How fashion retailer Harry Rosen established the brand among golfers
Zulu Alpha Kilo won at The Drum Awards for Content 2022 in the Fashion, Health, Beauty, or Luxury category for its Harry Rosen campaign. Here, we find out more about what went into this enormously successful campaign.
Zulu Alpha Kilo/Harry Rosen golf attire campaign
Harry Rosen, Canada’s prominent luxury menswear retailer, isn’t normally seen as a sports apparel line. In fact, it has traditionally known for its well-tailored workplace suits. The time had come to expand their horizons, and with the help of the Zulu Alpha Kilo agency, the brand Harry Rosen soon became well-known in the golf industry.
The brief
While the Harry Rosen brand carried a full range of men’s clothing, including casual clothes, streetwear, and footwear, they seemed to have an outdated image as an old-fashioned retailer. The need to overcome this image and establish itself as a leader in men’s fashion prompted a new focus - to reach out to a variety of niche audiences. Golfers were their first choice.
They were aware that interest in golf soared during the pandemic, with golf club memberships surging by 113% in 2020 alone. With most new golfers being in the 18-34 age group, they needed to tackle that demographic. To do that, they decided to expand their golf line of clothes, as well as their marketing reach.
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The idea
Interviews were conducted with golfers so the brand could get a better understanding of its target audience. Their approach was then geared toward style-conscious golfers, understanding that golf was as much a business or social activity as it was a sport.
To accomplish their goal, they ‘hijacked’ the television broadcast of one of the top golf events, the Masters' golf tournament. Harry Rosen TV ads were interspersed throughout the program, with each spot replicating the look and sound of the actual golf tournament, including the use of low-voiced golf commentators. The ads went on to commentate on the golfer’s attire instead of their game. Their use of double meaning phrases, such as improving ones ‘shirt game’ instead of ‘short game’, helped link the world of fashion and golf, much to the delight of viewers.
After the conclusion of the tournament, they included a one-and-a-half-minute mini ‘replay broadcast’ of the Harry Rosen Championship using pre-rolls that ran in golf-related media, as well as YouTube.
During the actual tournament, they even live-tweeted-style commentary on the actual players, in particular Viktor Hovland’s pink pants.
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The results
As a result of this innovative campaign, the Harry Rosen brand proved itself to be the new golfer’s choice in men’s fashion with outstanding numbers:
- Online sales of polo shirts rose 40% week-over-week after the campaign
- Searches for golf apparel on the website rose 350% compared to the year before
In addition, the clothing featured in the campaign sold out within two weeks.
This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Content 2022. You can see all the winners here. The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.