TRANSFORMING HERITAGE BRANDS | WELLS ENTERPRISES + STAGWELL

Wells Enterprises engages Stagwell across their entire company. Be it internal and external communications or complete Integrated Marketing Services across their entire portfolio – a team of Stagwell agencies is in lockstep with Wells’ sales, marketing, communications, and executive leadership to transform their ice cream and frozen novelty brands into leaders within their highly competitive categories.  

Our Approach to Transformation: Organized under a central client team leader, agencies within our Stagwell Network work with Wells to lead comprehensive brand strategy, creative, social, research, PR, and paid media across their portfolio of brands: Blue Bunny, Halo Top, and Bomb Pop. The collective efforts of Allision & Partners, GALE, HarrisX, Observatory, and MMI create a best-in-class approach drive brand growth. In our second year of engagement, we launched several efforts that help Wells innovate its offerings and reach consumers with new digital channels and impact share growth:   

• Entering the metaverse with a custom branded experience inside Roblox, where players can interact with custom Bomb Pop decor and accessories. 
• Merging influencer expertise with media tactics, partnering with over 50 influencers to transform niche communities into scalable audiences for Halo Top’s national brand activations. 
• Creating a branded Tiktok profile and content strategy for Blue Bunny, with media amplification resulting in unprecedented post engagement and follower growth. 

Our Impact: 

Increasing market share, brand value, and helping Wells to deliver strong YOY business growth, Stagwell’s impact was felt across every brand the team touches in 2022. In addition, the strong campaign performance helped skyrocket Blue Bunny to the Top 3 Most Popular brands gaining popularity with Gen Z (falling between #2, the WNBA and #4 BMW). 

Additionally, an integrated Stagwell team partnered with Wells Enterprises Exec Team as it was in the final stages of an agreement to sell the company to global confection powerhouse, Ferrero.  The integrated team led comms and government relations to help move Wells Enterprises through this critical moment in their business history. 

Transforming Digital Experiences | Champion  | YML

At a pivotal moment where Champion needed to capitalize on their cultural boom with online shopping, YML executed an e-commerce approach for a newer generation with the goals of increasing sales and average customer spend.  

Our Approach to Transformation: YML worked with Champion to build a product roadmap driven by data; deliver an ecommerce experience centered around Gen Z; craft a scalable content and design system; and beat the holiday rush with a 6-month launch push. As part of these efforts, YML created ‘Shop the Look’ so that customers can purchase multiple items in a few taps without leaving the page – providing them a quick and easy order experience. YML also shortened the purchased journey by allowing customers to “Add to Bag” from anywhere – increasing average order values by nearly 20%. To help future proof digital experiences, YML created a comprehensive UI kit for Champion’s flagship digital store, built with scalability in mind for future implementations across the entire portfolio.   

Impact: YML’s efforts drove a +26% increase in average revenue per user; a 17% increase in average order value, and a 3% increase in conversion across Champion’s digital experiences. 

Transforming Creativity | UNITED AIRLINES | 72andSunny

United Airlines tapped 72andSunny to radically reposition United to connect with a new leisure travel audience that prioritizes brands who do the right thing.   

Our Approach to Transformation: 72andSunny reintroduced United as not just another airline, but a force for good powered by good humans on its aircraft and in the world. To do so, 72andSunny built a storybook campaign, held together by a storytelling system and voice that connected all messages and media. With a dynamic omnichannel effort encompassing bespoke social features, contextual out of home placements, and – yes – a six-page ad in the New York Times, 72andSunny helped build a universe of assets and narratives for United that you don’t want to put down – spanning passengers, continents, employees, and the future of the planet.   

Impact: 72andSunny not only hit the likeability benchmark of 55% but surpassed it by 29%. In other words, 72andSunny helped United become a brand with a purpose that people could love.   

This transformation was ultimately reflected in brand preference metrics, with an 11% lift in people who viewed United as their first choice of airline, a 24% lift in consideration and a massive 29% lift in purchase intent.   

Transforming Consumer Insights | Top Gun: Maverick | National Research Group

The announcement of Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the 1986 classic Top Gun, was met with equal parts excitement and skepticism – loyal fans were intrigued and yet wondering if it could ever live up to the first. To make sure the movie was a success, Paramount Pictures turned to National Research Group to ask important questions for the content and positioning.  

National Research Group examined the franchise’s current brand health and essence compared to other nostalgic brands, looked at how foreign markets perceive the American-centric plots of the original and its sequel, and how the character of Maverick should be positioned 30 years after the original. NRG’s exhaustive study provided clear guidance for how to make the sequel a blockbuster, and certainly it worked.  

Top Gun: Maverick became the second-highest-grossing-film of 2022 and the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise’s career. The film was also critically acclaimed and nominated for six awards at the 95th Academy Awards, including Best Picture. 

Transforming Performance Media & Data | Vivid Seats | Assembly

For the past few years, Vivid Seats relied heavily upon capturing in-market search to sell event tickets. With low national awareness, Vivid Seats needed to promote the strengths of their existing value proposition but differentiate the brand to propel growth.  

Our Approach to Transformation: Through an extensive analysis of the emotional drivers of ticketed events, pain points related to brand distrust in the ticket sales vertical, and consumer surveys, Assembly identified highly defined, specific audience segments driving disproportionate event ticket sales, and they became the focus of a new brand strategy.  

For the segments, Assembly introduced an industry-first creative and loyalty platform, called ‘Power of 11’ to elevate customer loyalty, rewarding fans with a free 11th ticket. The idea was dubbed “Real rewards for real fans” and introduced to the market across addressable media channels.  

Through new event consumer and Vivid Seats customer insights, Assembly created an informed media platform and targeting design across these segments that drove positive results for the brand which paved the way for a continuation of the campaign in 2023.