5 Back-to-School Advertising Tips: August 2022

1.  Target key business categories

Big box stores, personal electronics manufacturers, and office supply brands are more likely to market back-to-school offerings than tourism boards or hospitals. As a result, zeroing in on high-value categories will bring more relevant B2B sales and partnership opportunities to the surface. So which categories should you target first? Check out the key verticals we’ve identified for back-to-school advertising season, and preview a selection of associated Winmo profiles, below:

Apparel & accessories

• 7 For All Mankind: 7 For All Mankind, LLC, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, provides denim jeans for men, women, and kids. It offers apparel, as well as accessories, including handbags, leather goods, and belts for women, men, and kids. The company is owned by Delta Galil and sells its products through luxury retail stores and high-end specialty boutiques.
• Free People: A member of Urban Outfitters Inc., a retail company that operates stores under the Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People brand names. The company, headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, also operates through its wholesale business, websites, and catalogs.
• K-Swiss: K-Swiss designs and manufactures a range of athletic footwear for both sports and casual wear. In addition to its flagship brand, the company owns the Royal Elastics brand, a line of slip-on, laceless shoes. K-Swiss is headquartered in Westlake Village, California and can be found in retail stores worldwide.

Other categories include:

• Consumer electronics & personal computers
• Office supplies & office supply retailers
• Education & learning
• Sporting goods and sporting goods retailers
• Home-related décor and appliance brands (for the latter, think of affordable brands advertising to college kids moving into dorms or off-campus housing)

2.  Target key marketing decision-makers

While the contacts responsible for back-to-school advertising campaigns might not have the words “back-to-school” in their given business title, we have a clever way of finding them based on job function. To identify decision-makers most likely to target school-aged children, search Job Function > Youth Marketing with our advanced filters. In fact, depending on what your agency or advertising destination can offer, you may want to pair a filter like this with an industry to create a hyper-targeted back-to-school prospect list. Key decision-makers here include:

• Carmen Hardaway, Director, Product – Apparel Energy Concepts, Reebok Kids: Reebok International, headquartered in Canton, MA, is a leader in the production and marketing of athletic shoes, apparel, and gear. Products are sold globally under the Reebok, Rockport, Greg Norman, CCM, Jofa, and Koho brands. They also include limited edition athletic shoes, men’s and women’s shirts and shorts, gloves, and other sports-related items.
• Andrea Pappenheimer, SVP, Director, Sales & Associate Publisher, HarperCollins: HarperCollins Publishers, a subsidiary of News Corporation, is a book publisher. The company, headquartered in New York, NY, has divisions that include General Books, Children’s Books, Christian books and international publishing groups.
• John Baadilla, Marketing Youth & Education Services Manager, National Hot Rod Association: National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), is an auto racing nonprofit organization that hosts drag racing events throughout the U.S. and Canada. NHRA was founded in 1951 by Wally Parks who provided a “governing body ” to promote the sport of drag racing.

3.  Identify upcoming back-to-school campaigns

The back-to-school advertising season is, well, crowded. Advertisers plan earlier and earlier to optimize their campaigns and media strategy. Our prospecting publication, WinmoEdge, is a good place to keep an eye out for news of back-to-school campaigns and retail strategies as they emerge. Our clients often search keywords like “back to school” in order to get the scoop on such opportunities, like the one below:

Digital Gen-Z Opps: PacSun kicks off its 2022 back-to-school campaign

PacSun is gearing up for the 2022-2023 school year with its “#MyDenimStory” back-to-school campaign. It launched a new line of denim apparel alongside the campaign that includes over 200 new styles. The push will be supported online through digital ads and on social channels such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Discord. It partnered with content creators and brand ambassadors on the campaign. The company also teamed up with DRESSX on a virtual try-on experience. The campaign even ventures into the Metaverse with activations such as the Denim Shop in PACWORLD on Roblox.

• Sellers: PacSun mainly targets female Gen-Zers. It reaches this demographic through digital display ads with a heavy focus on social media. Furthermore, it has been ramping spend up for the past two years with no signs of it slowing down anytime soon. It also invests in OOH, print, and local broadcast TV ads, per Kantar. Sellers should get in touch soon to offer last-minute campaign ad space.
• Agency and martech readers: Keep reaching out to pitch your services because agency appointments tend to follow one another. PacSun tapped Tinuiti as its paid media AOR a couple of months ago. We recommend offering creative, digital, or social media assistance. Those of you that can help PacSun reach Gen-Zers will likely have the most success.

4.  Focus on shopper marketing

Even if you sell radio or television advertising, don’t count this method out. Although it may seem indirect, looking for advertisers with shopper marketing initiatives and relationships is a creative way to cast a net around brands likely to be targeting back-to-school shoppers through couponing efforts and FSIs.

5.  Utilize sales intelligence to do the heavy lifting for you

Interested in generating leads with back-to-school advertisers, but lacking a source of credible sales intelligence? Request a trial of Winmo to put these tips to use, and generate your own list of highly targeted back-to-school advertising sales leads.