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Lane Bryant differentiates women's empowerment campaign with photo app

Plus-sized women's apparel retailer Lane Bryant is rolling out a new social media campaign to celebrate equality for all body types, and is leveraging a photo application to stand out amongst the abundance of empowerment messaging. 

The apparel brand is encouraging women to start a discussion through social media on how each individual consumer represents the campaign #PlusIsEqual in her own manner. The mobile-optimized platform allows users to upload photographs of themselves to be turned into a digital billboard for the campaign, and shared through social channels to increase awareness as well as increasing engagement with fans. 

"Consumers share content they identify with or believe in," said Ashley McGregor-Dey, senior manager of content and social media at Emarsys. "It is becoming more and more important to create content and campaigns that are highly shareable in order to reach beyond their existing audience."

Digital equality 
Lane Bryant is attempting to shift consumers? view of what average body measurements are, and is working to see more women sized 14 to 34 in fashion magazines. The brand is hoping to assure a positive brand sentiment through the campaign, and is leveraging social media and mobile to drive its point across. 


Consumers are directly interacting with the campaign through the app, and are the focal point of the campaign, which allows Lane Bryant to resonate more with fans and makes them feel a greater connection. 

Fans access the mobile microsite and upload favorite photos of themselves, the brand then generates a virtual billboard incorporating the users? pictures. Consumers can then choose a campaign slogan to be added to the image, and then share it through their personal social media accounts. 

Lane Bryant is sharing various images from the campaign through social, and is prompting users to get involved by posting their own thoughts on the body image including the hashtag #PlusIsEqual. The brand is also sharing information and statistics to get the ball rolling such as 65 percent of women size 14 to 34 feel as though retail industry ignores their needs. 


The plus sized brand is also encouraging users to spread the word of the campaign through the social media trend, in which users change their profile picture to support a particular cause. Lane Bryant designed an icon for the campaign and allows users to download the image to replace as their profile pictures on various social media platforms. 

Social media empowerment
Personal care brand and direct selling retailer Avon's latest empowerment campaign also leveraged social media, celebrities and a mobile-optimized aggregation site to engage customers around the topic of empowering women (see more). 

Also, Pharmaceutical brand Allergan launched a social media campaign encouraging younger women to stay in the know regarding health and wellness, leveraging well-known personalities to better reach the millennial generation (see more). 

"Campaigns exceed when it's about the message and not the company," Ms. McGregor-Dey said. "This campaign is unique because it is about what Lane Bryant stands for and not their products. 

"A dress does not inspire people to participate," she said. "A movement about body positivity does. 

"This type of campaign inspires, persuades, and motivates more than a physical product ever could." 

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer