Crossroads: Grease is the word!

Crossroads’ knack for slick marketing evolves further as they ‘go green’.

LAHORE:

From its initial launch as a brand that offered only knit wear for the winters, Crossroads has made great inroads into street fashion — an evolution that one has witnessed over the years with its slick and pervasive marketing.

Akin to fashion calendars worldwide, the brand launches two collections in a year, spring/summer and autumn/winter. Each collection provides a complete range to gear up for that season’s look.

Apart from holding the conventional fashion shows, Crossroads has truly emerged as a retail brand that wants to stand out. For one, all their collections are deliciously titled: Juice, Crush, Graffitti, Glam, Cult, Pop, Rio, and now Grease.

Last winter they roped in celebrity stylist Asma Mumtaz to become a ‘personal shopper for the day’ for their walk-in clients, to educate them and give tips on how to add some of her characteristic funk to the usually drab winter wardrobes. This year, though, they went completely off the book, and launched their campaign digitally.

Inspired by the super hit musical Grease, the Crossroads Summer 2011 line is a blast to the past with tights and form-fitting long shirts. Cargos also make a comeback — a smart fashion move, given the unforgiving and lengthy summers in the country. And what better way to launch a line entitled Grease than to do a musical of sorts?

“We always try to be as innovative as possible,” said Hasan Sajjad who is the marketing manager for the brand. Crossroads teamed up with fashion’s most prolific photographers, Guddu and Shani and the popular DJ Shahrukh along with the creative Athar Ali Hafeez to conceptualise, shoot and style a video along the lines of the hit musical.

“This is a new marketing and advertising concept centred around web media since Crossroads wanted to embark on a ‘Go Green’ campaign. Hence we created a digital  catalogue instead of printing the usual paper look books,” said Shani of the video which marks the first commercial video venture for the leading fashion photographer.

Given that Crossroad’s target market lies roughly between the 16 to 27 years age bracket, going viral is the most effective, cheap and eco-friendly way of marketing since this population is glued to their electronic devices be it a cell phone, laptop or a tablet. Even the DVD’s (which will be available for customers to pick up from the stores) have been made from recycled paper. Even the coarseness of these adds to the edge and spunk of the ‘Grease’ line.

“We have also installed LCD screens in our stores instead of carrying paper catalogues so that this video can run perennially and our clients are able to see it whenever they walk into any of the stores,” said Sajjad.

Digital media is truly the next phase in advertising. Even the textile giant Gul Ahmed realised that this year and got the music maestro Shahi Hasan to create a video for them.

What Crossroads gets full marks for, though, is providing a medium for their clients to truly imbibe the look and feel of the collection and for using female models that are full figured and healthy who communicate an essential message to young girls — that they are beautiful as they are.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2011.