Argos reveals new advertising campaign to align with digital transformation

Argos will tomorrow launch a multi-million pound advertising campaign to signal its shift to become a digital retail leader – the biggest strategy change in its 40-year-plus history.

The ground-breaking campaign, developed by the agency CHI&Partners, is encapsulated by the words ‘GET SET GO ARGOS’. It brings to life the retailer’s ongoing drive to become a digital retail leader for everyone, enabling customers to shop how and when they want.

With just 72 shopping days left until Christmas, the campaign will also highlight the wide range of brands shoppers might not expect to find at Argos, such as Beats, Dyson, Dualit and Habitat.

The first advertisement will air on the evening of Tuesday 14October during ITV1’sLong Lost Family, Channel 4’sObsessive Compulsive Cleaners and Channel 5’s Crimes That Shook Britain, and will burst into life with the track How You Like Me Now by The Heavy, the British indie rock band from Bath. Additional high profile spots include ITV1’s Downton Abbey and X Factor and Channel 4’sHomeland. This will be followed by further ads in the run-up to Christmas that reflect the many new initiatives customers are set to experience in-store.

Stephen Vowles, Marketing Director at Argos, said: “When we said we would transform Argos two years ago – we meant it. The new campaign will be the biggest signal so far of how we are changing for our customers, and of our digital leadership strategy. We want all customers, new and existing, to realise how much Argos is changing and start to think and feel differently about us.”

The TV advertisement is part of Argos’ biggest ever multi-channel execution spanning out-of-home, digital, social media, print, radio, in-store and vehicles.

For the first time ever, Argos will run brand adverts in cinemas and on national billboards to reach wider customer groups. The new brand identity will extend to: Argos’ websites and apps; stores, with updated point-of-sale, redesigned carrier bags and new uniforms; and fresh signage for delivery lorries.

Argos staff themselves contributed to the design of the new uniforms after a survey of 1,000 colleagues in its stores found they wanted a sporty, young and modern look. The new uniforms will initially be rolled out to 100 stores.

Primarily a black polo shirt with a white logo, supported by red and grey secondary colours, the new outfit has specially-designed features that make it fit for a digital retail world. These include loops on the side of the shirt and a battery pack holder on trousers to accommodate the headsets team members wear to pick and put away products in the stock room.

Delivery drivers will also wear the new uniform and, depending on the weather, will have the choice of wearing shorts, stretch jackets, baseball caps or beanie hats – ensuring they’re comfortable in all conditions.

The new carrier bags have been completely redesigned and will showcase colour explosions in line with the brand’s new look.

A key way that Argos is changing is through the roll out of its digital concept stores – it now has 40 stores in the UK which offer Fast Track 60 second collection for online orders, and tables of iPads tablets for shopping instead of the traditional laminated catalogues, pencils and stock checker machines.

Customers can get a sneak preview of the TV advertisement on the Argos Facebook page a few hours before it first airs.

Stephen Vowles said: “The new campaign will punch home, boldly and dramatically, messages about our great products and services. It will reinforce our business transformation programme already underway, and tell the nation about the fantastic new Argos we are creating.”

In October 2012, Argos announced a five-year transformation plan to reinvent itself as a digital retail leader: to transform Argos from a catalogue-led business to a digitally-led business.

Source : Home Retail Group
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