Apparel retailer Casual Corner and its sister chain, Petite Sophisticate, were faced with declining sales, declining foot traffic, and a decaying customer base. Management opted for a new merchandise mix to attract a younger female shopper with styles that went beyond office-only-wear. Then they needed a method to announce the change to shoppers.
The Shopping Bag—billboard or boredom?
Shopping bags can be great marketing opportunities for retailers. Bloomingdale’s created a buzz on the street and in the industry during the ‘80s and ‘90s with exciting, contemporary designs on its bags that changed frequently. Casual Corner, on the other hand, had for years used plain bags with a flat cream ground and gray logotype (see below).
To announce the new youthfulness and fashionability of the merchandise, I opted for a radically new look for the two brands’ shopping bags. It started with a fashion illustration that dominated the bag surface and then was highlighted by hot panels of contemporary color. The result was something shocking, new, and noticeable (see above). And these designs were echoed through garment bags, multiple sizes of clothing boxes, down to accessory bags and jewelry boxes as well. (The Green Tea Group, a sharp California design firm, created and executed these designs.)
In-store Signage—a lesson from Starbucks
Casual Corner relied in-store on 8x10" signs (white ground, red type) in plexiglas holders to speak to its customers. All it had to say was price point and percentage off. All of the signs looked exactly the same. Like the original shopping bag, in-store signage was another missed opportunity to make the chain have personality and be memorable.
I remedied that with a series of differently shaped and differently colored signs to denote first markdown, second, and clearance. Additionally, I took the signage out of the decades-old plexi holders and placed it atop tall black cones (for table and shelf displays) or on short black cones with an internal magnet (for metal rounders and t-stands).
Taking a lesson from Starbucks, which came up with its proprietary nomenclature for small/medium/large, I introduced a new system for announcing sales. First markdown was “A thrilling event”; second markdown was “Exquisite savings”; third markdown/clearance was “A stellar offer”. These differently hued and shaped sale signs were deliberately smaller than the previous 8x10” signs, and required the shopper to step physically closer to (and have a more intimate experience with) the merchandise and the signage to get the message; this was in marked contrast to being able to read 25 or 30 sales signs simultaneously, all the same size and importance, from any point within the store.
Bags and signage may set up a store experience, but nothing confirms an apparel brand’s positio
n to the shopper like a model in the merchandise. To alter the perception of Casual Corner (safe, office attire for my mother) I used fun props, active poses, outdoor settings, and even comic situations to make the brand seem fresh, alive, interesting, and compelling. In other words, the photography matched the new attitude of the new merchandise, the new bags, the new in-store signage.
(More examples of ad materials are available here.)
--Timothy Cohrs
0 comments:
Post a Comment