Vendors stress family values in fall campaigns - apparel manufacturers

Discount Store News, Sept 25, 1989 by Kenneth M. Chanko

Vendors Stress Family Values in Fall Campaigns

NEW YORK -- A number of major apparel manufacturers, who are doing more and more business with discounters, are shifting to value, family-oriented ad and marketing campaigns targeted at consumers.

A kinder, gentler image is being projected by such heavyweight brands as Hanes, Wrangler, Gitano and Sasson, among others. What these companies are doing is deliberately separating themselves from the flash and glitz of their chic, upper-end counterparts through ads that emphasize family relationships.

Not only can these images and feelings be found in new ads from Gitano and Sasson, who sell apparel to women and men, but reflected in the men's wear Wrangler and Hanes campaigns is an obvious appeal to women as well.

Instead of showing men sweating in steel mills or busting broncos, Wrangler has adopted a milder, more folksy image featuring family men. In one ad, a man gets up in the pre-dawn morning, slips on a pair of Wrangler jeans, makes some coffee and goes out fishing with his dog. A female voice, presumably his wife, narrates the spot before it ends with a deep male voice saying, "Here's to old dogs, Saturday mornings, and comfortable blue jeans."

A second national TV Wrangler ad features a father teaching his son to drive out on a country road in an old pickup truck. The boy takes out a couple of mailboxes, but the father doesn't get mad--he cracks a smile. The voice-over this time is: "Here's to fathers and sons, first-time driving lessons, and comfortable blue jeans."

This strategy purposefully separates Wrangler from the more fashion-conscious campaigns for Levi's and Lee, who are out to nab the yuppier and younger customer.

Hanes, meanwhile, in selling its men's and boys' basic underwear, men's fashion underwear, men's and boys' athletic socks and fleecewear, is using major sports figures, but with a twist.

Rather than featuring footage of Michael Jordan, Joe Montana and the others in action on the field or court, Hanes has brought the athletes back home. The various "After the Game"-themed ads have the pro stars relaxing at home, frequently playing with their kids. The tag line is: "Hanes . . . Nothing Else Feels So Right."

Hanes, being an underwear supplier, is especially sensitive to women. According to company officials, research shows that women purchase up to 60 percent of the category for their men.

Celebrities in Ads

Also using celebrities--a new one every month, in fact--is Sasson. Robert Urick ("Spenser For Hire"), Jack Scalia ("Dallas"), Susan Lucci ("All My Children"), Joe Montana and his wife, among others, have been featured in color print ads.

Again, family values are front and center. The Lucci ads, which also feature her son and daughter, in August 1989 women's magazines emphasize an anti-drug message, with Lucci casually holding a denim jacket with "Don't Do Drugs" emblazoned on the back.

Gitano, probably more so than any of the others, has shifted from a sexy, junior-oriented jeans image to one of family and tradition.

Gitano's "Spirit of Family" campaign features entire families in relaxed, playfully casual situations.

One of the key motivators behind the Gitano switch is that the company wants to start emphasizing its non-jeans categories. It's difficult to push maternity and children's from a European runway.

Hanes officials also said that showing the athletes in a family context makes it much easier to plug boys' socks and underwear, as well as fleece.

These five companies contrast sharply with the advertising images of, for example, Lee, Jordache and Levi's.

New Lee ads have two flirting yuppies in a loft elevator; Jordache ads show young women in skintight jeans in provocative postures against brick walls along an urban side street; and Levi's also features young men and women in great shape along cityscapes, though the Levi's ads have a far cooler and less insistently sexual air to them than the Jordache spots.