New Zealand Effie Awards 2015
Case Study
Category:
Award:
Agency:
Client:
Title:
Retail/etail
Gold
J Walter Thompson
Appliance Shed
Legit Brands. Legit Results.
Summary
A fresh strategy from J W Thompson re-positioned the Appliance Shed as the “brand outlet
Renegade Retailer. The “Legit Brands. Legit results” campaign blew the whistle on the retail tricks
that its competitors play that prevent shoppers from getting the best prices. The results were higherspending customers, an increase in basket size, and a much-needed return to growth.
Key Learnings
Using category insights to embrace a challenger position against the “Goliath” competition, J W
Thompson transformed Appliance Shed from a factory outlet of low price goods, to a brand outlet
destination delivering best value to the shopper.
Marketing Challenge & Objectives
Small, Auckland based retailer, Appliance Shed, was losing ground to the much larger retailers in
the category and needed to increase sales.
Appliance Shed had relied on a reputation as a place to go for cheap, end of line or seconds
products, and its customer base over- indexed towards lower-income households. But the reality
was Appliance Shed’s inventory was increasingly brand new quality brand goods, even if it wasn’t
able to name the brands it sold. Appliance Shed need to rebrand itself as a brand outlet
destination delivering best value to the shopper.
Total sales growth was targeted. The most obvious solution was to get more people in store. But to
try to dramatically increase foot traffic was counter to global trends, costly in terms of share of
voice and at odds with store locations. Trying to out-shout the much larger competition was not
an option. Moving the stores to better locations would be ridiculously expensive.
Increasing
basket size, however, was more achievable.
Quality of customer, not quantity, was the goal.
In order to achieve this, brand perception needed to change. This meant increase brand
awareness, lifting advertising awareness, and increasing the top three attributes consumers found
most important when buying appliances; offers best value; sells quality/trusted brands; and offers
lowest price on the day.
©2015. The information available through caanz.co.nz is the property of the Communication Agencies
Association (CAANZ) and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. This case study may
be displayed, reformatted and printed for your own personal use only. By using this site, you agree not to
reproduce, retransmit, distribute, sell, publicly display, publish or broadcast the information to anyone without
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Creative Insight & Strategy
In a category where all retailers are considered very similar, Appliance Shed needed to stand out
by standing for something. To increase sales, Appliance Shed needed different, wealthier
customers buying higher value goods.
Qualitative research uncovered a very useful category insight - retailers are never prepared to
advertise the actual lowest price. This depended on credit terms, sales team commissions, loyalty
schemes, or even what the store manager had for lunch.
At Appliance Shed stores, all prices were written in pen on small paper bags stuck to the product.
Each day staff checked competitor’s prices and re-priced accordingly. In addition, staff didn’t
receive sales commission, offered no credit terms and didn’t do Fly Buys. As a result, their prices
were always the lowest they could offer.
These insights helped embrace a challenger position and formed the aggressive overarching
strategy; blowing the whistle on ‘retail tricks’ by standing up for the consumer.
Appliance Shed would stand out by being the Renegade Retailer. At Appliance Shed, we’ll do
the price hustle for you so you’ll never have to pay retail prices for big brands again.
With the greatest challenge being the inability to out-spend the competitors, Appliance Shed outsmarted them. J W Thompson identified a new higher spending target audience and tailored the
messages by channel for maximum impact and relevance for each group.
Communications Strategy
The strategic thinking went well beyond a campaign idea – it was a full-blown business
transformation.
“The Appliance Shed Factory Outlet” became “The Appliance Shed Brand Outlet”, with the end
line: “Legit Brands. Legit Prices.” It was a fantastically simple move that got around the fact that
Appliance Shed often couldn’t name manufacturers in its advertising.
The campaign told the right people why they should shop, and where to find Appliance Shed.
The paper bag pricing model was used as a consistent visual device in the new retail campaign
with strategic messages that emphasised the new position: “If you hate haggling, come to us.
You’ll find the post-haggling price written on a paper bag.”
Attacking the opposition, Mike King, a straight talking Kiwi guy, blew the whistle on the dodgy retail
practices of the much larger competition. Radio was used to ensure a mix of brand and retail
messaging, with TV also added to build credibility.
Paper bag pricing was explained in local publications and the legit brands showcased in
catalogues delivered to targeted letterboxes with offers that brought the legit prices to life. ©2015. The information available through caanz.co.nz is the property of the Communication Agencies
Association (CAANZ) and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. This case study may
be displayed, reformatted and printed for your own personal use only. By using this site, you agree not to
reproduce, retransmit, distribute, sell, publicly display, publish or broadcast the information to anyone without
the prior written consent of CAANZ.
High impact billboards and Adshels were strategically located within a 5km radius of each store
on key arterial routes. Contextual placements such as GrabOne, Facebook, geo hyper-targeted
mobile were used to increase relevance at the time the target audience was in store vicinity or
mindset to purchase.
Results
The strategic thinking went well beyond a campaign idea – it was a full-blown business
transformation.
The new “Legit Brands. Legit Prices” platform not only shifted attitudes towards the Appliance Shed,
it resulted in Legit Results.
All targets were exceeded. Brand awareness tripled and shoppers now believed the Appliance
Shed was different to other retailers, with almost 30% more respondents agreeing this was the case
post campaign.
As more customers learnt about the legit brands at legit prices proposition, Appliance Shed
realised a solid upswing in better value customers looking to spend more. Ultimately, this was
reflected in the bottom line increase in average basket size.
©2015. The information available through caanz.co.nz is the property of the Communication Agencies
Association (CAANZ) and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. This case study may
be displayed, reformatted and printed for your own personal use only. By using this site, you agree not to
reproduce, retransmit, distribute, sell, publicly display, publish or broadcast the information to anyone without
the prior written consent of CAANZ.