Lands' End takes to the road in latest campaign

Dive Brief:

Lands' End is taking to the road to promote the launch of its Heritage Collection, traveling across Wisconsin for three months in two Airstream trailers designed to look like the brand's "Seagoing Duffle Bags."
The tour kicked off Aug. 22 at Milwaukee's North Point Lighthouse, according to a company press release, and will travel to several "well-loved festivals" in the state, including a Milwaukee Brewers Game, the Taste of Madison, a Green Bay Packers Celebration Weekend, Warrens Cranberry Festival and the Bayfield Apple Festival.
Customers who seek out the traveling duffle bag will be able to shop the Heritage Collection, take photos in a photobooth and enter a sweepstakes for a 2019 road trip in the Lands' End Airstream trailers, per the release.

Dive Insight:

In recent months, Lands' End has increasingly made attempts to separate itself from Sears, which continues to struggle financially and has resorted to selling off popular brands like Craftsman (and considering offers for Kenmore) to bring in cash.

In response to the suffering of its long-time partner, Lands' End announced in January that it would "stop relying on Sears" for growth and had plans to open several brick-and-mortar stores of its own. Indeed, on the back of its best quarterly performance in three years, CEO Jerome Griffith in March put the retailer's physical expansion at between 40 and 60 store openings over the next five years, the first of which opened in May.

This move seems to be an attempt to make the brand top-of-mind for customers again, perhaps reminding them that the company still operates outside of Sears stores and still offers the brand's older, popular products. Griffith noted in the press release that the Heritage Collection takes inspiration from some of the "brand favorites," including the Squall Jacket, the Rugby and obviously the Seagoing Duffle, which fills out the design of the trailers.

"We are proud of our rich Wisconsin roots as well as our timeless, high-quality products that are part of the DNA of the company," Griffith said, adding that the products re-imagined in the Heritage Collection are "the cornerstore of our brand story."

Traveling pop-ups have become a popular, albeit odd, way for brands to connect with their customers, with retailers from all categories testing out the concept. Beauty retailer L'Occitane tested out a traveling truck in April, Amazon launched Treasure Trucks last year and even Limited Too tried to make a comeback around back-to-school last year through a pop-up on wheels.

For Lands' End, though, the pop-up likely means a lot more than just a new store concept to try — it's also a way of picking up new customers and re-engaging old ones in an attempt to find life outside of Sears.