Millennial Momvertising Opps: The Children's Place more than doubles FY 2022 digital spend YTD as part of strategy shifts (Score 33)

Sales Lead: The Children's Place (TCP) has started leaning into digital-first marketing strategies that have involved a "significant" shift to nontraditional media, per execs in a recent earnings call.

• The company's four key initiatives, which underpin TCP's successful marketing transformation, are its partners, its real-time optimized media measurement, its marketing spend, and its traditional versus nontraditional marketing.
• TCP is working with an unnamed digital media and measurement firm; we will keep you updated as we learn more.
• Right now, the company's marketing spend includes digital marketing, advertising, celebrity partnerships, website creative, loyalty programs, store signage, and print materials.
  • The company's strategy has shifted away from high-cost traditional OOH billboards and email ads to a digital-first acquisition strategy.
  • TCP has also ramped up its investments in campaigns with celebrities and influencers such as musical artists Mandy Moore and the Jonas Brothers (see the video above).
• TCP has experienced an incremental marketing investment in 2023 and will continue doing so beyond this year since these strategy shifts have proven greatly successful.
  • ​​​​​​​In 2019, marketing contributed about 13% of digital sales, but in Q2 2023, it reached more than 20% of digital sales.
  • The focus on digital marketing has allowed TCP leadership to reduce their reliability on promotional activity to bolster digital sales as compared to pre-pandemic times.
• The company will likely:
  • ​​​​​​​Continue digitizing its strategy
  • Pursue additional celebrity and influencer partnerships
  • Continue increasing spend
  • Seek new agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Millennial moms (confirmed in earnings call)

Recent leadership shifts:

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​In order to support these digitization efforts, TCP named Christina Ho as its digital marketing director in October 2022.
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Ho was previously the performance marketing director at New York & Company.

Additional spending insights:

• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: TCP has spent approximately $8.8m on digital ads YTD, already more than double the approximately $3.6m spent in all of 2022.
  • YTD data: So far this year, the retailer has earned ~1.2b digital impressions via Facebook (76%), Instagram (15%), YouTube (7%), desktop video (1%), and desktop display (1%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, TCP spent roughly $3.6m on this channel, around triple the roughly $1.3m spent in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The company utilizes Google Ads along with digital, Facebook, Instagram, and online video (via Youtube.com) ads.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Reach out soon to see if TCP needs creative, multicultural, influencer, experiential, programmatic, social media management, media planning, and/or PR assistance.​​​​​​​
  • ​​​​​​​TCP has shown a high interest in agencies this week.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​iCrossing​​​​​​​: Digital agency partner
  • PlusMedia: Media buying agency partner
  • Where Eagles Dare: Agency partner (Gymboree)

Insight Sources: Digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; agency interest insights by Bombora.