Riders by Lee: Campaign Launch Case Study Erin Bucksbaum 10/10/12 COM 452 D
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Introduction: In 2009, VF Corporation, a clothing manufacture based in Greensboro, N.C., decided to expand their jeanswear line. They introduced a new line of denim designed to help improve a woman’s figure. “Riders” by Lee use advanced science and technology to help slim and shape a woman’s trouble areas such as her stomach and thighs. Lee, a brand commonly known for its old-fashioned “mom” jeans needed a way to introduce this new line as stylish, modern and for more than just “mom’s”. According to Jo-Anne Chase, who was at the time the account manager for Lee jeans at French/Vaughn/West PR, in Raleigh N.C. this “brand up-lift” required a large amount of press coverage in major publications in order for it to be successful. The challenge in this case, was marketing a line of jeans typically sold in lower-end stores such as JCPenny or Wal-Mart to magazine editors who mainly wear high-end clothing, and getting them to see the value in placing these jeans in their magazines.
Background VF Corporation is a clothing manufacture that owns over 20 clothing lines including Wrangler, North Face, 7 for all mankind, and Lee. The original decision to expand the Lee brand to include “Riders” by Lee was motivated by the drop in market share of Lee jeans (Innosight, 2010). Innosight, a research company, helped them gain deeper insights into their target audience to learn what steps they could take to improve the sales of their jeanswear. It became clear that one of the major problems with the Lee brand they had not changed in many years, and were out of style (Innosight, 2010).
Bucksbaum, 3 The company’s goal was to create a more stylish, yet still comfortable jean that would appeal to women in the age range of 30 to 50 years old. Their target market includes women who are budget conscious, body-conscious and usually busy with work or a family (Chase, 2012). An ethnographic study of this audience found that many of them struggled with the jeans shopping process, which negatively effected sales. The result of this research was Rider’s by Lee. A line of jeans designed to fit a woman’s specific body type from curvy to straight (Appendix A). This coding helped women to narrow down the style of jean that would fit them best, expediting the shopping process, and making it more likely they would find a flattering pair. However, the main appeal of the jeans is the strategically placed slimming panels. These panels are invisible from the outside; yet work to shape common trouble areas in women over 30, such as tummy pooches (Innosight, 2010). After the creation of this jean, the challenge was to get the information about this new miracle jean out to the public.
Method In order for this new endeavor to be successful, sales actually needed to increase. To enlarge their market share meant getting new clientele interested in their jean, and proving that they had really made a stylish new product that was still comfortable and affordable, without the “mom jean” connotation. The process used in developing this campaign can be outlines by the R.A.C.E. model of communication. The steps of this model include research, action, communication, and evaluation (Bobbitt, 2009). During the research phase of the campaign, the public relations team hired by Lee needed to figure out how what the most effective way to market these new jeans would be in
Bucksbaum, 4 order to gain the greatest increase in exposure possible. The action phase of this campaign consisted of forming a communications plan that would reach their audience and convey the message of the brand. The third phase, communication, is the actual execution of the plan. After the initial campaign was executed, it was possible to evaluate whether or not the targeted audience was reached and if it was successful in facilitating the original goal.
Campaign The process of creating a campaign for the Riders by Lee brand began with research. Some of the research questions for this campaign were; o RQ (1): What is the best way to gain exposure for this new line of jeanswear? o RQ (2): What features of the jean should we emphasize to help uplift the brand and get it away from the negative connotation of being “mom” jeans. The PR team decided that the best way to gain media exposure for this brand would be to target the editors of major women’s magazines in the hope that they would feature the jeans in upcoming issues (Chase, 2012). This involved researching ways to get the attention of and create relationships with the editors of these magazines. For the launch of the campaign, they wanted to get the attention of top magazine editors based in New York City (Chase, 2012). Based on their research of the demographics different magazines reached they chose specific ones to target. Among the targeted publications were Women’s Day, Cosmopolitan, and O Magazine. The logic behind this was the more placement they could get of their jeans in mainstream publications, the more they would appeal to women who were reading these magazines. However, there were challenges associated with targeting this specific audience. The first challenge was Lee’s reputation as a “mom jean”. Typically sold in stores such as Wal-Mart, they
Bucksbaum, 5 are not the type of jean that would be featured in a fashion section of a nationally distributed magazine. The second challenge was finding a way to make a connection with the editors. Since the editors themselves would not be likely to wear the “Riders” by Lee brand it was necessary to find a way to make them connect with the brand and have it stand out among all the other products they are receiving each day (Chase, 2012. Taking a PR based approach, rather than advertising was a smart, strategic move on behalf of the brand. Gaining organic approval of a product through placement in a magazine, where potential customers can see it stylishly displayed and get a positive opinion of it from a third party, does much more for the credibility of the line than any traditional advertisement could do (Epperly, 2011). The next step the team at French/West/Vaughn took was to plan a campaign to tackle the problem of negative brand image and to get the attention of these editors. The main component of this campaign was to a launch party in New York City, to show the editors first hand why the product was so great. To tackle the first problem, the PR team decided to focus on how high-tech and innovative the jeans were. Since one of the main advantages to this new line of jeans were the tummy slimming panels, they chose a technology theme for the event. The purpose of the technology theme was to highlight the benefits and differences of this new “smart” jean compared with the old style of Lee jean and other jeans on the market (Chase, 2012). This was a smart move because it came at around the same time Spanx and other shape wear were becoming popular, and more women were looking for easy ways to look and feel better in their clothing. The timeliness of the product would definitely help to draw the interest of magazine editors and their readers.
Bucksbaum, 6 To get the press coverage they needed, it was imperative that they make a large impression on the magazine editors. It would not be enough to simply deliver the product and expect it to make an impression. For this campaign, forming strong relationships with the editors was the only way to make sure their efforts would stand out from their competitors. By using their preliminary research, they created a narrow list of 40-50 publications, to target, who they thought would have the best reach to their customer base (Chase, 2012). Rather than send invitations to every publication in the area, the PR team working on the account thought it would be more effective to push the jeans on only the people whose readers would actually buy them. For example, it would have been a waste of time for them to try to foster a relationship with a magazine such as Vogue, because the women reading that magazine would never buy their jeans at Wal-Mart, no matter how “innovative” they were. Determining specific publics is an important step in the communications planning process because it helps to ensure resources are not wasted and that the intended message reaches the audience properly. When the audience is too large, it can lead to a dilution of the message and make it less successful. The next step in the planning process was to make editors aware of the event by sending out an invitation. In this case, the invitation was more than a save the date, it was the “hook” of the campaign. To make sure the invitation would stand out in the mind of editors who receive hundreds of pieces of communication a day, the PR team made sure it was something memorable (Chase, 2012). In keeping with the technology theme, they sent working cell phones to each editor. These cell phones had the event information set as the background, as well as a personalized voicemail to each editor asking them to attend the event. They also were preprogrammed with two lines, one was a RSVP hotline so that editors could easily respond to the invitation, the second was a product request line so that if they wanted to feature the jean in their
Bucksbaum, 7 magazine they could call the team directly. This invitation was a big success in terms of the campaign. It helped them get many quick RSVP’s to the event, as well as provided a way for the PR team to call the editor on that number to follow-up (Chase, 2012). This ended up being a great tactic for forging communication and relationships with the magazine editors. The event itself was held it at a sleep spa across from the Hearst Publishing Building so that it not only fit with the technology theme, but it was also easy to get to for many of the magazines invited. In the case of busy editors, convenience is a key factor in getting a good turn out at the event. As an incentive to stay and engage with the product, they offered guests, smoothies and massages. These favors helped to create a positive social atmosphere in which good communication could be fostered (Chase, 2012). The team used the lobby as a boutique to display the different styles of jeans. This allowed the editors to get a good look at the product and really interact with it. Despite the high tech look of the event, it was actually low cost and was a very economical way to help gain attention and build relationships with these editors. In addition, all aspects of the event played into the company’s goal of up-lifting the image of the Lee jeans brand and giving it that modern edge. The association of the jeans line with being modern was very important to the campaign because it would help potential customers see it in a new light, and not as a “mom” jean. The follow-up communication with editors after these events is just as important to getting media coverage as the actual event. It is necessary to maintain contact with editors and to provide them with product when they ask, as well as to keep the product fresh in their minds. As a PR professional, it is important to not only serve as a campaign facilitator, but also to be a resource for the target audience. By being available for contact or to get the product into the right
Bucksbaum, 8 hands it can greatly increase the chance of it being featured in the media. The more media exposure a product gets the more likely it is that customers will see the product and the more they see it the more likely they will be to purchase or at lease consider the brand next time they are shopping.
Results This campaign launch was very successful. The resulting relationships from the event, created a multitude of opportunities for the brand. After the launch, “Riders� by Lee received 42 million media impressions in major magazines (Chase, 2012). This large amount of media impressions is a good indicator that the campaign was successful at reaching its target audience. The effects of reaching the target audience so well really paid off for the Riders by Lee brand. By ensuring that the jeans had placement in several major magazines, it not only was put in front of the target audience, but also help the new line gain traction and credibility among consumers. The estimated PR value for this campaign was $398 to $1. This means that for every $1 that the VF Corporation spent on the campaign they had a return profit of $398 (Chase, 2012). This is extremely high as most PR campaigns are in the area of $20 to $1.
Follow-Up This successful campaign helped create great momentum for the brand. The jeans wear division of the VF corporation saw a $100 million profit gain as the result of this new line, bringing Lee jeans to number one in the market share for their targeted division of women (Innosight, 2012).
Bucksbaum, 9 The company was also able to sign Stacy London, from TLC’s “What Not To Wear”, as the spokesperson for the brand. It is without a doubt that this initial campaign helped to bring about these positive changes. In addition, the brand continues to maintain its media relationships by hosting quarterly events of the same caliber for magazine editors. These events help to push new aspects of the line as well as keep it fresh in editor’s minds. One award winning campaign from 2010, was the yoga themed party where women were encouraged to “stretch”, this term applied to both the comfortable stretch in the jeans and their budget friendly price (Business Journal, 2010).
Conclusion It is clear that in the case of “Riders” by Lee the launch campaign was successful in reaching its target audience. The communications model associated with this campaign provided an effective guide through the different steps in assessing the problem and coming up with a viable solution. In this case, the research done was crucial to identifying the key target audience and shaped the campaign. In any public relations campaign, reaching the target audience is the most important step to getting the desired results. It is also important that the goals of the campaign be measurable. In the case of the Riders by Lee launch, the success of the campaign at reaching these goals could be measured by the number of media hits it received as well as the amount of PR value it accumulated. Part of this campaign that was particularly effective was the decision to target the media directors, rather than consumers themselves. It was a smart move because it helped to add credibility to the claims the brand was making as well as got it more exposure so that a greater percentage of the target consumer would be introduced to it.
Bucksbaum, 10 This campaign had a positive impact on the image of the brand. Although, Lee jeans are currently capturing a large part of the market share for their demographic, it will be important for them to keep innovating and keep their brand fresh as the years go by. This will be one of their key challenges going into the future. Since Riders by Lee is now two years old, it will be important for the makers of Lee to continue to update the look, so that they will continue to receive media coverage and avoid falling into the category of “mom� jeans or outdated again.
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Resources Bobbitt, R. and Sullivan, R. (2009) “Developing the Public Relations Campaign.” Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. Chase, Jo-Anne. In Person Interview. September, 26 2012. Epperly, J. (2011). “Advertising vs. PR: How to measure the value of editorial coverage.” PR Daily. Date Accessed October 9 2012. http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Advertising_vs_PR_How_to_measure_the_value_of_edit _7787.aspx “How can you achieve new growth by discovering unexpected consumer insights?” (2010). Innosight. http://www.innosight.com/impact-stories/vf-lee-case-study.cfm “Riders by Lee campaign wins national award.” (2010). The Business Journal. Date accessed October, 9 2012. http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2010/06/07/daily12.html
Bucksbaum, 12 Appendix A