Company: BJL Campaign: Jacamo’s ‘The Changing Shape of Man’ Category:  Best Use of Research - North - Shortlisted Objective Jacamo is a men’s clothing retailer, specialising in plus sizes for the UK market with both online and high street shopping outlets. One of the brand’s biggest challenges is to normalise the category and to help those shopping in the ‘plus’ market to feel like they are part of a wide and well populated group of customers, rather than belonging to a niche and neglected audience. In order to build stronger brand associations with these values and reach out to this target audience, BJL needed to help position Jacamo as a brand that understood what it meant to be a man in 2012 and to show that millions of men across the UK share similar challenges when it comes to shared aspects of male life. To achieve this goal, BJL suggested the idea of ‘The Changing Shape of Man’. A study that would reveal the different challenges and situations that men, both normal and plus size, face in 2012. Within that, specific objectives included: • Generate positive coverage for Jacamo outside fashion and style sections • Align Jacamo with conversation around what it means to be a man in 2012 • Show brand empathy with different challenges facing men in 2012 • Generate £100k worth of AVE over six month period • Convey key messages: Jacamo is a leading men’s retailer Jacamo is for all shapes and sizes Target Audience The goal of the campaign was to move Jacamo’s communications approach away from sole focus on product PR within the fashion and lifestyle pages and to give the brand a voice within the mainstream lifestyle media, in tune with the concerns and issues faced by its target audience To achieve this, BJL conducted an in-house poll of male office workers within the 70 strong agency to determine which events and routines most commonly presented challenges or anecdotal evidence of shifting habits or practices among the male population. The areas that were determined as worthy of focus included: 1. The role of best men at weddings 2. Shopping and wardrobe selection 3. Happiness and contentment 4. Personal grooming BJL then developed a 24 question survey probing each of these areas and commissioned OnePoll to carry out a survey of 2,000 UK adults to produce the findings. BJL then analysed all the results to create news angles in each of the four distinct subject areas, while ensuring that all findings worked towards an overall body of themed work which remained consistent with the intention to reveal the changing shape of man in 2012. BJL’s distribution strategy included releasing each individual story one at a time over a period of four months, in order to ensure a consistent media presence and to maintain share of voice over as long a period of time as possible. BJL were targeting two audiences with the activity: 1. Primary audience – Men, 25-50 2. Secondary audience – Women (purchasing clothes for their partners, friends and family) These audiences were reached by focusing on the following media sectors: 1. National print and online, news and features sections 2. Women’s weekly magazines and websites 3. BBC and commercial radio Action Having analysed all data, BJL created four separate news angles and scheduled their release as follows: August The role of best men at weddings – ‘Blokes opt for two or more’ September Shopping and wardrobe choices - ‘One in four men don’t buy their own clothes’ October Personal grooming – ‘Here comes the Groom-ed’ November Age of contentment - ‘Men are happiest at age 37’ All stories were released as news press releases, working in conjunction with selected news agencies to increase reach potential with the national media. Noteworthy stats and insights were also used as the basis for social media posts to encourage conversation and interaction amongst Jacamo’s fans and followers. To increase reach for September’s story, BJL recommended working with Jacamo’s new above-the-line brand ambassador, TV and sports personality, Freddie Flintoff. BJL identified an opportunity to further normalise the subject areas under discussion by using Freddie, perceived as an ordinary bloke that men in the UK can relate to, to bring his own personal perspective to the issues being discussed. Freddie Flintoff’s work on the story included a series of pre-recorded and live studio radio interviews hosted by Markettiers, production of an audio feature hosted by Jacamo and made available for general use by UK radio stations and filming of a live broadcast web TV discussion. Results Between August and November 2012, 99 pieces of coverage were tracked across national newspapers, their online counterparts, women’s magazines, websites and radio, with over 95 per cent of that coverage being positive. The campaign delivered in excess of £215,000 worth of AVE coverage obtained from August-November with related coverage continuing to be generated. Through the activity, Jacamo was able to achieve coverage in sections of the media it had traditionally not been able to penetrate with product led PR activity. The strength and effectiveness of the campaign’s implementation came through BJL’s ability to recognise trends and truisms with regards to men in modern society, and to create touch-points with which our primary target audience would be able to relate. Had these initial insights not rang true with our target audiences and media, then the resulting data would not have carried the weight and cut through, necessary to make the mainstream national news agenda. URLs www.jacamo.co.uk The PRmoment Golden Hedgehog Awards 2014 are now open for entries. Here are this years updated categories.