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Brands that dress to impress

Sarah Stowe

Franchise businesses are introducing seasonal uniforms designed to enhance in-store marketing and breathe life into their point of sale promotions.

National franchise company New Zealand Natural is among the forward thinking retailers to recognise the opportunity to use their employees’ attire as a promotional tool.

For instance, the New Zealand Natural team sported gold coloured shirts designed to augment the Golden Manuka Honey promotion running nationally during January and February this year.

New Zealand Natural’s Australian marketing manager, Kim Carlon, says the moving advertisement is an important part of the company’s promotions strategy.

“We introduced promotional staff t-shirts for our Golden Manuka Honey launch because we discovered they work well as moving advertisements in-store,” says Carlon.

“The new gold uniform is a striking contrast to the traditional black New Zealand Natural shirts and features a call to action logo offering customers a free scoop of ice cream.”

Melbourne-based promotional products company, Australian Clothing Company (ACC), is responsible for the smooth implementation of the Golden Manuka Honey merchandise, utilising its 20 years of industry expertise to design and deliver the new look uniforms.

ACC managing director Greg Bisinella can vouch for the benefits of what he calls the uniform billboard.

“For me, the group who best uses their look as a powerful selling tool is Nando’s,” says Bisinella, who believes the organisation has pioneered the use of the in-store uniform as a billboard in the Australian market.

“Nando’s combines current fashion trends with catchy slogans like ‘I make the chicks hot’ and it works, so much so that we at ACC get frequent enquiries from people off the street who just want a Nando’s uniform of their own.”

But Bisinella emphasises that a timely print on the front of a shirt is only a small part of the whole look.

“The best uniforms are not only visually appealing but those the staff feel comfortable wearing and flatter all sizes and body types,” he advises.

“We aim to provide a collection of items that includes one or two staples, such as a t-shirt or polo shirt, and spice them up with accessories like caps, bandanas, visors and shorts.

“This means team members can create their own style and therefore feel good about presenting themselves as the face of the business.”