The Marketing Millennials — Ep. 356

"5 Marketing Lessons from a 125-Year-Old Brand" with Dawn Hedgepeth (Hanes)
Host: Daniel Murray
Date: October 10, 2025

Episode Overview

Daniel Murray sits down with Dawn Hedgepeth, SVP and seasoned brand builder at Hanes, to talk about keeping a 125-year-old brand relevant in today’s hyper-competitive market. Dawn breaks down Hanes’s approach to retail media, influencer partnerships, balancing brand and performance marketing, product innovation, and the role of consumer insights. She shares real-world stories and actionable lessons that marketers can bring back to their own brands.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dawn's Path to Marketing Leadership

• Dawn’s career started with aspirations to be a criminal defense attorney, which pivoted after experiences with unhappy practitioners and policy school. Her journey led through Unilever and multiple marketing leadership roles, ending up at Hanes.
• Memorable Quote:

  "I just found that I really loved the career in brand management...marketing just has gotten more and more interesting, it feels like, and it keeps me on my toes every day." (02:04)

2. Retail Marketing That Works at Hanes

• Retail media effectiveness varies by network, but right now, video (OLV, CTV) stands out for engagement and ROI—even in “performance-focused” environments.

  "Video content seems to just be reigning king everywhere right now and is very engaging and we have found that to be a fairly positive return for us." (04:21)

• Marketers must support the full funnel. Where once retail media was about bottom-funnel sales, now upper-funnel, brand-focused tactics matter.

3. Building Adaptive, Resilient Marketing Strategies

• Dawn emphasizes long-term strategic goals but avoids rigid long-term tactical plans:

  "I tend to think not much is long term nowadays. The only thing we guarantee right now is that things change constantly." (06:07)

• Focus on future-proofing: always budget for testing, learning, and agility, especially as AI and tools rapidly evolve.

4. Aligning Marketing with Business & Revenue Goals

• Hanes starts annual and long-term planning with revenue targets driven by GMs and the CEO.
• The marketing plan is reverse-engineered to support those targets, prioritizing initiatives that matter most to business growth and market share.
• Measurement is critical, especially to justify investment in performance and brand media (10:00–12:00).
• Quote:

  "I think from the way we view it, we start any annual planning process, or even a long term planning process with what are the revenue goals...and then we can craft a marketing plan that lays out the building blocks to get to those revenue goals." (08:42)

5. The (Endless) Brand vs Performance Debate

• The toughest challenge for CMOs: balancing short-term business needs (demand, sales) with brand-building efforts.
• Big brands need brand investment to avoid losing relevance—this doesn’t always require traditional ad campaigns; influencers, collaborations, and retail partnerships now drive “brand heat.”

  "You can't go too long without brand media investment because you begin to lose your relevance with your consumers...but it doesn't necessarily have to be that we're just producing a typical ad campaign." (13:00)

6. Reaching Next-Gen Audiences: Influencers, Collabs, & Culture

• Hanes, celebrating 125 years, proactively courts younger audiences through retail partnerships (Urban Outfitters), TikTok Shops, and ongoing influencer collaborations.

  "You really want them to have this...love for the brand. Right. You would like them to become proponents of your brand and to be telling people about it. And...big creators are...talking about your brand sometimes better than you can do." (15:52)

Collabs as Brand Heat, Not Always Volume

• Limited partnerships (e.g., Urban Outfitters) are as much about cultural presence as sales:

  "It's equally about brand heat and what it's doing for your brand itself...It's almost like the value of the marketing." (19:49)

Strategic Expansion into New Categories

• Expanding into categories like Athleisure ("Hanes Moves") solves consumer problems using the company’s comfort expertise, based on real insight:

  "If you ask consumers everywhere, we do all sorts of research...they can all tell you that Hanes is really about comfort. Where are the moments where we can solve a problem that consumers have?" (22:57)

7. Consumer Insights: Finding Real Needs

• Insights come from:
  • Focus groups & qualitative research
  • Real-life wear testing
  • Constant team dialogue and social listening ("my team has a WhatsApp chat…sending stuff to each other")
• Key is curiosity and acting quickly on insight (e.g., launching anti-chafe products, period underwear with upfront messaging):

  "My team has a WhatsApp chat...constantly sending stuff to each other over the weekend...being curious and watching what's out there is one way. We do a lot of research." (27:56)
  "The key is listening and being curious and asking and then figuring out what's most meaningful to react to and how can you help people?" (32:51)

8. Managing a Multi-Brand Portfolio

• Each brand in Hanes’s portfolio (e.g., Bonds, Maidenform, Playtex) must have clear, differentiated audience positioning ("swim lanes") and distinct stories.
• Not every brand gets a big campaign annually—resources are prioritized based on opportunity and need.
• Example: Bonds’s high-impact Robert Irwin influencer campaign during U.S. launch for immediate awareness and buzz.

  "[Managing] is tough when you have a portfolio of brands...The answer to that is being sure we have a really sharply differentiated portfolio of brands. We call them swim lanes." (35:00)

9. Trends on Dawn's Radar: AI Content & Social Commerce

• AI will transform content creation for efficiency and speed, but currently, visual application to “on-body” products like underwear is limited.
• Social commerce (esp. TikTok Shop) is becoming the new QVC — content, influence, and purchase increasingly happen in one ecosystem, but final purchases may take place elsewhere (Amazon, retail, DTC).

  "There's just such an ever growing need for content...figuring out the AI role in giving you access to more content, higher quality content, faster, cheaper..." (38:00) "Social commerce, I think, definitely has been a growing trend for a while. But I think watching where social commerce goes is something that I certainly have on the radar." (39:54)

10. The Marketing Hill Dawn Would Die On

• Brand building is critical; long-term sales lift stems from sustained brand equity, even if you can't always measure it on a dashboard.

  "Brand marketing works to drive sales...even brands who haven't been around for a long time...are still doing brand work with consumers." (41:45)

• Even though E-commerce shoppers have more info than ever, brand trust still matters at the moment of choice, both online and in-store.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Video Dominance:

  "Video content seems to just be reigning king everywhere right now..." (04:21)

• On Adaptive Strategy:

  "The only thing we guarantee right now is that things change constantly." (06:07)

• On Brand vs. Performance Budgets:

  "You can't go too long without brand media investment because you begin to lose your relevance..." (13:00)

• On Influencer Impact:

  "Big creators are out there talking about your brand sometimes better than you can do." (15:57)

• On Retail Partnerships vs. Category Expansion:

  "It's equally about brand heat and what it's doing for your brand itself...as equal or even in some cases greater to the volume that you'll actually sell." (19:49)

• On Using AI and Content Creation:

  "There's just such an ever growing need for content that figuring out the AI role in giving you access to more content, higher quality content, faster, cheaper..." (38:00)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Dawn's Background and Entry to Marketing: 01:10–02:50
• Effective Retail Marketing at Hanes: 03:50–05:33
• Building Strategy in a Fast-Moving Landscape: 06:01–07:52
• Aligning Marketing & Business Goals: 08:30–10:44
• Balancing Brand & Performance Marketing: 11:21–14:09
• Influencer & Retail Partnerships for Gen Z/Alpha: 15:41–18:56
• Partnerships vs. Category Expansion: 18:56–21:07
• Product Innovation Driven by Consumer Problems: 21:52–27:09
• How Hanes Gathers Insights: 27:50–33:08
• Multi-Brand Strategy & The Bonds Campaign: 33:08–37:36
• Trends: AI & Social Commerce: 37:36–41:35
• The Marketing Hill to Die On (Brand Matters): 41:35–46:00

Key Takeaways for Marketers

• Stay relentlessly curious and adaptive—strategies must shift often, but keep your long-term goals in sight.
• The best insights come from a blend of social listening, research, and direct consumer observation.
• Don’t underestimate the value of brand: it lifts everything else, even if the payoff isn’t instant or easily measured.
• Lean into influencer programs, strategic partnerships, and emerging platforms to drive both sales and “brand heat.”
• Balance performance and brand media, but don’t let short-term pressure erase sustained investment in brand.
• Get comfortable with tech: AI and social commerce are not just trends—they’re the new battlegrounds for relevance and efficiency.

Find Dawn Hedgepeth on LinkedIn for her latest work and insights.
(47:12)

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