The Challenge

Standout in the high street depends on credibility, word-of-mouth and a trusted relationship between brand and consumer.

That’s why H&M wanted to place GQ at the heart of its communications strategy: it would make H&M the ‘go to’ place for its target male, trendsetter audience.

The Idea

By building an ongoing dialogue with readers over a period of time, H&M could create a relationship that engendered trust and confidence in its brand.

The fashion brand teamed with men’s style bible GQ to create an interactive, multi-platform partnership. This included an H&M-sponsored, 56-page trends supplement, with advertising and advertorials for the retailer, to create brand engagement.

Corresponding H&M branded digital content on GQ.com developed the dialogue further.

Plus, GQ’s fashion editor became H&M’s online spokesperson, offering advice and picking his favourite items from the collection.

An exclusive reader event combined a DJ set, drinks and H&M gift bag, followed by GQ-branded ‘key picks’ from the supplement in-store.

The Results

Integrating print, online and retail, the collaboration created highly effective exposure for H&M.

There were a phenomenal 41k page impressions to H&M content on the GQ site, made by 33k unique visitors, with an impressive average dwell time of more than two minutes.

The campaign certainly influenced perception: brand tracking of H&M’s target 18- to 39-year-old male audience saw a 41% increase in agreement with “H&M is a brand I feel connected to”.

And it influenced action too: among those who recalled the GQ partnership, very nearly half (48%) had spent more than £50 at H&M in the previous month.

There was a corresponding rise of 74% in those who had visited the store over the same period.