Goodwill debuts geofenced mobile ads to attract Gen Z

Brief:

Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana is running a social media campaign aimed at Gen Z shoppers that shows affordable yet unique clothes to buy secondhand. The ad creative features oversized price tags attached to an eclectic mix of clothing and accessories that shoppers can combine to create a complete look, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
To inspire the collections, ad agency Young & Laramore (Y&L) gave a handful of shoppers gift cards to pick out clothes from a Goodwill store and create a look. The agency found that Gen Zers differ from millennials who tend to follow celebrities and trends on social media. Instead, Gen Z shoppers wanted to create looks from scratch, mixing patterns, fabrics and fashion eras.
The "Frustrate Copycats" campaign will run on social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Geofenced mobile ads will help to monitor the campaign's effect on driving foot traffic into Goodwill locations. Y&L also created print ads, along with 15- and 30-second spots for TV, per its announcement.

Insight:

"Frustrate Copycats" touts the unique looks that shoppers can create when they're buying secondhand clothing at Goodwill, a message that's more likely to resonate with Gen Z consumers who tend to be bolder about their fashion choices than millennials are, per Y&L. The prevalence of social media in the lives of Gen Z has made them more conscientious about how they look in the selfies they share with friends, and they want to stand out with unique outfits that major brands and mass merchants can't provide, Business Insider reported.

Having grown up through the economic hardship of the Great Recession, Gen Z tends to make purchase decisions based on price more than loyalty to a specific brand, Ernst & Young strategist Marcie Merriman said in a report. While Gen Zers tend to be frugal, they also want lots of fresh looks they can share on social media. Seeking peer approval tends to make them more socially conscious, while concerns about the textile industry's massive carbon footprint make environmental considerations more important in their purchase decisions. Those values align well with Goodwill's mission of raising money for charitable causes through the sale of secondhand clothing, furniture and household items.

Environmental worries are driving growth for the resale industry, which expanded 21 times faster than the retail market in the past three years, per GlobalData research cited by Fortune. Secondhand retailer ThredUp estimates the $24 billion secondhand economy within the next 10 years will grow to be 1.5 times the size of fast fashion retailers like Zara, H&M and Forever 21, which last month filed for bankruptcy protection and this week announced plans to close 200 stores. Almost three fourths (72%) of consumers said they prefer to buy from environmentally friendly brands, while 60% would be more loyal to a brand if it offered a recycling program, per ThredUp's study. Those consumer preferences also align well with Goodwill's efforts to raise money from secondhand sales.

Goodwill previously boosted store visits nearly sixfold with a mobile campaign that also cut cost-per-visit by 79%. The firm's data-driven platform used predictive targeting to reach consumers near Goodwill locations as part of its "Bring Good Home" promotion.