Department store BHS is pulling out all the stops to promote its clothing partnership with girl band Atomic Kitten as it seeks to step up its licensing strategy.
The retailer has already worked with boy bands Blue and Westlife on clothing ranges but, according to a BHS spokeswoman, this latest tie-up, brokered by The Licensing Company (TLC), is no comparison. "This is not building on what we did with Westlife and Blue, which included only a few products - this is a different category of activity entirely," says the spokeswoman.
Rather than slapping band members Jen, Tash and Liz on T-shirts, as BHS did with Blue and Westlife, the fashion giant will be selling a range of AK-branded clothing, designed by Thumbprint, in 70 UK stores. "The clothing does not feature Atomic Kitten heavily but is the kind of thing that they would wear," notes Jeremy Saul, head of music licensing at TLC.
The licensing partnership, which is a multi-million pound deal according to TLC, will be promoted by in-store activity, including pawprints leading to the dedicated Atomic Kitten section and images of the girls on point-of-sale material and window dressings.
In-store competitions will allow fans to win merchandise and meet the band, while BHS staff are being incentivised with concert tickets.
Kitten mailing
BHS is also sending an Atomic Kitten mailing to its 500,000 account card holders and the band is promoting the clothing range on its website (www.atomickitten.co.uk), which receives about seven million impressions per week, according to TLC.
"The thinking behind the partnership is that Atomic Kitten's fan base and our target customer demographics for that age group - six to 13-year-old girls - are the same," says the BHS spokeswoman. "The deal will benefit BHS by driving younger girls into the stores," adds Saul.
A similar strategy has been undertaken by Asda, which announced a licensing deal with US teen sensations the Olsen Twins last year, following in the footsteps of its US parent Wal-Mart - despite some negative reaction to the range from parents in the US, who felt the clothes were unsuitable for kids.
Risky but lucrative
Relationships with celebrities can be risky but they can also be lucrative, says Jonathan Marks, managing director of sports and marketing consultancy MTC. "It can be exactly right to partner with somebody that is in vogue in the short term, but in the long term you are beholden to their success and their own personal lives," he explains. "Atomic Kitten are pretty well-established and quite wholesome so they are a good choice for BHS.
But I see it more as a marketing strategy to drive people into the stores than as a big sales opportunity," Marks reiterates.
Joe Craggs, managing director of partnership marketing agency Mediator, agrees: "Tie-ins with pop stars can be better used for tactical activity because you can usually predict what would happen in the short term."
BHS is reluctant to commit to definite time frames for the partnership's length - not least because, in today's volatile music scene, any enduring popularity is almost impossible to attain. Whether the link does deliver increased footfall remains to be seen.
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