Yankee Candle Village: Making Wax Worth the Trip

Submitted by ckwebacct on Tue, 2011-07-12 15:00
The Challenge: 

The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. is the nation’s leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of premium-scented candles. In additional to its 366 corporate-owned stores, the company has a 90,000 square foot retail and entertainment space in South Deerfield, Massachusetts that has been known as the “Yankee Candle Flagship Store.”

When asked for our thoughts on how to increase sales at the flagship store, a place where shoppers and their families could spend an afternoon and enjoy the different attractions, Cashman + Katz recommended re-naming the store so that it would sound more like the destination that it really is. Yankee Candle Village was born.

The Approach: 

As a first step in creating the Yankee Candle Village brand, C+K created an integrated marketing campaign that communicated the special qualities of this place. It is much more than the world’s largest candle store - it’s a place where it snows indoors, is Christmas 12 months a year, and animated musical performances are always going on.

The campaign featured the themeline, “Quite an unusual place.” The advertising was always magical, never a hard sell. Rather than photography, stylized illustrations reminiscent of children’s books were utilized for print advertising and outdoor. Radio spots featured a homespun storyteller who tells tales of the goings-on at Yankee Candle Village. The Yankee Candle Village name and the “Quite an unusual place” positioning debuted with advertising for the 2005 holiday season.

The Results: 

In 2005, Yankee Candle’s former Flagship Store had sales increase 12% over the 2004 holiday period. Immediately following the holidays, the Semi-Annual Clearance Sale, which runs from December 26 until January 16, was running at a 9% increase over 2004.