Michelle Harper remembers the exact moment she became intrigued by advertising.
She was an impressionable 12-year-old living in Vancouver when she first saw The Body Shop’s Self-Esteem print campaign featuring a generously proportioned Barbie-type doll named Ruby.
The effort ran in several markets and was the retailer’s counter to the rail-thin heroin-chic models the fashion industry had been employing and glorifying.
That feeling and connection to the Self-Esteem campaign wasn’t lost on Harper. As the national marketing manager at Purdy’s Chocolatier in Vancouver, B.C., Harper strives to make deep and meaningful connections with the retailer’s consumers whether it’s through social media, online or in-store.
“What’s important for any brand when they’re considering a campaign is how it feels authentic and how the person is going to react to it,” says Harper. “[The Body Shop campaign] was a really long time ago, so the fact that I still remember it means it really hit home for me.”
Harper, who has a Bachelor of Applied Sciences from Simon Fraser University, joined Purdy’s Chocolatier in June 2012 as its national marketing coordinator. She was promoted less than a year later to national marketing manager.
Because Purdy’s Chocolatier only has brick and mortar locations in B.C., Alberta and Ontario, many of its customers only ever interact with the digital side of the brand. Harper’s focus is to ensure Purdy’s messaging is consistent across all channels and that consumers get a feel for that overall brand, regardless of where the interaction takes place. Under Harper’s leadership, Purdy’s Facebook fans have increased from 12,000 to more than 72,000, and Twitter has grown from 1,700 to over 16,000 followers.
Harper is first and foremost a brand believer, says Kriston Dean, vice-president chocolate merchandising and marketing at Purdy’s.
“Her understanding and passion for what Purdys Chocolatier means to our customers is amazing,” says Dean. “She is a professional – dedicated and customer focused. She brings a knowledge of sales-level retail to the marketing team as well as a passion for supporting all of our sales channels through meaningful relationships and trust.”
In October 2013, Harper developed training and branding programs for new retail-level hiresto instill the brand’s mission, vision and values. The program covers everything from how to scoop ice cream and custom pack boxes to identifying customer needs and using the language of chocolate.
“The ability to bring a complicated detailed program into language that will excite the customers and be understood by customers is a great skill,” says Dean. “It is very important that our training programs reflect our company mission and customer focus, while being engaging enough for over 800 employees to want to learn.”
But it’s Purdy’s cause-related marketing efforts that Harper is particularly proud of. For the past two years she has led the retailer’s “Happy Hearts” campaign in partnership with Global Television BC that, to date, has raised over $41,000 for Variety – The Children’s Charity.
Around Valentine’s Day, Purdy’s launches a limited-edition signature “Helping Hearts” chocolate bar and donates part of the proceeds to the charity. As the lead, Harper works closely with the Variety team to communicate the goal and progress of the campaign.
“Our shops are huge communication tools for us so we make sure the shops are up to date on the information about the campaign and tell them about the recipe development with the [campaign chocolate] bar,” says Harper. “If they get excited and on board it’s something they bring up to customers. So it’s making sure they’re enthusiastic about the campaign.”
Because, says Harper, it’s all about writing Variety a bigger cheque than the year before. Sounds like Harper has a pretty sweet gig.
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