Pitching for pants
I’ve been asked to help a startup recruit a PR agency partner. Here’s the brief. Let me know if you can help.
UK PR Agency Brief
Skidz: Uber for men’s underwear
About the company
Skidz is the Uber of men’s underwear. We are a marketplace with global ambition for the supply of male undergarments including briefs, boxer shorts and traditional Y-fronts.
Our founders are committed to supporting male mental health initiatives. We are keen that this is reflected in our PR campaign. Life doesn’t have to be pants.
Brand promise and purpose
The purpose of Skidz is to empower men to lead healthy lifestyles and realise their full potential. We’ll achieve this by promoting positive underwear wearing habits and selling fancy pants.
Our goal is to disrupt the market for male underwear and become a global brand within three years. We believe that we have the potential to become the UK’s next unicorn.
About the market
There are 20 million men in the UK. Skidz estimates that men change their underwear every two to three days, making the market approximately 60 million pairs of pants per year.
Women may also wear men’s underwear. This is a niche but unaddressed market opportunity. Limited data is available.
Men and women in a relationship are likely to be important influencers in the underwear purchasing process. We’d also welcome thoughts on the role of mothers in the underwear buying journey.
Competition
Skidz is entering a competitive market. We’re a disruptive Uber-like platform for underwear.
As a direct to consumer marketplace we’re both a partner and a competitor to any underwear manufacturer.
Objectives
Skidz has bold ambition. Our objectives are set out below.
Build brand awareness: when people think pants they should think Skidz
Educate the market of the benefit of frequently changing underwear: we want to grow the pant market in the UK
Influence the influencers in the underwear buying process: we want Caspar Lee and Joe Sugg to unbox our briefs
Drive purchase intent and traffic to the Skidz marketplace: profit isn’t an immediate priority but huge turnover is essential
Capture 30% of the market for men’s underwear within 18 months: we’re prepared to invest and wait a further year to capture the remaining 70%
Create a global community for Skidz building on our previous Instagram campaign #underwhere
Audiences
Men and women who wear men’s underwear
Men and women who influence underwear purchasing decisions
Children who will grow up to be men and women who wear men’s underwear
LGBT+ audience?
Channels and tactics
Mainstream media: national, lifestyle and technology
Social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok
YouTube channel: underwear.tv
Metrics
PR activity will be benchmarked against other activities in the marketing mix. Skidz PR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are as follows:
Reach of 180 million people per month
Advertising Equivalent Value (AVE) of £172 million per month
Budget
Skidz does not have a budget earmarked for PR activity. We’d like an agency to recommend the budget that we need to invest to meet our objectives.
Skidz is seeking to work with an agency that is willing to invest in a long term relationship and grow with us. As the UK’s next unicorn, we’re taking a big risk by placing our brand and growth in your hands.
We’re open to innovative remunerative models such as payment by results - or pants.
Agency relationship
Skidz is seeking a creative agency that is prepared to challenge our thinking. We’re expect to have direct and tough conversations with our PR agency partner. We want to be surprised and delighted. We want a pro-active, can do agency. An agency that chases and harries us.
Timeline
Brief sent to agencies
24 February
Proposals to Skidz
28 February
Pitches (Skidz office)
3 March
Agency appointed
10 September
Post script
If you’ve read this far you’ll appreciate that this is a satirical post and a bid to poke fun at daft briefs. I added this post script for the people on Facebook and Twitter that didn’t. The internet lost its sense of humour some time around 2010 but that’s another story.
