Esprit Tries to Shed Its Youth Image
Esprit is looking for a few good grown-ups.
The clothing brand, which reached the height of its popularity and sales in the 1980s, has transformed itself in Europe and Asia from a brand favored by teens to one that is popular among older consumers. This month, the company tries to do the same in the U.S., with a relaunch that includes new retail stores and an advertising campaign.
"Esprit created a big juniors market in the 1980s, and people remember the company as a young, junior brand," says Jerome Griffith, chief operating officer at Esprit Holdings Ltd.
In its current advertising campaign, developed in-house, the company is aggressively pushing the image that it is no longer a brand for teens by featuring only clothing from what it calls its casual line, which is aimed at men and women 25 to 40. The models in the print and outdoor ads, who look to be in their mid-to-late 20s, reflect Esprit's position as a "mature fashion brand," says Andreas Adenauer, president of Esprit North America.
The company is betting that is the right image for the current retail moment. The teen-retailing boom that sparked fast growth at such chains as Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and American Eagle Outfitters Inc. has stalled, while young adults continue to open their pocketbooks more eagerly. NPD Group, a retail consultancy in Port Washington, N.Y., found in its weekly surveys of about 43,000 consumers and 600 retailers that sales to teenagers fell 6% between February and July, while those to people 25 to 34 years old rose 9% in that period.
Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at NPD, says it's "genius" for Esprit to target the over-25 market, because those shoppers remember the brand's 1980s heyday.
Esprit, a clothing brand popular with teens in the 1980s, is aiming for a more mature image in new U.S. print and outdoor ads.
In April 2002, Hong Kong-based Esprit Holdings spent $150 million to buy back the U.S. rights to Esprit, which Oaktree Capital Management and Cerberus Partners had bought in 1996. Now that the U.S. brand is a part of Esprit Holdings, the ad campaign in the U.S. is part of a global effort to promote Esprit. While the ads are new to American shoppers, similar ones have been running in Europe and Asia for years, Mr. Griffith says.
Esprit declined to disclose its spending on the current campaign. The company spent about $800,000 on advertising in the first half of 2004 and $1.4 million in 2003, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. Esprit's U.S. sales peaked at $400 million in 1987 and have declined since then, although the company no longer publicly breaks out U.S. sales, a company spokeswoman says. Global sales were $1.59 billion in the fiscal year ended June 2003, up from $1.18 billion the previous year.
The company also has a collection line, for career wear, and a juniors line, called EDC. EDC won't be available in Esprit's just-opened New York store for a few months, says Mr. Griffith, so consumers have a chance to become familiar with its casual line first.
In addition to showcasing only items from the casual line in its ads, the company has taken other measures to distance itself from its former young image. It is running print ads only in Lagardère's Elle and Time Warner's InStyle, in addition to the trade publication Women's Wear Daily, published by Advance Publications' Fairchild Publications. Esprit plans to run the ads in magazines geared toward younger readers in a few months.
The store Esprit quietly opened yesterday on lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is its first retail store in the U.S. in more than a decade. The brand had been sold mainly in department stores since 2002. The company has secured space for four other Esprit stores in malls in the New York area and plans to open them soon. It aims to open 20 to 25 stores throughout the Northeast over the next year.
The ad campaign is kicking into high gear around the Manhattan store opening. A billboard of a couple wearing clothing from the casual line went up in Times Square on Wednesday. During Labor Day weekend, marketers will drive Mini Cooper cars around the Hamptons, the tony towns on New York's Long Island, to hand out giveaways.
The same will happen in Manhattan during next week's Fashion Week events. Also this month, 250,000 New York City subway-fare cards imprinted with the new location will be available, and 350 taxicabs will have rooftop units bearing the Esprit logo.
思捷环球：新广告打造新形象
思捷环球控股有限公司(Esprit Holdings Ltd., 0330.HK, 简称：思捷环球)将眼光投向了收入可观的青年人。
思捷这个品牌曾在20世纪80年代达到顶峰，已在亚洲和欧洲完成了从青少年品牌到青年人品牌的转变。本月，该公司开始著手美国业务的转型，在新店开张和广告宣传的热闹声中粉墨登场。
“思捷环球在20世纪80年代创造了一个庞大的青少年市场，人们印象中这是一个充满朝气的青少年品牌，”思捷环球首席营运长格雷费斯(Jerome Griffith)表示。
在目前的广告宣传中，该公司正在大力树立新的形象：思捷环球不再是一个青少年品牌，而是目标客户群为25岁至40岁的男性和女性休闲服装品牌。思捷环球北美总裁艾登诺尔(Andreas Adenauer)表示，印刷和户外广告选用的模特看上去在25岁-29岁左右，正是反映了公司“成熟的时尚品牌”的定位。
公司认为这是符合当前零售环境的形象，并为此投入巨资。曾给Abercrombie & Fitch Co.、American Eagle Outfitters Inc.等连锁运营商带来迅速增长的青少年零售热潮已然退去，而刚刚步入成年期的青年人依然消费旺盛。
总部位于纽约州的零售咨询公司NPD GroupPort的每周调查发现，2月份至7月份，青少年产品的零售额下降了6%，而25岁至34岁消费者的零售额增长了9%；接受调查的有约4.3万名消费者和600家零售商。
NPD的首席分析师科恩(Marshal Cohen)表示，思捷环球将目标客户锁定在25岁以上人群是非常明智的，因为正是这些人依然记得该品牌于20世纪80年代的辉煌。
2002年4月，总部位于香港的思捷环球以1.50亿美元买回思捷环球的美国特许权，该特许权曾在1996年卖给了Oaktree Capital Management和Cerberus Partners。现在，美国品牌也成为了思捷环球的一部分，美国的广告宣传也构成了思捷环球全球营销计划的一部分。格雷费斯表示，美国消费者可能对这些广告感到耳目一新，但类似的广告已在欧洲和亚洲推出了数年。
思捷环球拒绝透露当前的广告宣传支出水平。据TNS Media Intelligence/CMR的数据，今年上半年思捷环球的广告支出大约为80万美元，去年全年是140万美元。一位公司发言人称，思捷环球的美国销售额于1987年达到顶峰，至4亿美元，以后便开始下滑。但公司发言人称，自那以后公司没有公布过美国市场销售数据。截至2003年6月的财政年度，思捷环球的全球销售额为15.9亿美元，高于上年的11.8亿美元。
该公司也有职业装系列，和EDC儿童系列。在思捷环球新开的纽约店中，几个月内EDC不会上架销售。格雷费斯表示，因此消费者将有机会首先熟悉休闲系列。
除了在广告中单单展示休闲系列服装外，该公司还采取了其他措施，淡化以前的青少年品牌形象。除了Advance Publications的行业出版物《Women's Wear Daily》，思捷环球的印刷广告目前只选择在Lagardere的《Elle》和时代华纳公司(Time Warner)的《InStyle》上刊登。思捷环球计划几个月后在面向相对年少的读者群的杂志上刊登广告。
近日思捷环球在曼哈顿第五大道开张的店铺是10多年来在美国首次开设的零售店。自2002年以来，这个品牌主要在百货商店销售。此外，该公司还在纽约地区的大型购物商场中为其他4个思捷环球店选好了店面。该公司计划未来一年在美国东北部开设20家至25家商店。
在曼哈顿店铺开张前后，广告宣传达到了高潮。周三在纽约时代广场(Times Square)树起了一块广告牌，两个模特身上穿的就是思捷环球的休闲装。在劳工节(Labor Day)周末，营销人员将开著Mini Cooper汽车在纽约市长岛时尚区Hamptons巡游，发放赠品。
同样的活动也将在下周的时尚周(Fashion Week)期间在曼哈顿进行。思捷环球的新店地址也将在本月登上25万纽约地铁车票，还有350辆出租车的车顶广告位上会出现思捷环球的标志。
