Uniqlo began as a single store in Japan in 1984 and has since expanded globally to become Asia's largest clothing retailer. It now has over 800 stores worldwide, including locations in the US since 2006. The document provides background on Uniqlo's history, expansion plans, sales figures, competitors, and target demographics. It proposes a year-long marketing campaign for Uniqlo in Chicago utilizing tactics like train advertisements, pop-up stores, fashion shows, and street art to raise brand awareness among young urban professionals. Effectiveness will be measured using online engagement and financial performance comparisons.

2. History Behind Uniqlo
- Uniqlo is an international clothing chain that began as a single store in
Japan; within twenty years Uniqlo has become Asia’s largest clothing
retailer and has spread to numerous locations around the world.
- It’s first store opened in Hiroshima, Japan in 1984.
- The company was called “Unique Clothing Warehouse,” which
became “Uniqlo.”
- They opened 21 stores in the UK by 2002 but only 8 remained in
2006.
- Uniqlo currently has 800 locations worldwide including U.S., France,
China, Singapore and China.
- Fast Retailing Co. is the owner of the Uniqlo brand.
- Uniqlo expanded to the US in 2006 and the first store opened up in
New York City.
- As of November 30th, Uniqlo had a total of 48 stores in the US.
These 48 stores are located in the some of United State’s major cities,
including, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, and L.A.
- Uniqlo has plans to open stores in Seattle, Denver, and Washington
DC.
- By 2020 Uniqlo hopes to have up to 200 stores, all in major cities
throughout the United States.

3. Global:
Globally, Fast Retailing
had a 0.8% share in the
$1.42 trillion market,
trailing behind top three
global players Inditex,
H&M and Gap, each of
which held a little over
1% global share. Nike
Inc. also was bigger
than Fast Retailing with
a 0.9% share of the
apparel market while
Adidas held the same
0.8% share. J. Crew
only had a 0.1% share,
Euromonitor data
showed.
Marketing
Share:
According to
Euromonitor data,
Fast Retailing only
had a 0.01% share
of the $298.9 billion
U.S. apparel
market in 2013,
compared to J.
Crew’s 0.7% share

4. Past Sales
- As of August 2015, Uniqlo net sales were over 780.1 billion yen.
- They dominated the Japanese market by holding a 6.5% share of Japan’s 10.7 trillion yen
apparel industry.
- Past sales in Japan: $6,349,764,368.
- As of August 2015, Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing’s net sales were $13.61 billion in
the United States market.

5. Competitors

6. SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
- Appealing brand image
- Modern store layout
- Fashionable clothing
- Cheap prices
- Quality Material
Weaknesses:
- Some consumers are unaware of the
brand
- Lack of advertising in the US
Opportunities:
- Gain US and global market share with
effective marketing campaign
- Potential cash buyout
- US stocks
Threats:
- Competitor growth
- US market ends up not liking Uniqlo
- Closing of stores due to low
sales/traffic

7. Past/Competing Campaigns

8. Rival campaigns Uniqlo has to
compete with are ones such as H&M,
and Zara. they are the biggest
competitors.
They use similar campaigns in
advertisements such as white
background with the model wearing
the clothes.
Uniqlo's biggest target is to expand out
of japan and market around the world.
Competing with brands such as H&M
and Zara is difficult just because these
brands are either established or are
becoming more established around
the world.

9. In April 2009, Uniqlo
hosted a Designer
Invitation Campaign
where they
advertised their
collaborations with
different designers.

10. In the past, Uniqlo has never really focused on digital and internet marketing. Now,
this has become one of the company's main focus in becoming a competitor around
the world. Internet marketing and digital media is a huge focus for them because
the power of the web breaks the language barrier. Web based and digital media is
also important to them because images speak louder than words sometimes, this
creates a presence for them in the market.

11. A past campaigns that Uniqlo launched was a
digital viral marketing project.
Designed to build brand awareness
internationally, featured a clock with spliced
clips of well choreographed dancing and catchy
lounge music all timed to match the ticking. It
ran all year round, 24/7. In summer the girls
dancing wore polo shirts; in winter, cashmere;
and at midnight they slept. The campaign was
all about communicating with customers in a
way that travels around the globe. The web
tool, Uniqlock, was perceived as very advanced
at the time. It included a blog widget so the
clock could be embedded into blog sites. They
used dance because it is understood globally
and has no barriers like language does.

12. Target Audience
Demographics:
- Age 18-35
- Gender: male and female
- Education: high school and above
- Race: All
- Location: Chicago (urban locations)
- Average income 25-40k annually
Psychographics:
- Contemporary taste in fashion
- Interest in music
- Enjoys unique shopping experience
- Spends majority of time on mobile
devices
- Tech savvy
- Socially active
- Preference of casual clothing

13. Day in the Life: Bill
- 25 year old CHicago resident
- works at Accenture
- Graduated from Depaul
University with Information
Technologies degree
- Constantly on the move and
frequently travels throughout
the city to meet with clients
- Frequently spends time
downtown near Michigan
Ave.
- Extremely Tech Savvy and relies on
iPhone for work
- After work he likes to get cocktails
in River North or near Lakeview
with friends
- On weekends he likes to attend
events throughout Chicago like
music concerts with friends

14. Rationale
● Since Uniqlo wants to be seen as a modern and fashionable clothing brand
that appeals to a younger audience, our research supports Uniqlo’s overall
identity and shows that our target market is accurate.
● Uniqlo appeals to those who enjoy “basic,”
comfortable and affordable clothing. Because of
this, our target audience is rather large. The
target audience enjoys quality at a reasonable
price with a modern aspect to their style. The
urban environment is a huge aspect to our target
audience. With locations in major cities around
the world, Uniqlo has obtained a vast consumer
base. This customer base is mostly young trendy
urban professionals.

15. Ethnography
● Space: Well lit, clean, bright,
modern, high tech
● People: Mostly women, White/Asian,
age range 20-35
● Interactions: Employees with
customers (store greeters,
employees helping customers find
items), some interactions between
customers and other customers
● Products: Well organized, very easy
to shop

16. Positioning & Creative
Brief

17. Objective
- A year long campaign that will raise awareness of Uniqlo in the city of Chicago.
- The series of tactics will begin mid-December 2015 and end at the end of December 2016.
- Various out-of-box tactics/campaigns will be launched including: Uber advertising, Uniqlo
CTA trains, pop-up trending collaborations, a “Chicago” promotional line, and small Apple
collaborations.
- Tactics will be held at shorter periods of time than other advertising campaigns. This is done
in order to promote word of mouth marketing.
- Winter tactics (December-February) will be geared more towards the city dwelling young
business professionals, with an emphasis on casual wear and warmth.
- Uber advertisements, “Chicago” line, and Star Wars winter collaboration This is Uniqlo’s main
demographic and to direct advertisements to this target audience, would greatly increase
sales.
- Within a year we want to increase awareness by 15% throughout the United States.

18. Uniqlo Train
From March-June, Uniqlo will be occupying entire trains with interactive advertisements. There will be two
Uniqlo trains, one going each direction, on the Red, Blue and Brown lines. These lines are the main ways
of transportation for those who are working as young urban professionals in the Chicago area which is the
target audience we are reaching for. Each cart within each train will be have a different theme and color.
The themes will be based on product, for example, one cart may be advertising the new light jackets, and
another will advertise the shirt varieties that Uniqlo will offer for the spring line. With different themes and
diverse colors, the target audience that will be riding the CTA will have a good idea of what Uniqlo has to
offer. By occupying more than one train and more than one CTA route, the chances of our target
audience riding the Uniqlo trains are greater.

19. Flash Mob ⚡
- Beginning of April
- Organized outside of the
Bean
- Choreography to a Pharrell
song because he is a partner
with Uniqlo
- Everyone will be wearing
shirts from his Uniqlo love
- Shirts will be colorful

20. Fashion Show (snapchat story)
- (October) During the Chicago Fashion Week,
Uniqlo will host a fashion show.
- The fashion show will be featured on the Chicago
Local snapchat story
- Uniqlo will also offer sponsored Uniqlo Snapchat
filters for everyone to use.

21. Street Art Uniqlo
- August through December 2016
- Advertise Uniqlo throughout the Loop and South Loop areas of
Chicago by collaborating with street artists to help design a new
extension for Uniqlo
- Artwork will include themes of Chicago, while maintaining the quality
and contemporary aesthetics Uniqlo stands for.
- The street art ads will be placed at bus stops, cta train stops and on
buildings in the south loop (upon agreement).

22. This is an example of the style of street art campaign we plan to implement around
the Loop and South Loop of Chicago. We want to collaborate with artists who can
create captivating pieces like the one shown above to attract the younger
demographics as mentioned in our plan. The 3D floor art will be placed around high
traffic areas ex: bus stops, train stations, shopping districts… Uniqlo branding will
be clearly positioned in these ads.

23. Sidewalk tags that
point towards the
shop, placed in
strategic areas.

24. Evaluation
To measure the effectiveness of our campaign, we plan to:
● Evaluate trackable data (click counters, likes, comments and shares)
● Compare financial statements from previous year to see gains or losses