Style show-off

DESCRIPTION

KMart has long been associated with providing inexpensive clothes to the lower and middle classes. Trouble is, consumers associate ‘inexpensive’ with unfashionable. With Levi Strauss and Jaclyn Smith now being stocked, the perception, rather than the clothing range was out of date.

KMart saw its target as a young multi-ethnic, passionate shopper - an indulgent dreamer who craves self-expression through fashion. It devised a two-tiered approach to hook in its intended demographic.

First, it held a ‘Style Showoff’ in fashion capitals New York and LA. Participants were invited into a massive warehouse full of unbranded KMart clothes that they could create outfits from. Participants were only told afterwards that the clothes they had been wearing were from KMart.

The most stylish entrants were then used in online and TV adverts encouraging other wannabe fashionistas to upload a photo of their best effort at a vogue KMart ensemble, along with a 50-word blurb, onto a custom-created microsite. The winner received a $10,000 gift card for the store.

Online, KMart’s campaign reached in excess of 21 million people through Yahoo’s network. 26 million people visited the contest micro-site with over 10,000 uploading a photo.

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