number of brands that you recognize under Unilever.
33:30
And last year, they actually spun off their ice cream division.
33:33
So they had a lot of issues with Ben & Jerry's and they brought Ben & Jerry's into the Unilever umbrella and then they had issues with the team there.
33:41
And so they ended up kind of combining that with Magnum and a few other brands and spinning that out into an ice cream company, which hasn't done too badly, actually.
33:49
It's a listed company now.
33:51
People love ice cream.
33:52
People love ice cream, but they're now looking, and that was only in December that they spun off this ice cream division.
33:59
And now they're looking to spin off more of the food business, like the brands like Marmite, Coleman's Mustard, all those kind of condiments and staples.
34:10
And the share price actually fell on this news.
34:13
So people, because people think, obviously, if you have a business, you buy it because of all its assets.
34:18
So if you're carving off some of it, it's going to be less valuable.
34:21
less valuable but then they tend to structure it and usually you know company companies that
34:26
are spun off or brands that are spun off actually do better outside of a big parent because they
34:30
get more attention and more capital and and all of that but it's just an interesting move for
34:36
Unilever to firstly spin off its magnum ice cream division secondly now it's rumored and it's not
34:44
confirmed but it's rumored to be spinning off it's um you know more of its food business
34:49
and I'm like it obviously just sees opportunity and just the beauty and personal care space
34:55
because that's that's what's growing that's what's profitable so it's like you know what we just need
35:00
to streamline our business and focus on the part that's doing well which I think you know sounds
35:08
like it would do it would make sense right rather than trying to do a bit of everything well I guess
35:13
they're channeling their focus perhaps yeah you know if personal care is the space that is booming
35:18
for them I suppose it does make sense but I had I didn't even realize until sort of researching for
35:23
this that as you said Unilever had so many brands under its umbrella to me it always had just been
35:29
a personal care brand and I always thought it was you know your toiletries that side of things I
35:33
didn't realize they were in food at all no I know and it's like it's not till you kind of turn over
35:37
the packet and you look and there's a little Unilever and you're like geez they really do own
35:42
everything but i think it's also the trend of people are spending less on like branded food
35:48
they're wanting to kind of buy local and like organic and all of that not the mass market brands
35:53
so much people are switching to super cheaper supermarket options so you know when we have
35:59
times of of toughness in the economy you go to the aldi's and the uh costco's and all of that
36:05
and then also this the weight loss drugs it's really cutting back on snacking and the glp1s
36:11
They are having a hit.
36:13
They are having a ripple effect through everything.
36:16
Also with the doubling down on the kind of the beauty and personal care space,
36:21
Sophie and I went to an event a few weeks ago when we were in New Zealand and
36:26
there was this incredible lady who we're trying to get on the podcast and she's
36:29
called the futurist and that's like her title.
36:31
I'm like,
36:32
how cool,
36:33
how cool of that.
36:34
Anyway,
36:34
she was talking about these kind of three big structural trends and I won't
36:38
spoil it in case she does come on the podcast,
36:40
but one of them which is what we know is like everyone's living longer right but she was like
36:46
it's not you're not living longer at 100 even though you are actually you know you might be
36:52
living to 120 now you know when we get to that age but you're extending the life in your kind
36:58
of 30s and 40s and with that obviously comes a whole lot of wealth uh planning changes but
37:07
it comes with a lot of focus on health and wellness, personal care, you know, how to improve
37:13
your overall health, like supplements, you know, we're seeing peptides, we're seeing GLP-1s, we're
37:19
seeing, you know, all of this stuff.
37:20
And it's because people are extending their lives in that
37:24
kind of middle-aged part.
37:27
What do you mean extending their lives?
37:28
So, sorry, I mean, so people are
37:30
living longer, but we're not living longer when we're kind of old and unable to, you know, move
37:36
around or do anything we're extending our lives in the kind of 30 40 50 year old age you know
37:41
people like oh 30 is the new 40 and 40 is the new 50 you know it's like we're extending in that wait
37:47
do you mean 40 is the new 30 oh yeah sorry because i'm concerned i'm either 20 years behind
37:54
i kind of think both work right to me it's like if you're 40 i would say if you're 40 it's the
38:00
you 30 because everyone's doing things later I was like shit now I'm really behind no you know
38:06
and like everything like delaying having kids and like yes all of that stuff your people are
38:13
it's you're trying to extend your your fun years not your years when you can't do anything so
38:19
yeah anyway totally that it was just such an interesting chat and I hope we get on the
38:22
podcast but I think when I was looking at this and researching I was like oh it's I'm starting
38:26
to see a lot of little signs that, you know, whether it's my TikTok feed that's full of
38:33
bloody health and wellness and creatine and electrolytes and all of that versus, yeah,
38:39
compared to, you know, announcements like this where Unilever, one of the biggest,
38:43
one of the biggest companies in the world is honing in on personal care and beauty and
38:48
all of that.
38:49
I don't know.
38:50
It's just like, yeah, there's a lot of like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
38:52
Oh yeah.
38:53
This sounds like a trend.
38:55
I mean, I would never have even taken creatine as of a couple of years ago.
38:58
I don't even know what it was.
38:59
But now, yeah, I take creatine gummies every single day.
39:02
And it seems that is just sort of a trend.
39:05
Well, not a trend necessarily.
39:06
I think you're bang on there.
39:08
I think we are trying to extend those middle years of our life.
39:12
And I'm sure, you know, when our parents were our age,
39:16
they were not sitting around taking collagen and creatine
39:18
and all of these supplements and electrolytes.
39:22
but it's almost just become such a normal part of our lives today.
39:27
Hopefully it pays off in the long run and we're all looking 30 at 50.
39:31
And feeling 30 at 50 and yeah.
39:34
We do have a question from the community actually.
39:36
It is from Maddie and she goes,
39:39
Hey girls, any tips from Vic on how to get into finance as a career?
39:45
Just want to hear all about how she got into it.
39:47
I have a law degree so I'm not quite the same as a BCom
39:51
but any help she can give or tips love the potty this one's all you dick yeah i'm like do you want
39:56
to handle this yeah well look in my experience uh no this is your moment to shine vick take it away
40:04
well maddie thank you for your question i love getting uh emails texts anything like this because
40:10
i'm like the more women that we can get interested in finance and studying finance and getting in the
40:14
finance industry i am all here for uh look i studied law as well and absolutely had a blow
40:19
well, I just realized very quickly law was not for me.
40:23
I tried my absolute hardest, poured my
40:26
heart and soul into first year law.
40:28
And I remember getting my paper back and it was a C. And it was
40:32
this time in my life where I felt very mature.
40:34
And I was like, you know what?
40:35
I put 120% into that
40:38
and I got a C. Like this is when you tap out proudly, Vic, and you go, you know what?
40:42
It's
40:42
just not for me.
40:43
Anyway, that was the law side.
40:45
But finance, look, I think firstly, studying at
40:47
uni, huge, huge help.
40:49
And she sounds like she's on the way to do that.
40:52
And then I think it's just
40:54
being open about the roles in finance.
40:56
My first job was at Milford Asset Management, which is a
40:59
large funds management company in Australia and New Zealand.
41:02
At the time, they were tiny.
41:03
I had
41:04
no idea who they were.
41:05
I didn't know anything about them.
41:07
I started literally answering the
41:09
phones, making coffee, getting the mail.
41:11
And I remember I was like, I studied four years for
41:14
this you know you're like what it's it was really good to yeah learn absolutely and totally and just
41:22
it was it was I got in at the perfect time of a growing funds management company and I had so
41:28
incredible so many incredible opportunities ahead of me and I think that's the thing it's like don't
41:32
be stressed out if you're like I only want to work for this company or I don't actually know
41:36
where in finance I want to end up because there's so many there's investment banking there's financial
41:40
advice, there's analysts, there's so many different roles within finance that just kind
41:48
of take one, figure it out.
41:50
You might not like it, but it might be an opening into something else or I don't know.
41:54
Yeah, just kind of go with the flow of it and get what you can.
41:59
Then you will figure out where your strengths are.
42:02
You might be a really great people person and therefore, you know, maybe the relationship
42:06
management kind of side, whether it's a financial advisor or something might really interest
42:10
you or you really might like numbers and analyzing and you can go down that route so there's just I
42:16
didn't know all the different roles when I joined when I entered the industry so yeah it was quite
42:23
good to kind of see lots of different stuff and then pick and choose and then end up where I
42:26
wanted to end up so yeah and I think that is such good advice for anyone sort of starting off in
42:32
their career you know I think like your 20s is the best time to just go in and learn and try a whole
42:39
bunch of different things.
42:40
And I think if I look back at my early career, when I was in my early
42:45
twenties, I was so determined to have like the perfect job and be exactly where I needed to be.
42:50
And I think actually the better step for me would have been to just go in and do lots of different
42:57
roles and sort of figure out what I was good at or what I was interested in, because I've had
43:03
so many friends who started careers in one field and then, you know, did it for five years and
43:07
of like, actually, I hate this.
43:09
Whereas I think any opportunities of going and just be around
43:12
totally different people in different roles, be like, Hmm, that's a bit of me.
43:16
I kind of like
43:17
this.
43:17
I'm also interested in this because you never know where your career takes you.
43:20
Yeah.
43:21
Those random little skills.
43:22
And I think my sort of career, I worked as a journalist for five years.
43:27
Then I moved into a marketing role for a couple of years and then also did sort of producing type
43:33
work as well.
43:33
And I remember thinking when I got to London, I was like, where the hell
43:38
am I going to find a role that is like news reporting, journalism, producing, but also
43:44
more, you know, marketing and social media.
43:46
And then the role in the company that I work for now
43:48
was sort of created, which was a new role.
43:51
And it was essentially, they needed someone who had a
43:53
background in marketing and social production and also, you know, writing and journalism,
43:57
essentially.
43:58
So you just kind of never know where those skills will sort of culminate and land you
44:04
in the future.
44:05
And you always end up where you're supposed to be.
44:07
I remember there was a chance for
44:10
me to move from answering the phones and getting the mail into the investment team or into kind of
44:15
the financial advisor team.
44:18
And I sat there and I stood over it for so long and I was like, oh,
44:22
I don't know, I don't know.
44:23
And then I went down the investment team route.
44:26
So effectively, that's
44:27
when the advisors go out and get the money from the clients and they give it to you and you invest
44:31
it and I remember like gosh what if I'd chosen the other route and kind of had gone down there
44:36
and I'm like but everything and it sounds woo woo but I genuinely believe that everything happens
44:42
how it's supposed to happen and like you're you're where you are and and I'm where I am all because
44:46
of those little decisions whether you know I may have taken the financial advisor team route but
44:52
ended up back here somehow I don't know you just always end up where you're supposed to end up so
44:56
don't stress yourself out too much.
44:58
Super aligned.
44:59
Mic drop.
44:59
You've hit the nail on the head.
45:01
I would
45:01
drop mine, but it's connected to this thing.
45:03
But yes, metaphorical.
45:04
You've killed it.
45:05
And with that,
45:06
we're actually going to not drop our mics, but turn off our mics.
45:09
We're going to throw our mics
45:12
on the floor and walk out.
45:13
We're done.
45:14
But thanks everyone.
45:15
And thanks for subbing in for Soph
45:18
indeed.
45:19
Hopefully she takes more holidays and you can join more often.
45:22
Truly.
45:22
That was so much fun.
45:24
and thank you for making this such a gorgeous experience for me
45:28
and for bringing the best topics and the best vibes
45:31
and creating what, you know, such a wonderful platform
45:34
that you and Soph have created.
45:36
Truly, what you girls are doing is just remarkable
45:38
and we need more of this
45:39
and we need more women like Maddie getting into finance.
45:41
So Maddie, hope you'll come and join Vic and Soph
45:45
and yeah, be part of the brigade.
45:47
Love that.
45:48
Thanks, Cindy.
45:49
And here's to our exes for introducing us.
45:53
Thank God.
45:53
We're not going to give them name shout outs, but, you know, they know who they are.
45:57
And hop off to those fellas, those Kiwi lads.
46:01
Yeah.
46:01
New Zealand's a small place.
46:03
Thank you so much for listening to The Curve Weekly.
46:05
Make sure you hit subscribe or follow wherever you're listening so you're always up to date with the latest finance and investing news.
46:10
And feel free to leave a comment to let us know what you thought about this episode because we would love your feedback.
46:14
We've got new Curve Weekly episodes for you to listen to every Monday.
46:17
But until then, listen to Erasing the Curve.
46:20
These are our in-depth podcast episodes where we chat about all things money.
46:23
We're also around all week on socials if you're hungry for more Curve content and all the links
46:27
are in this podcast's show notes.
46:28
We hope you have a great week and we'll catch you for the
46:31
next episode of the Curve Weekly on Monday.
46:41
Okay, quickly, the Curve was created to empower
46:43
and educate you about investing, but we are not financial advisors.
46:47
Our platform exists for
46:48
educational purposes only and it doesn't provide personalized investing advice for your individual
46:52
needs and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
46:56
And always remember to do your own research before making any investment or financial decision.
47:01
We're here for any knowledge and support you need, but the final call is always yours.
47:05
And thanks for being here.
47:06
You got this.
47:07
Yeah, we know you got this.