Brand interaction through online t-shirt designing

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Comments Allan Kent, head of AtPlay, “We are seeing a fundamental change within online marketing, as website interactions in the context of social networking should provide audiences with the ability for self-expression - whether you provide it or not your audience demands it. This leads to the identification with well-loved brands, and provides marketers the benefits of virality and engagement along with the measurability of traditional online channels. More and more we are seeing that to be successful you have to provide worthwhile interaction."

The competition allows www.markham.co.za visitors to let their self-expression creative juices flow by designing their own t-shirts, which can then be submitted as entry to win prizes, explains Juliette Pickering, Saatchi & Saatchi group account director.

She continues, “We recognise the fact that our website user and Markham customer are not necessarily design orientated but are fashion-focused, so we created a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) tool on the website allowing them to design t-shirts. The winning entry, which will be determined by a panel of Markham fashion experts, will become part of the next Markham T-shirt line.”

E-zines were sent out to the Markham database that communicated the new look and feel for the Markham brand personality. It also showcased the Markham fashion focus t-shirts.

To further drum up excitement around the launch of the website and the Summer fashion range, AtPlay created a Facebook page which showcases some of the t-shirt range that can be purchased from Markham stores. Interactive fashion interest polls on the site are used to gather market research and intelligence on the Markham customer.

To date, since the launch of the site the last month, close on 200 designs have been submitted for the Markham design a t-shirt competition.