THE MAN BOX
ZALANDO SS17 MENS
Following a creative shootout involving multiple internal and external teams, my idea was chosen for Zalando’s debut international menswear campaign.
‘Men don’t shop, they select’
The Man Box began as a joke. Then we realised we might be actually onto something. Most Zalando shoppers are female. If men had any associations with the platform at all it was, our research indicated, usually the boxes they knew, either from the long running Schrei Vor Glück TV ads or through their girlfriends, sisters, female flatmates etc.
And while the boxes were not necessarily filled with positive associations, they were nonetheless an association. So our creative starting point was this: can we alter the way guys think about the boxes?
We knew almost from the start that we should do absolutely nothing to the box itself: it must remain just a Zalando box. So then it became a question of how could we fill it with meaning (as well as the season’s must-have drops...)?
James Franco
Another thing we knew: the idea would only fly if delivered by someone with credibility who could get the right combination of charisma and goofiness to transport the concept. James Franco was the top name on our list. Cool but not too cool, he could do smart and dumb with equal assurance, and was a big enough name that most of the target market would know him but not necessarily through one particular role. When he offered to co-direct it, we knew the collaboration was the right one, that it would bring authenticity as well as professionalism to the performance.
Impact
The activity ran in 15 markets across outdoor, digital and TV, with integrated brand and performance channels. It saw a 23% sales uplift during the campaign period, with NPS scores up 10%, and features in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Grazia and others.
‘Men don’t shop, they select’
The Man Box began as a joke. Then we realised we might be actually onto something. Most Zalando shoppers are female. If men had any associations with the platform at all it was, our research indicated, usually the boxes they knew, either from the long running Schrei Vor Glück TV ads or through their girlfriends, sisters, female flatmates etc.
And while the boxes were not necessarily filled with positive associations, they were nonetheless an association. So our creative starting point was this: can we alter the way guys think about the boxes?
We knew almost from the start that we should do absolutely nothing to the box itself: it must remain just a Zalando box. So then it became a question of how could we fill it with meaning (as well as the season’s must-have drops...)?
James Franco
Another thing we knew: the idea would only fly if delivered by someone with credibility who could get the right combination of charisma and goofiness to transport the concept. James Franco was the top name on our list. Cool but not too cool, he could do smart and dumb with equal assurance, and was a big enough name that most of the target market would know him but not necessarily through one particular role. When he offered to co-direct it, we knew the collaboration was the right one, that it would bring authenticity as well as professionalism to the performance.
Impact
The activity ran in 15 markets across outdoor, digital and TV, with integrated brand and performance channels. It saw a 23% sales uplift during the campaign period, with NPS scores up 10%, and features in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Grazia and others.
TV spots – 1st edit
(For contractual reasons, these videos are in private mode. Password: man)