Millennial Opps: Uniqlo to expand across North America (Score 16)

Sales lead: Reach out to score some of these extra ad dollars. 

• Uniqlo just announced an expansion plan across the US and Canada. 
• It plans on opening 20 new stores in 2024 with a goal to reach 200 total stores by 2027. 
• Uniqlo currently operates 72 stores in North America. 
• It opened its first US location in 2005.

Target demographic: Millennials

The company will likely:

• Keep ramping up spend 
• Increase promotional activity for grand openings
• Review current agency relationships (past average tenure)

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

• YTD spend: Uniqlo spent around $9.2m on digital display ads YTD, a significant jump from $2.7m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 1b impressions via Instagram (44%), desktop video (30%), Facebook (18%), YouTube (5%), and desktop display (4%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend equaled $3m in 2021 and $2.9m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 93% of these ads directly onto sites such as instagram.com, facebook.com, youtube.com, cnn.com, and coolmathgames.com. It placed 7% of these ads through multiple indirect channels onto sites such as youtube.com, cnn.com, nypost.com, dailymail.co.uk, and 6pm.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Uniqlo also invests in OOH. 
• Top podcasts sponsored: Articles of Interest, This Week in Startups, Podcast: The Ride, and Business Matters. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: Droga5 and EssenceMediaCom are past the three-year average agency tenure, so get in touch to see if Uniqlo plans on making any changes. 
• Current roster:
  • Droga5: creative
  • EssenceMediaCom: media buying & planning