In this post, we look at the use of digital screens (also referred to as digital signage and digital out of home advertising) by various fashion retail stores analysing its effectiveness or lack thereof.
Topshop and Twitter Fashion Campaign
Topshop’s colour blocking marketing campaign took place in February 2015. This collaboration between Topshop and twitter were based on real-time tweets. Topshop used the #LFW and #colourblocking hashtag to display the hottest trends from the fashion show.
This real-time data was then streamed to digital billboards around the country, all situated within 10 minutes distance of Topshop Stores. This can play a central role in allowing customers to help design their own experiences with products Macdonald, Hugh &Konuş (2012). Customers could also tweet @Topshop with a fashion trend hashtag, in order to view a selection of styles available to purchase directly.
Brand Awareness The people that participated must have had some brand awareness of the Topshop brand for it to hold some familiarity in the consumer’s mind Aaker (1991). It must hold some level of brand equity for customers to recall and retrieve the brand from memory Keller (1993). This is because the tweets trended longer than the period of the campaign.
Information relayed This Promoted London Fashion Week (LFW) Topshop trends meanwhile, teaching the public about how to wear the colour blocking fashion trend from the 1960s. Therefore, teaching the public information about fashion was a great way to acquire new customers through the know-how factor.
Audience Target Audience – Women between the ages 18-34. Although available to the public
Level of engagement Brand watch (2015) revealed that Topshop “dominated LFW sponsor mentions on Twitter.” During LFW Topshop scored more conversations on Twitter than all other sponsors put together, including an approximate 6,000 tweets.
Check out more brand stats from Brand Watch: Click here…
Pros
Topshop saw up to 75% sales uplift on featured products online during the campaign, contributing to an 11:1 return on its investment. The campaign was a great way of engaging their target demographic, by social media to turn the customer’s digital experiences into opportunities to purchase. The creative thing about this initiative was the fact that customers unable to attend London fashion week were able to search for key trends during the London Fashion week and purchase them afterwards.
Cons
- The digital signage requires a high amount of power and therefore cannot claim to be green
- The return on investment can be hard to calculate and measure
- The fact that it incorporates London Fashion Week means that other fashion brands will be included in same tweets as seen below office shoes and miliemclothing also mentioned in tweets
Keep up with the latest spring fashion trends with Topshop: Click here…
Boohoo in the underground
Boohoo has selected the underground to connect with their audience. The Underground is a significant London icon, with 4.8 million passenger journeys per day.
Brand Awareness It is very clear where to purchase the clothes from with the [boohoo.com] at the bottom of the page. Also, boohoo font is a good size and positioned in a central place to capture the consumer’s attention.
Information relayed The content is minimal however, the message is extremely clear and that is, there are dresses available on Boohoo’s website for £15.
Audience It is assumed the target were millennial women due to the models on display.
Level of engagement There is not much engagement apart from website link displayed but, message for the screen is clear and concise. The fact that users of the underground are likely to be more influential and conversation catalysts means they could spread the news about the Boohoo dresses.
Pros
Cons Although it is not a campaign, it does not include any call-to-action therefore not much immediate engagement for the passer by. Therefore, consumers are likely to watch it and not take much action, which affects the consumer’s ability to retrieve the brand from memory Keller (1993). This will therefore effect their purchase decision of buying the dress from Boohoo, as it will need to be in their consideration set Sen & Johnson (1997).
Want a Bargain? Boohoo Dresses 15pounds and under: Click here…
Uniqlo add light for their 5th flagship
Uniqlo use this digital signage to drive sales through sharing information, which is consistent with their brand. #Strategic
Brand Awareness The size of their logo and brand name could have been made a bit bigger and positioned better in order to stand out because, it is not the first thing you see when looking at the screen. As customers can distinguish the products from other companies based on the brand name Lim & O’Cass (2001). The direction to go to the second floor is clear however, the exact store is not as clear.
Information relayed Unique shopping bags underneath the screen speaks a lot of volume and conveys the message to purchase exclusively. The destination of the shop is shown in a very creative manner. Consumers passing through once they eventually spot the brand, will be reminded of Uniqlo clothing, which will affect their purchase decision for the time spent in the mall Keller (2001).
Audience Lovers of fashion both male and female.
Level of engagement There is not much engagement but that was not the objective of this digital screen. However, they could have included more engagement by running a special one-day promotion to act as more of an inducement for consumers to want to go the second floor where the store can be located.
Pros The positioning and concept of it in the shopping mall is very good and this provides relevant information to an audience near the point of purchase, which can potentially generate higher brand awareness and uplift their sales.
Cons This could have displayed an incentive like sale items to check out.
Take a preview of Uniqlo fashion on the catwalk: Click here….
La Redoute explore with the weather
La Redoute’s campaign in France made suggestions to potential consumers, the appropriate clothing to wear for the weather condition.
This will be explored in next post.
References
Aaker, D.A. (1991) Brand and Equity, The Free Press: New York
Brandwatch (2015) React: Taking a Look at Who’s All the Rage at London Fashion Week .[Online], https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/react-taking-a-look-at-whos-all-the-rage-at-london-fashion-week/ [Accessed 19th February 2017]
Keller, K.L. (1993) Conceptualizing, measuring and managing customer-based brand equity. The Journal of Marketing, pp.1-22
Keller, K.L. (2001) Building customer-based brand equity. Marketing management, Vol.10, No.2, pp.14-19
Lim, K. & O’Cass, A. (2001) Consumer brand classifications: an assessment of culture-of-origin versus country-of-origin. Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol.10 No.2, pp.120-136
Macdonald,K.E., Wilson,H.N. & KonuS,U. (2012) Better Customer Insight—in Real Time. [Online], https://hbr.org/2012/09/better-customer-insight-in-real-time [Accessed 20th February 2017]
Sen, S. & Johnson, E.J. (1997) Mere-possession effects without possession in consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.24, No.1, pp.105-117