J.Crew Women's Denim Marketing Campaign

Women’s Denim Marketing CampaignFinal ProposalKrista Bellardo

Prof. Cory QuachFASH 763

Summer 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary................................................................................................................1Company Overview.................................................................................................................2 Current Marketing Strategies......................................................................................3 Company Goals............................................................................................................4Industry Overview...................................................................................................................5 Key Competitors...........................................................................................................6 Industry Trends.............................................................................................................7 Company Challenges....................................................................................................7Market Overview......................................................................................................................8Target Market Overview...........................................................................................................9Campaign Overview...............................................................................................................11Campaign Theme & Message.................................................................................................12Media Strategy Overview.......................................................................................................13Media Strategy.......................................................................................................................14 Brand Ambassador......................................................................................................14 Print Publications.......................................................................................................15 J.Crew Style Guide.....................................................................................................17 Social Media Marketing..............................................................................................18 Direct E-Mail Marketing.............................................................................................21 E-Commerce Websites................................................................................................21 Sponsored Blog Posts.................................................................................................22 Outdoor Advertisements............................................................................................22 In-Store Marketing & Events.....................................................................................24Additional Recommendations...............................................................................................26Campaign Media Flowchart..................................................................................................27Measurement & Evaluation...................................................................................................28Budget Summary...................................................................................................................29Conclusion...........................................................................................................................29Appendix A..........................................................................................................................30Appendix B........................................................................................................................ ..32Works Cited.....................................................................................................................................33

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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For the past few seasons, American retailer J.Crew has experienced declining sales within its core female customer group due to a loss of direction in the women’s pants department and a consumer disconnect between price and product quality. To win back this core market segment of women between the ages of 25 and 34 during the next year, the following integrated marketing communication plan proposal focuses on the re-launch of women’s denim.

The “Better Than Ever” campaign will present a consistent omni-channel marketing message and feature a combination of both traditional and digital marketing advertising methods. This media strategy includes print advertisements, in-store events, social media marketing and sponsored blog posts. These advertisements will align with the J.Crew brand, focus on women’s denim and feature the “Better Than Ever” slogan. Additionally, a proposed celebrity brand ambassador, a first for J.Crew’s advertising strategy, will lead the campaign.

One of the main objectives of this campaign is to make J.Crew the target customer’s first choice for denim purchases. Primary and secondary research has shown that these consumers are searching for the perfect combination of price, quality, fit and style when it comes to denim. With this in mind the “Better Than Ever” campaign will communicate the improved product features to inform customers of the re-launched denim while simultaneously helping to close the discrepancy between price and quality.

By the conclusion of the year-long “Better Than Ever” campaign, J.Crew aims to increase denim sales by 10% while also improving customer opinion of the brand’s product offering. Metrics and evaluations, including sales analysis and customer focus groups, will be conducted throughout the entire duration of the campaign to ensure that these goals are on track to be met.

This proposal outlines the suggested media channels and estimated budget for the entirety of the campaign. Although the campaign was allocated approximately $230 million, initial budget estimates for this proposal total $205,584,338, leaving room for further marketing opportunities. Recommendations for additional advertising elements include the introduction of a mobile app that enhances the in-store experience and a charitable brand partnership.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

J.Crew is an American company that prides itself on design, styling and giving back to the communities in which it operates. The J.Crew brand identity is all about mixing patterns, color blocking and taking small fashion risks (J.Crew).

Since 1983 J.Crew has offered a wide range of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories that allow customers to make the classic J.Crew style their own. With a focus on style over fashion and an emphasis on the idea that there is “magic in mixing,” the brand offers products that range from every day t-shirts and denim to limited edition “collection” items (J.Crew Group, Inc.).

Today J.Crew stores can be found in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong in upscale regional malls, lifestyle centers and other street locations (J.Crew). With 280 retail stores and a strong e-commerce website J.Crew is able to reach and communicate with customers worldwide (J.Crew Group, Inc.). Last year the brand reported a revenue of roughly $2.3 billion, a small growth from 2013’s roughly $2.2 billion (J.Crew Group, Inc.).

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CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGIES

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J.Crew’s marketing efforts are focused on an omni-channel strategy that aims to communicate a consistent brand message through various outlets. The brand’s stores, websites, catalogs, email marketing, online advertising and social media profiles are all pieces of this unified strategy (J.Crew Group, Inc.).

One of the biggest components of J.Crew’s marketing strategy is its catalogs, which have been a staple of the brand since its inception. Today, they are know as “Style Guides.” and last year 2.8 billion catalog pages were circulated to consumers in the U.S. and Canada.

Direct marketing for the brand is done via the e-commerce site, retail stores, print publications and email messages. This marketing primarily contains information about discounts, promotions and other special offers.

J.Crew utilizes a strong social media presence, and for good reason: customers who engage with J.Crew on social media are reported to spend approximately two times more than the average J.Crew consumer (BuzzFeed News).

Social Media Platform Purpose Followers

Facebook • Most dominant• Digital counterpart to Style Guide

1.3 million people

Instagram • Cultivate J.Crew culture 1.1 million people

Twitter • Product pictures• Interaction• Blog engagement

350,000 people

Pinterest • Emphasize the J.Crew life-style

195,034 people

COMPANY GOALS

In late 2015 and early 2016 J.Crew is focusing on the following key goals: • Updating merchandise assortment, particularly in the pants category (Halzack) • Winning back its core female shopper (Halzack) • Making prices more competitive (Edelson) • Improving consumer opinion while also increasing sales

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INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

J.Crew operates primarily in the U.S. Apparel Retail market, which makes up 28.5% of the global apparel retail industry. Last year this market grew 1.9% to reach a value of $375.1 billion (Marketline).

This market is expected to see a stable level of growth for the next four years. By 2019, the U.S. Apparel Retail market is forecasted to reach a value of $457.6 billion (Marketline). This optimistic outlook is positive for J.Crew, as a strong and healthy market allows the brand to continue to increase sales and gain new customers.

KEY COMPETITORS

Although the retail landscape is constantly shifting, J.Crew’s current key competitors are (Global OneSource)(Patterson):

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INDUSTRY TRENDS

Within the U.S. Apparel Retail market there are some common trends that J.Crew and its competitors should be aware of. The trends listed below were taken into consideration when developing this proposal in an attempt to help J.Crew overcome and take advantage of the current market situation: • Rise in discount pricing (Sherman) • Increase in mall closings (Lutz) • Increase in consumers who are more inclined to spend money on technology than on traditional goods, like clothing (Lutz) • Rise in athleisure apparel (Creswell) • Rise of discount clothing stores • Continuous introduction of new stores and retailers, increasing competition • Emphasis on e-commerce and the digital experience

COMPANY CHALLENGES

Like all companies, J.Crew has challenges when it comes to maintaining the success. These challenges include, but aren’t limited to: • Decrease in mall traffic (Halzack) • Intense competition in the retail market (Halzack) • Shoppers’ fixation on promotional prices (Halzack) • Loss in primary customer base due to misstep in designs (Milnes)

During the development of this campaign, attempts to overcome these challenges were considered. These solutions include ensuring customers feel as though they are getting a high quality product, communicating updated designs and ensuring there are opportunities for small discounts and sales.

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MARKET OVERVIEW

Being an American company, J.Crew operates primarily within the United States market. Since the 2008 recession the United States’ economy has slowly but surely been making a healthy recovery. Some key facts about the U.S. economy are: • The majority of household income increases have gone to the top 20% of households, decreasing spending power and disposable income in the middle and lower classes (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency). This decrease in spending power impacts a significant portion of J.Crew’s target market. • Hourly wages have increased by 3.3% annually but many wages remain stagnant (“America’s Economy) • 2014 Unemployment Rate: 6.2% (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency) • Increased economic uncertainty due to the rise of ISIS, the Russian intervention in Ukraine and the Greek economic collapse (Chafuen).

When looking at the impact of the U.S. economy on J.Crew’s business there are a few important factors that the brand must be aware of. As the economy continues to improve and unemployment rates and oil prices continue to drop consumers will potentially have more disposable income. This could lead to a surge in consumer spending and positively impact the brand (Bartash). However, J.Crew must keep in mind that its target consumers are still focused on the perfect combination of price and quality (Goldman Sachs). So while they may have more disposable income over the next year, these consumers will still be more willing to buy from a retailer like J.Crew if they feel like they are getting a great deal (Goldman Sachs).

Although J.Crew is based in America, the global economy can also impact the business. While brand leaders must always be aware of potential threats and opportunities in the market, it is predicted that many of the world’s largest markets are going to grow this year while also bringing with it increases in global trade (“America’s Economy). The global economy has the biggest impact on J.Crew’s supply chain and e-commerce business, but with anticipated global economic health and no major downturns anticipated for the remainder of the year that would greatly impact J.Crew, the brand will primarily be concerned with the condition of the U.S. market for this proposed campaign.

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TARGET MARKET OVERVIEW

The J.Crew target market is young adults between the ages of 25-34 (Olson). They are well-educated, tech-savvy and living primarily in urban areas (Nielsen). Their customers range from young to established professionals primarily in the middle to upper-middle class. J.Crew customers are motivated by style, price, family or friend recommendations, brand loyalty and online reviews (Hoffmann). They are also heavily influenced by a company’s values and want to be digitally connected even while they shop (Solomon).

The J.Crew customer can be found on social media but also reading the newspaper and magazines. They follow their favorite brands and check Facebook the most. 41% of the company’s target millennial consumers enjoy interacting with a brand on social media while 60% follow brands just to hear about deals and coupons (Hoffmann). These customers think a brand is more trustworthy when they use social rather than traditional advertising but also want the experience to remain consistent across all channels (Hoffmann).

Caucasian customers make up the highest traffic rate for J.Crew and account for the majority of online purchases. The J.Crew African American customers are heavily influenced by people like Michelle Obama and Kanye West but are least likely to purchase from the store. Asian Americans are approximately 13% of J.Crew’s ecommerce traffic and are influenced by advertising and catatlogs while the J.Crew Latino customer prefers the in-store experience (Bissett).

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Within this target consumer group, the focus of this proposed campaign will be on J.Crew’s female customers. Below are three customer profiles that depict some of the most common target customers for this campaign:

Age: 27 Education Level: Master’s Degree Profession: Marketing Account Executive Income: $150,000 Location: Trendy Brooklyn Apartment Marital Status: Single Media: Vogue, Businessweek Leisure Activities: Soul Cycle, Microbreweries, Her Dog

Age: 25 Education Level: Bachelor’s Degree Profession: Newspaper Editor Income: $65,000 Location: San Diego Loft Marital Status: Single Media: Elle, The L.A. Times Leisure Activities: Foreign Movies, Nightlife, Running

Age: 32 Education Level: Bachelor’s Degree Profession: School Teacher Income: $55,000 + Husband’s Income Location: Chicago Suburbs Marital Status: Married Media: Vanity Fair, The New York Times Leisure Activities: Coffee Shops, Pure Barre, Spending Time With Her Family

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CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

With 70% of customers at J.Crew being women (Advertising Week), the primary goal of this integrated marketing campaign is to win back J.Crew’s target female customer by focusing on the brand’s denim offerings. To do this, the brand is focusing on introducing fresh colors, classic designs and a more diverse merchandise assortment in the pants category – which is what this campaign aims to communicate (Halzack).

The new J.Crew denim has many benefits that will be important to communicate to the target market through the campaign’s advertising and promotional efforts in order to meet the above goal. These benefits include: • Cone denim materials • Improved stretch • Hand-finished details • Super premium washes • Shape flattering fits • New, updated styles

Equally important to the communication of these benefits is the tone of the campaign’s advertisements. As stated above, this campaign will convey to customers that J.Crew denim has been updated to try to meet changing consumer preferences and to adjust to consumer feedback regarding price and quality. Advertising for the campaign will focus heavily on the idea that the upgraded quality, fit and styles of J.Crew denim are worth the price. The tone for this campaign will not deviate much from J.Crew’s current advertising tone. However, it will feature new promotional elements for the brand, such as a celebrity brand ambassador.

The desired result of this campaign is to increase the sales of J.Crew denim by 10% by the end of 2016. The campaign’s effectiveness will be measured primarily by sales numbers but also by customer feedback from female customers.

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CAMPAIGN THEME & MESSAGE

The theme for this year-long integrated marketing campaign will be “Better Than Ever.”

As stated previously, the goal of this campaign is to win back J.Crew’s target female customer by focusing on the brand’s denim offerings. New colors, classic designs and a more diverse merchandise selection in the pants category will be introduced by J.Crew and will be targeted to women between the ages of 25-34 (Olson).

“Better Than Ever” aims to communicate with former J.Crew customers that the brand’s denim has been refreshed and is being brought back better than ever before. It also aims to appeal to new J.Crew customers by emphasizing the premium qualities of the company’s denim offerings.

This campaign will work to combat the perception that the price of J.Crew denim does not match the quality while also educating consumers about the new and improved aspects of J.Crew denim that make it “Better Than Ever.” These updates include features like improved stretch, shape flattering cuts, special treatments and hand-finished details. J.Crew’s use of Cone denim, which is from one of the oldest mills in the world and offers a combination of stretch and heft, will also be featured in the campaign to further express the premium quality (J.Crew).

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MEDIA STRATEGY OVERVIEW

To align with J.Crew’s omni-channel marketing strategy, the proposed campaign media plan for the re-launch of J.Crew’s women’s denim product category will utilize various traditional and digital media outlets (J.Crew Group, Inc.). The promotional budget for this campaign will be $229,500,000, which is 10% of the brand’s revenue of $2.295 billion for 2013 (J.Crew Group, Inc.). Included in the description of each media channel listed below is the predicted cost, with a more detailed budget to follow.

The traditional elements of this campaign include magazine, outdoor and catalog advertisements. To best reach the target audience of females between the ages of 25-34 years old in the middle to upper class that live primarily in urban areas, outdoor advertisements will be placed in some of the largest cities in the U.S. These include New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles to name a few. The print advertisements will be full color, one page advertisements in magazines such as Glamour and Elle. These publications were selected based on reader demographics as well as the media consumption habits of J.Crew’s target customers. The major addition to these traditional media channels will be the introduction of a brand ambassador, which is something new for J.Crew.

Other components of this integrated marketing plan proposal focus on the digital-savviness of the target customer. These channels include social media, online advertising, sponsored blog posts and suggestions to incorporate a digital component into the store experience.

All of these promotional elements will aim to communicate the product features, quality and price point of the new denim offerings and will feature the slogan “Better Than Ever.” The campaign will span a full calendar year, beginning in September 2015.

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MEDIA STRATEGY

BRAND AMBASSADORAlthough influential public figures have been seen wearing J.Crew the company has never used a celebrity brand ambassador in their campaigns. The brand’s sister Madewell has successfully utilized brand ambassadors in the past, which is part of the inspiration for this new addition to the J.Crew media strategy.

Brand ambassadors can result in increased sales and exposure but they can also turn consumers off if the celebrity isn’t right for the brand (Doak). To ensure this celebrity brand ambassador was the perfect fit for J.Crew, factors like the brand ambassador’s credibility, reputation, relevance, fashion sense and alignment with the brand’s image were considered.

For this campaign, the brand ambassador will be model and singer Miranda Kerr. Kerr’s street style is classic, sophisticated and a little edgy – which is perfect for J.Crew. Kerr has been photographed wearing designer attire but is also known for her ability to make a more affordable outfit look great. Additionally, interviews with Kerr depict her as being the perfect combination of quirky, elegant and loved by fans worldwide (Grose).

In this role, Kerr will be featured in print, billboard and in-store ads. She will also take over the company’s Instagram account for a day to show off how she wears J.Crew denim and will attend a denim event in at the flagship store in New York City.

Estimated Costs

Brand Ambassador Salary $1,500,000

Campaign Photoshoot Costs $1,500,000

Total Cost $3,000,000

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PRINT PUBLICATIONSAdvertisements in print publications will be used to create awareness, spark interest in J.Crew denim and to show style benefits of the product. Magazine readership has increased among the J.Crew demographic and will allow for higher quality images of the product to directly reach the target market (Huebsch). Listed below are three publications that appeal to and are read by the J.Crew target female customer: • Cosmopolitan: 50.7% of readers are between the ages of 18-34, with a median age of 34.7 years old (Cosmopolitan) • Glamour: Median age of readers is 31 years old (Glamour) • Elle: 45% of readers are between the ages of 18-34, with a median age of 37.2 years old (Elle)

In addition to age, the average readers of these magazines are reported as being in the mid to upper class, college educated and interested in fashion – which aligns with the target J.Crew customer. Additionally recent studies show that readership of beauty and fashion magazines has grown among the target market for this campaign (Bazilian).

Estimated Costs

Print Publication Number of Ads Cost

Cosmopolitan 6 $ 1,840,200

Glamour 6 $488,768

Elle 6 $1,029,870


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Print Ad Mock-Up

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J.CREW STYLE GUIDEThe J.Crew Style Guide is a trademark of the brand’s marketing strategy. Last year alone 2.8 billion catalog pages were printed and circulated to customers in the U.S. and Canadian markets (J.Crew Group, Inc.). The J.Crew Style Guide will be used to inform current readers about the refreshed selection of J.Crew denim. It will also inform any new customers that sign up to recieve the free catalog of the campaign.

Estimated Costs

Creation & Distribution $52,000,000

Style Guide Cover Mock-Up

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETINGSocial media allows brands to build relationships with consumers, showcase products, increase customer service and improve customer retention rates (DeMers). For J.Crew, customers who engage with the brand on social media are reported to spend approximately two times more than the average customer (BuzzFeed News).

This campaign will use social media to inform followers about J.Crew denim, provide style ideas and engage first-hand with customers. As outlined under the “Current Marketing Campaigns” section above, J.Crew utilizes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for their social media marketing. Therefore, these are the channels that will be used for this campaign. Posts will feature traditional components used by the company, like text and images, but will also introduce short videos and GIFs.

Social Media Platform Rationale Purpose

Facebook • Largest social media audience for the brand

• Will allow for communication of denim styles, style sugges-tions, sales and in-store events

Instagram • Second most popular channel• High quality product images

• Communicate & show the J.Crew culture by showing how people wear their favorite denim• Brand ambassador “take over” will show how Kerr wears her J.Crew denim

Twitter • Third largest channel• Facilitates one-on-one cus-tomer interaction

• Interaction with customers to measure customer satisfaction with the product• Post product & style informa-tion

Pinterest • Decent following• Focuses on the J.Crew life-style and day-to-day styling of the products

• Shoe the denim in a real life context• Depict various ways real cus-tomers are wearing the denim

Estimated Costs


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Example Facebook Post

Example Instagram Post

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Example Twitter Post

Example Pinterest Post

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DIRECT E-MAIL MARKETINGJ.Crew currently uses digital marketing to drive brand awareness, increase new customer acquisition, maintain and build customer loyalty and retention (TrackMaven).

The direct e-mails will have those same goals while also emphasizing a direct communication channel with customers. Since the company currently uses this media outlet to communicate the brand message, to not feature denim in these e-mail blasts would be an oversight.

Estimated Costs


E-COMMERCE WEBSITESAs ecommerce and digital experiences continue to increase it will be important that visitors to the J.Crew site receive a consistent message that aligns with the rest of the campaign (Hoffman).

The “Better Than Ever” campaign will be featured on the homepage of the brand’s website. It will also be featured in advertisements on other sites frequently visited by the target audience, including the websites of the select print publications described above.

Estimated Costs


Banner Ad Mock-Up

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SPONSORED BLOG POSTSFashion bloggers have become very influential today, with blogs ranking third among online services consumers are most likely to visit prior to purchase (Leonard). Roughly 51% of marketers have already reported using a sponsored blog post and it would be beneficial for J.Crew to do the same (Young Entrepreneur Council). These sponsored blog posts can spark conversations with customers and result in product awareness (Young Entrepreneur Council). Due to the fact that the J.Crew customer is active on both traditional social media and the blogosphere, this is a great way to spread the word about J.Crew denim.

To emphasize the idea that J.Crew denim is back in style the company will sponsor popular fashion bloggers to feature J.Crew denim in their posts. These bloggers include Courtney Kerr of What Courtney Wore (Dallas, TX), Grace Atwood of The Stripe (New York City) and Olivia Lopez of Lust for Life (Los Angeles). These bloggers were selected based on their following, history of successful sponsored posts and geographic location.

Estimated Costs

Cost Per Post $50,000

Total Number of Sponsored Posts 12

Total Cost $600,000

OUTDOOR ADVERTISEMENTSIt has been reported that on average people spend roughly 20 hours per week traveling and the J.Crew customer is likely included in this statistic (Olenski). One study showed that 24% of people were motivated to visit a store advertised on a billboard the same day they saw it, while 32% visited it within the week (Olenski).

Advertisements from this campaign will be featured on billboards and subways in major cities across America. These ads will be used to target J.Crew customers that spend a good amount of time traveling or commuting. The customer analysis showed that J.Crew customers are living primarily in urban areas. Therefore, that is where the bulk of these billboard and subway ads will be placed. The urban areas where these billboards will be placed was then further determined based on city size, average income of residents and number of J.Crew store locations. These ads will run for a four week period two times during this year-long campaign. Below are six of the primary locations: • New York City • Los Angeles • Chicago • Boston • Atlanta • Washington, D.C.

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Estimated Costs

Subway Advertisements $756,000

Billboard Advertisements $14,400,000

Bus Advertisements $4,320,000


Subway Mock-Up

Billboard Mock-Up

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IN-STORE MARKETING & EVENTSTo make sure that the advertising message remains consistent across all media, in-store visual merchandising, signage and events will align with the denim campaign. This will include window and in-store signage that utilizes the “Better Than Ever” slogan, tags added to the denim that explain the improved features and placing the denim at the front of the store during peak seasons.

J.Crew stores will need to spotlight the denim in an aesthetic, shoppable and eye-catching way. There will also be promotional events to entice customers to purchase denim.

One of the main events that will take place during this campaign is an in-store “Find Your Fit” event. This will be held at all J.Crew locations and run for one week. During this event customers will be able to get a fit session with a J.Crew denim expert to find their perfect pair of jeans. The goal of this event is to spread awareness of the updated denim, to have the staff communicate the new benefits with customers and to get consumers to try on J.Crew denim. Additionally, to further acquaint consumers with J.Crew denim, a 15% off coupon for the purchase of denim will be offered for trying on a pair of jeans. This will appeal to the large portion of the J.Crew target market that is motivated by discounts.

Another event will be an appearance by Miranda Kerr in the New York City flagship to celebrate the launch of the new campaign. This will include a meet and greet with Kerr, various social media posts and a try-on event for consumers. This type of event is something new for J.Crew, as they haven’t had a celebrity brand ambassador like Kerr before. To market the event Kerr will also make an appearance on The Today Show to spread awareness throughout the New York City area. If the event is successful in terms of brand awareness and denim sales, similar events in other major cities may be added.

Estimated Costs

In-Store Event & Staff Training $30,000,000

Brand Ambassador Store Appearance $350,000

Brand Ambassador Television Appearance $500,000

Store Signage & Visual Merchandising $10,000,000


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Denim Tag Mock-Up

Staff Event T-Shirt Mock-Up

Front Back

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ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Strategic business partnerships can be mutually beneficial for the companies involved. Some of these benefits include gaining new customers, increasing brand awareness, increasing customer loyalty and potentially increasing sales (National Federation of Independent Business). In the past, J.Crew has done partnerships with the CFDA and charities like the HERproject. Due to the brand’s successful history of partnerships, a charitable partnership could benefit this campaign.

The target market research outlined above shows that customers are heavily influenced by companies that are socially responsible (Soloman). To cater to this segment of the target market, J.Crew could team up with a charity called Blue Jeans Go Green. This charity takes donated denim and recycles it into denim insulation for civic buildings and new homes in struggling communities. J.Crew could offer customers who donate a pair of jeans to Blue Jeans Go Green a coupon toward their next denim purchase. This partnership would not only appeal to customers concerned about ethical companies but also to those focused on getting a deal.

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Additionally, research shows that the target market for this campaign wants to be digitally connected even while shopping (Soloman). To take advantage of this J.Crew could team up with a mobile app like Retail Me Not or Shopkick to alert customers of deals and promotions as soon as they are within a certain radius of a J.Crew store. This would bring customers into the store, where employees can then inform them about the “Better Than Ever” campaign.

Another opportunity for J.Crew to appeal to the tech-savviness of the target market is to incorporate digital right into the store experience. One way to do this would be to introduce a J.Crew mobile app that allows customers to use their smartphones to place orders online while they are inside of a J.Crew store simply by taking a picture of the item on the app. The J.Crew mobile app could also allow users to create a wishlist by taking pictures of items while in the store and to see product reviews, a feature that would cater to the target market’s reliance on outside opinions for purchasing decisions. The mobile app would cater to the wants of the target market while also helping customers stay connected with J.Crew. The app could also lead to an improved ease of purchase of the denim offering.

The estimated budget for this campaign would allow for the introduction of a mobile app, as well as a partnership, to be incorporated into the media strategy.

CAMPAIGN MEDIA FLOWCHART

The following chart displays the duration and timing of each media channel included in the media strategy for this integrated marketing communications plan throughout the year-long campaign. Peak seasons for the campaign will be the launch in September, the holiday season and the pre-fall to fall season.

Sept.2015 Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan.

2016 Feb. Mar. April May June July Aug.

Campaign Launch

Brand Ambassador

Cosmopolitan

Glamour

Elle

J.Crew Style Guide

Social Media Marketing

Direct E-Mail Marketing

E-Commerce

Sponsored Blog Posts

Outdoor Advertisements

In-Store Marketing & Events

Metrics Evaluation

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MEASUREMENT & EVALUATION

The goal of measuring and evaluating the success of the campaign is to ensure that the target market is receiving and understanding the marketing in a manner that ultimately leads to a purchasing decision. As stated above, the goal of the campaign is to increase sales of J.Crew women’s denim by 10% and to regain the J.Crew customer through satisfaction of the new denim line.

Sales figures will be monitored closely, especially during peak months, to ensure the determined revenue goals are being met. These sales figures will be compared not only to the sales goals set by the campaign but also to last year’s sales figures. An additional metric for this campaign will be the use of coupons sent specifically for denim purchases. This will be done by evaluating the rate of redemption.

To ensure that this campaign is also improving J.Crew’s brand image among the target market, a few methods will be used. First, customer feedback via social media and the internet will be assessed. The company will also hold a focus group to hear feedback about the denim and the correlated marketing from actual customers. Based on this feedback, any adjustments to the marketing plan can be assessed. Additionally, customer surveys will be distributed at the point-of-purchase and via e-mail.

While not all aspects of this integrated marketing communications plan can be evaluated, the company will do its best to measure the effectiveness of as many channels as possible to ensure a successful campaign.

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BUDGET SUMMARY

Media Category Total Cost

Brand Ambassador $3,000,000

Print Publications $3,358,838

J.Crew Style Guide $52,000,000

Social Media Marketing $12,255,500

Direct E-Mail Marketing $20,800,000

E-Commerce Websites $53,244,000

Sponsored Blog Posts $600,000

Outdoor Advertisements $19,476,000

In-Store Marketing & Events $40,850,000

Total Campaign Cost $205,584,338

The main areas of spending for this campaign incldue the in-store marketing and events, the J.Crew Style Guide and e-commerce webiste advertisements. These estimates show the campaign comming in under the alloted $229,500,000 budget, leaving room for adjustments or increases in the amount of advertisements in any media category. Additionally, this proposed budget will allow for J.Crew to incorporate the above additioanl recommendations, like the development and introduction of a mobile app.

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CONCLUSION

The “Better Than Ever” marketing communication proposal is based on both primary and secondary research, as well as J.Crew’s past marketing initiatives and company goals. The message and channels outlined in the media strategy reach the customer across various platforms and devices. Metrics for evaluation of the campaign goals are included in the proposal so that the effectiveness of the campaign in meeting the company’s goals can be assessed on a regular basis. Furthermore, the proposed campaign has left room for adjustments and additions to the media strategy based on the metrics results.

APPENDIX A: BUDGET DETAILS & RATIONALE

Brand Ambassador • Based on figures from other celebrity brand ambassador salaries, including Mila Kunis for Dior and Beyonce for Pepsi, this aspect of the campaign will cost approximately $1.5 million (How Rich). In addition to this, there will be costs associated with a photoshoot for the campaign. Based on industry averages and the size of the campaign this is estimated to be an additional $1.5 million

Print Publications • Sources: Elle, Glamour, Cosmopolitan)

J.Crew Style Guide • Source: (J.Crew Group, Inc.) • Based on the reported cost of catalog production and mailing for 2014 ($47,372,000) this budget estimation of $52,000,000 allows for annual increases or fluctuations that can accompany this type of media channel.

Social Media Marketing • The estimated cost of $12,,255,500 is based on the industry average of $350 spent per day on social media advertising (Lee), which was then doubled due to the size of J.Crew. This is also based on knowledge that Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter sponsored post ad campaign can cost between $1 million to $2 million per platform (Delo).

Direct E-Mail Marketing • The estimated cost of $20,800,000 was calculated assuming (based on an evaluation of emails received by a subscriber) that the company sends an average of two emails per day, with an estimated 2 million subscribers at the average cost of $0.1 per email (van Rijn).

E-Commerce Websites • The estimated cost of $53,244,000 was calculated based on the fact that on average smaller companies spend 12.5% of their marketing budget on online advertisements and 10.7% on advertisements on the corporate website (Gartner).

Print Publication Number of Full Page 4 Color Ads

Cost

Cosmopolitan 6 @ $306,700 $1,840,200

Glamour 6 @ General Rate $488,768

Elle 6 @ $171,645 $1,029,870

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Sponsored Blog Posts • As of 2014, a sponsored blog post was costing advertisers $50,000 per post (Veselinovic). For the “Better Than Ever” campaign the three bloggers listed above will each be posting four posts throughout the campaign for a total cost of $600,000.

Billboard/Subway Advertisements • Total Cost:19,476,000 • Source: (Blue Line Media) • Subway Advertisements • 30, 2 Sheet-Ads Per City: $950 each = $342,000 X 2 = $684,000 • 20 Interior Display Ads Per City: $150 each = $36,000 X 2 = $72,000 • Billboard Advertisements • 40 Large Billboards Per City: $30,000 each = 7,200,000 X 2 = $14,400,000 • Bus Advertisements • 40 Bus Stop Ads Per City: $4,500 = $1,080,000 X 2 = $2,160,000 • 40 Exterior Bus Ads Per City: $4,500 = $1,080,000 X 2 = $2,160,000

In-Store Marketing & Events •Total Cost: 40,850,000 • To train the staff in all J.Crew stores about the product and to outfit the store in appropriate signage for the in-store event the company will allocate a high estimate of $30 million. • The prices below are based on the average reported celebrity appearance fee, for a total cost of $1,850,000 (Lutz). • Kerr event appearance fee: $350,000 • Kerr television appearance fee: $500,000 • Store signage & visual merchandising updates: $10 million

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APPENDIX B: PRIMARY RESEARCH ANALYSIS

To get additional insight into the J.crew target customer an online survey was conducted. This survey received forty responses, with the majority of respondents being in the target age group. The results of this survey provided insight into how often respondents purchased denim, what they look for in a pair of jeans and what product qualities lead them to making a denim purchase. The survey found that the number on factor when it comes to denim purchasing is fit, closely followed by price. Below are the raw results that provided these conclusions.

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J.Crew Women's Denim Marketing Campaign

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