MARKETING MAGAZINE MARKETING AWARDS 2006 : A New Season; Reinventing and repositioning a New...

"A quantum shift in positioning with a great image change, substantiated by changes in product range and customer service." This was the view of the judges in unanimously selecting Farmers as winner of the Morton Estate Wines Retail Award at the 2006 Marketing Magazine Marketing Awards.

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For decades Farmers has been known for its tradition and heritage, but it was a brand that not only lacked any association with today's modern lifestyle but had little coherence in its offering to consumers.

Farmers was out of fashion. In fact it had never really been in fashion and was rapidly losing relevance. It was clear that substantial changes were required to take it back into the black and position it for a healthy future, in an increasingly competitive and demanding market.

The turnaround came in 2005 with new season fashion launches and a focus on 'her'. The objective of the marketing team was to rejuvenate the brand and reposition Farmers as a contemporary modern department store for women.

In 2004 the middle ground in New Zealand retail was disappearing. Farmers was being attacked by discount multiple-category retailers, while middle New Zealand was becoming more open to luxury brands. In certain key areas, particularly the fashion offering, Farmers had absolutely no profile with consumers.

Clearly it had to find a successful formula that would deliver a profit, reduce the duration of sale periods and deliver longer full-price merchandise intervals.

In terms of brand perceptions there was a great deal of work to do as it was out of touch with modern life.

Farmers had several key strengths that could be used to turn the company around: its iconic status; the glamour departments of lingerie and cosmetics & beauty; and some trustworthy values.

The opportunities lay in bringing other high-margin, high involvement, female-oriented departments up to the destination status of cosmetics & beauty and lingerie. Four major categories were identified to do this. The key was to unlock the potential of the fashion area and make it permissible for trendy Kiwi women to visit Farmers for fashion. The vision was for Farmers to become the preferred store for New Zealand women.

A revitalisation of the brand to make it contemporary and relevant to the female shopper would re-engage the market and drive sales growth and profitability. Attention was focused on creating better stores and a better shopping experience for Farmers' female customer.

A commitment was made to invest in store refurbishment, increased staffing levels and a higher standard of merchandise. At the same time significant changes were made at the management level and within the distribution centre.

Far greater emphasis was placed on brands, higher quality, higher price-pointed, more internationally famous brands. This was of vital importance if Farmers was to become a department store of truly international standards. More brands were brought to the market, in greater quantities to more stores than ever before.

In 2005 the cosmetics and beauty department reached such high standards in store environment and brands on offer, that major international brands began to launch their flagship brands exclusively at Farmers - unimaginable in years gone by.

Fashion authority was established through an earlier 'new season' launch, establishing market leadership on two levels: a fashion collection of international and national brands and an all-store house brand fashion statement set to a theme for the season.

Greater loyalty with customers was built through two vehicles - the Farmers Card, and Beauty Club.

The intention to reinvest all profits back into the offering and the stores, was realised in 2005 with the repositioning makeover of the Lambton Quay, Queensgate and Rotorua stores. A considerable investment was also made in rationalising other stores. Existing store layouts were analysed with space given back to 'For Her' categories, and non-core categories diminished. In selected stores big ticket segments were deleted altogether.

There is now a greater fashion and event focus in-store, giving a much more alive store experience. Adding to the in-store experience are much improved merchandising displays, with POS throughout the store being much more vibrant and in line with the new positioning.

Finally given the extreme importance of customer service, a staff incentive scheme was launched to recognise the contribution of the store team with well over $1 million paid out to staff in the past year.

All communications were tasked with positioning Farmers as THE store for women using the line 'Your Store'. The strength and importance of women's wear, beauty and lingerie to the delivery of this positioning presented a natural focus for the brand campaign's execution. As such the two new season fashion launches in 2005 and one in early 2006 were used to amplify what has become a highly successful repositioning exercise.

The overall objective of this campaign was to position Farmers as a credible fashion destination for the new season. Key messages to be communicated were for Farmers to be seen as on-trend as well as on-value and ultimately be considered a destination store for new season women's fashion. Consistency of execution and integration through all media was key.

Importantly, this campaign was tasked with working beyond the fashion category to imbue the entire Farmers brand with a revitalised and contemporary image. The opportunity was to engage a younger target and shift perceptions away from conservative, out-dated and old fashioned to modern, up-to-date and on-trend.

In another first, Farmers staged its inaugural Fashion Show in August 2005, a huge success targeting fashion editors and key fashion opinion leaders. They saw Farmers in a new light and much media attention was attracted. Subsequently this event was repeated in February 2006, further cementing Farmers' growing authority in the fashion arena.

Farmers had previously been seen as traditional and trustworthy but irrelevant and boring. The realignment of the offer to more premium, higher-margin, fashionable, female-centric categories clearly resonated with the New Zealand woman and has been seen in some outstanding financial results and key performance indicators.

Getting noticed was only half of the story. Big Picture Research and online tracking through Athena Research showed how dramatic a change in perception was achieved. The remarkable thing was how readily consumers accepted this positioning despite a strong level of surprise that it was for Farmers.

In the space of 12 months Farmers has become regarded as the store that keeps women up to date with the latest fashion trends and young consumers are delighting their mothers by choosing to shop there.

The revitalised brand image has impacted dramatically on the bottom line and as New Zealand women embrace their department store, even cynical fashion editors have been won over.

<HR>Morton Estate Wines Retail Award

Winner

Farmers

The People

Dean Cook - Head of Marketing

James Lee - Marketing Manager

Ben Harvey - Direct Marketing Manager

Delwyn Karanikolaou - Communications &

Promotions Manager

The Partners

Colenso 99

Athena Research

TNS

Big Picture

What The Judges Said

* A clear vision.

* A breathtaking move.

* Well executed and successful.

* Based on solid research.

* A superlative job.

Finalists

BP Oil - Wild Bean Cafe

McDonald's New Zealand - Deli Choices