Your star is closer to the body
Most shoe companies use standard advertising strategies, with an emphasis on discounts, sales and new collections. The clips differ little from each other in terms of plot. In December, the Obuv Rossii shoe chain launched an advertising campaign featuring singer Valeria. Does the company expect to attract a new audience? To tell something new to already loyal customers? Increase your awareness? Reduce the critical threshold for price perception? Natalya Kirpa, head of the PR department of the Obuv Rossii group of companies, Natalya Pauli, talks about the goals and details of cooperation to the SR columnist Natalie Kirpa.
- Why did you choose Valeria to promote your brand?
“We completed a three-year chain rebranding program, which had two goals - to change the price positioning and add an emotional component to the brand. “Westfalika” has been on the market for 17 years, it has an image of a conservative brand that offers high-quality, comfortable footwear. As a result of the rebranding, we moved the chain from the economy to the mid-price segment. The emotional component of the brand was not great either. Now our advertising campaigns are aimed at increasing the brand value in the eyes of the consumer, making the brand prestigious. The main idea of the renovation is style and elegance, so the main criterion for choosing a star was its compliance with the ideas and values of the brand. In 2008, the main character of our advertising campaign was the actress and TV presenter Yulia Menshova. The project budget was over 30 million rubles. This year we have invited the singer Valeria. Modernity, brightness, freshness, dynamism - these components make up her image. And all of them are reflected in the new brand concept. In 2011, the budget of Westfalica advertising campaigns will amount to 70 million rubles.
- What media formats are involved?
- We will use the image of Valeria in outdoor advertising, print media and printing products. We will place advertising materials on the Internet only on our corporate websites.
- What forms will cooperation take apart from advertising?
- We will sponsor the singer's concerts, which will take place in those cities where we already have shops open. In addition, Valeria released a disc with the best songs in 10 years, especially for Westfalica. The first batch of 20 thousand pieces has already appeared on sale in our stores. Another format of cooperation - the singer will participate in the development of new collections for the network. Already in the spring of 2011, a line of footwear models developed with Valeria's participation will appear in Westfalika stores, since the singer has impeccable taste and is the embodiment of beauty and style in the perception of most people.
- Will the practice of inviting celebrities, perhaps foreign ones, continue?
- Yes, most likely the practice will continue. But we do not plan to cooperate with foreign stars yet. Now marketers of Western brands are beginning to understand that the Russian consumer has his own shirt (star) - closer to the body. And even if many Russian stars are not of Hollywood caliber, they are better known, understandable and loved in their own Russia. This means that the communication built through them is more effective. The perceived difference in fees for brand owners also matters.
Market participants reacted to the project in two ways. On the one hand, not everyone has the image of a singer associated with the practicality of the brand, and the contract is also short. On the other hand, the singer is also known as a mother with many children, taking care of the family hearth, and women oriented to family values are precisely the main audience of the brand. According to experts, in addition to emotions, cooperation can bring real profit, increasing sales by 10-20%.
The second celebrity project of 2010 was the collaboration of Russian show business stars with the Centro brand. Every month the company chooses a new heroine, who becomes the face of the advertising campaign. In August, it was the performer of one of the main roles in the TV series "Univer" Maria Kozhevnikova. In September, TV presenter Olga Buzova continued this topic. In October, it was the turn of the singer and actress Anastasia Stotskaya - in the advertising of the brand she appeared in the form of a glamorous biker
The participation of a federal star in the advertising campaign allows Obuv Rossii to differentiate itself from competitors. In addition, there are not so many examples in the shoe world when stars became heroes of advertising. And they all ended before the crisis.
Thus, the brand of sports shoes SKECHERS was advertised by the singer Yulia Savicheva. Ralf Ringer men's shoes were promoted by footballer Andrey Arshavin. Having put the sales of children's shoes on its feet, Jump Russia decided to start selling men's shoes. For a rapid start of sales, the company decided to involve musician Sergei Shnurov in the development of the collection and advertising the brand. That, in fact, is all.
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