Our Work

The Client

“ERA is a  place where people feel inspired. A premium fashion destination that accompanies the five distinct and separate levels of the fashion industry. The new department stores are the evolution of shopping experience into a multi-sided experience  in which the pulse of art, culture, and innovation coexist with fashion, cosmetics, and architecture, creating a different essence of shopping.”

The brand is operated by Ermes Department Stores and the stores are located in four cities in Cyprus (Nicosia- Larnaca- Limassol- Paphos) representing the latest trends and the actual fashion destination culture. 

The Project

Before the brand name of ERA Department Stores, the stores operated under the name of Debenhams (Oh yes! We will analyze further down this significant rebranding in Cyprus).

So, the project was based on the rebranding of Debenhams to ERA Department Stores, focusing on the new brands and pillars that make the new Department Stores the one-stop-shop destination for fashion, beauty, and home shopping.

The client informed us about this project a few months ago and gave us all the valuable key points for the new Department stores that would launch and replace the old Debenhams.

The brand is Cypriot, and it will cover the needs of a modern and contemporary shopper focused on a real shopping experience full of emotions, culture, architecture, and of course, FASHION!!

The Challenges

• To spread the message that ERA Department Stores is a top fashion destination. At this point, we had to overcome the obstacle of the old and classic Debenhams, and at the same time, the rumors connected to the old brand.
• To bring closer the younger generation and the trends that they follow, without losing our experienced (fashion- beauty lovers) and classic shoppers. 
• To enhance the brand’s presence in the online market, 
• The new COVID-19 regulations restricted us from focusing on ERA Department Stores' experience on-site, which is one of the main brand pillars.

The Plan

Our plan is based on a holistic social media presence using a 360 strategy. The main target goal was to achieve the biggest exposure of our message and at the same time to connect the brand to young and experienced shoppers that have a great knowledge of the know-how in fashion and the online world.  

Our first step was to separate our target audience into 4 main categories which represent the main customer profiles of ERA Department stores. We created the behavior pattern of each profile and the customer funnel so that we could get a better understanding of the characteristics and tools or channels that we could use to target them online.

In the first stage of our launch, we followed a more aggressive communication strategy that enhanced our online presence. We ran Awareness ads on different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google Network, and Spotify, with excellent results. 
 

We achieved to catch the attention of more and more people, again and again, making our message strong and the Cypriot market familiar with the new brand name. Users could find at ERA whenever they wanted, at the moment they were browsing for some entertainment or the moment they searched for shopping and other related topics.
 

At the same time, we created engaging and impressive Social media content that followed the latest trends and helped us to connect with the young audience that is active on Social media. Specifically, we used our main launch posts with a branding template based on the main elements of our TVC. We also created playful branding Instagram stickers representing the different sections of ERA Department stores. And finally, we designed Instagram filters that promoted the new brand. This type of content helped us differentiate from what we did in the past, from what our competitors did until then,  and at the same time, it allowed our target audience to ‘play’ with our brand and start thinking of the new approach that is followed.

Finally, we ran an influencer campaign, collaborating with some of the most talented people from the fashion and beauty industry. Our goal was to promote the experience of visiting a department store and the variety of different products and sections (home, beauty, fashion) that someone could find at ERA Department Stores. Our influencers made some great videos, focusing on our shops’ environment and the new brands that are very popular and well known to both contemporary and classic shoppers. For better targeting, we separated each influencer according to their followers and the needs that they have… and voilà…our campaign gained more than 150,000 Views in total!!