Case Study on adultshop.com
Marketing Case Study
(Extracted from How Asia Advertises by Jim Aitchison)
Applying A New Discipline
The Problem:
Adultshop.com is an online retailer of adult products. Its mission was to recognized as a global leader in adult product distribution. The challenge was to launch a completely new brand in a controversial category.
As the first publicly traded adult product company in Australia , Adultshop.com required investment support for its business model prior to international expansion. However, mainstream consumer, investor and media groups did not openly accept the category. The business was heavily biased towards males, the competition intense and cluttered, products were sold on price and promotion, and advertising was dominated by small space print ads.
The Strategy:
The client's marketing strategy targeted current user groups, hoping to build market share by focusing on promotional offers in the key product area of videos. It was assumed that advertising would run in adult magazines using sexually provocative images typical of the category.
The agency recommended pursuing an untapped market opportunity. While most people felt uncomfortable walking into a sex shop, it argued, the anonymity of the Internet and a user-friendly site would break down the barriers and encourage a broader audience to purchase adult products. Women, in particularly, had never been addressed by the category. In fact, Adultshop.com could create a new category by becoming the first adult company to directly target a mainstream audience and leverage the non-threatening online environment to create a brand with mainstream positioning. The Adultshop.com website would become a totally acceptable place to shop, and appeal to both men and women.
The question was, could an adult shop become a successful, credible mainstream brand simply by acting like one?
The Adultshop.com proposition was developed to appeal to all adults 18 – 49 years of age. The company was
restructured. Adultshop.com became the company's umbrella brand, user-friendly, non-pornographic website, able to command price premiums, drive innovation and build investor support. An unbranded subsidiary business serviced the heavy user group.
Brand identity began with a custom-designed signature font and a 3D animated logo. Humour replaced sexually explicit images. Adultshop.com print ads splashed witty text messages on distinctive purple backgrounds that intrigued rather than intimidated. Media placements broke new ground, blanketing city streets with supersites, transit shelter posters and bus ads. The open, fun tonality dispelled the negatives surrounding adult product marketing. Adultshop.com became the first brand in the category to have its advertising accepted by mainstream media.
As a result of broad consumer acceptance, Adultshop.com pioneered online shopping partnerships, site integration and content sharing. And while mainstream consumers embraced the campaign wit, a cult following carried the logo into tattoo shops. Brand building continued with nightclub sponsorships, event marketing, ambient media, radio, direct response ads and even in recruitment advertising.
The Result
Despite no pornographic content, Adultshop.com has become the number one adult site in Australia and one of the top 10 e-tailing sites in the country. 30% of all customers are females, vis-à-vis the 5% norm for the category. Female products outsell male products 2 to 1.
Banner click-through rates of 12% are five times the industry average.
The site has registered consistent sales revenue growth; a sale campaign generated 120% sales increase.
Following its launch, Adultshop.com became the best performing dot.com stock and is on target to turn a profit. International expansion is underway with lives sites in the US and Germany .
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