When you think of Pandora jewelry, the first thing that springs to mind is probably charm bracelets. The brand is trying to change that.
Through a new marketing campaign called #TheLookOfYou launched this fall, the Danish jewelry chain is emphasizing that it offers more than just the delicate gold, silver and crystal bracelet charms it’s widely known for, especially in the U.S.
“The brand is solidified in the charm and bracelet market,” said Charlotte Watson, vp of marketing in the U.S. “We’re trying to break through and express the idea of Pandora having variety and other product categories.”
To do this, Pandora kicked off the global campaign in early September with an almost three minute long video based in a London studio. The shoot featured three influencers: American fashion and celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger, fashion director and creative consultant Caroline Issa, who’s also American, and British fashion and celebrity stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray. The trio — who have between 31,600 and 142,000 followers on Instagram — was tasked with styling a young English woman using Pandora jewelry as accessories.
The video, which lives on Pandora’s website and YouTube, wove in shots of the jewelry and the stylists talking about pieces, but the brand wasn’t a main focus, making it feel less like an ad. It’s had more than 469,000 views. “It is a critical part of our communication plan,” Watson said, adding that style is one of the drivers behind the campaign. “We haven’t built up credibility in that style space and working with influencers is a way to develop credibility.”
Pandora also partnered with R&B singer Andra Day and InStyle, for the recent campaign and made another push towards mainstream millennials by being a main sponsor at Coachella, this year. The message appears to have some mild traction on social media: Pandora’s #TheLookOfYou posts have received more than 610,000 likes on Instagram and 10,000 likes on Facebook, according to Unmetric.
As many luxury jewelry brands see their sales slip — especially among younger customers — due to a range of factors, Pandora’s more affordable price points and its millennial fan base keeps its revenue healthy. Diversifying its jewelry offerings has also helped. Its revenue in the U.S last year was $797 million and rings, not charm bracelets, made up 12 percent of its total global revenue. The revenue generated by rings was up 73 percent on the year before, and Pandora is putting a bigger focus on earrings this year, according to its 2015 financial report. Looking at Pandora’s Instagram page, that’s clear. Under the hashtag #TheLookOfYou, there’s a number of free earring promotions.
The #TheLookOfYou campaign and a push into rings, earrings and necklaces is a natural extension for the brand, said Susan Cantor, CEO of the brand-strategy and design agency Red Peak. Cantor said it’s not about shedding the charm and bracelet identity, but widening its scope, and appealing to millennials who desire individuality, is a smart move.
Its latest push to reach new consumers is through a new store in the World Trade Centre’s Westfield mall. While it’s not unusual to find Pandora in a mall, the brand is using it as a test space for in-store tech and creating more of an “experience” for shoppers, Watson said. Housed in a glass pyramid in a corner of the store, a series of individual charms rotates in a 3-D hologram. All staff are equipped with mobile points of sale systems, in place of registers, which can track inventory in the U.S, among other things. The third main feature, a heritage wall, showcases more than 300 charms designed between 2000 and 2016.
Pandora’s hologram in its new World Trade Centre store.
Millennials increasingly expect an experience out of their shopping, said Cantor of Red Peak. “For millennials it’s more about a showroom feel where they can touch, feel and try,” adding it’s not always about the purchase in store anymore. “It’s about a dynamic in-store experience with technology. Then it’s likely they’ll make a purchase at a later date.”