Musings

With any repositioning campaign it’s important not to alienate your existing customers in the pursuit of new. I do wonder what the die-hard rugby-shirt-wearing Cotton Traders fans make of all of this. Will they feel snubbed by the campaign, or will they enjoy the halo effect of their clothes suddenly being ‘cool’ as well as comfy? TBWA\MCR say “Full of Surprises isn’t just a campaign—it’s a statement that Cotton Traders and those who wear it are anything but predictable.” But what if the customers don’t want to be seen as unpredictable Ibiza-lovers? 

It was through ‘Debra’ that I first became aware of the campaign. My ears pricked at the line “Debra doesn’t like Lytham St Anne’s”, charming; that’s where I live! And it appears I wasn’t the only local to note the slight on our little seaside town (well, technically it’s St-Annes-on-the-Sea that’s the seaside bit, but we’ll not go down that particular rabbit hole). A number of residents, community groups and even the Lytham Festival organisers took to social media to stand up to (and piggy-back-on) Debra’s dismissive advert.

Cotton Traders immediately jumped on the feedback, with personal and witty responses, as well as a whole new ‘Cotton Traders love Lytham’ counter campaign. Posters began popping up at local bus stops telling Debra to think again! Their team donned t-shirts professing their love for Lytham (but not St Annes…that’ll ruffle a few more feathers), and they even roped in Jasmine Harman, of A Place in the Sun fame, to wear one too. To top it all off, Cotton Traders offered an exclusive 15% discount (when you spend £30+) to those living in the area. Nice move, Cotton Traders.

Shame they don’t have a store here. It would’ve been interesting to see whether locals would’ve boycotted it or camped outside with placards. And how Cotton Traders would’ve responded.

Consistency is key

Cotton Traders definitely seem to be trying to follow the Aldi school of marketing, both in terms of a boundary-pushing, tongue-in-cheek tone of voice and approach, as well as being hot on customer interaction on their socials. Aldi have a whole ‘Customer Interaction’ team, all signing from the same hymn sheet, all speaking with one strong voice, constantly monitoring and reacting to their customers. It’ll be interesting to see how long Cotton Traders can keep this up – will it fade away as the campaign tails off, or will they be able to maintain it, grow it, and importantly, live up to it. 

So far, so good though. The brand continued to dish up the surprises with their April Fool’s campaign, featuring the mighty Miranda Hart and her exclusive range of big pants. A brave (and expensive) move for a quick prank, but for a brand claiming to be full of surprises, they couldn’t really let the opportunity pass them by.