Clothestime Steps Out With Marketing Drive
Anaheim, Calif.-based junior retailer Clothestime has launched an $8 million marketing campaign to hype its offerings for the Summer and Back-to-School seasons.
After sticking to direct mail programs and in-store promotions for the past two years, the 270-store chain began a radio blitz May 29 with its “Be all that” message in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Miami and five other markets. The 60-second spots tout store specials from 25 percent discounts on tops to “buy one, get one half-off” deals.
For the first time in 14 years, the retailer also launched magazine advertisements, with spots in the May issues of Seventeen and Glamour. This month, there will be a bigger push, with ads featured in YM, Cosmopolitan, CosmoGirl and Marie Claire.
The goal of the campaign is to reacquaint customers with the stores, which are found mostly in strip-center malls, said Franci Ramynke, Clothestime’s marketing manager.
“We’re trying to make ourselves known to a new generation of teenagers and young women and provide a little reminder to those who know us that we’re stronger than ever,” Ramynke said.
It’s a message Clothestime likes to reiterate. The one-time public company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1997 as a smaller private firm, now generating about $175 million in sales.
While the company reorganized, it left the territory open for more nimble competitors to steal market share. Clothestime, which has prided itself on low-cost fashions, has watched Los Angeles-based upstarts Forever 21 and Reference offer the same service in a bigger, livelier shopping setting. And, the deeper pockets of public companies Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Wet Seal Inc. and the edgier City of Industry, Calif.-based Hot Topic clothing chain have made it difficult to stand out as a fashion leader.
“Clothestime has lost its identity,” said Sandy Potter, a juniors buyer and partner with Los Angeles-based Directives West. “They’ve needed to step up to the plate to compete.”
Indeed, Potter said companies doing business with teenagers have to consistently remind the fickle consumers about their brand. It’s a strategy employed by Wet Seal, a mall-based specialty junior and contemporary retailer known for its Wet Seal and Arden B. divisions, which has launched an in-store fashion network and partnered with the WB’s “Popstars” show.
“They have to compete for the teenage dollar that may not always be there,” said Liz Pierce, a retail analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.
The campaign promotes Clothestime’s branded merchandise, including such denim-driven labels as Hot Kiss, Paris Blues and LEI. The merchandise mix now consists of 60 percent private label and 40 percent brands—compared to 70 percent and 30 percent respectively a few years ago—and reflects more fashion, Ramynke said.
“In the past we’ve been more career-based or more focused on club, and in the last two years, we’ve been merchandising more fashion, more novelty and giving tanks more details and jeans more variations,” she said.
The campaign won’t focus on Clothestime’s 23 Eye Candy stores, which are primarily located on the East Coast, but will concentrate on the company’s national brand, Ramynke said. Produced in-house, the promotion will continue through the year with one to two magazine ads per month as well as continued radio spots, she said.
Awareness of the brand should also help in another Clothestime launch: the July 1 debut of an e-commerce Web site. Initially, the site will feature 20 to 30 clothing styles with plans to possibly add chat rooms and partner with other companies including online marketer CoolSavings Inc., Ramynke said.
