During the Q1 earnings call, Ascena CEO David Jaffe announced that Sara Tervo has been appointed CMO for the struggling Justice brand.
This CMO appointment comes after a tumultuous year for Justice’s marketing department, but perhaps, the dust has finally settled. Tervo joins Justice from Victoria’s Secret, where she has been SVP of marketing for the PINK brand since 2010.
Justice is primarily focused on regaining lost audiences and increasing marketing efforts on digital and mobile channels moving forward.
Additional Insights
Opportunity
Justice’s marketing department has undergone a number of changes this year. In September, DailyVista reported that Rosa Zeegers was CMO, but now we have learned that Robyn Lintner has been promoted to VP of marketing for Justice.
In this role, Lintner oversees marketing, including brand strategy and operations for Justice. Lintner previously served as director of marketing operations for Tween Brands and has been with the company for more than 10 years.
Normally, a long-term employee’s marketing promotion doesn’t signal big changes, but Justice has been “rearchitecting” marketing and promotions this year. Also, Lintner is well-past the average CMO tenure (48 months), meaning she’s more likely to review strategy and vendors, especially given Justice’s recent struggles and the arrival of new CMO Brian Lynch.
Competitors
Walmart and Target hold the number two and three places in the tween market respectively, with Kohl’s coming in fourth. The mass retailers are Justice’s biggest competition as other tween and teen specialty brands, such as Aeropostale, Delia’s and Abercrombie, are facing similar sales declines.
Target Audience
Today’s tweens are more technologically-savvy than ever before, so pushing into those channels should be on the horizon. Plus, younger moms who shop for their tweens are some of the biggest digital, mobile and social media users.
Prospecting Forecast
Since holiday campaigns are likely planned out already, look to spring 2016 for available advertising dollars. It’s also worth noting that Justice handles marketing in-house, according to The List.
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