| In-Store Marketing |
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal">Very important princesses
Saks Inc.’s in-store Club Libby Lu shops create a unique brand experience
By Sree Roy, Associate Editor
The tagline for Club Libby Lu may be, “It’s totally a girl thing,” but the tagline for the environment of its in-store shops could very well be, “It’s totally a brand thing.” Every aspect of its store-within-a-store experience—from signage to packaging to fixturing—reflects this interactive brand.
Club Libby Lu, which targets the tween (6- to 13-year-old) girl, was founded by Mary Drolet, a former Claire’s and Montgomery Ward executive. The store’s namesake, Libby Lu, was Drolet’s childhood imaginary playmate, with whom she dressed up, made up and performed for friends and family. The company, which was acquired by Saks Inc., Birmingham, Ala., in May 2003, will open 35 more stores this year. About a third will be in-store shops inside Saks department stores, such as Parisians, Proffitt’s and Younkers. Each in-store shop has a square footage of about 1,300 to 1,500 sq. ft. The shops’ product offering is exclusive to Club Libby Lu, which does its own product development.
Signage and graphics are a big part of Club Libby Lu’s brand identity. The experience starts at the doorway or “portal” to the in-store shops, which are generally set off by room dividers, giving the impression of faux walls. “Our portal is our most important graphic,” says Kate Campbell, visual planning and presentation manager at Club Libby Lu. “Customers immediately walk through the crown-shaped doorway that features our logo in the center.” Oversized picture frames also greet customers at the front windows and are decorated with decals, featuring hearts, swirls and comments such as “hip chick” and “spoiled.” These graphics extend to the fitting rooms, where the mirrors are covered with decals with comments such as “you’re gorgeous” and “I love your hair.”
The word selection on the signage is geared specifically toward the shops’ core customer. “We use what we call ‘girlfriend-language,’” Campbell says. “We get into the heads of our customers, with phrases like ‘hey, girlfriend.’” The graphics package extends to the back of the shops, culminating in a large throne-shaped backdrop with the Club Libby Lu logo, Campbell explains.
Several fixtures were also created with the tween demographic in mind. “We have a few unique fixtures, such as a table with heart-shaped mirrors above it,” Campbell says. “We are also adding a style studio bar to shops that are large enough, which will have a beauty parlor look.” The princess pad, a throne-shaped couch, and the game table in front of it, were also designed for Club Libby Lu. The game table, which sports many logos, works much like a wheel of fortune. When a customer asks a “yes” or “no” question and spins the wheel, the wheel responds with answers such as “absolutely” or “ask me again.” Some basic merchandising fixtures were also made with the customer in mind and are simplistic in design to showcase the merchandise, Campbell says.
The brand packaging also extends to the bags in which shoppers take their merchandise home. The shopping bags are trapezoid-shaped with handles, giving the impression of purses. The bags are made of die-cut cardstock and “almost look hand-drawn, with the hearts and Club Libby Lu logo on them. You can see them from a distance, and they become a walking advertisement,” says Gene Hoffmann, vice president of real estate at Club Libby Lu. “The purse-bags have almost a boutique-ish kind of feel.” Even the plastic bags, which are used for larger items, are more expensive than traditional shopping bags and feature the Club Libby Lu heart logo. The shops’ bright, fun colors, including a large amount of pink, are also important to its identity. “We conducted focus groups, even on the color,” Campbell says. “How imaginative does the end-result seem—pink? But when we passed choices by the little girls, these are the colors they said they would pick to do their room or to design a store.”
The in-store shops also have computer kiosks, which allow girls to sign up to become part of the VIP (“Very Important Princess”) membership club. “This becomes an extension of the interactive part of the store,” Campbell says. “It is very much geared to the customer; it plays clips from a [Club Libby Lu] birthday party [as a screensaver].” In addition to providing its VIPs with a newsletter, Club Libby Lu allows its members to participate in contests that sometimes yield new products. For example, Club Libby Lu could ask its members to create the best new product or new hairdo.
Group activities that serve to extend the Club Libby Lu brand, such as in-store birthday parties, represent about a quarter to a third of Club Libby Lu’s business. “One of the things we know about this demographic is they really like group activities; they are not independent enough to drive themselves,” Campbell says. This includes hosting birthday parties that involve in-store makeovers and dancing. “It’s a little bit like a retailer and a little bit like a nightclub for tweens,” Campbell says. “Everything we do from the design of the store to what we do as the associates of the store is meant to let you know that, from the time you walk inside the store, you’ve walked into a tween fantasyland.”
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