Client
TK Maxx
Brief and Objectives
Everyone knows TK Maxx, it's a Marmite brand; you either love it or hate it. Those who love it know it as a treasure trove of designer one off's at massive discount. However, the brand also suffers from a lot of negative perceptions and many see it as a confusing and chaotic 'jumble sale'.
We can't change the stores, they are what they are. But we can show people the range and quality of clothing available and how to get the best out of TK Maxx. Our challenge was to overcome these barriers and drive incremental sales by convincing the doubters that TK Maxx is a brand for them.
Strategy
As we all know, consumer attitudes and spending behaviour have changed dramatically over the past year. The affect on women's attitudes towards clothes shopping has been fascinating. For many (especially our TK Maxx doubter audience) there is a real conflict and clothes shopping has become (even more of a) source of guilt. They know they need to reduce spending on non-essentials however their appearance it still hugely important to them.
One of the main factors driving shopping guilt is the internet. Its become a quick and easy way of getting a daily fashion fix. From this insight came our strategy, an original and differentiating media behaviour - 'Get the Look for Less'.
'Get the look for Less' educates people on how to look great on a budget, without compromising on the quality or brand names. It focused on a range of much talked about looks and demonstrated how, with TK Maxx, these looks could be achieved.
Method Deployed
Integrated content partnerships
Selecting our partner sites
We didn't want to create good branded content, we wanted to create great content, central to the sites fashion editorial, that happened to be from TK Maxx. The Media owner had to love the content like it was their own. We chose to work with Handbag.
Topical Content
BLM Quantum monitored fashion blogs and forum conversations and agreed each weeks 'Get the look for less' theme with Handbag's editorial team
Educating the TK Maxx doubters
We used the fashion editors as the campaigns mouthpiece so we could build credibility among the TK Maxx doubters by sending them down to the stores to show how different items could work together to create each weeks look - and of course, what great bargains they were!
This was created as weekly video 'webisodes' showing the stylists pulling out items they've found and matching them together to create a look. Editorial around the videos used imagery of the items, showing them worn by the celebrity versus the modelled TK Maxx items, highlighting the big discounts.
Users were encouraged to contribute to the content by adding their comments, uploading suggestions for future looks and uploading photos of looks they've achieved. This formed a key element to our content.
Social Media
To promote the content our videos were then seeded across a number of video sharing sites and fashion blogs. Handbag's editorial team promoted the content in fashion forums, asking users to contribute their money saving hints and tips. A 'Get The Look For Less' faceboook application was built, giving users access to the content via their profile page and allowing them to create a personalised avatar wearing each weeks look.
Promotion
Handbag ran traffic driving inventory across their sites but far more importantly, because they had such high sense of ownership of this content they both promoted it extensively through editorial via the homepage, the site navigation, each sites video player and across the fashion sections.
Outcome
- Booked 1.5m impressions and had 3.5m delivered - fantastic added value
- 22,452 videos were viewed
- 1,452 comments, photos and suggestions were uploaded
- 94,724 clicks on the link to the TK Maxx Facebook application
- Buzz tracking identified a 87% increase in positive comments about TK Maxx
Return on Investment
TK Maxx do not have a ecommerce website so it's impossible to track the in-store sales effect of this campaign. However, to identify the ROI we implemented a campaign effectiveness research study. The results were fantastic:
- When asked about their intention to shop at TK Maxx in the next 2 months the 'doubters' were 357% more likely to do so
- Doubters were 35% more favourable towards the brand and Rejectors were 750% more favourable (starting from a low base there!)
- Of those exposed to the campaign, 21% of Doubters and 16% of Rejectors agreed "I think differently about TK Maxx and would now shop there"
People Involved
Jo Gregory, Account Director, BLM Quantum. Anisha Thakker, Account Manager, BLM Quantum. Gavin Reeder, Head of Digital Strategy, BLM Quantum