The Challenge: 

When you see a deal that’s too good to be true, it usually is. 

But not with MandM Direct. The online fashion retailer has a unique proposition, offering consumers access to the biggest brands at the lowest prices. The retailer has a diverse range of stock – typically you won’t see the same item twice. MandM sells brands ranging from Adidas to Ted Baker for up to 75% off – so once a product is gone, it’s gone for good. 

MandM Direct knew it couldn’t be beaten on deals. But the retailer faced a challenge in communicating its uniquely valuable proposition. It needed a creative platform which would allow it to differentiate itself from the competition – whilst also allowing it to sidestep elegantly around various advertising restrictions on certain “big brands” it sold but could not feature.

The Strategy: 

Working with Atomic, MandM Direct developed a bespoke creative platform, "Click. Save. Style.," to showcase how savings on big brands were just one click away and the wide range of apparel on offer. 

The creative needed to reflect this diversity in the proposition, so we created a suite of films featuring everyday people of all ages, working their style in their own way with the message ‘Get your hands on top brands’ – transitioning quickly from playing sports, to chilling, to going “out out”. By doing this we linked the retailer’s offer with a variety of people’s passion points.

At the heart of our execution was a catchy soundtrack for the M&M platform.  

The original idea wasn’t music based – but as we developed the line ‘Click Save Style’ our team noticed the natural repetitiveness and rhythm to it. 

“We found ourselves saying it in a similar way to the Fatboy Slim track ‘Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat’ and the idea just naturally progressed from there. The music helped give us a foundation from which we developed a stylish visual world and gave everything an energetic pace. The repetitive element of the track was crucial for making sure the brand proposition really stuck with people.” – Steve Hopkins, at Atomic London

YouTube is 95% sound on. So, to make the most of the channel and build salience the best we decided to create a sonic device that acted as a shortcut to meaning, highlighting the key benefits MandM Direct offered.  

The consistent use of music across the campaign ensured we continually built on our audience’s memory structures, cementing the brand’s availability in their minds.

These assets have been sliced and diced across social channels - including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram – and reconfigured to reach male, female or mixed audiences. 

There’s even a tinsel-rapped Christmas version of the films (with an equally Christmassy remix of the theme) waiting for its time to shine.  

The Execution:

 A good deal is only a good deal if people know it exists. 

To identify the most compelling proof point to include in our creative, we worked with Google to implement live creative pre-testing. 

We launched various A/B messaging tests to find out what promotions or services most resonated with audiences, The first, launched through YouTube, had three variations:

1)    Up to 75% off big brands

2)    Next day delivery 

3)    Up to 75% off big fashion and sportswear brands 

Results showed an uplift in engagement for the third option – and this was then rolled out across various executions. This style of testing and iteration drives incremental increases in engagement effectively. 

We also needed to be extremely conscious of what brands were featured in the creative. This meant working closely with MandM Direct’s studio and stylist teams to ensure that the cast were wearing a wide range of stylish outfits which reflected the range of quality the retailer has - while avoiding a long list of brands it couldn't show.

The Results: 

The "Click. Save. Style." Campaign helped MandM Direct differentiate itself from competitors and communicate its value in a highly competitive market. 

The campaign's success on social media was pivotal. The fresh creative sparked a search uplift of 55% of users who engaged with the ad on YouTube – as well as:

-       20% lift in overall brand awareness

-       14% lift in consideration

-       18% rise in ad recall

On Facebook/Instagram, the campaign resulted in a 7.4% increase in brand recall and a 4.8% increase in action intent. Overall, the campaign created 178 million viewable impressions in the upper funnel – as well as 744,000 clicks to the site and 186,000 conversions in the lower funnel, which represented a 1.59% year-over-year increase.

The creative campaign, crafted by Atomic, helped MandM deliver its apparel value message in style. show its customers that some deals are good and true – increasing brand awareness, driving engagement and ultimately boosting sales.