Dive Brief:
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In an era when fast-fashion is dominating apparel retail, Maine apparel and outdoors retailer L.L. Bean is emphasizing the advantages of taking things slow.
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In a new ad unveiled Wednesday, the retailer asks: "When did we stop valuing things to get better over time? When did disposable become our default? At L.L. Bean, we didn't stop and we never will." A 30-second version debuted during the Wednesday Boston Red Sox baseball game and it will air nationally, along with a 15-second version, on the Weather Channel and elsewhere in certain geographies.
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The campaign is the first under new CEO Stephen Smith, a retail veteran who is the first outsider to be given the role, a major move for the century-old brand.
Dive Insight:
Stephen Smith faces a tough question: how do you to continue to grow L.L. Bean without losing sight of the traditions that have been the source of its success for more than a century? It seems that his answer is in this new campaign.
The retailer last summer mourned the death of Leon Gorman, a grandson of founder L.L. Bean who is credited with forging the retailer’s strict policy of good customer service, including allowing returns of years-old merchandise. But it has remained strong, recently even experiencing a surge in popularity to the point of having supply issues of its iconic hunting boot, which has become a favorite of hipsters, college kids, and even fashion mavens, as well as of its traditional customer.
Columbia University retail studies business school professor Mark Cohen has told Retail Dive that L.L. Bean has been impressive in its dedication to its loyal customer base, eschewing shiny objects like fashion trends or going public.
“Good for them that they haven’t wandered away from that core competency,” Cohen said last year. “They’re going very slowly, waiting for the cues their customers are going to give them. They have the luxury of doing things carefully, methodically, and thoughtfully because they don’t have to please investors. They have probably made some mistakes and have probably discovered some price points that just don’t work. I give them tremendous credit for saying— ‘we’re going to do what the customer permits us to do.’”
And now they’re letting everyone know that they too think there are advantages to that.