James F. Seifert & Sons

Line of Business

Bottom Line

Target Audiences

• Women age 30 - 55 seeking professional and casual high-quality clothing and living near the stores' rural communities

Market Challenges

• Re-launch branded product suffering tarnished reputation
• Restore shoppers' loyalty to upscale retail store chain under new ownership after previous owners declaration of bankruptcy short-changed customers and suppliers
• Obtain cooperation of print and broadcast news media in each market to positively cover store re-openings

Strategic Approach

• Create groundswell of positive support for relaunch and new owners through constant communications of business developments and the economic impact reazlied in these smaller communities through renewed jobs and a restored local shopping option

Marketing Services

• Weekly identify, write, distribute and place positive news stories with local media in each of 40 markets
• Reprint and distribute favorable coverage
• Train store managers on interview techniques
• Arrange media tours for each of three top executives to cover all stores during the re-opening week
  

Outcomes

• Successful re-opening in 75 days from plan presentation with a budget of less than $20,000
• Multiple favorable stories were carried by newspapers, TV stations and radio stations in 30 markets and all 40 markets carried at least one favorable story
• First week store traffic was higher than anticipated, and sales figures met or exceeded expectations in nearly every market
• Media solicited economic impact and company growth information for one-year anniversary stories