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dress shirt, on the cuff How smart: USA gives away custom-fitted shirts Oct 30, 2009
Most of it ends up in the trash, defeating the purpose. What was different about this campaign, for a new TV show, was the quality of the giveaway: a custom-fitted dress shirt worth $195. In this economy, that's the kind of promotion that draws a crowd, and this one sure did. Last Friday morning, 700 people lined up outside Manhattan's Rockefeller Center to claim their free shirt. Each person was measured and offered their choice of collar, cuff and shirt silhouette options. Fifteen hundred shirts were given away in just two days. The promotion was put on by USA Network for the launch of, you guessed it, its new series "White Collar." The idea was inspired by "Collar's" main character, Neal, a debonair criminal with a killer wardrobe. "We wanted to turn the name [of the show] on its head and focus on the thing we're all familiar with, the idea of white collar shirts," says Alexandra Shapiro, senior vice president of marketing at USA. "Neal embodies the ultimate gentleman, he's stylish. How then to align that idea with promotional extensions that enforce that message? We came up with the idea of why not give away free white collar shirts, courtesy of USA." To pull if off, USA set up a pop-up store at Rockefeller Center on Oct. 22 and 23 and recruited upscale clothier Thomas Pink to provide the shirts. Six fashion consultants at a time set about measuring and fitting, working from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. The consultations took approximately five minutes, and the details of each were recorded and sent off to the shirtmaker. The finished shirts will be mailed out over the coming days. Shapiro says the crowds were split evenly between men and women, and the pop-up attracted everyone from tourists to Wall Street employees. Lines were anywhere from two to five hours long, but there were other things to do while you waited. USA set up a coffee bar, played clips of the show on TVs, and gave shoe shines. The campaign worked for two reasons. First, it was a giveaway that people actually clamored for. It would not have received nearly the turnout if USA was giving away a T-shirt. Second, the stunt had a very direct tie to the brand. You'd have to be pretty dense not to make the connection between "White Collar" and the white collar shirts. The stunt certainly received a lot of publicity. USA hyped it with an AM New York wrap, radio spots and mentions on all the major social networking sites, as well as some fashion blogs. NBC's "Today" also did a live weather shot from the event. As everyone in New York knows, getting on the morning news shows is really the mark of a successful campaign. "At a time where people are losing things, whether it's their jobs or their houses, when something is offered not only for free but with a high perceived value with no strings attached, it's incredibly compelling," Shapiro says. "I heard people banding about saying 'There's gotta be a catch,' but there wasn't a catch." The promotion seemed to work. "Collar" attracted more than 5 million viewers for last week's premiere, up more than 46 percent over the Friday 10 p.m. slot the previous week.
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