Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. has made big marketing changes as part of its bid to jump-start sales and lure back-to-school shoppers.
The teen clothing retailer has opened stores based on new designs, redesigned displays at existing stores and revamped print ads and posters.
“We made a major focus to upgrade how we market the brand,” Chief Executive Seth Johnson said at a recent analyst conference. “Historically, we very much focused on if we put the right brands and the right product (in stores) that’s all it took to sell the product.”
The playing field has changed for Pacific Sunwear, which sells teen clothes inspired by surfing and hip-hop music in more than 1,100 mall stores.
Rivals American Eagle Outfitters Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Zumiez Inc. have stepped up their store designs, merchandising displays and marketing. They’ve put pressure on Pacific Sunwear to get savvier with its own efforts to remain competitive and stand out with shoppers.
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Revamped PacSun store: new signs, photos, displays |
The company revamped signs and photos inside stores of its dominant PacSun chain, which has some 900 stores selling surfing and skateboarding clothes.
The chain sells brands including Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Irvine-based Billabong USA and Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc.
Last year’s marketing was “somewhat posed,” Johnson said. The new campaign pushes the California surf and skate lifestyle with more “authentic” images, he said.
The marketing “reflects kids doing what they do in surf (and) skate activities in California,” Johnson said. “It’s much more current.”
The company is making a bigger effort to link PacSun to the chain’s roots in the California lifestyle, Johnson said.
That’s one of the things that can help PacSun stand out from rivals, such as Abercrombie’s Hollister surfwear chain, which has capitalized on the surf and beach market, even though the chain is run from Ohio.
PacSun became a sponsor of the USA Surf Team and is featured on the team’s uniforms, Johnson said.
“It really solidified our connection within the surf industry,” he said. “This is a first of a number of things that we need to do going forward to connect our business better to the lifestyle and brands we carry.”
The company’s hip-hop division, d.e.m.o., also has seen changes. The chain upgraded fixtures, revamped marketing and redesigned stores so they’re more “female friendly,” Johnson said.
There’s been “a lot of positive changes,” said Elizabeth Pierce, analyst at Sander Morris Harris.
New displays mix up different brands instead of just focusing on one, she said.
Marketing Startup
Blackhart Brotherhood Design and Marketing opened in San Clemente.
The firm focuses on marketing surfwear and other clothing designers, including Irvine-based Ocean Pacific, Quiksilver’s Roxy girls brand, San Clemente-based Electric Visual and Perry Ellis International Inc.’s Gotcha.
Blackhart Brotherhood started out small with four full-time workers and one part-timer, cofounder Jason Arnold said. The firm taps about a half dozen other designers as needed, he said.
So far, the shop has found clients through word of mouth, according to Arnold. It’s also developing a Web site and portfolio to bring in new business, he said.
“Continued networking through our respective contact bases seems to be bringing us more than enough business,” Arnold said.
New work includes helping relaunch Perry Ellis’ MCD, a hot surf brand in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Blackhart Brotherhood also helps stores develop their own lines of clothes under an offshoot called Lusid Industries, Arnold said.
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine-based Lages & Associates hired three workers this past year to handle new work, including for Austin-based Jam Technologies, which it won in a review with three other shops Franchise Services Inc. in Mission Viejo, which owns printing brands Sir Speedy, Copies Now and others, recently hired Keith Galus as vice president of marketing. He joined from Fantastic Sams The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim picked up another advertiser for its giant new marquee along the Orange (57) Freeway. Children’s Hospital of Orange County will get billboard-style exposure as a sponsor of the arena and the Anaheim Ducks, the arena’s home team. CHOC also gets signs in the arena. Other marquee advertisers include Toyota Motor Corp. and the Orange County Register.
