SMC x Tailored Brands

Overview: 

Tailored Brands is a leading menswear retailer with several brands including Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank, Moores and K&G Fashion Superstore. SMC focused on their Canadian menswear brand, Moores, for a 4-month project led by Senior Project Director; Julia Turliuk and Project Directors; Eileen Kong and Mandy Soung, supported by Consultants; Michael Im, Leila Tenekjian, Halle Goldstein, and Sam Pencer, and guided by Managing Director; Shiraz Sigouin. 

Problem: 

Tailored Brands, a well-established menswear retailer among millennials, sought to enhance its brand awareness among the Gen Z student demographic. SMC provided insights on the attractiveness of the student market, how to build brand awareness among this target group, and strategies for effective in-person and social media initiatives for Tailored Brands. 

Solution: 

The SMC project team began by conducting market research on Gen Z menswear consumer behavior and hypothesized a fragmented market among this demographic. To gain in-depth primary market data, the team conducted an extensive survey distributed to almost 100 students aiming to understand students’ current purchasing behaviors and receptiveness to the brand. Leveraging the data from the survey and additional market research, SMC facilitated a partnership for Moores with several players in one of the largest student events at Queen’s University; a basketball game hosting 5,000 fans, which raised $250,000 for Cancer at their event this year. SMC then successfully created a short-form video highlighting the players in Moores clothing, posted to the event facilitator’s Instagram account to widely increase visibility and brand awareness of Moores in the Gen Z student demographic. 

Impact:

The short-form video SMC created resulted in a 178% increase in the student-event’s Instagram profile visits, a 70% increase in Moores’ website visits, and a 2.75-minute average session duration for a 30-second video. SMC also provided comprehensive recommendations regarding the effectiveness of leveraging student groups to increase brand awareness, future partnership opportunities within the student market, as well as a playbook for replicating these types of partnerships at other universities. We also provided marketing strategies for Tailored Brands’ retail stores and social media to engage the demographic.