Gen-Z, Millennial Media Opps: Urban Outfitters targets younger consumers, plans to increase spend (Score 36)

Sales lead: Reach out to this company to offer relevant ad space and inquire about agency opportunities.

Urban Outfitters (UO) announced during its recent Q3 earnings report that it plans on increasing promotional activity and marketing spend.
The company hopes this will help it attract new customers and clear existing inventory.
UO plans on targeting younger consumers going forward as well.
The company also lost its president, Francis Pierrel, in December.

Recent hires:

Liz McDonough joined as experiential marketing manager in August 2022.
Cara Browning joined as affiliate digital marketing manager in May 2022.
Catherine Williams joined as brand marketing head in May 2022.

UO's target demographic: Gen-Zers & millennials

The company will likely:

Ramp up ad spend & promotional activity
Invest in new & experiential marketing methods
Hire additional agency assistance

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

YTD spend: UO spent around $19.5k on national TV ads YTD.
Last year: It did not allocate any budget toward this channel in 2020 or 2021.
2022 ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as Maleficent [Movie], The Incredibles [Movie], Family Guy, Ghostbusters, and Decorating Disney: Halloween Magic.

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

YTD spend: UO spent nearly $6m on digital display ads YTD.
YTD data: 752.2m impressions via Instagram (57%), Facebook (31%), desktop display (7%), mobile display (3%), and desktop video (2%).
Last year: Full-year spend jumped from $2.9m in 2020 to $6.7m in 2021.
Ad location: It placed 99% of these ads directly onto sites such as instagram.com, facebook.com, bustle.com, youtube.com, and retailmenot.com. It placed 1% of these ads indirectly through Google AdX+AdSense onto sites such as yourohiovalley.com, yellowbot.com, yardbarker.com, yahoo.com, and xovain.com.

Additional channel insights

UO also invests in OOH and print.

Agency analysis:

Opportunity: The recent DM shifts could lead to agency shifts.
- Reach out to UO's marketing leaders to see if you can persuade them to use your services.
- I recommend offering digital, social media, & experiential assistance.
Current roster:
- Axiom Marketing Communications: PR
- WebLinc: digital (Free People)
- In-house: creative & media

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Kantar.

Gen-Z, Millennial Media Opps: Urban Outfitters targets younger consumers, plans to increase spend (Score 36)

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