Cotton Incorporated has a renewed, refreshed approach to its goal of increasing consumer demand for cotton. Last year, the organization launched “Cotton. It’s Your Favorite for a Reason” television advertising campaign and is now taking it a step further by giving consumers every opportunity to shop for their favorite fabric. Over the summer, Cotton Incorporated’s Consumer Marketing team set in motion three new initiatives to move consumers from being fond of cotton to actually purchasing the fabric of our lives.
“We know consumers love cotton and want to make it easy for them to find it, especially during the busy back-to-school season,” says Kim Kitchings, senior vice president of Consumer Marketing, Cotton Incorporated.
Cooler In Cotton
While warm weather brings a lot of joy, unwanted sweat stains and odors can take over during those hot and humid months. Cotton Incorporated is offering consumers an easy solution: wear more cotton. To get people thinking and talking about cotton in a different way, the Cotton Incorporated advertising department released a digital music video in July that talks about those uncomfortable moments and how they can be avoided – simply by wearing cotton.
For the first time, Cotton Incorporated is using humor as a way to appeal to consumers and foster shareability. The song’s competitive messaging promotes cotton’s functional benefits over synthetics, while reminding consumers why checking the fiber content label matters. The catchy lyrics include lines such as, “You want to wear more, wash less, smell good, impress – at work, on a date, summer will be great with cotton.”
The online music video targets both women and men and has been supported by social media, paid media, public relations and blogger outreach. Cotton Incorporated also provides consumers a way to shop the looks featured in the video. To view the Cooler In Cotton video and shop the looks, please visit Cotton Incorporated’s consumer website, TheFabricOfOurLives.com.
National Mall Campaign
Cotton Incorporated went back to school this season with a new experiential promotion within 30 malls across the United States. It featured signage of actress-singer Hailee Steinfeld (seen in movies such as “Pitch Perfect 2”) in versatile, trendy cotton looks. The exhibition space included mannequins clad in cotton apparel inspired by the looks worn by Steinfeld. The featured looks were available from retailers within each of the participating malls.
Designed to encourage consumers to seek out cotton apparel, the “Find Your Favorite” promotion began in select malls on July 23 and continues through October. The promotion also includes a special cotton gift with purchase for qualifying shoppers. The goals of this program are clear. It encourages consumers to look for cotton when shopping, pushes consumers to check fiber content labels and identify cotton as a primary ingredient, and drives cotton sales.
Your Own Cotton Adventure
Cotton Incorporated also launched an interactive “choose your own adventure” video in July. This engaging experience includes three periods of the day – morning, afternoon and evening. In each period, the user can choose three types of activities. Within each activity, there are options for how it will be portrayed. Each option links to a different outfit or style from a range of brands.
For example, in the morning, users can decide whether the model powers up (smoothie or coffee), works out (yoga or cycling) or walks the dog (rainy day or sunny day). Throughout the video, users are presented with similar opportunities to decide how the day goes, and the video reacts accordingly. With 18 video segments for the user to choose among, the final interactive experience can be explored through hundreds of combinations. The video is then entirely shoppable through TheFabricOfOurLives.com.
The Cotton Board, which administers CI’s Research and Promotion Program, contributed this article.