This document outlines a proposal for a marketing campaign targeting "social lubricants" (SL's), who are influential young adults aged 18-24. It proposes that H&M partner with 100 small fashion designers to design unique color/fabric schemes for a H&M basketball shoe. This "Microllaboration" would create buzz and exclusivity. Designers would promote their designs using their own PR networks, without direct costs to H&M. The first designer to sell out their 10,000 pair run would win a cash prize and glory. This leverages small designers' credibility with SL's while scaling their designs for mass production. The goal is for SL's to publicly endorse H&M through the designers' promotions

1. Request For Proposal:
A[P]SOTW
Full RFP downloadable from:
http://robcampbell.wordpress.com/

2. Marketing Objective
• want to be cool…
• With the influencer set, or, “the social
lubricants” (SL’s)
• SL’s are male/female 18-24 and are the center
of their particular networks

3. Why the Social Lubricants?
• SL’s represent only a fraction of the market
• But SL’s influence the population
• ‘Cool’ among SL’s:
1. Good for brand
2. Good sales driver
• Directly: SL direct purchase
• Indirectly: Word-of-mouth purchase as a result of SL
purchase

4. So what do SL’s think of ?
Our research* revealed two broad responses:
• “I’d totally wear H&M if it was a kewl collab”
• “H&M is really good for stockin’ up on basics”
*Please see handout for methodology and results

5. Uh Oh … Something is missing
• SL’s will not admit to wearing H&M unless it’s
a “kewl collab” (translation: ‘A Good
Collaboration’, eg. H&M x Versace; H&M x
Marni)
• SL’s will wear unbranded H&M items as
‘support pieces’ to other (presumably cooler)
brands.

6. Why is this such a problem?
• A refresher on SL’s: They are a valuable
demographic because they
1. Are good for Brand
2. Drive indirect sales
3. Account for direct sales
• However – The 1st and 2nd benefits are only
realized if SL’s visibly wear H&M (or can at
lease admit to wearing it!)

7. To make matters worse…
• When SL’s do admit to wearing a H&M basic,
in over 80% of cases* they say:
• “Its only from H&M…”
• “This is just from H&M…”
• In effect: H&M is a ‘dirty little secret’ among
SL’s
So…

8. Key Behavioral Objective for SL’s
• Is not (just) that they continue to shop at
H&M…
We want their network to know they are
shopping at H&M
• COMMS Objective: Make SL’s vocal about
H&M by launching a H&M Basketball Shoe

9. So what are these SL’s vocal about?
• UNIQUE: They have highly curated wardrobes. What
they wear is a reflection of their personality (which is
unique …drrr). That means vintage, home-made,
offshore brands, designer samples, home-modified.
• SMALL: They admire the artisanal and a culture of
craft. Small is beautiful.
• LIMITED: They don’t want other SL’s from different
networks cramping their style. Their wardrobe (like
their iPhone on a Friday night) is difficult to access.

10. So why the disconnect with H&M?
• SL’s seek unique, small and limited in supply
• H&M is perceived as generic, large and mass-
produced
• Hmmm… H&M can’t directly reverse the
taste’s of SL’s, but can H&M speak to these
tastes without changing their business model?
• We believe so…

11. Disclaimer:
We sincerely apologize for coining this horrible
term you are about to hear and promise to never
use it outside of this presentation.
Ever.

12. ‘Microllaborations’
• Find 100 small design houses,
• At least one from each of H&M’s 44 markets
• Let them design their own color & fabric
scheme
• For the one-and-only: Basketball shoe

13. Why Microllaborations?

15. Eh…?
• If H&M wants to talk to SL’s they need to do it via
the trusted editorial sources that SL’s already
listen to
• H&M does not need to talk directly to SL’s about
H&M when the ‘trend elite’ are doing it for them
• Rather than use direct PR spend, H&M can utilize
the existing PR networks of the worlds most
interesting and influential small designers

16. So who are these trend elite?
Must be a small, privately-owned company (<50
employee’s) and will be assessed according to:
• Strength of established/‘Cult’ following locally and
internationally
• Strength of established PR network/channels
• With online and print fashion publications
• Fashion power-bloggers
• Facebook subscriber network and private email database
• Proven Relationships with Stylists and Celebrity brand-
ambassadors
• Designers are themselves the “trend elite” in their
community and of some relevance to global fashion
community

17. But how to incentivize the trend elite?
• Glory: The H&M Basketball Shoe marketplace
becomes a race to the point of sold out. The 100
design’s will unveiled on a microsite hosted at
hm.com. The site will track the sales progress of
each design.
• Aim is to create a kind of ‘Fashion Olympics’ and
the first designer to sell-out their stock of 10,000
pairs wins. And in case glory is not enough…
• Gold: To go with that Gold (ie. Cash Prize Money)

18. So what sort of media buys will make?
• None. The whole point of this campaign is
to allow the Designers to speak about H&M
themselves.
And what sort of PR guidelines will
enforce?
• None. The whole point of this campaign is
to allow the Designers to speak about H&M
themselves.

19. Rather…
• will rely upon the production ingenuity and
established network pull of its collaborators…
Each contestant will produce their own lookbook
& content that they will communicate
themselves. Creativity and hustle are
encouraged!
• And all of these real world placements can be
centralized at hm.com to create a PR livefeed
• And at a moderated instagram account
• Note that none of the media placements in this
‘scrapbook of cache’ will not cost H&M anything.

20. And the best part…
• After having H&M’s first basketball shoe
immortalized by 100 cutting edge designers,
we are left with a single iconic product
• The Basketball shoe
• And the option to renew the campaign by
creating a waiting list for other young budding
designers…

21. So in a nutshell…
• will leverage its global relevance in order
to gain small designer’s local ‘cool’.
• will not tell SL’s that it is cool but let
others do it for them via the worlds most
enviable, credible and relevant PR networks.
• will scale the artisanal to industrial
proportions and utilize the advantages of
both.

22. Nicki Minaj wears Romance Was Born for free