Those in the Know, DFO - the thinking behind DFO’s recent refresh

25 March, 2024
Danielle Sita and Martine Criswick stand in front of a pink wall featured in the new DFO brand campaign
The team behind the Those in the Know, DFO brand campaignCredit: Vicinity Centres

DFO launched its new marketing strategy with the Those in the Know, DFO campaign early in 2024.

The campaign repositioned DFOs as go-to destinations rather than cheap places to transact, using colourful and a fresh tone of voice to better engage shoppers and encourage a stronger emotional connection to increase spend and frequency.

Rebranding one of the most recognisable shopping precincts brands in Australia, is no mean feat, especially considering the integral role DFO plays in Vicinity’s strategy.

At the heart of the campaign is Head of Brand, Marketing, and Experience, Martine Criswick, and DFO Brand Experience Manager, Danielle Sita. Experienced marketers with a deep understanding of DFO and the role it plays in the broader Vicinity portfolio, Martine and Danielle share the inside story of how the rebrand came to life.

Remind us what DFO is and how it’s grown over the past decade or so?

DFO is Australia’s leading outlet shopping brand, housing the best local and international brands, at the best prices.

As a portfolio, DFO has continued to evolve in response to customer needs over the last 10 years.

The portfolio itself has expanded with notably the greenfield development of DFO Perth and the Uni Hill acquisition and rebrand in Melbourne’s northeast.

The DFO product has evolved to focus on strengthening our premium and international brand offer as well as sports and athleisure categories.

Where once outlet shopping meant dump bins and trestle tables, DFO is now a more elevated shopping experience with some of our centres offering premium malls and guest services.

How has the DFO customer evolved in recent times?

We began this project by conducting consumer and market research to determine DFO portfolio, retail landscape and customer behaviour changes over the past five years.

While customers have become savvier with their money and their consumption of products, they are undoubtedly flooded by sale fatigue – there’s always a big sale somewhere!

As a brand, we were challenged to deliver a high involvement strategy which both asks and delivers more to our customers, to strengthen our customers emotional connection to ensure we remain engaging and relevant.

You’ve just launched a refresh of DFO branding. What was the objective for this at the start? What do you hope to achieve?

Our strategy is heroed around high involvement retailing – DFO is more than just great brands at great prices, our Centres are playful havens of value and discovery.

Our objective was to create greater brand awareness and a deeper connection with our customers. To that end, our fresh proposition tasks customers to embrace and explore this evolved way of shopping to master expression, skilful shopping, and timeless style.

DFO advertising banner featuring a woman in a yellow dress laughing while sitting on a pink seat with the tgaline paying full price. Never. Shopping around. Clever
Those in the Know, DFOCredit: Vicinity Centres
You’ve targeted a few key themes in the branding, what made you go for these?

Our refreshed position is centred about three key messages that cement to our customers that DFO has;

• The best brands

• The best prices

• The best experience

The playful tone is designed to spark interest, Do You DFO? Born from the idea that DFO is less a destination and more a behaviour or skill - our customers don’t go to DFO, they do it.

To DFO is a secret skill known to a discerning few who are spilling beans on how it’s done. Our main tagline is a friendly invitation to new shoppers and a sense of belonging for our loyal tribe of existing shoppers; Those in the Know, DFO.

The creative is vibrant and fun – where do you start with pulling something like this together?

Our new creative is an evolution of what DFO has always meant to our customers, a fun and playful destination for the savvy shopper. This new territory incorporates fresh faces who represent our DFO shopper, a refined colour palette and clever tone of voice, delivered through a new suite of stills and exciting 30-sec motion story.

We had a clear strategy and direction in mind and the amazing creative team at TABOO were able to bring this to life for the brand.

Was there any inspiration for the creative?

The campaign was inspired by our DFO customers, in fact, most of our hero stars are real DFO shoppers!

We wanted the territory to be a true representation of that winning feeling that shoppers enjoy at DFO so who better to get to star in the campaign!

A boy with a basketball sits on a shape with Those in the Know DFO written on it. The background is blue.
Those in the Know, DFO Credit: Vicinity Centres
Do you have a favourite piece of creative?

The hero piece of our youngest superstar (above) encapsulates a true representation of our DFO customer and the winning feeling that our shoppers enjoy when they find the bargain they’re looking for.

How has the campaign been received?

The campaign has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our retailers and customers, praised for its fun and quirky feel that injects vibrancy and new life into our Centres along with the catchy tone and unforgettable new taglines for Those in the Know.

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About Vicinity Centres
Vicinity is one of Australia’s leading retail property groups dedicated to shaping meaningful places where communities connect. It owns and manage some of the most recognisable and loved retail destinations across Australia. From small community shopping centres to world-class destination centres like the iconic Chadstone in Melbourne and Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. Vicinity’s vision is to prosper with our people and communities by creating Australia’s most compelling portfolio of retail-led destinations.
For further information contact:
Corporate Communicationsmedia.relations@vicinity.com.au

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