To remind holiday shoppers
about its free shipping, L.L. Bean is launching a new ad campaign, stressing the retailer's positioning of "doing what's right."
In addition to underscoring the universally free shipping
offer, it builds on the Freeport, Maine-based company's commitment to both customer service and quality, David Hughes, account director at GSD&M, which handles the account, tells Marketing
Daily. Testimonials include a deckhand on a frozen ferry testing a water-repellant sweatshirt, an engineer sledge hammering a signature Bean boot out of a block of ice, and a boot rebuilder
figuring out exactly how its owner wore it out.
The testimonial and tried-and-true testing methods are part of spots set to begin running on network TV Sept. 19 as well as in print and online
components, including videos on the site's landing page.
Since its founding in 1912, the retailer has always guaranteed customer satisfaction 100%, no questions asked -- which means it only
offers products that pass its rigorous standards. "This campaign focuses on all the ways that L.L. Bean stands for quality and customer satisfaction," he says. "So the idea of this campaign, which is
extending the free-shipping offer we began in the spring, is the promise that we do what's right even when it is not easy. Doing things right has always defined what we do, and now it even defines the
way we ship."
Ads -- with a media schedule that includes all three networks, as well as A&E, Bravo, Food Network, Travel Channel, and the Weather Channel -- are aimed at those in the 40 to 50 age
range, especially those who may not be customers yet, he says.
Depending on the category, he says, Bean competes with such stores as REI, Cabela's, The North Face, Patagonia, Columbia and Lands'
End. "We hope these drive people both to the stores, as well as the site," he says.