Situation:

Coach needed to acquire Gen Z to achieve business goals, but they were generations behind in strategy and tactics—and had no solid roots in youth culture or mindset, and an unused and unrealized brand purpose.

We needed to get the brand to think differently about (and listen to) consumers so/and consumers could think differently about Coach.

Additionally, we knew, broadly, that “self expression through fashion” was important across all generations–but we needed to find the specificities about what it meant for Gen Z.

Brief:

Turn around the Coach brand and win Gen Z through strengthening brand resonance amongst this demographic.

Deliver a strategy that can set up Coach for urgent wins and long-term successes–a deliverable that’s a strategic framework and a platform for creative ideation.

Usher Coach into an era of purpose-led work.

Objectives:

Increase Gen Z:

Key brand metrics

Consumer acquisition

Purchase

We took Coach’s purpose “Courage to Be Real” and reimagined it to align with Gen Z values: “to inspire our consumers to have the confidence to explore their many selves and have the Courage to Be Real.”

This purpose became the creative platform for insight-driven ideas with a human and cultural Gen Z lens—from casting to confidence-inspiring stories.

Coach launched with a new ambassador, Lil Nas X, in “Breaking Down Doors”. A campaign about his life exploring many selves.

Then came “In My Tabby [Bag]”. A campaign that turned the “What’s in my bag?” trope into a narrative about what we carry in life—identity and experiences.

Finally, “Wear Your Shine” invited Gen Z to defeat their inner critic by styling shine literally (in the collection) and figuratively, in terms of confidence.

Coach built this purpose-led brand platform quickly. The campaigns were good, but the sum was great.

Now we knew: Gen Z wasn’t buying what Coach was selling. They valued:

Purpose > Product

Stories > Image

When we looked at the immersion insights and mapped them to the foundational values of the brand, we found overlap. Coach had a (mostly unused) brand purpose: “Courage to Be Real”. And a history of being inclusive with positioning and product. However, disruptive stories of courage were never marketed.

The insight: Gen Z gravitated towards human-driven stories of self expression and needed help feeling confident.

The breakthrough: disrupt the fashion category with a purpose-led, human-centric marketing strategy.

A series of workshops and an organic process between consumer, agency and client landed us with the strategy to go:

from: Mom brand to: Gen Z brand

Accessible luxury positioning Expressive luxury positioning

Style centric Human centric

Product-led Purpose-led

Dictating a style Inspiring fluid self expression

Selling products Telling a story

In Q4 2022 Coach entered the Lyst Index for the first time: a tracker that plots the most popular Gen Z brands—and the Tabby became one of the most desired bags for American teenagers. This was a short term win that showed that the strategy worked for awareness and sales.

Since the launch of the reimagined “Courage to Be Real” platform, Coach’s penetration amongst Gen Z increased double digits in the USA.

Starting one year after launch, Coach saw significant growth in all brand metrics amongst Gen Z: unaided, TOM awareness, consideration and purchases over the last 12 months. Plus, the brand retained their “old” customers.

This was underpinned by strong results in campaigns, driving brand favorability, global PR reach and conversation.

In other words: Coach moved from a “mom brand” to “my brand”.