Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Marketing Hype For A New Retail Store Opening!

Posted by Anonymous on 2/11/2010 at 11:34 PM ET 200 Points
I am one of the graphic designers for a retail woman's clothing chain. We have 200 stores nationwide and are opening another in a few months! This new store will be in Tennessee and we really want to kick it off in a BIG WAY. I am talking billboards, direct mailers, live remotes, web pages, etc. TONS AND TONS MORE!
We are working on quirky, catchy, tongue in cheek type marketing message to use throughout all our marketing pieces. The kickoff for these marketing pieces will be the billboards throughout the Tri-City area in Tennessee.
For the billboard we are thinking of a simple photo, quick/clever tagline and logo.

Our store opens in April but we want to start marketing for it march 1.
Any help or ideas on what direction to take for the verbiage?

Some stats about our company that might help
-our target audience is woman ages 18-25
-we only sell womans clothing and our clothing tends to be dressy casual tops with denim being the bottoms focus.
-we will be the only store in the mall to offer longer inseams in our denim. Our inseams go up to 37".
-We have our own denim line and are trying to become known as the fit experts with denim.
-some of our biggest competitors are Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, Wet Seal, etc
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 2/12/2010 at 8:47 AM Accepted
    If The Denim Fits...
    Denim That Flatters...
    We're Tops In Denim-ing Bottoms
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 2/12/2010 at 3:33 PM Accepted
    Dear inspired,

    First, as one graphic designer to another, graphic design is not marketing so please, if you want this launch to have an effect (meaning, if you want customers in the store on opening day where they buy stuff hand over fist) forget all this talk about
    being catchy.

    It won't help you sell stuff and, unless it ties in with other elements of the brand, elements that your audience knows, likes, trusts, and loves, catchy has the potential to damage or dilute the integrity of the brand.

    Alas, Catchy is Not a Selling Strategy™ and never has been.

    People buy because the message they're receiving is RELEVANT to their thinking and because it ties in with their desired outcome.

    The purpose of marketing is to create solid connections of congruent alignment. Your idea of using "simple photo, quick /clever tagline and logo." has been done to death and offers the customer nothing new and therefore, little of value. What this means is that billboards that look like every other fashion billboard become, in effect, invisible.

    Having press ads that are invisible is one way to waste money but when the thing that becomes invisible is 30 feet or more wide the waste becomes huge and the statement (or its lack) stands out all the more on the one document where it ought not to: on the balance sheet.

    To create a compelling sales message there needs to be more to your customer profile than just the young woman's age of 18-25.
    Which leads me to wonder what your main marketing department is doing? If you have 200 stores nationwide, why is this project for one store falling to you as a graphic designer?

    What on earth is your corporate office doing to support you? I'm asking this because the whole message needs to be coming from them so that the brand retains its fluency.

    What does this young woman do for a living, what does she want to be doing in three years? Right now, does she want to be sexy, hot, alluring, romantic, respected for her mind and for her body, seen as young and alive, seen as growing up and moving on, what? And if you don't know the answers to these questions take the time to find out, then use the answers in your messages.

    Why? Because it's THOSE messages that connect with your ideal buyer, not the notion of catchiness.

    I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA

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