J. Crew Wins in Search with Michelle Obama

In one of the smarter ad campaigns I’ve seen lately and a
campaign only possible with the real-time relevancy of search and content
targeting, J. Crew is running ads that create interest and intent around Michelle
Obama, her style choices and J. Crew’s products.

Here is the ad on a Michelle Obama query (click image to enlarge), though I first
noticed the same ad being run in my Gmail.

A great job with the title & descriptions  Three things stick out:

1) Bandwagoning onto heightened interest in Michelle Obama

2) Creating a reveal based on her choices

3) Leveraging a recognizable media appearance

The landing page is also very good. It is simple, clean and
clearly/immediately reveals the outfit and the pricing. 

It could be improved by adding a button with the call to
action, or at least an underlined text link. The headline is a little weak but
it doesn’t get in the way of what’s important – the products. It might also be
helpful to set expectations that the next page would have the items bundled
together – though it is possible this flow meets or exceeds vistor expectations.
That’s why we test.

J.Crew is also one of the best email marketers there is in
retail.  I often cite them as
someone to copy for email creative and I give them props for staying old-school
and using an exit-pop to grab emails. Why not?

Still, I’m not sure this pop is optimized as well as it
could be – there are many fields, the image is not targeted to the original
intent/content or season and the call to action is small and not optimally located. However, whatever percentage of visitors fill this out it is pure
upside/ROI.

Overall I’m impressed by J.Crew’s strategy. Not sure if they use an agency or work in-house. Would love to know so if you work on the account
recognize with a comment. 

Also, if anyone thinks there is little or no branding value in search this should serve as some nice proof of experiential brand value that can begin with a search ad.

***NOTE 11/07*** It came to my attention that PM Digital is the agency that put this together. Props to PM Digital. They seem to be one of the few agencies that "get-it" — as I recall they were also an early adopter of (and one of the few agencies that used) Offermatica.