When the business objective is to clear out holiday inventory in anticipation of spring, how do you find inspiration to create something new and enticing for money-conscious consumers?
This is a common challenge that retailers face coming out of the holiday season, and Mark’s is no exception. As the new season begins, the old product must go. It’s a price-point war across industries, and amidst this clearance clutter, Mark’s had to find a way to say something new without having anything other than a sales message.
Typically during January and February, clearance sales objectives are driven by flyer initiatives to tactically push remaining product. But this time Mark’s had the chance to try something different. With $50,000 worth of garnered OOH media from Carte Blanche, there was an opportunity to take a risk with a new idea – an idea still tactical in nature, but that could work harder to extend the brand purpose of getting Canadians ready for the outdoors.
The idea was “Ready for Winter,” transit shelters that would provide contextual relevance to the sales message. The problem was that the technology to feed real-time data in transit shelters (of which the idea was contingent) didn’t yet exist.
“Ready for Winter” challenged the Canadian media landscape and became the first-ever digital transit ad informed by a live Weather Network feed to determine the sales offering for consumers. As the temperature dropped, so did Mark’s discounts on winter apparel, allowing Canadians to reap the benefits of a colder winter. And since the ads ran in proximity to flagship stores in Toronto and Montreal, the message ignited immediacy with a simple and easy call-to-action.
The shelters were supported online by a Weather Network takeover and Facebook posts that drove home the same discount messaging, extending reach beyond outside store traffic.
Though the campaign ran for only three weeks and during the aftermath of Christmas, the flagship stores in Toronto experienced a 21% increase in sales year-over-year, 13% above non-participating Ontario stores. Montreal also saw a significant lift of 18% in sales year-over-year, 3% above non-participating Quebec stores.
Overall, the activation garnered more than 19 million impressions from news coverage across 14 outlets. Making cold a positive thing – how Canadian.