As originally published in B&T.
Australian luggage brand July has reported huge lifts in sales, engagement and brand metrics following its first major foray into out of home advertising.
July partnered with oOh!media to run ads in premium airport and office environments in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Strategic placements included large-format externals, security dwell zones, retail precincts, gate lounges and baggage claim areas.
The campaign delivered immediate impact. Audiences exposed to the campaign showed strong engagement, with a 27 per cent increase in direct website traffic, 7 per cent growth in new customers, and an 8 per cent rise in sales orders, alongside significant uplift in brand awareness and favourability.
It lifted July’s brand awareness by 159 per cent, favourability by 89 per cent, and inspired over 8 in 10 people who saw the ads to take action.
Established in 2019, July is a direct to consumer lifestyle luggage company that has 15 retail stores and partnerships with Qantas, the Australian Open and Australian Olympic team. It employs 150 staff across Australia, but also retails in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea.
July co-founder Athan Didaskalou told B&T that after successfully growing the business through online advertising and its in-store retail network, July was looking for the next big marketing push outside of these channels.
“When you play too hard in the e-commerce worlds and retail network world, sometimes you can be too foot traffic or online customer acquisition focused and your marketing has these blinders on,” he said.
“We saw the bigger brands were all doing outdoor campaigns. We knew that was the next big stage for us in order to get bigger eyeballs, and the right audiences at the right time, but we just didn’t know how to do it.”
July partnered with oOh!media to create and execute an outdoor campaign on the Eastern Seaboard, targeting travelling professionals at airports and in offices.
“It was such a cool thing to do. We’ve transitioned from online to offline to outdoor, where we feel like we’re doing bigger and better things with bigger partners. We are growing into being Australia’s next big brand export.”
Contextual relevance is a critical part of July’s campaign success. Up to 40 per cent of marketing budgets are wasted because campaigns fail to reach the right audience at the right time.
“We’re constantly talking to clients about the importance of contextual relevance along with the importance of planning with an audience-first mindset. This means treating out of home as a customer touch point across the complete consumer journey, and not thinking of it as rectangles alone,” said Melinda Duffy, oOh!media’s head of product and sales partnership.
The oOh!media team profiled July’s target audience, including current and potential customers, and decided that the best place to reach them is in office towers and airports. oOh!media’s office network covers 650 towers, including 14 CBDs across Australia with screens typically in lobbies and lifts.
Duffy said the campaign proves that out of home, which has traditionally been used as a brand building channel, can also drive performance.
“When done well and with strong creativity, out of home drives brand, consideration and purchase,” she said. “When it’s working in harmony with other media channels within the ecosystem, and even when it’s playing a role with digital, we see an 18 per cent increase in ROI for brands.”
July’s Didaskalou advised marketers who would like to experiment with out of home advertising to “not just dip their toes in the water”, but invest “somewhat heavily” in order to see results.
“We’re going to continue on the strategy of punching above our weight and being as big as possible. We will continue to double down on outdoor media, it’s an important channel for us. I wouldn’t mind testing out TV, especially reminding people we are the official luggage supplier to Australia at the Winter Olympics, although TV advertising is definitely in the pricier category.”
