You know those people who only like to wear the fanciest brands? They think that the brand name automatically means quality and refuse to even consider shopping at some of the bargain stores?
Well, those people might be in for a real wake-up call thanks to Payless.
The discount shoe company has been struggling over the last couple of years, and filed for bankruptcy in August 2017. They've since closed over 650 stores, and are currently trying to focus on improving the brand's perception.
Their newest campaign is actually pretty smart and downright devious. What they did was create a fake "pop-up" store inside of an old Armani location. They called it "Palessi" and told no one that it was run by the discount brand.
They invited a bunch of big names in the fashion world, people who are influencers online and have a lot of presence, and invited them to walk the red carpet for their big opening of their posh new location.
They even created a fake Instagram profile for the brand, sharing elegant, fashion-forward photos to try and convince them all that it was the real deal. It totally worked.
The store was stocked with a bunch of the shoes normally sold in Payless for $20 - $40 and instead charged hundreds of dollars for them. One pair actually sold for $670, an 1,800 percent markup.
The influencers were raving about the product, saying that everything was such high quality and that everything was so sophisticated.
After selling $3,000 worth of shoes within a few hours, the shoe store came clean. They revealed the truth about the experiment to the influencers and they were all completely baffled.
Don't worry though, the influencers all got their money back for the shoes, but Sarah Couch, Payless chief marketing officer, revealed that the plan worked as they expected, and will hopefully help them change the brand's perception.
"The campaign plays off of the enormous discrepancy and aims to remind consumers we are still a relevant place to shop for affordable fashion," Couch said.
They've turned the experiment into their new ad campaign and honestly, this devious trick might actually work.
Source - Fox News