Kepler was recently shortlisted for Digiday’s Media Buying and Planning awards for our use of emergent media in a campaign celebrating the anniversary of the patent for Champion’s iconic Reverse Weave sweatshirt. Kepler planned an innovative e-commerce media campaign to introduce Champion to a younger audience with premium video placements on TikTok, Hulu, and Complex, and display ads on Amazon, with overwhelmingly positive results during a challenging time for retailers.

To help build brand awareness, consideration, and sales among users 18-35, the Champion team asked TikTok creator Jalaiah Harmon to revisit her iconic dance, the Renegade, but this time: in reverse. Using premium takeovers and influencer videos on TikTok, Kepler dominated the platform with Jalaiah’s new “Reverse Renegade” and boosted awareness of the Champion brand, searches for Reverse Weave products, and sales of the Reverse Weave hoodie among the target demographic.

Jalaiah is finally getting the credit she deserves for creating one of TikTok’s most influential viral dances. During Reverse Weave Week, Champion was able to receive recognition from a new audience for one of its own innovative creations: the Reverse Weave hoodie, which was featured in a 2017 MoMA exhibit as one of 111 fashion items that shaped history.

“Bringing together Champion’s iconic Reverse Weave with Jalaiah Harmon was the perfect way to celebrate Reverse Weave Week,” says Alex Fisher, Associate Director of Optimization & Innovation at Kepler. “Giving recognition to two well-deserving icons generated the significant brand and product demand needed to make this campaign a smashing success.”

Reverse Weave Week not only exceeded campaign goals but also reversed a sales decline for Reverse Weave products, reinvigorating the commercial success of an apparel innovation first patented in the 1930s.

The Challenge

During the pandemic, the online shopping experience has become a vital part of Champion’s business, creating a greater need for digital marketing support for their DTC e-commerce. However, global supply chain issues have challenged many retailers and made it difficult for Champion to keep products in stock during the Reverse Weave week promotion. So as items sold out, the Kepler team worked in real-time with Champion to ensure ads in the market only featured in-stock items. That required Kepler to adjust for product availability using our proprietary Kepler Intelligence Platform (KIP) to quickly recognize when items sold out, and respond by swapping out ad creative and placements before consumers experienced friction in the buying journey—friction that could impact overall campaign revenue.

The Results

Reverse Weave Week reached 30MM unique users on TikTok and outperformed the platform’s takeover impression delivery estimates by 34%, boosting brand awareness among the target audience. The campaign also improved consideration of Reverse Weave products, resulting in 1.5MM e-commerce sessions and a 231% lift in users searching for “Reverse Weave” after being exposed to paid media. Most importantly, Reverse Weave Week drove strong lifts in sales across both Amazon and DTC, with spikes in sales of sweatshirts featured in the campaign.

Reverse Weave Week was the brand’s first campaign of its kind and was such a successful full-funnel approach to drive sales that the team will be implementing this framework in new initiatives planned for 2022.

“This is exactly the type of brand activation we feel is impactful for advertisers,” says Zach Ricchiuti, Director of Client Solutions at Kepler. “With Reverse Weave Week, we were able to generate buzz for the brand through an innovative, high impact campaign, increase consumer awareness of the individual product line and its features, and most importantly, move the bottom line on sales.”

Digiday will announce the winners of the Media Buying and Planning awards on March 31, 2022.