Reitmans is highlighting the joy of finding the perfect pair of jeans with a new online spot.
Developed by the brand’s creative AOR, Montreal-based Tank, with media from OMD, the national initiative was created to promote the retailer’s current denim sale, which is running for three weeks.
The video, which is running in both 30 and 15-second versions, is shot in slow motion, and shows women reacting with glee and amazement to something off camera. It’s eventually revealed that they are overcome with excitement at finding perfectly fitting jeans on the first try.
The video is running as pre-roll on You Tube, and is also being supported across social media with #FindTheOne. The same creative is running in Quebec.
“It’s a chore, to go and try 15 pairs of jeans,” said Alexandre Gadoua, partner and executive creative director at Tank. “Then you try one on, and you go ‘boom, that’s it, this is my new favourite jean’ instantly. We said to ourselves, ‘that’s the idea, let’s make an ad only about that. And we kept true to that, we did not complicate it. It became a fun little piece of content.”
Gadoua was hesitant to call the effort a campaign, preferring the term, “retail offensive,” and said the digital play is not intended to replace the brand’s core creative, which will continue to feature brand ambassador, Meghan Markle, star of USA Network’s legal drama Suits.
In an effort to be more fashion-forward, fun, and appeal to a younger demographic, the brand has been busy reinventing itself since hiring Tank in May.
A new campaign and tagline, “Reitmans. Really.” was introduced last fall, and in October parent company Reitmans Canada Limited (which also owns Penningtons, Addition Elle and Smart Set) launched Hyba, an active wear line targeted towards the average, everyday woman.
According to Gadoua, the new brand positioning, along with internal change within the Reitman’s organization, has been yielding positive results, and the brand is even planning on refurbishing some of its stores in the coming months.
“It was a tough strategic ask, to basically rejuvenate the brand to be more appealing for a younger skew.” Gadoua said. “The catch was [to do that] without totally annoying or losing the core, which is very important especially for a national retail brand, which are not thriving- I’m talking about the whole category here. How to bring more people in- that was the tough part. Really early in the campaign launch we had immense success, with more young people coming in… [the fall campaign] really, really nailed it.”
