Digital department store Freemans has dropped its Christmas campaign early this year, in an aim to grow its existing customer base and attract new shoppers.
The festive campaign, which comes earlier than any other Christmas campaign in the retailer’s 118-year history, is designed to break the link with catalogue and increase Freeman’s market share.
Developed in partnership with MullenLowe and showcased across TV, digital and paid media, the campaign will also for the first time trial the use of out-of-home (OOH) activity.
The 10 and 20-second films embody this new look, featuring brightly coloured clips and depicting some of the many products available from the retailer.
The execution brings the digital department store to life, celebrating gifts from dumbbells and high heels to skates and festive socks.
The advert concludes with blue gift bags, text, ‘Made For You’, and an end frame of end frame of ‘Freemans.com – Fashion, Beauty, Home, Gifts‘.
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Alongside the film, Freeman’s OOHs also capture the retailer’s new colourful concept and contain QR codes, taking consumers directly to the product page.
Broadcast across ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, “Made You Look”, follows the announcement by the retailer that it is now fully digital and is dropping the paper catalogue after 118 years.
The move – which marked the end of the iconic store directory – resulted in a surge of visitors to the online store, with Freemans’ noting a 23% increase of visitors to the site compared to the week before launch.
“Customers are telling us they are actively looking for Christmas home, party and gift ideas earlier than ever as cost-of-living pressures mean spreading the cost is more important than ever. As such we made the decision to go earlier than ever before with Christmas at Freemans,” said Freemans chief customer officer, Richard Cristofoli.
“It allows us to showcase the breadth of the offer, in a fun and standout way and keeps the momentum going at pace, from our already well received Made You Look, AW23 campaign which has seen visits increase and driven new customers to shop with us,” added Cristofoli.
