Ah, Black Friday.

It’s no shock that the official kick-off day for the vacation purchasing season is liable for a large annual surge in shopper spending, reaching $8.9 billion in the US alone in 2021. However whereas this can be a yearly slam-dunk for giant field retailers, Black Friday can convey extra challenges than advantages for small companies.

Slashing costs to make gross sales cuts straight into their backside line — and with restricted advertising and marketing budgets and sources, competing with huge manufacturers takes braveness, perception, and creativity. That’s why the small companies that stand out through the vacation season are those that join with the distinctive needs and wishes of their clients, get daring with their advertising and marketing methods, and create thumb-stopping content material that’s positive to get individuals speaking.

Final yr, UK-based sustainable underwear model and Hootsuite buyer Pantee gained Black Friday with a marketing campaign that broke conference and raised consciousness of unsustainable impulse shopping for. We interviewed Pantee’s founders, sisters Amanda and Katie McCourt, to learn the way they did it, what the outcomes have been, and what they’ve realized for future campaigns.

What’s Pantee?

Pantee is an underwear model making a distinction: their merchandise are made utilizing “deadstock” materials, or unsold stock that might in any other case find yourself in landfills. Designed by girls, for girls and the planet, Pantee’s merchandise are created with consolation and elegance in thoughts, whereas serving to stop unused clothes from going to waste.

@pantee_uk We launched a enterprise in lockdown! Right here’s how we did it ✨🩲 #smallbusinesslaunch #howtostartabusiness #smallbusinesscheck #whatididduringlockdown ♬ Bubble – Official Sound Studio

For Pantee, sustainability isn’t a buzzword or pattern to leap on; the model was based with this objective at its core. The thought got here to life in a thrift retailer in 2019, when Amanda was looking second-hand outfitters in London and was blown away by the variety of brand-new t-shirts lining the cabinets, tags nonetheless on them.

“It was loopy to me how many individuals had given away garments earlier than even carrying them as soon as,” says Amanda. “It received me pondering: If that is what number of discarded garments we will see, how a lot is there that we will’t see? As soon as I began researching, I knew that we might make a distinction. It’s very tough to get shopping for proper within the vogue business with developments and purchasing cycles altering so incessantly, and because of this, many corporations overproduce. I grew to become fixated on the thought of what we might do with deadstock clothes.”

The quick reply to Amanda’s query on how a lot waste we will’t see: a lot. The style business produces an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year, and roughly 30% of garments made are by no means even offered.

With a daring ardour to make a distinction for our planet—and after realizing that the delicate cotton t-shirt cloth everybody loves would lend itself nicely to underwear and wi-fi bras—Amanda and Katie named the enterprise Pantee (an abridged model of “pants constructed from deadstock tees”) and started working bringing the idea to life.

@pantee_uk Upcycling by no means felt so good ♻️ hyperlink in bio to study extra about how we make sustainable underwear! #sustainablefashion #smallbusinesslove #fyp #consolation #recycledfashion ♬ luxurious – milo

Since initially launching their Kickstarter in November 2020 (the place they raised £11,000) and Shopify website in February 2021, Pantee has grown right into a profitable sustainable startup—upcycling greater than 1,500 kgs of deadstock cloth in its first 1.5 years alone. Pantee additionally crops one tree for each order positioned (leading to over 1,500 timber planted!) and is a proud member of 1% For the Planet.

Flipping the script with a ‘Blackout Friday’ marketing campaign

Main as much as the Black Friday pandemonium in 2021, Amanda and Katie had one factor on their minds: overconsumption. Already a problem within the vogue business through the common season, Black Friday was positive to encourage shoppers to make pointless purchases—lots of which might go unused and find yourself again on cabinets or, worse, in landfills.

So, whereas many small companies grappled with whether or not or to not run gross sales and promotions, Pantee requested a unique query: how might they create a profitable marketing campaign whereas staying true to their mission?

• The answer: Reclaim Black Friday by rebranding it “Blackout Friday,” an initiative encouraging shoppers to rethink their purchases and keep away from impulse shopping for.
• The message: Cease and suppose before you purchase. Is it one thing you’re keen on? Is it one thing you want? If that’s the case, go forward— purchase and revel in your new buy. However if you happen to weren’t already going to make that buy, think about going with out.

“Black Friday is the largest impulse shopping for day of the yr, and other people get simply sucked into gross sales,” says Katie. “However the mentality ought to be: Is it actually a cut price if you happen to weren’t going to spend the cash initially? Our marketing campaign stance was to not encourage impulse shopping for, and we noticed quite a lot of engagement due to the shared values and customary floor it established with our viewers.”

“There may be a lot overconsumption on Black Friday,” provides Amanda. “Our stance wasn’t essentially don’t make a purchase order, however if you happen to’re going to, purchase one thing you’ve needed for a extremely very long time.”

Pantee didn’t cease there. To convey the marketing campaign to life and put their phrases into motion, the retailer turned off their web site to all however their engaged clients, who have been solely in a position to entry the web site via a code they despatched to their current mailing record.

The outcomes

The marketing campaign was an awesome success, resulting in a major enhance in gross sales, social engagement and attain, model consciousness and new buyer acquisition.

• Engagement on social media doubled all through the marketing campaign (from 4 to eight%), and natural social impressions reached over 4x the overall followers on the time.
• The marketing campaign organically elevated internet visitors by 122% month-over-month in November 2021 with none supported paid spend.
• Pantee’s mailing record grew by 33% within the week main as much as Black Friday.
• The success of the social marketing campaign prolonged far past Pantee’s Instagram, with the initiative featured in top-tier press together with The Observer, Drapers, Reuters, The Every day Mail, and extra.

“Whereas we didn’t run a sale or any promotions final yr, Black Friday was the largest gross sales day of the yr,” says Katie. “By merely taking a stand and leveraging social to get our message out, we drove a month’s price of internet visitors in a matter of hours and had a great deal of individuals signing up for our e-mail record. We noticed a ton of recent, first-time clients simply because they valued what we have been doing.”

“Manufacturers typically suppose which you can have values, however they gained’t convert to gross sales,” provides Amanda. “However we expect that’s altering—and this marketing campaign is a good instance of that.”

Pantee is now launching the marketing campaign for the second yr and looking out ahead to much more spectacular outcomes.

4 classes realized from one unconventional marketing campaign

Whether or not you’re brainstorming future inventive campaigns, constructing out subsequent quarter’s social advertising and marketing technique or already getting began on planning for subsequent yr’s vacation season, Pantee’s Blackout Friday marketing campaign holds nice classes that each marketer ought to hold high of thoughts. We requested Amanda and Katie for his or her high 4 suggestions—right here’s what they stated.

1. Hone in in your objective

“We speak so much about our values as a model,” says Katie. “And time and time once more, we’ve seen that if we discuss a problem, our values, or one thing with substance behind it, our engagement is a lot larger. That’s what individuals need to see: one thing that will get them pondering.”

Amanda provides: “I feel at one level, we misplaced our means a bit and have become extra product and gross sales heavy on our social channels, and we observed that we weren’t getting the identical attain. Pushing product works via e-mail advertising and marketing and different areas of the enterprise, however with social, we’ve seen a much bigger alternative to teach our viewers and share helpful data that they’ll stroll away with.”

2. An engaged neighborhood is all the pieces

“There’s an enormous distinction between rising a following and rising a following that additionally has engagement,” explains Katie.” In the case of social, what we’ve discovered is that individuals who engaged with us early on have change into advocates for our model. We see a lot worth in neighborhood and interesting with our clients past getting the sale. Many manufacturers see social as a platform to get their message out, however for us, it’s a two-way road.”

3. Don’t be afraid to be daring

“We realized fairly early on with our social that the best peaks of engagement occurred after we took a stand for one thing,” says Katie. “We’ve at all times been fairly mission pushed, however we prefer to have enjoyable with it and never be too preachy. After we’ve launched campaigns with our sustainability mission on the forefront, the engagement has been via the roof.”

4. Keep in mind that there’s extra to social than what you’re posting

“Social media isn’t nearly what you publish, it’s about the way you have interaction with different accounts and make individuals really feel,” explains Amanda. “Spending time in your social platforms connecting with others, constructing relationships and establishing an engaged neighborhood is invaluable. We use our social channels for two-way conversations with each clients and our neighborhood – there may be a lot you possibly can study once you speak with them as an alternative of at them.”

If there’s one takeaway that rises above all of the others, it’s that social is likely one of the strongest instruments that manufacturers can use to ignite their enterprise, turning bystanders into loyal model advocates, consciousness into gross sales, and your mission into optimistic, tangible change. Simply ask Pantee.

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