MARKS AND SPENCER
The Challenge:
M&S was late with it’s online offering, and when it did arrive it was out of step with the rest of the communication style. The challenge was to have one way of speaking with the customer, whether that was online, instore, press or socially. There had to be a thread.
The Approach:
Our strategy was to move M&S into a lifestyle brand. New branding, new tone of voice, art direction and consistency was the key to success. The first signs of change came with a very successful Autumn launch. Adding elements of lifestyle into a simple environment, while adhering to a strict colour palette, was the necessary first step away from being just a product and price brand. A new typography style and light hearted editorial language was layered on. This allowed for retention of historical price led customers and acquisition of new customers taking a fresh look at M&S.
At the same time as the core offer being relaunched in this new way, Per Una was given a fresh ‘street style’ look and feel and packaging began the ‘lifestyle’ journey.
Christmas was a key time to consolidate M&S’s move towards a more relaxed lifestyle brand. Following the same principle as for Autumn, with simple environments, strict colour palette and limited props, allowed for all departments to come together under one roof and one creative concept. The TV commercial was created by the incumbent ad agency who were given the ‘lifestyle’ brief and kept on the straight and narrow when it came to styling. The packaging design, props and typography allowed for a considered and homogeneous campaign across windows, store, online and social.
Further chance to demonstrate M&S as a lifestyle brand was the ‘Ways to Wow’ campaign. This campaign was designed to work hard across all departments for customer’s January health kick.
The Results:
“The tide finally seems to be changing for struggling high street department store Marks & Spencer, as the group saw its apparel and homeware sales returned to black. M&S reported a 2.3 percent growth in clothing and homeware sales over the Christmas trading period, the first time in two years the ailing division reported a like-for-like growth and the first time M&S has reported sales growth during the holiday season over the past six years” The Times January 2017