SEARS STORE: BACK TO SCHOOL

Credits:

Type of Entry: Product & Service
Category: Retail And E-Commerce, including Restaurants
Title: BACK TO SCHOOL
Advertiser/Client: SEARS
Product/Service: RETAIL STORE
Entrant Company: MEDIA CONTACTS Boston, USA
Advertising Agency: MPG Boston, USA
Media Agency: MEDIA CONTACTS Boston, USA
Creative Credits
Name Company Position
Tom Penque Media Contacts Vice President/Group Account Director
Mike Nuzzo Media Contacts Account Director
Brian Coulombe Media Contacts Supervisor
Marcy Freedman Media Contacts Planner/Buyer
Mike Searles Media Contacts Planner/Buyer
Alyssa Bonetti Media Contacts Assistant Planner/Buyer
Cori Roberts Media Contacts Assistant Planner/Buyer
Phuc Truong Mobext Managing Director
Christine Look Media Contacts Insights Analyst
Vanessa Watts MPG Vice President/Group Account Director
Jim Reath Y & R Chief Marketing Officer
Details
Results and Effectiveness:
Teens arrived at school in style and our communication trends continued well past the BTS season, with online garnering: • 5.1million Sears-themed games played • 4.5 minutes of player/brand interaction per game • 1 million YouTube views • CTR outperformed benchmark 350% • Standard units CTR 10 times the benchmark • Virtual world - 1.8 million store visits - 3.5 million articles purchased/used - 3.9 million event attendances • An AdInsights study confirmed we connected with – and persuaded – teens - “Sears is a store I would consider when shopping” up 7% - “Intention to shop at Sears for back to school items” up 5%
Creative Execution:
We leveraged three pivotal everyday teenage components: peers, role models and technology, and provided teens assets to stay connected with friends online/offline through social media, playground currency and virtual worlds. A partnership with Vanessa Hudgens (VH) from High School Musical – the teenage movie phenomena –generated excitement and secured the ultimate BTS reference. “Arrive Lounge”: The engaging BTS bespoke microsite featured: VH behind-the-scenes footage, Sears-themed games, content, opt-in mobile offer alerts, downloads and tools (video/music mash-up, social network apps). Visitors registered for VIP access and a scavenger-type sweepstakes. Weekly emails/SMS contained clues with online/in-store Sears-exclusive items. When found, VIPs texted keywords for a chance to win a Vanessa concert at their school. Virtual Worlds: “Arrive Lounge” within virtual worlds contained custom content, videos, freebies and games. In Sears’ virtual boutiques, avatars tried on clothes, attended parties/fashion events and entered catwalk contests. Movie: Sears integration into MTV movie, “American Mall,” starring VH.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
For Sears, the Back-To-School (BTS) season is the only time the retailer directly targets and involves younger shoppers. However, Sears is not considered a “hip” BTS destination because of their specialty hardware and appliance departments. Sears needed to prove to teens that their apparel and styles will help them “arrive” at school. Our challenge was to change perceptions and make Sears relevant to teens returning to school and kick-start an on-going conversation with them, engaging teenagers throughout the year. Teens look at back-to-school as the time to revitalize their wardrobe. The first day of school is the first appearance after months away from friends, and teens want to make a good impression. If they believe they look good, they feel good. In order to gain credibility we needed to sew Sears into the fabric of their world, in a non-intrusive way and add value to generate infectious conversations with teens