
Anything Goes
Issue 18 | March 2011
Agency
BBH, London
Creative Team
Creative Director: Gilles Fichteberg Jean Francois Sacco; Art Director: Julie Cere, Stephane Sitter, Cerise Leclerc; Copywriter: Delphine Benveniste
Production Team
Web Director: Sophie Boudre; Production: Moonwalk; TV Producer: Sylvie Etchmaite; Technical Director: Philippe Elsass
Other Credits
Vice President: Bertille Toledano; President: Olivier Rippe; General Manager: Marie-Pierre Benitah; Client Manager: Marie Chavarot; Project Manager: Julie Hassoun, Alexis Anoufa
Date
October 2010
Background
La Redoute is France’s largest mail-order retailer but 80% of its revenues now come from online shopping.
In recent times there has been a significant increase in the number of e-commerce clothing websites and the time had come for la Redoute to reaffirm its position as France’s number one clothingh company.
The challenge also provided an opportunity for the brand to modernize its image and to establish a presence in online social spaces for the first time.
Idea
‘Anything Goes’ is la Redoute’s philosophy about fashion. It was also the theme of its 2010 campaign, which had two distinct parts to it.
Part One was a ‘teaser’ campaign, in which la Redoute created the National Style Police. In official-looking uniforms, the National Style Police paytrolled shopping centres across France, arresting and reporting anyone they came across displaying hideous taste or horrible fashion sense.
Hidden cameras caught the encounters between shoppers and the Style Police and uploaded to la Redoute’s Facebook page and its website.
Viewers were encouraged to become a Friend of the Style Police and, still on Facebook, to report friends they considered to be badly dressed.
The more friends they reported, the higher their rank became in the Style Police, rising from humble gendarme to Commander and higher.
Part Two was when la Redoute spoke out, declaring itself to be against fashion diktats and fashion tyranny. The National Style Police website was taken over and declaration made that there are no hard and fast rules in fashion any longer.
The slogan, ‘Anything Goes’ was then given extra mileage through outdoor and TV advertising.
Results
During the seven-day ‘teaser’ period:
- 489 393 videos viewed
- 24,438 active users
- 6,063 fans of the National Style Police
- After the ‘Anything Goes’ campaign idea was launched:
- The number of la Redoute’s Facebook fans increased by 40%.
Our Thoughts
It’s easy to forget in these days of owned and earned media that still the easiest way to reach a mass audience is through TV. This family-run business will have debated long and hard about the costs involved but the results justify the investment. They’ve become famous. Directory is based in an orchard in the middle of the country and in these parts all the kids, and some not-so-young farmers as well, know the lyrics. Mash-up versions are sung in the pubs and a few are on YouTube.
Country people in the UK feel socially excluded. Our politicians are mostly townies and care little for rural matters. Yeo Valley has given the shires a voice.
This is a game of two halves. The only problem is, the first half is a lot more fun than the second. The videos of the Style Police patrolling city centres are genuinely funny as they pick on …well, people like me! But the second part seems to feature good-looking models bounding onto the instant street ‘set’, looking…well, fashionable.
I rather wanted la Redoute to encourage crime against style in their new collection but they couldn’t go that far, I suppose. That would make them too like Diesel or FCUK when, after all, they are a mainstream, middle-of-the-road brand.