Story by Kevin King :: Retail Presentation :: A|X Armani Exchange (in-house) :: 1991-1995
Role: Concept, Creative Direction, Art Direction, Design, Production
Date: September 2003, March 2004
Overview
Mexx is a worldwide retail phenomenon, known for selling fashion that’s right off today’s runways at surprisingly low prices. The brand is carried in over 6000 retailers and in 840 Mexx brand shops.
In Fall 2003, Mexx finally broke into the US market, opening three stores in New York. Here’s how we developed a breakthrough campaign for the launch.
Background
In 1986, two fashion labels, Moustache (M) and Emanuelle (E), were brought together with two kisses (XX) to form a new company: MEXX. From the beginning, the kiss has been the core inspiration for the brand. The attitude is “optimistic, inspiring, fun, and non-conformist.”
Originally, Mexx planned to just use their European ads to launch the New York stores, but at the last minute they had second thoughts. The ads for fall seemed to be missing something.
That’s where we came in.
Original Campaign
For Fall 2003, Mexx dramatically changed their advertising direction in Europe. Until then, ads were always vibrant, colorful and accessible, in keeping with the brand’s core values. However, after 17 years, they felt a new angle was needed, and they switched to a moody, black-and-white campaign.
For established markets, this approach might work, but the US market had never heard of Mexx, let alone been exposed to the brand’s rich history. It would be premature to launch with this campaign before familiarizing the audience with the Mexx name and its basic brand values. Initial research confirmed this. People didn’t understand the tagline and didn’t know what the ad was selling.
Restart
We got the assignment to fix the campaign just before the stores were due to open. There wasn’t time or budget for a new photoshoot. So instead, we reviewed what Mexx had done in the past and, by drawing on their corporate philosophy, were able to repackage existing elements for more street impact.
Our first step was to drop the confusing “city can wait” tagline and find a theme appropriate for introducing a European company to New York.
Even with the current strain on US international relations, New York and Europe have a great deal of affection for each other. Who here doesn’t have a friend or two over there? Since the campaign was scheduled to launch around September 11, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to express this mutual good will. How better than with an exchange of kisses?
We needed some graphic elements and were, of course, drawn to the X. As far as letters go, you can’t find one more powerful. It has a strength and movement that commands your attention. Plus it’s the symbol for a kiss.
Next, we reevaluated the photography to see if it could support our developing story. We found that by zooming in on the couple, these somber, distant photos became pretty hot and sexy.
Finally, we needed some color to make it all pop. We felt warm tones would look great on the streets this time of year, cheering people up as summer was ending and winter approached. Orange was perfect for this, especially since it is traditionally associated with Holland (it’s the color of the Dutch royal family, the House of Oranje-Nassau). Adding a bit of lipstick red gave us a color scheme.
Europe kisses NYC
For the first stage of our campaign, we hung over 300 banners from lampposts throughout Manhattan to establish our “kisses from Europe” theme. On one side we represented New York with a stylized Statue of Liberty, itself a gift from Europe. We put two lip prints on her cheek and a handwritten, “Kisses NYC” beneath. At the bottom were two large X’s, with a knockout Mexx logo.
On the other side were color bands with “kisses” translated into various European languages.
These bright and upbeat banners became part of the city landscape just before the September 11 anniversary and stayed up through November.
Union Square Station
The MTA recently added advertising space to Union Square Station, and since one of Mexx’ new stores was opening on the square, bringing the campaign to the subway made a lot of sense. We took over the entire station a few weeks before store opening.
Kissing bridge and DJs
We put a great deal of thought into what graphics went in which part of the station, considering traffic patterns and how much a commuter can take in at a given location. One key area was the bridge running along the 4/5/6 lines. This more intimate space gave us a chance to tell a story, bringing in the greetings from Europe.
We chose a large wall near the entrance closest to the store for announcements, like the DJ schedule.
On the streets
The campaign continued above ground, with ads on buses and phone booths throughout the city.
Westchester
For the Westchester Mall opening, we adapted the campaign for kiosks. In addition, we created a newspaper wrap and offer card for 60,000 New York Times subscribers.
Music
Music was a key element for the launch. For the live DJ events at the Union Square store we ran an ad on the inside cover of Timeout NY.
Additionally, a local composer created custom soundtracks to play in all the stores. We packaged them on CDs, for sale in the shops, adjacent to listening stations.
Sum up
Overall, our launch campaign for Mexx had a pretty impressive impact on the openings.
The stores were packed on opening days and they have been doubling their projected sales.
Mexx had the right product at the right time. And we found the right way to introduce them to a brand new market.
