Failing To Modernize Has Led To Brand Failure
There have been tremendous brand shifts over the last decade, with some of the top named retailers closing storefronts forever. Much of that reason has been based on the brand's inability to adapt and modernize both the image of the brand, and the way the brand engages consumers.
Yet in today’s world, with all of the new technology that's been made available, brands are able to revamp and effectively reintroduce their brands to the masses. And, that is exactly what Abercrombie & Fitch did. In this blog, Hollywood Branded explores how an integration with Snapchat drives traffic to Abercrombie & Fitch.
A Brand Needing A Reboot
When someone says Abercrombie & Fitch, what do you think of? Today’s younger generation may not even know what Abercrombie & Fitch is, but for those that do, a flashback to the popped collars and incredibly good smelling (maybe too good) stores pop into our minds. Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, Abercrombie & Fitch was a must have for many fashion goers. Entering into the 21st century, Abercrombie was ranked the sixth most popular brand in the world.
Unfortunately, right around the time when the country was going through a recession, Abercrombie & Fitch’s popularity began to diminish. But, that’s not to say that all good stories come to an end. In fact, let's look at that case study in action.
The Integration
To win back the wallets of its young shoppers, Abercrombie & Fitch has worked to modernize its apparel and put together a marketing strategy that effectively markets to their desired consumer base. Back when Abercrombie & Fitch first launched, social media wasn’t nearly as popular as it is today. Therefore, the company has had to reimagine their strategies and figure out how to make best use of today’s technology.
One way that Abercrombie chose to do this was by running an integration with E! Snapchat show Face Forward. Face Forward is a Snapchat show that follows fashion and beauty stylists Patrick Starr, Tiarra Monet and Johnny Wujek as they give different guests makeovers. The show was great for Abercrombie because the demographic that Face Forward reaches matches Abercrombie’s prospective demographic perfectly.
In addition to integrating the brand directly into the show, Abercrombie ran advertisements by using footage from “Face Forward” to put together 90-second pods that ran across all of E!’s Snapchat accounts.
And in fact, returned for a second season due to the phenomenal results.
The Results
To track the results, Abercrombie had to use Snapchat’s proprietary metrics tool called “Snap to Store” to measure how much of the advertising eyes translated into foot traffic to their stores.
According to the tool, the integration drove about 40,000 people into Abercrombie’s stores across the two month campaign. In addition, Abercrombie & Fitch was able to achieve a 10% increase in brand favorability and a 15.4% increase in ad awareness.
Through this partnership, users that saw the advertisments were 36% more likely to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch than the average US household. Marni Schapiro, director of retail advertising at Snapchat, said that they "were able to achieve this for Abercrombie & Fitch by running hyper targeted ads that made sure the ads were seen and engaged with." All of this ultimately ended up increasing Abercrombie's bottom line with Q4 sales reporting 15% higher than the previous quarter.
For a campaign whose original goal was to build brand awareness around Abercrombie’s relaunch, E! And Snapchat were able to do so much more than that for the brand. Even better, the show ended up being E!’s most watched program on Snapchat’s Discover page. A true win-win for both companies!
Wrapping Up
Abercrombie & Fitch is not alone in facing modernization needs. So many companies that were popular during the 90s and 2000s ended up tanking because they weren't able to adapt their brand and marketing strategies to today's consumers. Businesses must be flexible and always looking to capitalize on the next big thing if they want to stay around. Brands that are looking to revamp their image should take note of what Abercrombie & Fitch did and see how they can replicate this within their own organization.
Here at Hollywood Branded, we are experts at facilitating partnerships that help companies increase brand awareness and reshape consumer attitudes towards their brands, like this one did perfectly. If your brand is interested in learning more about how Hollywood Branded can help you, reach out! Let's resurface the sinking ship.
Check out our blog on the Five Ways To Spot Fake Instagram Followers to get a better idea on how to optimize your Instagram profile.
You may also want to check out a few of the other blogs our team has written about Instagram tips and tricks, including:
- 9 Tips To Organically Marketing Your Brand On Instagram
- 5 Steps For Brand to Stand Out On Instagram
- 4 Ways To Trick Instagram’s Latest Algorithm Changes
To learn more on how product placement and integrations like Abercrombie & Fitch work, check out the below video (click the link!).
