U-DOX INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE AGENCY / LONDON & BANGKOK
UNIT 5 / THE LUX BUILDING / 2-4 HOXTON SQ / LONDON N1 6NU
+44 (0)20 7494 4401 info@u-dox.com
Ben Sherman – Conversations In Modernism - Digital, Video
Ben Sherman find themselves in a unique position at the moment; a menswear brand with an incredibly rich 50 year history who don’t want to bang on too much about heritage. Whilst every other menswear outfit older than a teenager is desperate to shout about whatever lineage they can muster, Ben Sherman are focussing on their provenance as a shirt-maker of distinction, and applying it to an impressive brand repositioning through their Plectrum and Modern Classics ranges.
When the brand came to launch their new e-com site, U-Dox were invited to pitch for the marketing spend and asked to suggest a strategy that would consolidate this repositioning, resonate with their new target consumer the ‘Modernist’ and drive traffic to their new store.
Solution
With a limited budget and a minimal lead-time (briefed one month before the e-com launch), U-Dox proposed a content-based campaign that would leverage online coverage without relying on media spend. Inspired by the brand’s shift from the limiting preconception of ‘Mod’ to the broader possibilities of ‘Modernism’, U-Dox curated a series of conversations between diverse creatives who reflected the aspirations of the brand’s new target market.
Carefully paired in order to spark engaging discussion that would deliver both weighty debate and lighter moments, we produced three conversations which yielded short films, written editorial and beautiful photography.
Confident that Stephen Mann (The Non-Place) would style the series perfectly for the brand, and with the complete trust of Ben Sherman themselves, our in-house production team Spine TV were able to focus on creating beautiful and engaging content, without getting bogged down in brand messaging.
No one was asked to say how much they loved Ben Sherman and there were no gratuitous close-ups of stitching detail. Instead, we gave our characters the room to be themselves and express their own opinions, encouraging disagreement as much as synergy.
Presented within dedicated pages on the Ben Sherman e-com site and hosted on Vimeo to maximise quality and embed-ability, the films were accompanied by an edited transcript of the each conversation, allowing interested parties to dig deeper into the subjects discussed. In order to maximise click-through to the store, each character was given his own profile page featuring stills (shot by Neil Bedford) and offering people the opportunity to ‘shop the look’.
Results
Creatively, the conversations were even more inspiring than we and the brand had expected, with our subjects tackling topics ranging from a resurgence in craftsmanship in the digital age, to the potential emergence of new sub-cultures from London’s recent unrest. This was reflected in a great digital uptake from sites as varied as Hypebeast, Protein, GQ Style and Selectism, most of whom featured all three films in the series.
Click-throughs to store were better than expected, but even more surprising was the positive response in Ben Sherman’s social media channels. With a fanbase who remain incredibly impassioned by Ben Sherman’s Mod heritage, we had all expected to see a lot of negative commentary on Facebook and Twitter. Instead, the praise, re-tweets and requests for more came flooding in, with hardly a hint of resentment from the old guard.
Testimonials
“Having already been aware of U-Dox’s work from both their website and through word of mouth, I was keen to work with them once our new e-commerce site had launched. From the first meeting I was impressed not only with their ideas, but also their grasp of our brand and aesthetic. The Conversations in Modernism concept they developed for us was spot on, and clearly a great initiative that was both engaging and true to our brand values. The resultant campaign was not only beautifully executed, but also managed to find that ever-elusive balance between great creative content and commerciality. Following the success of Conversations in Modernism, we plan to roll it out to the European and American markets in 2012.”
Oli Culcheth – Creative Communications Manager (Global)
“Conversations in Modernism was a great idea executed efficiently and beautifully by U-Dox and their production arm Spine TV. The uptake in digital press was strong, and the response in our social media channels was incredibly positive, especially considering how many die-hard fans of Ben Sherman are ready to criticise us doing something new.”
Lil Couch (Online Marketing)
