Champion wins with engaging experiences, both in-store and online

The challenge: Attract and retain young shoppers in the trend-driven athletic and casual wear space.

Champion has been a mainstay in athletic and active apparel for over a century — they invented the hoodie and fanwear featuring school and team logos. While both innovations remain staples in street wear, it has become increasingly challenging to keep this legacy brand relevant in the eyes of young, trend-conscious consumers.

Their 100-year anniversary provided an excellent opportunity to make a splash in their retail spaces. Activations were needed for a wide variety of footprints, in both owned spaces and retail partner locations. 

New in-store activations highlighted the need to refresh and enhance their online shopping experience as well. As the brand’s most important direct-to-consumer touchpoint, the website needed to communicate authenticity, significantly enhance the user experience and increase sales.

Champion needed a partner that could convey the brand’s heritage and authenticity across both the physical and digital worlds. Enter JLL Design Solutions.

Creating engaging shopping experiences

Champion's 100th anniversary campaign, "100 Years for the Team" represented their inclusive nature and was dedicated to celebrating teams across the world. JLL translated this into a series of retail brand moments encouraging shoppers to participate in the campaign, represent their team and showcase their personal style.

Within Champion-owned stores such as the SOHO location, 100th anniversary elements were seamlessly integrated into the environment. Across all Macy’s doors, in-department campaign take-overs celebrated the capsule collection and connected to 100 Years for the Team.

Online shoppers were also greeted with a brand-new experience. Using a fresh and real approach to photography for brand storytelling and product imagery, a simple and intuitive user interface and a seamless check-out experience, the website became the brand’s hub to the world.

Smart and intuitive navigation featured dynamic product galleries and re-prioritized categories based on the very latest search data. Integrated dynamic video and animated content helped tell the authentic brand story. Plus, the entire mobile experience was revamped, focusing on getting users to the shopping cart faster and easier.

Being social to engage team Champion

From a striking Macy’s window takeover on 34^th Street in NYC to larger-than-life social moments in the Champion SOHO store, JLL incorporated engaging activations throughout the physical shopping environment.

That experience extended online, with embedded social-style shoppable content that shows “How others are wearing it” and tips to “Complete the look”. This gave the entire site a very engaging community vibe — making it feel like an e-commerce/social media hybrid.

Extending reach through key partnerships

Because Champion is all about the team, it was natural to leverage numerous relationships to amplify their brand story. From local artists and athletes to major retailers, JLL defined ways for Champion’s authenticity to shine in each collaboration.

In addition to the Macy’s activations, California’s Century City Nordstrom received an out-of-department customization pop-up shop where shoppers could design one-of-a-kind gear for a limited time.

Translating these relationships online, Champion’s website was updated to feature numerous local teams — from motorcycle clubs to soccer teams to alternative sports — with video content and passionate brand stories. The site was also updated to highlight several style influencers who embody the heart of Champion.

Smells like team spirit

JLL partnered with Champion for more eye-grabbing Macy’s windows in 2022 and look forward to racking up more wins with the iconic brand as they move forward into their second century.

Results: High-impact retail activations and a more engaging UX score big.

• Over 3,400 retail locations activated
  
• 7,000+ hourly views of Macy’s NY Herald Square window display for a total of more than 3MM impressions
• Since website launch, both conversion rate and average order value increased — indicators that the user experience improvements are leading to an increase in sales
• Sales rose triple digits every week — million-dollar sales week after week, far exceeding the $20MM annual goal