Coach Plans Bright, New Marketing Campaign for Poppy Collection

The launching of Coach's Poppy handbag, accessory, and apparel collection is about to become a springboard for the company's new, revamped marketing technique. The Poppy collection—compiled of brightly colored, printed and embellished pieces that retail from $48 to $598—marks a youthful, lighthearted aesthetic for the handbag house that the marketing campaign is planned to reflect. "We’ve always been focused on traditional media,” said Mike Tucci, president of North American retail for Coach, which typically advertises only through print and outdoor mediums. “What we’re really concentrating on is a diversified multimarketing campaign." The diversity of the new campaign will include new ventures for the company like utilizing fashion blogs and holding various in store events, as well as expanding their backdrop of advertising space.

On Friday when the line debuts in North America, a Poppy microsite, coach.com/poppy, will be unveiled in addition to the New York-centered initiative in which six double-decker Manhattan buses and 300 telephone kiosks will be emblazoned in Poppy signage until the end of July. On July 1, Coach will launch “Are You a Poppy Girl?” on coach.com. The program will include user-generated content, with options such as designing a custom Poppy scrapbook page. There also will be a newly minted Poppy-themed page on Facebook and Twitter, as well as an advertising campaign with Yahoo.com. The company's utilization of online social networks and other techno-savvy software is a response to the currently shifting consumer demographic and an effort to reach out to the broad age range to whom the Poppy line will appeal.

A Poppy ad featured on a double decker bus in Manhattan

Coach's "much more aggressive approach to marketing", as coined by Tucci, also features in-store events to kick off the new collection's debut. The events will include partnerships with fashion blogs such as FabSugar in San Francisco, JustJared in Short Hills, N.J., and (guess who!) Second City Style in Chicago! The Poppy-themed parties will feature a candy bar, gift-with-purchase incentives and a signature playlist by New York DJs the MisShapes, as well as a photo booth where photos will be uploaded onto coach.com/poppy and Facebook. All the buzz being generated by the marketing campaign so far may cause the company's reps to use these strategies in the future. "It’s not a time where the customer is going to respond to the same old,” Tucci noted. “You need exciting products and a very strong point of view.”

Second City Style will cohost the Chicago instore event at the Coach Michigan Avenue location, 625 N. Michigan Ave. For all the event details and to RSVP, check out our Poppy invitation here!

Article and Photo Source: WWD
-Alia Rajput