2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

To help our client DEPECHMODE retain the business growth and the loyal clientele, we needed to create a long-term solution that will reconnect with the loyal customers. The allocated budget would have secured a sizeable campaign for DEPECHEMODE but the results weren’t guaranteed. We felt the solution could be bigger than an ad campaign. We needed a creative business solution. With experience and engagement at the heart of the idea we invented a space and called it: 6:05® at depechemode. Unlike any usual retail space in Beirut, 6:05® is an experiential space - fueled by an ever-changing selection of fashion, music and art – that comes to life every day during Happy Hours of another kind. A space in constant activation and change, offering continuously renewed experiences through live bands, DJs, rotating temporary art exhibitions, and an ever-changing line of hard-to-find fashion brands, accessories, leisure products and home-ware. Through weekly invitations and daily activities we brought our clientele a renewed experience and even recruited new audiences.

The Brief

Reconnecting and maintaining our loyal clientele was the main objective; moreover, protecting the business from the increasing number of competing fashion boutiques and designer’s stores was also a parameter to keep in mind. The audience is in constant search for the ‘new’ and the ‘exclusive’. They are highly knowledgeable when it comes to fashion, and are quite keen on standing out amongst their peers. Through Depechemode’s database we understood their need for a more engaging experience and deeper, more profound personal relationship with the brand. They were looking for a more personalized experience.

Results

6:05® at depechemode became the hottest and most talked about spot in Beirut since its launch, in terms of innovative concept, products on offer, engaging in-store element designs and experiential happenings, with sales exceeding client expectations by over 23%. Not only did we retain the loyals, but through successfully curated and networked fashion, music and art events that attracted enthusiastic crowds, we even expanded the database by 35% in just over a month, creating the beginning ‘following’, with the Happy Hours of another kind attracting regular weekly attendees/consumers.

Execution

Gradually build this space, we consulted with cutting-edge interior designers, engineers and technicians to bring our experiential and creative communications tools to life. We also brought in some of Beirut’s key music and art curators to create engaging cultural interventions, while attracting an expanded client-base. All working hand-in-hand to ensure that fashion, music and art are in constant synch within this permanent, yet ever-changing space we created in the heart of the fashion-centric Downtown Beirut. Through networking, direct and online communication, the first step was to reach out to DEPECHEMODE’s current database, as well as several other key databases we saw appropriate to be associated with DEPECHEMODE’s new concept, and invite them to a highly mediatized opening event. On the long-run, we gathered a vast database that is constantly in-the-know when it comes to 6:05®’s Happy Hours, and that we continuously interacting with through ever-changing, tailor-made offerings.

The Situation

Beirut is considered as the fashion capital of the Middle East, hence the industry is in constant growth and expansion. Depechemode - a high-end fashion boutique – enjoyed this surge in the industry, but that came at the cost of losing touch with their loyal clientele, their bread and butter. After strategically closing and opening several branches in view of better serving their client-base, DEPECHEMODE came back to us hoping that communication would help contain their problem. We put the allocated budget to better use, and we created a permanent experience instead of a temporary one.

The Strategy

A creative business solution in the form of an experiential space we called: 6:05® at depechemode. Seeing as Beirut is witnessing a cultural rebirth, with up-and-coming designers, musicians and art galleries, we wanted to tap into the ‘socializing’ aspect of our A-list clientele’s behavior. Stemming from the usual happy hour gathering that people are familiar with, we created this space that was dedicated to the fashion, music and art that our audience is passionate about. Through a one-to-one communication plan, the idea was to attract, and invite Beirut’s A-lists, socialites, fashionistas and opinion leaders to spend as much time as possible in this space, creating an ‘adoption’ behavior towards this new ‘culture’. We developed this ever-changing space in constant activation, where they could meet-up, and share ‘new’ experiences during daily and weekly Happy Hours with a twist.