Posted on 11/30/2018 7:34:37 AM PST by rickmichaels
Payless Shoesource pranked VIP shoppers into paying markups of up to 1,800 percent for the bargain retailer's shoes as part of a viral advertising campaign designed to shift consumers' perceptions of the brand. Creating a fake luxury brand — Palessi — Payless built a temporary store and filled it with fashionistas.
So-called fashion influencers – essentially trendsetters that regular consumers look to for style cues — paid up to $645 for footwear that usually retails for between $19.99 and $39.99, the company said. The fashion insiders were captured remarking on the quality of the shoes' design and fabrication – before being told who had made them.
"It's just stunning. Elegant, sophisticated," one shopper said of a stiletto heel at the fake store's launch party.
"I can tell it was made with high-quality material," said a man perusing a pair of leather sneakers.
Payless enlisted advertising agency DCX Growth Accelerator to create the fake luxury store — replete with a statue and gold mannequins — and invited 60 influencers, recruited from the street and social media, to the made-up brand's launch party last month in Los Angeles, California.
Shoppers were told they'd receive between $100 and $250 in compensation to attend a market research event at an upscale mall in Santa Monica.
DCX Chief Creative Officer Doug Cameron said he played around with the letters in Payless to produce other store name contenders, including Elypass, which he said sounded like "a hipster store you might find in Brooklyn." Ultimately the agency decided to piggyback off the cachet of Italian design.
"We said let's give the campaign a handle, something creative that will be stickier, that an upscale retailer would really do," Cameron said. "I went on Wikipedia and looked up a list of Italian family names and saw Alessi, and added a 'P' to that. We also created a website around Palessi because we figured people would Google it."
Influencers were stunned upon learning the shoes were from Payless.
"Shut up! Are you serious?!" a shopper exclaims in one of three spots that will air on cable networks through the holiday season.
The shoppers got their money back, but were allowed to keep the shoes.
Sarah Couch, Payless's chief marketing officer, said the campaign aimed to remind shoppers that Payless strikes the right balance of stylistic relevance and affordability.
Cameron said the intention was to bring the brand back to its roots of appealing to the pragmatic American consumer. He said Payless had recently gone off track in an era of "aspiration inflation."
"We interviewed all these consumers who said they loved great styles but resented the elite prices that people would pay for industry fashion brands. We had an interesting opportunity to take a cultural position and said, 'Let's have Payless gently make fun of all of that and go back to this pragmatist position in culture.' That seems to have tapped a nerve."
He said the stunt indicates how powerful branding is in today's society. "The right cultural codes can completely transform the perceived value of just about anything," he said.
Hysterical!
Well, consumers, there's you're problem. You're looking for advice from someone paid to sucker you.
Honestly, most of the time you’re paying for Brand names, not quality of construction. There’s just a few brand names I hold in high esteem only because they actually deliver quality of construction.
Huh?
“We scammed people with cheap goods” is good advertising?
The indisputable and beguiling power of branding and marketing. An object lesson from the modern age.
DUPED....LOL
Yes, hysterical.
I have no sympathy for utter inexcusable ignorance in consumers. Who pay’s even half of that for shoes?
There are certain brands that I know which are worth more than the average price (Older Florsheim, Allen Edmonds, etc), but unless you are keyed in, you deserve the soaking you get.
That’s what I was wondering.
Doesn’t surprise me they were able to pull the wool over their eyes with a little upscale marketing and a fancy store. Also, shoes are like eye glasses, furniture and jewelry...the markup is obscene.
PT Barnum was right.
“A fool and his money are soon parted.” That’s what they say, anyway.
“PALESSI”
That’s hilarious. lol
Some people are born just to be customers.
From the article:
The shoppers got their money back, but were allowed to keep the shoes.
They weren't scammed at all. Payless convinced them brilliantly. That was the whole point of the exercise.
I have huge feet and circulatory issues. I will pay through the nose for well-made, well-fitting footwear that I’ll wear for years, style be damned.
“DUPED”
The same people that voted for obama and his ilk no doubt.
The wine industry is a good example. I love it when they do those blind tests with $6 wine and $200 wine and more often then not, the wine snobs go with the $6 wine.
I belong to a wine club called Splash that ships me 15 bottles of wine a month for about $89 (includes shipping). That's $6 a bottle. But the wines are not normally what you would find at the store so they have that "exotic" flair to them. People who come visit me think I'm a really sophisticated connoisseur but I don't know jack about these wines. I just know that for $6 a bottle, it tastes pretty good and I don't mind pouring my guests a second or third glass - it's cheap enough!
So, they’re selling gangster athletic shoes?
Same people who vote democrat in LA.
Basically repeating the wine study where “two-buck chuck” was positioned as rare expensive wine served to elitist aficionados.
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