FIGS CMO Bené Eaton on opening Upper East Side flagship and doubling down on science-led storytelling for healthcare workers

data analyst that works for you. Join millions [music] who use Julius to connect their data, ask questions, and get insights in seconds. Uh, we will take it over to Figs. I believe we are in inside of a store.

There we go.

Is this a virtual backdrop or are you actually in the store right now? I'm so confused.

I am actually in the store. Okay. Amazing.

Yes, we're at our brand new store um on Upper East Side here in New York City and we just opened. Congratulations.

Amazing. Good timing.

Hit the gong for the story over here. There we go.

Uh, what what is like what is Black Friday like in your category? I'm assuming a lot of your uh a lot of your consumers are like it's a normal workday. Uh, is that true? How how do you guys approach the holiday?

Yeah, that's exactly right. Um, at FGS, you know, we are building a brand exclusively for health care professionals. And many health care professionals, they're working the holidays. They were working all day yesterday uh through Thanksgiving and they're working um nights and weekends all the way through the new year. And so for us, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, it's really a moment for us to show up for them. These are the people that are showing up for all of us. And so we really approach this moment as a moment of gratitude and a moment to give back to um our community.

How are you positioning gifting the product? I can see, you know, it is a professional uh outfit and but it's also a product that people love and so if your family member gives it to you, they're kind of giving you more work, but also it's a very nice thing to give. So, how are you positioning like the the the marketing around who who should be participating in Black Friday, the giftgiver or the or just the person who's shopping for themselves?

Well, it's all of the above. I think, you know, everyone wants to thank all of the incredible health care professionals in their life or for, you know, people that are being treated and cared for by healthare professionals. And so, it goes both ways. I think um you know health care professionals are able to use this as a moment to stock up on their essentials and the uniforms that they need to wear every single day. But at the same time, Figs is a really premium brand. We've completely revolutionized the way healthcare professionals get dressed for work and the uniforms that they're wearing. And so it also is a really nice gift for uh you know someone to gift another healthare professional or um you know to gift the healthcare professional loved ones in your life. And so it really is all of the above. And I think it ties back to this uh feeling of gratitude, giving thanks to um you know, the most incredible people on this earth that are saving lives and curing diseases. And so we position it both ways, both as a moment to stock up for yourself, but also as a moment to give back.

What's the biggest uh what was the biggest unlock this year from a marketing perspective? What was one campaign or strategy that you feel like as you look back on 2025 uh you feel like it went particularly well?

Oh my gosh, we've had an epic year. It's been so awesome. And I think one of the things and I was reflecting on it with a moment like today, Black Friday, Cyber Monday. For us, it's not just about these moments. It's about how we show up 247 365 for our healthcare community who we call Austin Humans. Um, this year we launched a year-long campaign called Where do you wear figs? And it talks about all of the places that healthcare professionals wear Figs, which is literally everywhere. It's before their shifts, after their shift. Um, it's to work every day. And so, we've had a series of chapters throughout the year celebrating Women's Month, celebrating nurses week, most recently celebrating the holidays. Um, and we've really shown the insights of what it's like to um, you know, work within this industry and the space and all the different places where our brand shows up. And so I think what's so important on a moment like Black Friday, Cyber Monday is that, you know, you're building this brand equity and you're building this connection with your community throughout the year and then that pays off in these in these big moments. And so showing up for them, uh, listening to them, telling their stories, um, throughout the year, which we've done with with our where do you work campaign, has been really incredible for us. Um, and this is just another moment to celebrate that.

Well, congratulations on all the progress on the epic year and thank you so much for taking the time to

Yeah. Thanks for bringing us bringing us into your new space. Uh, it looks amazing. Quite busy in there. [laughter]

It's packed. It's packed. We have nurses coming in for hot cocoa and it's been a really fun uh really day.

Very cool. Very cool. Well, good to meet you. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. We'll talk to you soon.

Thanks for having me.

Have a good rest of your day.

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Uh I have

Aaron Resource.

Uh seemingly executing on this strategy very well. They say, "I noticed one employee wearing noise cancelling headphones, not earbuds, the big cushioned overear kind that create a tiny personal universe." I asked if everything was all right.

He said yes. He's just trying to focus.

You do this in the morning. Throw on your big your big uh earbuds. Uh, I told him we value focus, but isolation can misread as resistance to collaboration. He said he's literally sitting at his desk doing his job. I told him we track human presence, not just output. I He asked how presence is measured. I said imperfectly, which is why it's so important. Then I logged quote avoiding spontaneous culture building opportunities in his engagement profile. [laughter] 10 10 million views,

50,000 likes, and it's an ad for deal. And it's so interesting because it feels like it's part of this new trend. Like there's that uh

the European

there's a European VC guy who's really funny who I believe is owned or or partnered with like a sock 2 compliance competitor or or company out there um that does that um like a Vanta competitor and they uh uh and it's just a very funny positioning of like these like owning these accounts. We also saw I think Poly Market bought uh RAW's alert for $500,000 that was leaked on the timeline today. And so there's like a whole bunch of interesting ways that uh companies are engaging with like different accounts, whether they're buying ones that are already existing or they're spinning up new ones. Uh it just it it feels like it's like part of the Go Direct story but not entirely. uh you have to do it all on the founders's profile, but it's definitely blurring this line between like what's in-house and out and outsourced media. How are they getting attention? What's marketing?

I have a friend who has a has a ad agency where he just buys you know ads for companies. Um, and he set up an an AI based profile like years ago, like as soon as as soon as the AI dropped, like it was not particularly good. Just has like an anonymous picture, like an AI generated image. And he posts just like here are the greatest ads in history every day. And so it's just like great ads and people will just they go viral all the time because they're just interesting ads, funny ads. Uh, and then it's just a funnel to do be top of funnel to just do lead genen on. Yeah. And so there's all these different ways that that that companies are like plugging into like uh you know social media these days. Very fascinating.