Welcome to your Friday morning dose of everything that matters in the world of business, finance, entrepreneurship and my life! If you want ‘agenda free’ news, top tips, tried and tested strategies and a bit of my banter, then you’re in the right place!

This week you’ll find:

• 🤔 INSIDER INSIGHTS: What I’ve been thinking about this week and what you can learn from it

• 😱 SCARY STAT: % of NBA players that go broke within 5 years of retiring

• 📢 TEAM TALK: Weekly tips and hacks from my team

• 🔟 LISTICLE: Top 10 graduation speeches of all time

• 📈 IN THE NEWS: What’s happening in the business world this week

• ✂️  SNIPPETS FROM THE WEEK: What the industry is reading

• 🎟️ EVENTS & NETWORKING: The only event you need in your calendar this summer to entertain clients, meet HNW’s and rub shoulders with legends of the sporting world. And I’ll be there!

🤔 INSIDER INSIGHTS: Marlboro’s Marketing Genius

Fun fact: I’ve never smoked a single cigarette in my life!

But, that doesn’t mean I won’t study marketing strategies from cigarette brands so that I can use them to get paid. Read this and learn too - no smelly breath or dirty teeth necessary!

In 1964, Marlboro had less than 1% of the global cigarette market business when the US Government announced that smoking caused cancer. Marlboro primarily targeted women because their death sticks were milder, aromatic, and less powerful than other brands.

They had very limited budgets and ran ads with hot French girls smoking their cigarettes. Sales of cigarettes were plummeting, and brands were doing and saying anything they could to keep customers smoking. They introduced filters and even went as far as totally denouncing the government’s announcement that smoking causes cancer.

Marlboro knew they needed something completely different. They needed to change how people saw their brand. So, they came up with “The Marlboro Man”.

He was a character every man wanted to be like. He was tough, stylish and soon became an icon of freedom and manliness. Men in the 1960’s quickly became fascinated by the Marlboro Man and started buying Marlboro Cigarettes so they could become like him too!

In under a year, Marlboro went from having less than 1% of the cigarette market to becoming the 4th largest brand in the world. 

So how can you learn from this and apply it to your business?

In all the Marlboro Man commercials, cigarettes were not even the main focus. These adverts were all about showing the Marlboro Man as powerful, hardworking, affectionate and cool. Breeding horses and riding them in the rain. (Like a 1960’s version of me – minus the horse breeding!)

And whilst living life as the dream man everyone aspires to be, he just happens to smoke Marlboro.

The marketing trick here is that Marlboro was selling the outcome, not the product.

It’s no different to a Nike commercial featuring athletes winning instead of just talking about how their trainers last longer and are better made than other shoes.

 🤔But Matt, how can I apply this to my business?” I hear you say!

CLICK HERE to read my examples and discover how>

😱SCARY STAT

Statistics show that 60-65% of NBA players go broke within the first five years of retirement.

An average NBA player earned approximately $8m for the 2021-22 season. Given that their career in the NBA lasts for at least 4-5 years, their approximate earnings would be around $30-40m.

📢TEAM TALK

Each week my team will share some of the tips, tools, learnings, apps and hacks that have powered their productivity, improved their lives, got them thinking, or just provided them a little entertainment.

• TWIK, an AI tool that helps provide real-time, personalised user experiences that drive conversations and increased revenue is a must look for anyone in ecommerce.

• TEMU – a new aliexpress / SHEIN competitor. “The business has been spending an absolute fortune on advertising after launching in the UK recently – losing around $30 per order.”

91% of business are now using video as a marketing tool vs 61% in 2016

• Figma - the design platform has released a plugin this month that turns html into a design template, meaning you can replicate any site and redesign it quickly.

• Photoshop has previewed their new AI generative images which looks to be game changing!

Big shout out to James and Alex for these. Make sure you investigate these tools for your businesses and think hard about what the marketing stat means for you and how you should be using video in your strategies.

Got a tool or tip you want to share with us?

Tell me about it. The best ones will get shared in a future edition of the newsletter and I’ll give you a little shout out!

🔟 LISTICLE: Top 10 Graduation Speeches of All Time

Check out these graduation speeches from some of the world’s most celebrated names. Some amazing, heartfelt insights and motivational life tips. Which one’s your favourite?

1. Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005)

2. J.K. Rowling (Harvard, 2008)

3. Sheryl Sandberg (UC Berkeley, 2016)

4.  Will Ferrell (Harvard, 2003)

5.  Natalie Portman (Harvard, 2015)

6. Neil Gaiman (University of the Arts, 2012)

7.  David Foster Wallace (Kenyon College, 2005)

8. Jim Carrey (Maharishi University of Management, 2014)

9. Valedictorian Carl Aquino (West Hall High School, 2010)

10. Conan O'Brien (Dartmouth College in 2011)

📈  IN THE NEWS: Dr Martens sales top £1bn for the first time ever

Retailer Dr Martens, best known for its chunky leather lace-up boots, has revealed that revenues grew 10% to more than £1bn for the first time in the company’s 62-year history this week, in its preliminary results for the year to March 31.

Its direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy (where it sells directly to its customers via its own stores or online, rather than through wholesale partners) appears to be paying off, with D2C sales now making up more than half of its overall revenue, rising 16% to a record 52% of the total. It said this was helped by opening a net 46 additional company-owned stores, including the transfer of 14 franchise stores in Japan.

The brand revealed it sold almost 14m pairs of boots, shoes and sandals during the year.

Many traditional retail / wholesale global brands, such as sportswear giant Nike, have made the decision to shift their strategy to push direct sales, with first-party data and owning the customer journey becoming even more important in today’s global market.

In its home market of the UK, revenue increased 12% and it said its successful repair and resale UK trial is set to be rolled out to the US.

Dr Martens posted a strong performance in EMEA and APAC, especially Japan. But despite this sales growth, profits before tax fell 29% to £128.9m due to expected charges from a Euro bank debt and operational costs associated with the move to a new US distribution centre.

The US was impacted by well-documented issues with its new LA distribution centre and softer consumer sentiment.

The Group said its committed to continue investing in the business, with £50m this year to support future growth ambitions to become a £2billion brand. It will use the money to invest in people and upgrading systems, as well as opening 25-35 new stores in the current year.

The brand said the final dividend was maintained and it intends to launch initial share buy-back of up to £50m.

✂️ SNIPPETS FROM THE WEEK 

• The Bank of England will have to hike interest rates to their highest level in more than 15 years to tackle sticky inflation that will stay above its target for at least another three years, a top Wall Street investment bank has warned. Read the article>

• UK house prices extend falls as mortgage repayments soar. Read the article>

• Bargain hunters boost B&M to revenue if £4.9bn. Read the article>

🎟️ EVENTS & NETWORKING

The summer is almost upon us, and that means only 1 thing. No, not more pictures of me with my shirt off on Seasquirter - it means it is time for Berry’s Tennis on the 22nd and 23rd of June!

If you are from the Yorkshire area I am sure you will have either been yourself or heard about it in the press. I created the event about 6 years ago as the perfect fusion of 2 of my favourite activities - tennis and networking! We built a marquee and created a grass tennis court in the beautiful grounds of Hazelwood Castle, and over the course of the event our sponsors and my businesses entertain around 800 guests between us.

The food and Champagne is flowing, our partners showcase their luxury items like Patek Philipe watches and Rolls Royce cars, and everyone is entertained by tennis legends such as Richard Krajicheck, Mark Philippousis and Henri Leconte.

When it comes to my networking events I like to create incredible environments and provide ‘money can’t buy’ experiences to my best clients. And arranging them to play games of tennis with Wimbledon champions is the prime example of a way I get to attract the attention of people who normally have access to everything they want.

So if you want to entertain your clients, network with the good and great of Yorkshire, or just entertain yourself at a unique day out then get in touch with me or my team for information on tables and tickets. There aren’t many left!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND GET REWARDED

I love sharing things with friends, and if this newsletter has made you smile or been helpful then please share it with your mates and wider connections. Even better, there will be something in it for you.

We are still finding our feet, and the full reward programme isn’t in place yet. But any referrals you do in the meantime will all count towards it when it is.

What rewards can you expect? One of the rewards will be a long weekend in Dubai with me for the ultimate business immersion experience and dinner with some of my network on my yacht. So get referring now!

Copy and paste this link to others to refer them to the newsletter https://matthaycoxdaily.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

JOIN MY TEAM

I’m always looking for talented and hungry people to join the Matt Haycox group. I own a number of businesses including Funding Guru, Huddle Capital, Zoom Property, Power EPOS and Larizia.

I’m currently looking for a management accountant & a group financial controller. There are opportunities in Leeds and London, so if you know someone who fits the bill, you’ll be rewarded with a referral fee if they are taken on. Send me an email for more information.

GOODBYE FOR NOW

That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading! I always love to hear feedback so let me know what you liked and what you want to see more of. I’m all ears!

And if you want to talk to me about borrowing, investing, growing your business, or anything else I am good at, then get in touch!

I’m an entrepreneur, investor, funding expert and mentor who has been building and growing businesses for both myself and my clients for more than 20 years. There’s nothing I don’t know about finance!