We’re so excited to feature Jane Rawnsley, senior vice president, creative, Avataar, in this week’s Inner Circle Q&A. In her role, Jane is a seasoned leader with a strong background in traditional direct-to-consumer creative and a proven track record in developing disruptive CGI-based innovative visualizations and teams. Throughout her career, Jane has primarily focused on the retail sector and has spent time crafting her trade at companies like Wayfair, Williams-Sonoma, Inc, and Gap. Her extensive experience in traditional retail, combined with her unique ability to bridge the gap between marketing, product, engineering, creative, and executive teams, allows her to effectively reimagine customer experiences in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

In this interview, Jane discusses retail trends she’s tracking at Avataar, the key challenges the company’s retail customers are facing, how she leads her team, and more.

Inner Circle: Let’s start by talking a bit about Avataar. What services does it offer?
Jane Rawnsley: Avataar is a visual content creation platform custom built to service retailers at scale. We specialize in digital assets including product photography, lifestyle imagery, videos, and spatial experiences (think view-in-room and 3D interactions). Our offering is differentiated in the fact that we create real-time assets at a photo-realistic quality and are able to achieve massive scale at a very reasonable cost. We set brands up for success driving conversion and engagement time through the entire marketing funnel.

IC: Can you discuss your role at Avataar? What are you tasked with and what do you love about the job?
JR: Avataar is a startup so I get to wear a lot of hats, which is a lot of fun. Right now the focus is on building out systems, processes and teams to meet growing needs and to best utilize the amazing tech our engineers are developing. 

What I love about the job is that I’m able to contribute to an asset production platform that gives creatives superpowers in terms of scale and output. I have a profound respect for creatives and their work and am honored to help orchestrate how best to implement new age tech into creative executions while also ensuring room for the creative process and eye.

IC: What are some key challenges your retail clients are facing, and how do your services help solve them?
JR: Our customers are looking to bring all the best qualities of in-person shopping to the convenience of the online experience. The pandemic changed shopping behaviors — so much so that Bloomberg coined a new term, The Introvert Economy. This refers to the preference to shop online in the comfort of your home. Retailers need to meet customers where they are and that means providing really rich online shopping experiences. 

The production of the assets and experiences required for online shopping has typically been cumbersome and expensive. Avataar’s artificial intelligence-led platform and network of creators remove the friction and minimize costs of immersive, digital content at scale. 

The best part about the offering and platform is that investment not only delivers product imagery but sets retailers up to be able to reimagine product discovery with spatial scrolls (i.e., a self-guided, animated product feature), 3D viewers, room planning, and even unlocks wearable shopping experiences. We think of it as future-proofing your retail business.

IC: What are some retail trends you’re currently tracking?
JR: We’re certainly watching how digital shopping formats are being developed. From flagship store replications to completely fantastical, influencer-led experiences, there’s a lot being developed in this space as a result of the evolution of wearable technologies and increases in computing power. We want to help our clients participate in this new future in ways that are authentic to their brands.

For me, the more pressing opportunity is to bridge the online and offline shopping experiences. I get excited to see the maximization of omnichannel experiences by building out informationally robust and entertaining mobile apps which sell products and build brand stories and loyalty wherever the customer is.

IC: What’s next for Avataar? Any new products, services or initiatives you would like to discuss?
JR: We’re really excited about the continued evolution of our iPhone scanning to 3D model capabilities. There is a lot of time and expense in capturing product likenesses; we’re invested in removing that friction for retailers to drive efficiencies in cost but also in time to market. 

We’re also authoring a few digitally immersive experiences for clients, and can’t wait to see these come to life to tell rich product stories and also bring delight to the shopping journey.

IC: Let’s switch gears a bit. I would love to hear more about your leadership style. How would you describe it?
JR: Curiosity is the driver of almost all of my motivations. I’m always seeking new perspectives and information, which as a leader enables teams to regularly participate in complex conversations and makes them accountable for coming up with solutions. From there, I think it’s really important to develop a vision and include people in the process/execution and then hold myself accountable to remove roadblocks to allow them to do their best work.

IC: What are you most looking forward to, personally and professionally, in 2024?
JR: Going into the summer months, I’m really looking forward to taking a beat to relax and spend time with my family on the beach. 

Professionally, I’m excited to continue to drive qualitative results across Avataar’s businesses. We have so many initiatives, technologies and options available, all which drive real value in the retail landscape. For me, seeing real-world applications implemented which level up brand experiences and then drive real business results is incredibly rewarding.