PopSockets is on a quest to position itself as a lifestyle brand

0:04Hello, and welcome to the Modern Retail Podcast. I'm your co-host, executive editor, Anna Hensel, and I'm here with my other co-host, senior reporter, Melissa Daniels. Melissa, how are you on this fine spring day? I'm doing great. I'm feeling excited about whatever topic we're going to get into today. We've had so many fun guests on lately, and I'm excited to hear who you've been speaking with. I feel like we have delved into a wide variety of categories, which has been fun. For this week's episode, I interviewed the CEO of PopSockets, Jai Yu Lin. And so the way she described it to me is that they focus on this whole category, which is like the phone grip category, the things that you attach to the back of or attach to your phone.

0:57So my question for you to kick off the conversation, Melissa, is do you have anything attached to the back of your phone currently? I currently do not have anything attached to my phone. However, I aspire to be the kind of person who does attach things to their phone. Yes, me too. I can see a lot of useful opportunities. I think some of the holding things can help with some of that weird carpal tunnel and finger pain you can get when you use texting too much. So I do think there's a health and wellness angle to pop sockets and attachments for phones just because we're typing so darn much on these little devices.

1:37And I kind of want to be one of those people who is able to attach their wallet to their phone because they feel like that would make running errands super easy. I know it eliminates one aspect of the phone keys wallet question you have when you leave the house yeah I am not organized enough to have anything attached to the back of my phone either this is where I will admit that I'm a person who frequently drops my phone so I have a protective case and that's it but yeah I think the thing you brought up about health and wellness is really interesting So kind of the key conundrum that PopSockets is facing right now is they want to build their brand into more of a lifestyle brand.

2:25They want to go into more categories. And it's kind of a question of how you do that. I think the health and wellness angle is one. Another is just kind of tapping into different interests and like subcategories. so in speaking with their CEO Jayu it seems like what they are trying to do is position it as like a fashion accessory that is another way to express some part of your identity so something that they are rolling out is just something that's designed more for like holding all your stuff at music festivals and so she showed me like the cord that's attached to it one of the versions has a little like bolo tie if you're really into like country and like Western and all that stuff.

3:16We talked a lot about just the term lifestyle brand is so broad. You can go in so many different directions with that. So we talked a lot about like, okay, how do you tangibly do that? Yeah, that's interesting to me. You know what it reminds me of is how many brands out there have sort of cropped up in the water bottle accessories world too, right? There's different charms and holders and sleeves for your Stanley, et cetera. And I think that's another way where it's like you can personalize it to your personality and interests, make it reflect, you know, your favorite colors, your favorite teams, your favorite hobbies, whatever your aesthetic is.

3:54And it's this thing you have with you wherever you go. I think that is a great analogy. And it just goes to show like once something becomes ubiquitous in our daily lives, then there's going to be a bunch of brands who think, where's the opportunity to accessorize this? There's always room to sell more accessories and widgets. But yeah, really excited for this conversation today. And here is my podcast with Jayu.

4:28Jayu, thank you so much for joining me. Welcome to the podcast. So great to meet you, Anna. I'm really happy to be here. Yeah. So why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself first and how you ended up at PopSockets? Of course. Yeah. My name is Jiayu. I joined PopSockets in early 2022 to head up our APEC markets. I took on the CEO role last fall in September. And yeah, it's been half a year at this role. Yeah. And I'm sure a half a year, I don't know, does it feel like a lifetime? or has it gone by really fast? Yeah, it does. But one fortunate thing about starting right, you know, before a year beginning is that I actually got to, with our leadership team, really set a solid plan for 2025.

5:21So feeling really good right now. And yes, every day I feel like, you know, we are dealing with so many challenges, but also making solid steps as well. Absolutely. So what made you interested in joining PopSockets in the first place? Right. So I have been working in the consumer and retail industry for about 10 years. Prior to that, I worked a little bit in finance and technology on the business and strategy side. But, you know, I know that deep down, you know, I've always loved shopping, loved brands. So I decided to make a pivot. And so the beginning of my consumer and retail journey, I worked for a platform, a social media company in China called Red Note, a little red book.

6:05You might have heard about it because it's been in the news. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. TikTok users also have gone there recently. So I worked on the e-commerce side of that platform, working with a lot of brands and also saw the beginning of just really that was in the mid 2010s. So the social influencer strategy and all of that and the integration of social and commerce. After that, I worked at two consumer brands before PopSockets, one brand called Maya Active, that is a women's activewear brand that was recently acquired by Anta Group, and then Allbirds in China. So yeah, a number of direct to consumer brands, venture backed, very fast growing.

6:54I started managing all of e-commerce and then expanded to also oversee retail, offline stores, omnichannel, and then wrote in onto it marketing and products and now back office responsibilities too. Right. So I imagine most people have seen or used PopSockets before, but for those who aren't familiar, how would you describe the brand to people? Right. So PopSockets, you've probably seen on the back of people's phones. It is this phone grip that helps you hold your phone and then also helps you view content. We, PopSockets, is inventor of this product and also the creator of this whole phone grip category.

7:41About 10 plus years ago, our founder, former philosophy professor David Barnett at CU Boulder, had problems with tangled headphone sets and then tinkered with buttons and then with many, about 100 iterations. I developed this really great phone grip product. And fast forward to today, we've sold more than 280 million units in over 70 countries. Wow. The thing that stood out to me when you were describing the brand is just how it's really created the phone grip category, which is not something that was a category before the invention of like the iPhone. So kind of what is this moment in time like for PopSockets?

8:28You know, what was your mandate when you became CEO? Right. Yeah. Previously, we talked about my prior experiences, but really what led me to PopSockets and this role is the fact that first, I love this product. It's for everyone who has a phone. And it's got both, you know, functionality and the benefits, as well as the fashion element, the style, you know, you get to express yourself through this product. I really love that. I want to take it to the next level by transitioning a company from a tech accessory to a mobile lifestyle brand. Yeah, and that's interesting. So in your mind, what makes a lifestyle brand and kind of what are the things you need to do to really position the brand as a lifestyle brand?

9:16Yeah, I think about that every day, me and my teams. So mobile lifestyle to me, you know, there is the fact, right, that we all cannot live without our phones. It serves as many things to us, right? Like, you know, for all these things, tasks that it helps us with. And it's also like an extension of ourselves. You know, we carry it everywhere. And our grips, when we invented it, we help people hold phones better. We've then expanded it to other adjacent categories, such as a wallet in the back of your phone, and the phone cases, and then these straps and wristlets. So they're both functional and fashionable.

9:59I'm going to use the example of our soon-to-launch collection. That's your music festival survival kit. think about going to a music festival right you need your phone you need your phone for the whole day you want to record content you know your phone can you know go out in battery and here is us to the rescue with our maxiff power pack that you can then put on and then you know of course you know a wallet for ids and the grip for holding as you record content we also have these straps right you know we want to dance to a concert you want to go hands-free and then look at this strap that we have has like a beautiful bolo tied to it you know my gosh that's so funny so timely for your country concerts yeah so and your outfit right you think about the outfit you want to wear to these events you want to go in seams you want to coordinate with your friends and why don't you have your phone accessories be part of it so there you go this is the idea of a mobile lifestyle we want to be part of you as an extension of you to help you express yourself whether it's at work, at home, or at play.

11:06Right. So it sounds like designing products for different moments, but then also having in little touches like the bolo tie feature that really gets at this idea of self-expression and ties into a person's fashion already. So when did PopSockets first start expanding beyond the phone grip? Or have you always had some of these other products? Right. So it's relatively recent. So our Kickstarter campaign was in the year of 2012. And the company was founded in 2014. We had record setting growth, you know, multiple 100 % year over year, all the way into 2019, when we were awarded the second fastest growing private company by Inc.

11:58Okay. And then all the way till then, you know, grip was our main product we've had some different expansions in maybe mounts and some other categories but right now my focus our the popsocket's focus is to bring you the best magnetic mobile outfits so everything is centered around this magnetic grip yeah and so to your question we launched wallets a little earlier and that cases just a few years ago and more recently just last year, wristlets and straps and Powerbank. Got it. Do you think customers know that PopSockets has all these other products? What level of awareness is there, do you feel like, among your customer base?

12:43Yeah, this is a great question and something we are very much, you know, working on to bring more awareness to consumers. I think today, probably most consumers still know us as the grip product. You're not even the brand. You know, what is, you know, the character of PopSockets brand, right? We very much understand this is a great opportunity that we have to introduce to you PopSockets as a brand and ecosystem of our products. We have them on our website. We have the fortune of working with great retail partners, including Target, Best White Walmart and the likes. They currently, you know, still carry mostly our grips.

13:24So it's very important for us that we find the right channels for the different products that we carry. That is why we are looking at pop-up opportunities, even retail stores. And then we're going to have activations at events like music festivals. And where you are in these use cases, we want to introduce to consumers these great offerings that we have. Okay, got it. Yeah. And that was going to be my follow-up question is just, there are so many different marketing initiatives or things you can invest in to try to grow brand awareness or grow awareness of new products. I'm curious, what are the things you're most focused on to do that?

14:10What do you see as your best opportunities or most useful initiatives to invest in to continue to grow this awareness? Right. So three things here. One is that, you know, we want to continue to invest in what got us successful, right, which is the high quality product with great design styles, performance and quality. So we're going to continue to expand in this group centered mobile outfit ecosystem. We have multiple new launches every month and we want to continue to bring that freshness and very relevant collaborations to different consumers. And second is that we want to double down on our retail partnerships.

14:55Besides the ones I mentioned, we also recently got into Apple retail and online. That partnership has been going really well for us. We launched a massive group and soon partnered with Apple on a few specific collections. And then the third one would be our, yeah, including the second one is our own retail initiatives, right? Like you will probably soon see us in pop-up actions in the States and even stores, our own stores. The third one is very continued partnerships and influencer activations. But the idea here is that we want to really join the conversations that's already happening in different interest groups, right?

15:40Not just to have our own conversation surrounding the brand at all times and speak to everyone. We want to speak to different audiences in ways that really relevant for them. For example, we have just a few months ago had launched a collaboration with Drew LeBron, you know, the TikTok phenomenon that brought you, you know, the very demure, the phrase very demure. And, you know, that spirit. I haven't thought of that phrase in a few months now. It's so funny how things like flutter in and out of consciousness. Right, right. But at the time and even now, right? Like, you know, if you see, for example, if you see our grip with very demure on it, very, right?

16:20It probably will bring a smile to your face because the spirit of that is just so joyful and positive. So we really listen to our audiences. We recently had a small collaboration with Seize Candy because a lot of our audiences are really interested in nostalgia and candies. Like that really brings them joy. So we did that. We've always had a very robust portfolio of licensing partners, including you're very familiar, you know, the Disney's and Warner Brothers and Pokemon of the world. But it's also the, you know, these other interest groups like, oh, you were a sourdough bread maker, you know, like there could be a group for you that, you know, that it's a very subtle token of how you're part of that community and that you can choose to put out on certain days or just brighten your day a little bit at work, a little reminder of that.

17:16Another question I have for you is you're in so many retail chains. What have you found about how to build a successful long-term relationship with a retailer? It's something I know the startups that I cover that are trying to get into Target and Walmart, something they care about a lot. And is there a focus on designing exclusives for each retailer? Or how do you manage relationships with all of those retailers when you have so many relationships and so many products? Yeah, it's such a great question, Anna. It's so top of mind. To maintain a successful relationship, I think the key here is to provide solutions to the retailers as a brand partner.

18:01So as we all know, right, this industry, you know, faces some headwinds and there are some challenges, the economic background. So we are in this together. And for example, Target talks about, you know, their strategy is our fun 101 joy at affordable price. So we really try to provide assortment that's right for them. And it's a collaborative process where we discuss these things. And then a partner also talks about, oh, you know, let us be your first call when you have exciting opportunities. They say that to brands. And we've adhered to that over the years. There's inevitable transitions between buyers and teams.

18:44And, you know, time is our friend and make time our friend here is to have this track record of just being a reliable partner to our retailers. And there is always room to devise innovative solutions together, right? There's a business case consideration, but I find and we are always inclined to take a little bit of risk in providing that solution. to our buyer. You know, whether, you know, her challenge might be, oh, you know, there's some shift in the category, their rethinking space, shelves, you know, our very precious shelf space, I'm sure is on the mind of many brand managers. But really, whatever their challenges at the time, we want to address it with them.

19:28Absolutely. So I have just a couple questions left for you, Jayu. One thing I'm really curious about, the phone grip category is obviously something that's become ubiquitous. How do you stay ahead of copycats and competitors? Right. So I think we do that through brand building, through building the PopSockets brand. We recognize that today, you know, consumers probably know our products better than the brand, but this is something we're going to change. We plan to reclaim our origin story, that, you know, that we probably own the fact that we invented the category and tell the world that we bring you best in class mobile outfits.

20:14That's how we are going to take the category to the future, the things that we talked about. So I come from the APAC market, right? So that's where we saw a lot, honestly, a lot more competition, even than the US, you know, where a lot of things get manufactured and a lot of brands and other people were just, you know, throw in a grip here and there among their offering. You know, they might be a closing brand, you know, they make just maybe one similar product. But we here are really dedicated to the category, right? 10 years and counting, we continue to invest in the products and the quality and innovation is key here and we'll keep raising the bar for our products.

20:58And through this retail, like investment retail, you know, touch and interact, part of the product that we can bring on top of all these collaborations and the very intentional products and designs we talked about. I think that's really going to set us apart because no other brand, if they're not super invested in the category, they wouldn't continuously bring consumers these offerings. But we, PopSockets, can be your destination as you build whatever your style is, right? Build a wardrobe for your mobile outfits. And then we bring products, you know, to Kindle users too. We find that, you know, the bookish girls love using a grip for their Kindle and then decorating their devices as well.

21:47That's what, yeah, really going to distinguish us. Well, Jayu, I just had one question to end the conversation on, which is one of my favorite questions I always like to ask people. But we like to talk about, you know, just what are the big challenges retail executives are facing here at Modern Retail? So what would you say is kind of the big challenge that keeps you up at night related to your business? Oh, wow. Yeah, so many. Biggest challenge. Okay, so my approach to leadership and brand building is actually, I think the fuel of it is this internal brand at our company. So I actually approach brand building with people development.

22:33So for us, PopSockets, right? We are a global brand. We have teams in U.S., across the U.S. We're headquartered here in Boulder, Colorado. We have employees, you know, in different continents. And we're a relatively small company to have such a broad reach, actually. And then, you know, post-COVID, the pandemic, it's very much on my mind how we engage our employee base to step up to the other new challenges that we face, right? Like we talk about retail or partnership, we talk about product innovation and keeping up with this competitive space where you hear, you know, let's be honest, right? There are a hundred product jobs and collabs every day.

23:18but stay true to our course and feeling motivated i celebrate the small wings and and just feeling rewarded and you know and then but but not complacent right like on what we've achieved so all of that doing that in today's global environment i think poses its own challenges so you know we've been thinking about many initiatives that address that but we we're making our all hands kind of show it's like a produced slightly produced show where there's intentionally entertaining element in it interactive element in it of course figuring figuring out the time zone is is a basic thing but yeah and then all these gatherings companies let's invite we don't just talk about external internal brand we don't just talk about and celebrate the content that come out from our partners or the influencers, right?

24:14Let's all be internal content creators and celebrate those things. We recently did some dance videos, just like employees ourselves, incorporating, you know, the use of our products and really enjoying that. Things like that, I think are really important. And really it's the people that make the brand. I'm really fortunate to have a very passionate and dedicated organization that, yeah, we are so determined to take PopSockets to the next stage. And we are just starting. Right. And it's so interesting what you said. I mean, one, I just think keeping employees motivated, making sure there's cohesive communication across time zones, big challenge that every company is facing right now, right?

25:00But I also think, as this conversation was a lot about like, how do you take pop sockets and keep building it as a lifestyle brand? And it sounds like a lot of it is installing that kind of ethos with your company first. But yeah, Jayu, thank you so much for joining. This has been a great conversation. Thank you so much, Anna. Yeah, I really enjoyed it too.

25:28Thank you for listening to this episode of the Modern Retail Podcast, a show by Digiday Media. If you haven't already, please subscribe and head to Apple Podcasts to leave us a review and a rating. See you next week.