Profile
Marchant's is a nation-leading sporting goods and apparel retailer. All products are sold through a team of experienced sales representatives, a catalogue, or through an e-commerce website with over 10,000 items online.
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Marchant’s approached us for assistance promoting an innovative program they were rolling out: SchoolWear.ca. It was a new offering designed to make it easier for institutions to implement spirit wear programs in their schools. Marchant’s works with the school to design a custom catalogue, creates a dedicated website for their students, and handles payments directly.
Challenge
In order to implement the SchoolWear.ca program there is a necessary level of buy-in from the school. This requires a sense of trust that is difficult to build without time and first-hand experience with Marchant's. There were also many potential customers for whom a face-to-face meeting would not be option due to their location. Those customers required a larger leap of faith.
Business: Retail / Athletics
Solution
Our primary deliverable was a video designed to be a key lever in the sales rep tool kit (for both in person and remote reach out). After initial consultation with management and marketing, we conducted a research session with the sales reps. This helped to ensure we deeply understood the realities of their hands-on experience, allowed us to hone in to the actual issues they had difficulty overcoming, and make sure we had internal buy-in from the people who would be responsible for delivering the videos (increasing compliance).
​Our research identified that the decision-making for spirit wear fell on the Physical Education department heads, and we sharply focused our attention to that role. We emphasized aspects they cared about most; the engagement/wellbeing of their students, and impressing their own teaching and administrative colleagues. They could be the hero to their own school.
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We also discovered that the Marchant’s marketing team were hoping to have a video with a broader appeal to feature on their website homepage. We observed that the elements we identified as necessary for the SchoolWear.ca promotion almost entirely encapsulated the elements needed for a public-facing company video. So with the addition of a few extra shots and a second video script we were able to very efficiently deliver two videos for only a modest increase in cost.
Results
The initial successes of the SchoolWear.ca video greatly exceeded management expectations. In the presentations meetings to internal staff across the nation, our client reported “each time we played it, it was followed by a round of applause...you guys nailed it!”
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The hero angle was not only well received by potential clients, but even the existing clients of SchoolWear.ca. They were proudly sharing the video with colleagues from other schools recommending the program. This lead to a very strong organic distribution reaching the key target demographic and translating into sales. The SchoolWear.ca video was a key ingredient to securing 40 new clients and a minimum $20,000 profit in their SchoolWear division in the first year alone.
And even more exciting is the larger trend they’ve observed. Through a combination of both videos, general online sales increased. The bottom line for the entire company increased and they were reaching new regions that were previously untouched. “We now believe in the power of video enormously...we’ve seen the results of streaming video and it’s gotten us in front of customers we wouldn’t otherwise be able to”.
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In a follow up conversation with Darryl Marchant, he stated: “We absolutely believe that our videos have helped to solidify our strength in the minds of existing clients and future clients...there are rare parallels to anything as good. Working with k+g creative media showed me that video is not a commodity, but a collaboration. I felt like I got a real lesson in how to communicate via video”.
Services
Colour Grade
Concept development
Creative Strategy
Directing
Drone Videography
Editing
On Location Production
Scriptwriting
Sourcing & Licensing
Storyboarding
VFX & Graphics
Voiceovers
Industry
Business: Retail / Athletics
Video type
Company Profile
Customer Testimonial
Promo Video
Production
Two-day shoot
"We absolutely believe that our videos have helped to solidify our strength in the minds of existing clients and future clients; there are rare parallels to anything as good. Each time we played it, it was followed by a round of applause... you guys nailed it!"
Darryl Marchant
Vice President and General Manager
