A national challenge brand was facing stagnant sales and consumer indifference

The Situation:

Lee Apparel products included the icon Lee Jeans as well as the less well-known Lee Sweats line. This line competed in national department stores with better known brands including Russell and Champion. Lee Sweats trailed the other brands in sales and share. To combat this Lee had invested as an apparel sponsor in the US Olympic Team leading into the 1992 Winter games in Albertville, France. Tarren was brought in to activate their sponsorship to drive sales for their mid-market retailers including Target, Montgomery Ward, Mervyn’s, and others. The Lee Sweats sales force did not have experience leveraging high profile properties to influence both merchandise managers and consumers.

Strategy / Tactics

My team and I created a multi-level campaign targeting the Lee sales force, the department store merchandise teams, and consumers. We leveraged the emerging interest in the Bobsled team (a few emerging stars, new sled technology, and the strong potential for medaling) for both Back to School and Winter/Holiday sales periods. The campaigns included sell-in materials to the sales force and merchandise management at the retailers (campaign description and timetable, POS samples, posters, printed apparel with US Bobsled Team logos, and collectable pins). Consumer facing elements included large POS (rack toppers and end caps), co-op advertising elements for the retailers, and a gift-with-purchase campaign with custom US Bobsled pins for all qualifying purchases. Lee Sweats dominated the sales environment with large and dramatic graphic panels. We were successful in persuading the retailers to use the sales materials in their ads and circulars. Floor sales personnel loved the pins and used them to guide consumer’s brand preferences.

Outcomes:

Sales at stores that used all elements grew 16% YOY and beat the period budgets by 9%. Merchandise managers presented positive reviews to Lee for both concepts and execution, and sales leaders reported improved engagement with store staff.