Marc O’Polo, a premium Swedish-German brand, has unveiled its Fall/Winter 2021 campaign during an event in Paris. This event also marked the beginning of a rebranding strategy and internalization strategy that places a greater emphasis on youth, sustainability, and modernity.
On Wednesday night, the campaign was unveiled at Ellia Art Gallery to a crowd of around 300 fashion industry professionals. The campaign video is titled “It’s on Us” and was shot by Jonas Lindstroem (director and photographer). It focuses on outerwear, such as puffer styles made with Responsible Down Filling.
The campaign features a young cast running across an expansive landscape against a backdrop of huge forests, raging river and high mountains. All production emissions are offset by ClimatePartner.
Marc O’Polo announced earlier this year that he aims to become climate neutral by 2025. The brand currently claims that 70% of its products can be considered sustainable. The brand aims to raise that percentage to 100 percent by 2023.
New store concept and international focus
Marc O’Polo’s director for marketing and growth, Sandro Schramm, said that “This is very much a global rebranding. All of our activities must contribute to brand desireability, while focusing on a younger target audience and making us more global. This last point is particularly important to us.”
Schramm stated that the company’s goal is to be “the leading lifestyle brand in the premium global segment” and said it aims to be “the most modern, casual and sustainable.” “We are already at this point in certain markets, but not in all.”
Marc O’Polo has increased its media budget by 40% for the year to help it in its efforts to increase its awareness in key markets such as the Netherlands. The brand has more than 200 points of sale (POS), for its menswear and ladieswear categories.
Marc O’Polo launched a major media campaign for the Netherlands for the first time. This was previously reserved for the Germany Austria and Switzerland (DACH).
Schramm stated that the DACH region has been the main media market in the past. However, starting with the FW21 season, we are switching that around. “DACH is still our largest market, and we still see tremendous potential to grow in menswear and Marc O’Polo Denim. However, we have reduced the media budget there and moved it to international markets, where we see great potential.”
The brand has also increased its media budget in France, Russia, Austria and Belgium.
Marc O’Polo will continue to take this international-focused approach when expanding its new store concept. Schramm stated that shop-in-shops are being opened quickly, especially at an international level. Marc O’Polo, for instance, opened a shop-in-shop at Galeries Lafayette in Paris last week. The brand will now have over 7,500 square meters of new store design by the end of this year.
Although the company does not have a physical presence in the UK yet, Schramm stated that it is “definitely” a market they are investigating but did not provide a timeline. He said that they are looking at distribution options and trying to determine the right match for a partnership.
Menswear makeover for younger target consumers
Following a thorough study of DACH customers, the company also redesigned its menswear designs. Schramm stated that the company did extensive strategic research and changed its design strategy. “We have focused more on product attributes like contemporary casual, Scandinavian simplicity, and sustainable innovation.”
The brand launched it with its spring-summer 2022 menswear line and is currently working on the same for womenswear, Marc O’Polo Denim and womenswear.
The brand’s key focus is on younger customers between 20 and 44 years old. The brand stated that working with influencers is one way to achieve this. This was apparent at the Paris event, which was packed with young content creators. According to the brand, it has increased its budget of influencers by about 20%.
Marc O’Polo’s rebranding is part of a larger corporate strategy that was launched at the end last year. It set a goal to double its annual sales, to 1 billion euros. The majority of those sales would come from international markets. The timeline to achieve those goals has not yet been established.
Schramm concluded his thoughts about the campaign by saying that this was the first time he had ever run a marketing campaign with this dimension. We have increased our media budget and now is the right time, as we have changed our product-, distribution-, and marketing strategy with the new store layout. Now is the time to get out there and tell the world: “This is Marc O’Polo.”
