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As much as students dread the approach of September and the end of summer holidays, retailers love the month for the large crowds of back-to-school shoppers.
To capitalize on one of its busiest seasons, Future Shop has developed a series of fall promotions, ads and marketing initiatives focusing on students and selling technology as part of their lifestyles.
The back-to-school shopping period is the retailer’s second most important selling season, behind only Christmas, said Nikki Hellyer, senior marketing manager for Future Shop. “It’s a critical part of our business.”
This year’s back-to-school marketing is more holistic than in previous years, she said. While laptops remain the most crucial part of Future Shop’s fall business, the retailer is expanding its student offering with MP3 players and cellphones.
Instead of purchasing print ads, Future Shop has focused on weekly flyers as well as a new lifestyle-based catalogue that shows students using technology while studying and partying. The catalogue is meant to show how technology’s look and feel could fit into students’ everyday lives and enhance their personal image.
“Technology has really evolved and almost become an accessory to life,” Hellyer said.
In Future Shop’s most recent TV spot, four young men sit around a table playing a digital game of poker on their laptops in what looks like a cross between a Future Shop showroom and a living room. Also present is a Future Shop product expert who has upgraded one of the players computers—showcasing one of the campaign’s other cornerstones, customer service and expertise.
Future Shop has also developed an online buying guide with videos, so less tech-savvy customers can learn about products before they make purchasing decisions. On the company’s website, visitors can post videos about their favourite back-to-school ritual, and vote on their favourite submissions. The winner will receive a package of back-to-school products—a laptop, an MP3 player and a cellphone.
Future Shop enlisted Cossette’s interactive department Fjord to create interactive mini video game advertisements, where users can box or play poker, appearing on MSN and Yahoo pages.
