GENERAL PANTS #GIVEPEACE

TitleGENERAL PANTS #GIVEPEACE
BrandGENERAL PANTS GROUP
Product / ServiceAPPAREL / RETAIL
CategoryC02. Use of Social in a PR campaign
EntrantBASHFUL Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Entrant Company BASHFUL Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Advertising Agency BASHFUL Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production Company ENTROPICO Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Simon Bookallil Bashful CEO
Emil Vrisakis Bashful Creative Director
Guy Marshall Bashful Strategy Director
Amanda Galvin Bashful Senior Account Manager
Erin Beaupre Bashful Senior Copywriter

The Campaign

General Pants brief to us was simple and instructional; we want to be the most talked about retailer at Christmas. 2014 was a tough year; from the global conflicts that dominated our news every night to the outburst of division and violence on our own streets, we felt that the Australian public were crying out for a social movement around which to rally. We decided to turn General Pants Co. into the General Peace Co. We would be dedicated to spreading messages of peace and raising money for Oasis Youth Support and Save The Children Australia. We partnered with our favourite brands to create the Give Peace t-shirt range with 100% of proceeds going direct to the charities. A multitude of celebrities answered the call including Anthony Kiedis, Daniel Johns, Ronan Keating ,and Cody Simpson (with his 7.5 million followers) to name a few. Each one offering up their time to the campaign for free, something unprecedented for a retail Christmas campaign. The campaign become a social movement with thousands of messages shared on our #GivePeace hashtag. Delivering over 19million impressions. We had truly become the most talked about retailer at Christmas. And this Christmas was General Pants best in years with all sales targets surpassed and $88, 765 was raised for our partner charities.

The Brief

Their brief to us was simple and instructional; we want to be the most talked about retailer at Christmas. With a limited budget and a much smaller footprint than competitors this was an ambitious target.

Results

The campaign become a social movement with thousands of messages shared on our #GivePeace hashtag. Delivering over 19million impressions. We had truly become the most talked about retailer at Christmas. And this Christmas was General Pants best in years with all sales targets surpassed and the brand was also able to go on sale a week later driving a dramatic upswing in profitability. Over 60,000 children were immunised against a life threatening disease by Save The Children and 600 young people sleeping rough in Sydney were helped by Oasis Youth Of The Streets.

Execution

On November 24th we made the switch announcing that up until Christmas day we would be known as the General Peace Co, dedicated to spreading messages of peace and raising money for Oasis Youth Support and Save the Children Australia. We partnered with our favourite brands to create the Give Peace t-shirt range that was sold in all stores with 100% of proceeds going direct to the charities. We approached celebrity influencers and asked them to become involved with the campaign by sharing messages of peace on their social and being photographed wearing out GivePeace T-Shirts for the windows. A multitude of celebrities answered the call including Anthony Kiedis, Daniel Johns, Ronan Keating, Diplo and Cody Simpson (with his 7.5 million followers) to name a few. Each one offering up their time to the campaign for free, something unprecedented for a retail Christmas campaign.

The Situation

Every year General Pants engage with an agency partner to create them something special at Christmas. While they have loads of creative resource in house they look for that extra firepower to make sure they win at the most important time of the year. A poor Christmas period can have disastrous effects on their yearly performance. They needed to win at Christmas in a retail environment that has seen the arrival of international brands Zara, H&M and Uniqlo. In the face of this competition we needed a genuinely unique campaign that established, why does Australia need General Pants Co.?

The Strategy

2014 was a tough year. From the global conflicts that dominated our news every night to the outburst of division and violence on our own streets, we felt that the Australian public were crying out for some positive messages. What if we could be the brand that spread some good news this Christmas? Our customers are predominantly aged between 15 and 22. They live on social media and readily get behind positive causes. In particular they are more inclined to get involved when campaigns are led by social influencers and celebrities they follow and admire. Could we get influencers and our customers to rally behind a social cause and spread some good news for us? We decided to turn General Pants Co. into the General Peace Co, a social movment that celebrities and customers could rally around. This Christmas we were going to encourage all Australians to #GivePeace.