Samuels Jewelers
Situation Analysis
Samuels Jewelers is a fine jewelry retailer with more than one hundred locations in malls and free-standing stores across the U.S. Sales in this category had been had been flat for several years, and Winter of 2007/2008 was expected to be no exception. In fact, industry experts feared this could be one of the weakest Holiday seasons ever.
Recommendation
Together, Samuels and Teshler constructed the strongest integrated effort ever to save the all-important holiday sales. The category weakness the team chose to exploit was the fact that the jewelry industry had seen little change or innovation in decades. Therefore, the Holiday plan was developed around the idea that "There's Something New Happening at Samuels."
To convey the "something new", a rational element and an emotional element were developed: a credit promotion (No Interest for 5 years on purchases over $2,999), and powerful imagery based more on fashion than jewelry. These 2 elements were integrated into all Holiday communications:
- catalog mailings to customers
- wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling visuals in stores,
- plasma screens with motion video,
- and new in-case merchandising.
Results
In the worst Holiday season in memory, Samuels Jewelers was the sole retail chain to post a sales growth over the prior year. All other major chain recorded a decline in sales.