stirlingwomen:
making waves in the women’s athleisure retail market
case study: brand creation, project management, marketing strategy
the brief:
to create and execute a brand strategy and go-to-market plan for an all-women’s athleisure multi-branded retailer. this retailer would house exclusive and most-wanted brands that were not readily available to the nz market. it would also service her with a 360 degree customer experience, with a goal to build and engage with a following of loyal advocates. with 50% lifestyle and 50% performance, this retail store was to become a women’s one-stop-athleisure-shop.
brand strategy + execution
a deep dive workshop is where it all began, to fine-tune our business and brand goals, values, story, and unique proposition. we took advantage of the data we had available to us and worked to servicing the gap in the market. it was also at this stage that we identified the challenges ahead of us - with the activewear trend already hot in the market, and a close target audience to stirling sports , it was crucial that we had to work hard, fast and smart to differentiate the two brands.
from here, we commissioned creative agency LIBBY & BEN to help us put pen to paper and give our brand an identity. we began initial exploration with options which were both connected and disconnected to stirling sports. however, with connections to an already well-established brand, with over 50 years in nz retail history, it seemed only natural to carry on the stirlings legacy.
with that, the concept of a ‘sister brand’ was born, a look & feel developed and the foundation blocks set to keeping building up.
Store fit-out: design and execution
with every creative project I work on, this stage started with a conceptual moodboard. i drew inspirational from international retail - with a focus on fashion, but also exploring the home and interiors industry closely.
we identified early that it was important to build a space that our customer could feel comfortable in. we put extra focus on the changing rooms to create a warm and inviting space - including all the little nice touches (candle scents, rugs, couches, flowers) to make her feel at home.
we worked closely with retail store designer; Mark Ellery and his team as well as Kiwi Property (to ensure we were meeting all mall requirements) to design the layout of our 130sqm store.
to display our merchandise, we used a mix of wall racks and bespoke designed free-standing plinths by auckland shopfitters; SureStyle. we also utilised an assortment of female mannequins, styled to perfection and people-focussed inspiring imagery to help tell our story.
Marketing
through clearly defining our different customer personas, we were able to develop a marketing strategy to effectively speak to her.
our go-to-market launch plan was influencer-led, where we leant on events and activations, partnerships and PR to make some noise.
our longer-term channel plan consisted of a mix of events & activations, social media, micro + macro influencers, pr and digital marketing. whilst we had a space for retail point-of-sale, we tried to keep it to a minimum with the aim to reduce clutter and let the product do the talking!
it was a crucial part of our planning to have a detailed content strategy. we wanted content to be kept fresh, relevant and always on-brand. it would be through our detailed content plan that we’d bring our campaigns to life and tell our many product stories.
