Casual Male with Weber Shandwick

Overview

In early 2002, Casual Male Corporation was facing bankruptcy. The specialty retailer of clothing for big and tall men agreed to sell most of its assets, including 475 retail locations, to a company called Designs, Inc., for $170 million. Three months later, Designs changed its name to Casual Male Retail Group.

The economy was not encouraging. Consumer confidence had sunk to its lowest level in over ten years, and retail sales for 2002 grew at the smallest rate since the government began tracking such data. Sales during the holiday season dropped by 11 percent that year, the worst performance in 30 years. The big and tall market appeared to be growing, however. According to government figures, 64 percent of adults are now either “overweight” or “obese,” up from 56 percent six years ago.

Objectives

Casual Male Retail Group asked Weber Shandwick to mount a strategic communications campaign to introduce the new company and build a strong brand that would position the retailer as the provider of clothing for the increasing number of big and tall men. The company sought to capitalize on the excitement created by its new celebrity spokesperson-former heavyweight champion George Foreman-to reintroduce itself to Wall Street, showcase Casual Male as a star in an otherwise dim retail sector, and claim ownership of the emerging big and tall space. To achieve these objectives, Weber Shandwick targeted national business media, retail industry trade publications, Wall Street analysts and investors, and potential customers.

Tactics

• Developed core messages for media interviews to tell the Casual Male turnaround story.
• Arranged a series of meetings for senior Casual Male executives with key retail industry reporters to forge relationships and lay the foundation for future coverage.
• Used George Foreman, and the boxer’s new clothing line, to tee up feature stories that spanned newspapers, magazines, wire services, broadcast outlets.
• Actively promoted significant corporate announcements (e.g. quarterly earnings, acquisitions) to generate a steady stream of positive news for the brand.
• Generated media coverage for the company in regional and national outlets, positioning Casual Male as a national brand with a local impact.

Results

Not long after emerging from bankruptcy, the Casual Male brand won recognition as the leader of its space, with feature stories in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today, among others. The nationwide stories in print, online and broadcast media showed that the public perception of Casual Male was changing.

Media coverage was only part of the story. After the team launched Casual Male’s George Foreman line, the company’s stock price soared by 65 percent over the next four months, ultimately reaching a 52-week high. Investors weren’t the only ones taking notice. Same-store sales increased seven percent during the first half of the company’s fiscal year. A profile story in the Miami Herald fueled a one-day 60-percent sales boost in Florida, with sales finishing the week up 18 percent. Today, Casual Male is twenty times larger than its closest competitor.