N Brown Group brand Simply Be is turning its focus on the U.S. market with a relaunch supported by a global rebranding program, a strategic digital strategy, a dedicated New York-based team, exclusive collections designed specifically for its American consumer and U.S.-specific campaigns featuring prominent curve models Natalie Nootenboom and Sarina Nowak.
After six years in the U.S. market, Simply Be is moving away from a catalogue model in favour of becoming a digital pure-play by the end of 2018, in line with the spending habits of its millennial, Gen Y and Gen Z consumers, and is adopting a new look for visual marketing communications that will make all campaign images, videos and Instagram posts shoppable.
Richard Clark, International Director at N Brown Group, the parent company of SimplyBe,“We saw in our sales data the huge market opportunity for Simply Be in the U.S. that required new design and marketing approaches that can better engage with our consumer in a language she responds to and through territory-specific content created for her that will inspire her to look and feel her best.”
Rich Storer, U.S. Vice Presidentof Marketing, Americas, at N Brown Group,“Simply Be has always been proud, brave and pioneering in its communications and now for the first time, we are creating territory-specific product category campaigns for Simply Be in the U.S. to keep the brand agile, current and ensure focused attention is placed on key categories for consumers.”
Shot on location in Palm Springs and Los Angeles, the campaigns feature Natalie Nootenboom (niece of super model Devon Aoki and DJ Steven Aoki) and Sports Illustrated model and face of Khloe Kardashian’s Good American denim brand Sarina Nowak modeling swimwear, athleisure and festival collections that have been designed and curated exclusively for the territory.
Rich Storer,“We have seen a shift in age demographics for Simply Be US and the relaunch will help to target existing and new younger age demographics. These women are millennial’s and Gen Z shoppers and they consume brand communications differently than women did in the past, and most certainly differently from a catalogue customer,” continues Storer. “They want new-now-next from the brands they are engaging with, a constant but authentic dialogue; and they don’t want to feel ‘sold to’ so we need to respond to their appetite in a language they understand and relate to.”
In another first, Simply Be is committed to creating exclusive collections for the U.S. market that will make up a substantial proportion of the product offering over the next 12 months and beyond, beginning with the brand’s debut athleisure collection being released in March 2018 and a specially curated festival collection released April 2018.
The Simply Be U.S. relaunch will be marked by the launch of three new digital campaigns dedicated to the U.S. market. These feature bold new images that are a marked departure from the kind of prosaic images proffered by most plus-size brands in the sector, and new branding of Simply Be’s logo will coincide with the relaunch, created with LOVE agency based in Manchester, England.
Rich Clark,“The US market is part of our ambitious global roll out to make our N Brown power brands become synonymous with fashion that fits. We understand that the global citizen has become closer, however we also understand that the way the consumer content, advice and inspiration has, and will continue, to change. To help on this road, we are placing content and social at the heart of our strategy, to ensure we create social currency and become part of our customers’ every day conversation.”
The launch will be supported by a number of pop-up stores in cities and universities across the country, beginning in New York this summer, where shoppers can interact with the collections, try them on, and experience Simply Be’s market-leading fit. Brand fit experts will be available in store to guide shoppers and digital purchases will be sent via a home delivery service.
Angela Spindler, chief executive officer at N Brown Group, “We are a size inclusive brand but our focus is always on the curvier woman. There are significant barriers to entry for those
wishing to compete in this market. Firstly, developing the expertise in fit and design needed to produce compelling fashion lines for this customer. Also, the economics are challenging when you consider that typically 60 per cent of the cost of a garment is in the fabric. At N Brown Group we have been serving this market for over 50 years, we have the expertise and the economics
built in to our model. We constantly evolve to serve our target customers better and currently go to market via 11 brands providing size inclusive offerings to different demographics, this enables us to buy significant volumes from our supplier partners ensuring that we are competitively priced within the market.”
Additionally, Spindler explains “the N Brown Group has invested in excess of £100m over the past few years to ensure our customer offering is the best it can be, including technology to enhance the fit through U.S. sizes 6 to 32.”
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