Smarts - Best Consumer PR for an Existing Product
Company: Smarts
Company Description: For more than 20 years we’ve been coming up with clever strategies and telling engaging stories that make brands famous. We’ve changed perceptions. And we’ve done it for some of the biggest brands in the world. Brands like Diageo, British Airways and Hertz. Our work has helped us stand out as one of the most recognised PR agencies in the UK, with more than 100 awards in the past five
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Consumer PR for an Existing Product
Nomination Title: Zalando Greenhouse: Growing a Sustainable Future for Fashion
Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched: October 2020
Like many others, the fashion industry was turned on its head by the COVID19 pandemic in 2020. A basic fashion staple became obsolete instantly: the fashion show.
While fashion houses around the world grappled with how to guarantee press coverage for new line launches without runway shows and glitzy VIP parties, we saw an opportunity for a sustainability-focused brand to lead the way.
So, we worked with our client Zalando – Europe’s largest fashion and lifestyle retailer - to create a step-change for the industry: a socially distant and environmentally-sound alternative to an established category norm that had been placed at the centre of the industry for decades.
Key objectives were:
- Create talkability around the collection with a digitally disruptive activation at Fashion Week.
- Create an idea that would help Zalando’s mission of inspiring and educating consumers in more sustainable choices.
- Social first concept which would appeal to Zalando’s Gen Z target audience.
Our research led to a finding that 241,000 tons of carbon dioxide are released every year in association with fashion shows and fashion buying.
To help reducethis, we decidedto launch a credible campaign that would immediately grab the attention of the fashion media, pinpointing a moment in the industry’s calendar that would generate peak exposure within Europe’s fashion community.
Introducing the Zalando Greenhouse. An interactive VR website launched for Copenhagen Fashion Week and built to give users a deeper understanding and a greater appreciation for innovative, sustainable designers and clothing.
The Zalando Greenhouse opened the doors of Copenhagen Fashion Week to media and followers of fashion isolating at home all around the world. An inspiring and press-worthy roster of spokespeople connected to the brand and Copenhagen Fashion Week – including model and eco-activist Arizona Muse - delivered Zalando’s key messages to the suitable media sectors, including a robust media interview programme that lifted the lid on the production behind the project, delving into the campaign candidly and authentically.
This reach was expanded by a carefully curated team of 26 of the industry’s most credible sustainability advocates and influencers, who were brought on board to communicate the campaign’s sentiment to their audiences and communities. Our approach to content was targeted to Gen z, using platforms such as TikTok, IG reels and IG.
Finally, we brokered a partnership with Vogue that delivered coverage across Zalando’s key markets.
To underline the sentiment behind the Zalando Greenhouse, we also launched the Zalando Sustainability Award, which aims to encourage fashion brands to explore sustainable alternatives and recognise strategies that contribute to a more sustainable industry. The award is a long-term initiative that will be announced every season at Copenhagen Fashion Week, having debuted in February 2021.
House of Dagmar wasannounced as the winner of the inaugural Zalando Sustainability Award, securing a prize of €20,000 and a partnership with Zalando and granted the opportunity to develop an exclusive capsule collection that will later be made available to Zalando’s 35 million customers across Europe.
The Zalando Greenhouse formed a sustainability-first campaign that was genuinely game-changing in its nature, and one that offered a credible talking point for the industry at a key moment in its calendar.
The Greenhouse provided the springboard from which Zalando could help accelerate change and show that big brands can genuinely have a positive impact on consumer behaviour and the planet.
The campaign’s success has paved a new path for Zalando to explore a new Greenhouse concept at Copenhagen Fashion Week in August 2021, and continue to challenge conventions in fashion. Zalando’s desire to keep pioneering and innovating within the fashion industry will ensure that they can shift the dial in the right direction.
PR:
• 428 articles (vs 250 KPI) with a reach of 385M
• Coverage in top tier fashion titles, Vogue, Elle, Grazia, R29 and Harper’s Bazaar
Online:
• +60k views to the Zalandogreenhouse.com
• 28 secs average dwell time
• 18k Zalando website views during Fashion Week
Social
• 17.8k average reach
• +727k total impressions
The Tiktok content will be featured by Facebook/Instagram as a best practice case study as the first brand in EMEA to successfully use Instagram’s new Reels Remix feature which launched last month.
Influencer
• 26 partners across Fashion Week
• Reach of 2.7M