School Elective: FASHION HISTORY

West Edmonton Mall (WEM) might have a thing or two to teach high-school educators who are having a hard time engaging their history class students. This past summer, WEM produced the kind of promotional piece that it believed its young customers would be glad to study closely from cover to cover.
From the first glance at the front page of the piece, you know this won’t be your ordinary back-to-school flyer.
First, there’s the title: Step Back — A Fashion Forward Lesson in History. Now that’s the kind of subject that image-conscious students would pick as an elective. The title hints at the fact that customers are about to go on a style journey through time, one that will give them the information they need to make their next move, namely step back, assess the state of their wardrobe and school backpacks, and then tackle the task of back-to-school shopping with a clear sense of what’s in style and what they might need before that first bell rings.
The hippy-meets-grunge-meets-21st Century teen style flyer is the kind of collage of tidbits of information, fashion ads seemingly torn out of a magazine, little notes and polaroids that you might find in a typical teen’s binder or school locker. Using this form justifies the inclusion of lots of information, both from the mall and its teen-oriented retailers.
There are many shots of fall fashions with captions that tell shoppers where they can find the featured ensembles. But there are also easily-clipable, solid-colored boxes in which WEM promotes various programs and events that might be of interest to teens, including the Teen Board, whose members (ages 13 through 17) act as ambassadors for the mall and have an opportunity to organize teen and community-oriented events, get involved in fashion shows, photo shoots and media segments, as well as offer WEM an insider’s view into the world of teens. WEM also used the piece to promote auditions to find singers, dancers and models for the back-to-school fashion shows, and a reverse auction contest that gave participants a chance to win a $2,500 WEM shopping spree.
The contest required customers to text the word “SPREE” to a given number and then text the lowest bid they could imagine. At the end of the contest, the lowest bid that hadn’t been duplicated won the grand prize, with lots of other goodies up for grabs for participants.
WEM closed its piece with a strong call to action: “Stand Out.” Chances are, teens were paying attention and taking notes. .


Oct.
2007
Posted in Bitz
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