L.L. Bean, through EdVenture Partners, came to The Art Institute of Portland with a proposal for a project. L.L. Bean faced a problem. The brand had grown with their audience, but now their audience was getting too old. L.L. Bean needed to map out a strategic plan to help them obtain a younger audience without losing their core audience.
Our class, Advanced Ad Campaigns, was tasked to create an Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) that would serve as a solution to L.L. Beanu2019s situation. I worked as an account/project manager for the project including media buying and budgeting tasks.
The class first gained insight into the current perceptions of the brand relevant to the new target audience of consumers under the age of 35 who had a passion for traditional outdoor activities. We then created our IMC to create awareness of the L.L. Bean brand among the new target to build purchase intent. The IMC included all forms of media and we were given a budget $2.5 million for a national campaign over one year.
We learned from our research that the new target market wasnu2019t considering L.L. Bean as an option when purchasing outdoor equipment. The audience considered the brand out of date. To solve this problem, we decided that L.L. Bean should create a new sub-brand to attract a younger audience, which we dubbed u201cL.L.u201d. The new brand identity would be carried out through print, online and guerrilla mediums.
Updated logo typeface shows a modern approach, but the stays true to the classic L.L. Bean green. This helps the sub-brand stay consistent with the parent brand. The overall modern look increases attention in a younger audience.
Each of the print ads is representative of a major city on the West Coast. The campaign is to encourage band purchase intent among the West Coast specifically, because the East Coast showed a higher acceptance point for consumers of a younger audience. Each of the ads features a product that would be best suited for the target demographic that lives in the specific city the ad represents.
With our new L.L. brand we discovered that 77% of research respondents preferred our new brand and creative approach to L.L. Beanu2019s current style. 45% of the population surveyed would consider the brand after seeing the new advertising, which was an increase of 32%.
Overall our research showed that if our IMC plan was implemented, the goal of creating awareness for the L.L. Bean brand among consumers under the age of 35 to build purchase intent would be reached.
Allison McKeever
Sharissa Dove
Yamile Abraham
Christine Vo
The entire Fall 2007 Advanced Ad Campaign from the Art Institute of Portland played a role in the completeion of this project.