WHY WECHOSE LOFT
AS ASMALLER DIGITAL MARKETING SHOP, WE HAVE THE LUXURY OF PICKING AND CHOOSING WHOWE WANT TO WORK WITH. THERE ARE A LOT OF GOOD COMPANIES OUTTHERE BUT ONLY A SMALL NUMBER MEET OUR CRITERIA FOR COMPANIES THAT ARE A GOODFIT WITH OUR AGENCY.
LOFTIS ONE OF THOSE COMPANIES.
PERSONALSTORY:
Last weekend I went shopping with my wife andwe ended up in the LOFT. First off, the vibe of that store was a good one. Ithink it was a mix of the people and the clothes. It felt classy and genuine.I’m not really sure how else to describe it, but it just made sense.
She tried on a couple things and found this one dressthat was “totally her” and she fell in love with it immediately. She wasbuying it and it didn’t matter what I thought.
But I thought the same thing. It was a great dress. Andthe best part is it was under $100. So of course she found a couple otherthings that she needed before we hit the check out to round it out.
BEHINDTHE REGISTER I SAW AN IMAGE OF A WRITTEN LETTER THAT READ “DEAR WHAT TOWEAR”. FOR SOME REASON AT THAT MOMENT, I HAD A REALLYGOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS COMPANY. I LIKED WHAT THEY WEREDOING. ON TOP OF THAT THE GIRLS AT THE REGISTER WERE SUPER NICE AND HELPFUL TOMY WIFE.
And it was THIS experience thatinspired me to start this series of deep dives, giving marketing feedback tocompanies who have a great brand but need a little help reaching their fullpotential.
SO THANKS,LOFT, FOR BEING A COMPANY THAT, BY ITS VERY NATURE, INSPIRES GOOD THINGS.
LET’S START WITH SOMETHINGPOSITIVE.
I really like the summer series campaign. I like the videosthey created. They are funny and wherever they ran them, they probably hadpretty solid engagement through to the end of the videos. It looks like theyare showing signs of carrying this theme over into other seasons. I would liketo see what they could do with this in the winter season, especially aroundholiday sales.
MORE ON VIDEO
The LOFT Laughs videos they did were really good, but theyjust needed more! There isn’t enough content. I can’t tell what they’ve donewith them, except you can see on their YouTube channel, where some of their videos got a lotof views and some had barely any. My fear is that not enough people have seenthem. From the outside looking in, it almost looks like they hired an agency tocreate them (WIN!) but the execution of getting them in front of the rightaudience was fumbled. Again, it’s hard to tell from the outside ….
#LOVELOFT
There are so many ways they can use this hashtag to growtheir brand on social. Here’s just one that jumped out at me.
• There’s not enough engagement with their audience who is posting onInstagram using the hashtag.
When you look through the posts on Instagram usingthis hashtag (and there are more than 70k!) you won’t see very much, if any,engagement from the brand itself. This is a huge missed opportunity to have areal conversation with the customer using their product and embodying thebrand. Without reaching out and saying “Yeah! That looks great on you!” orsomething that keeps the conversation going, the customer is missing out onthat part of the relationship with the brand.
It’s kind of like HAVING a father but he’s emotionallyunavailable. =( You want to share experiences with him but he’s too busy atwork.
ONE WORD – INFLUENCERS
It doesn’t appear that there is ANY influencer engagementwith their brand online. I couldn’t find anyone saying that LOFT paid them topost, but of course there may be something somewhere.
Influencers are the way to hit their market and haveimpact. And then they can reach out and engage from there.
I found this style blogger, who would be a perfectperson for LOFT to partner with. She loves the brand and would probably beJAZZED to work with LOFT on a series to promote their brand and the #loveLOFThashtag.
If they reached out to influencers like this and offered for them to bethe first to try a new line that was coming out, it would do wonders for theirstreet cred.
HULU/NETFLIX RITUAL
If you want to know what my wife is doing every night, lookno further than our living room couch. After a long day of work and kids, thisis her time to herself to relax and watch tv. BUT, she’s not just watching tv.She’s on her phone looking at clothes, furniture and all things Instagram.
THIS IS THE RITUAL FOLKS.
So, here’s another avenue that could work. Run2 ads on Hulu during certain targeted shows. Run the first one talking aboutthe #loveLOFT hashtag. It sets the stage for the second ad that asks theiraudience to do something with the hashtag. Like, share what you’re doing rightnow. That would be interesting to see. 9pm on a Tuesday night, you refresh thehashtag and see 20k mid-thirty somethings sitting on the couch watching“This is us”.
NEXT LEVEL MARKETING
Let’s take this up a notch. LOFT … you want to KILL IT withthe ladies?? Here’s the mother of all marketing for your brand.
1. Build partnerships withinfluencers (as stated above) in key geographic areas aroundthe country. Leverage this for multiple ways to grow the brand.
2. Invite all of your influencersto host This is Us premier parties when theseason begins (missed that boat) and season finale parties (still got time).
3. Ask them to use your #loveLOFT hashtag andthe #thisisus hashtag whilecovering it.
The rest will be history, my friends.
From my empirical data (don’t ask me how Igathered it), I can tell you that more and more women are holding these partiesthat involve baking cakes and drinking wine. More than one would think! It’scrazy and I don’t get it. But I’m a guy and I can’t bring myself to watch thatshow (too heavy).
TIME TO GET SERIOUS.
I mentioned on the front end that when I was in the store Ijust had a good vibe about this brand.
The actual thought that popped into my feeble marketingbrain was for LOFT to showcase the real women who MAKE the clothes.
WAIT! STOP! WHAT??
Yes, I personally think this could be an AMAZINGopportunity for LOFT to showcase the ANN Cares side of their company. Whatcompany have you seen showcase the people who are making the clothing … if theydon’t make the clothes in the U.S.? It’s kind of taboo to talk about makingclothes overseas but, um … the majority of our clothes ARE made overseas!
So, why not own that story and tell the REAL and genuinestory of a woman who provides for her family by being a part of the LOFTecosystem? They have REAL women providing for their families at 90% of theother roles in their company **Applaudes** including those super nice andhelpful ladies at the register when I was there with my wife.
This makes the most sense to me. And here’s why.
LOFT CEO
In this 2012 interview with LOFT CEO Kay Krill, she talksabout how they gave $25m to charities, etc with Ann Cares. On their websitewith their current CEO Gary Muto, he says they’ve given over $60m since 2005. Its hard tofind where they have been delivering on those values unless you really lookhard and even then it’s a little lackluster. No big deal, it just looks likethey haven’t made this part of their business as much of a priority.
When I stood in their store, it felt like now is the timeto make it a priority. I sensed that this is the biggest piece of who they areand they are leaving it out of the conversation. I really think the stories ofwho is making the clothes would resonate with their audience and draw themcloser to the mission of the brand. If it’s hard to find when you’relooking , their audience is probably not getting the message.
Here are a few videos I foundtucked away on their corporate site. It’s just not enough.
Personally, I think this is the story they should be telling.
SO, THERE YOU GO.
Our first deep dive on a company we think has the chance togo further and do more, fulfilling their greater potential.
Have any thoughts … on our thoughts?
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