Giant Tiger is strutting its fashion stuff in a new campaign—the discount retailer’s first national mass-market advertising effort.
The Ottawa-based chain, which sells clothes, groceries and household items, is promoting its new private-label women’s brands—Lily Morgan, MyStyle and ACX Active. The campaign created by Toronto-based Yield Branding, which won the business after a competitive review.
Three TV spots follow women who are having a little “me” time, by strolling through the park, visiting a friend or getting exercise. The ads run through their internal monologues, with each woman eventually thanking Giant Tiger for the stylish looks. The ads end with the tagline, “For you. For less.”
“As we were looking at launching our new women’s fashion-wear brands, we were inspired by our core shopper, her day-to-day life, and the clothes she needs, not only to be comfortable in, but to be confident in,” said Karen Sterling, VP of marketing at Giant Tiger. “Our ads focus on real women, real moments and the overlooked priority of looking after themselves and taking time for themselves.”
The national campaign marks a shift for Giant Tiger, whose previous marketing efforts focused primarily on flyers, as well as local advertising and community relations.
The goal is to connect with Giant Tiger’s current customers—busy moms who work hard to stretch their budget—as well as a broader audience. “Psychographically, we are looking at the same person: the time-starved mom,” said Sterling. However, Giant Tiger’s current target skews a bit older and the retailer is hoping to bring in younger moms.
Ted Nation, president of Yield Branding, said Giant Tiger has been really strong in local store marketing, specifically flyer drops. “That’s gone back for many years and has been very effective for them,” he said.
“Our strategy in terms of a national campaign is to broaden that target audience because clearly the ads are going to seen by people who may be a little outside the trading area of the Giant Tiger store. They may have their interest piqued by it and say, ‘It may be five kilometres from where I live, but this is worth a look.’”
The TV ads are airing on specialty channels such as W Network, Slice and HGTV. The campaign also includes print ads in Chatelaine, Canadian Living and Coup de Pouce, as well as social media and digital marketing.
