As part of a head-to-toe makeover that includes a new logo, new shopping bags, a revamped in-store look, revitalized merchandise and an increased emphasis on accessories, Canadian fashion retailer Smart Set has launched a national campaign positioning it as a brand ideally suited to its target’s everyday life.
Developed by the Toronto and Montreal offices of BOS, with media by Media Experts, the television, print and online campaign employs the tag line “For all the living you do in-between” (in French, the tag line is “Entre les deux, ma vie,” which translates as “Between the two, my life.”)
“It’s really moving the brand from just being a fashion brand – it’s being more of a lifestyle fashion brand,” said BOS creative director Gary Watson of the campaign. BOS was named Smart Set’s agency of record in December of 2010, with a mandate to make the brand more appealing to women in their late 20s.
The campaign is a reflection of the fact that while a woman’s life at this stage tends to be filled with major milestones such as getting her own place, starting a career, engagement and marriage, life also happens between such momentous occasions.
“It was about recognizing how Smart Set can fit into that lifestyle and celebrating the everyday moments – the quirky, the fun, the unusual, the celebratory – between those big occasions,” said Watson.
A pair of offbeat 15-second TV spots running nationally on conventional and specialty channels demonstrate how Smart Set fits into everyday life.
“Humour and that sense of joie de vivre is essential to talking to that target,” said Watson. “We wanted to go after the levity of those occasions and celebrate them in a humorous way.”
Watson said that the creative for the campaign “evolved to a better place” during the research phase, with focus group participants indicating their fondness for separate concepts employing the “in-between moments” approach and levity.
“We took the spirit of one campaign and really kind of injected it into the other,” said Watson. “Creatively it ended up in a much stronger place.”
According to Watson, the creative approach is intended to distinguish the 158-store chain from rivals such as H&M, Joe Fresh and Suzy Shier. “The last thing you want to do is create more wallpaper,” said Watson. “We took a look at what was happening with the competitive set, and it became obvious to us that it was all about just the clothes – there seemed to be very little insight about the target audience.
“The clothing is still a part of it, but instead of it being a fashion brand pushing a fashion image, it’s more about the fact that these clothes fit nicely into your lifestyle.”
BOS has also developed a print campaign that will work in conjunction with in-store materials. For example, a print ad running in the October issues of Flare and Loulou shows a group of young women around a hotdog stand in New York, one of whom has accidentally squirted mustard on a nearby businessman’s suit.
That story will be continued through in-store signage in highly visible areas such as window displays and at the cash registers. “We really wanted to make sure that the work is fully integrated in the in-store environment,” said Watson.
