CMO Joe Berean explains how “Holiday, Hamlin Style” was inspired by the organic social engagement of the retailer’s spring campaign.
Courtesy of Express
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Express has enlisted a family of pop cultural figures for its holiday campaign, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. The “Holiday, Hamlin Style” effort reimagines holiday traditions and unites actor-model-reality TV star Lisa Rinna; her husband, actor Harry Hamlin; her daughter, model Delilah Belle Hamlin; and Delilah’s boyfriend, “Love Island” veteran Mick Maio.
Rinna, who began her career as a model and on soap operas before becoming a breakout star on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” has a long-standing place in pop culture and connects with different consumer groups in different ways. She also has displayed a gift for virality, whether on reality TV or competition shows including “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Traitors.”
“That connection that she has to people just really comes through so authentically and translates so well into today’s social media era. That’s exactly what we captured on the campaign, too,” Express CMO Joe Berean said. “We designed it as one that can have that polish of a traditional holiday campaign, but really be social-first.”
The social-first push is in line with Express’ other marketing efforts, like the Expressionists, its community of creators, associates and brand ambassadors that is helping to bring to life “Dress to Express,” a brand platform centered around instilling confidence and inspiring self-expression.
Express in August launched a fall campaign, “Too Easy to Look This Good,” that featured NFL player Tee Higgins and pop star Tinashe, weeks before her album “Popstar” took the charts and the pop culture world by storm. The campaign generated the brand’s highest earned media and highest paid media traffic to its website for the year so far. From Q2 into Q3, Express saw brand awareness increase 3% and consideration increase 2%, Berean said.
“We’re looking to move the needle in terms of bringing our brand back, reigniting the heat of the brand at its heyday and even exceeding that,” Berean said. “We’ve seen this sequential improvement of awareness and consideration, which is exactly the intent, especially as we’re going into this crowded holiday season.”
Express has been looking to reheat its brand since filing for Chapter 11 in April 2024. The retailer and its Bonobos subsidiary are owned by Phoenix Retail, a joint venture from Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties, Centennial and brand management firm WHP Global.
Holidays heat up
The campaign is Express’ latest effort that seeks to build buzz for the brand with celebrity-led activations, and arrives as the retailer works to engage both its existing <a href="https://bitcomme.com/7-frequent-customer-complaints-about-golden-corral/” title=”7 Frequent Customer Complaints About Golden Corral”>customer base and a new generation of shoppers.
“The intent of the holiday campaign is to break through during a very crowded holiday season, make a splash and have it be scroll-stopping with Lisa’s one-liners and dance moves and this really loving, authentic and stylish family dynamic that only they can bring,” Berean said.
“Holiday, Hamlin Style” follows a successful spring campaign that also featured Belle Hamlin and Maio. “It Couple, It Looks” launched in April and delivered the brand’s highest organic social engagement of the year so far, the retailer reported. In addition, Express said it has seen success with the multigenerational marketing approach in a Mother’s Day campaign starring model Karolína Kurková and her daughter.
“We’ve been trying different tactics to reach new customers… and those customers span generations,” Berean said of the holiday campaign. “To have a total family dynamic with mother, daughter, father and boyfriend was strategic, in that sense, to appeal to a wide audience.”
Shot in Los Angeles, the holiday campaign includes a series of seasonal vignettes and is set to remixes of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.” It will run across video, social, digital and in-store channels throughout the season, highlighting styles priced from $38 to $298. The campaign arrives as big box retailers Target and Walmart and retail brands including Anthropologie and Sephora launch holiday campaigns.
“The competition is starting earlier. It’s getting more aggressive. So having talent and campaigns that can really connect with people and break through is the name of the game,” Berean said.
Filed Under:Creative,CMO Corner,Brand Strategy
