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Equal Parts, the First Brand From Pattern, Is Building a New Type of Experiential Retail

Retail Brew sits down with Pattern co-founder Emmett Shine and Equal Parts GM Tyler Sgro.
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Equal Parts

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Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Last month, ad agency Gin Lane announced that it would no longer mastermind branding for insurgent companies like Harry's and Sweetgreen. Instead, it would fold and re-emerge as Pattern, an online consumer goods retailer. Backed by $14 million in funding, Pattern went live yesterday with Equal Parts, a part cookware, part home cooking coaching brand.

I visited Pattern’s NYC headquarters to ask Emmett Shine, Pattern co-founder and creative director, and Tyler Sgro, Equal Parts GM, how they built their lifestyle company.

  • The Pattern team mastered advertising and digital experience while working on Gin Lane—but branding several companies meant promoting several messages at once.
  • Now, the new company has a central mission: convince young professionals to leave their work at work so they can build healthier habits—like cooking their own meals—at home.

Experiential retail 2.0

Equal Parts will attract home cooks with functional products that, Sgro says, take the intimidation factor out of cooking—like dishwasher-safe pots and pans and cutting boards that double as charcuterie platters.

Purchases will give customers access to eight weeks of “guidance,” aka a cooking coach they can text for recipe suggestions and kitchen hacks.

Pattern believes guidance will keep customers connected with its brand post-purchase. “If you think about the acquisition funnel, you’re doing all this talking to get someone to purchase,” Shine explains. “Then the only conversations you really have are either more marketing or customer service if something is wrong.” With the coaching service, “buying from us is the start of the relationship.”

Looking ahead…additional home-oriented brands will follow Equal Parts this winter, and Pattern hopes its cooking customers will continue to buy in. “Our overall goal is cross-brand retention,” Shine says. “If we can build a deeper relationship with one customer, that’s more our goal than trying to get a hundred that are making one purchase and leaving.”

My takeaway: Brand experiences in the form of one-time events are losing their luster. 360-degree retail’s new frontier incorporates day-to-day interactions, like Equal Parts’s guidance service.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

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