--- title: How a brand repositioning campaign works, with Trunk Club as the example | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/trunk-club-brand-repositioning-campaign/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/trunk-club-brand-repositioning-campaign/ --- - **Story:** Using Trunk Club as the example, this page unpacks how a brand repositioning campaign is built and measured. - **Why it matters:** A brand repositioning campaign rewards teams that plan against category data instead of guessing. - **Takeaway:** The mechanics of a brand repositioning campaign transfer to any brand in its category. - **Takeaway:** For Trunk Club, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure. - **Takeaway:** Most brand repositioning-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures. ## How a brand repositioning campaign plays out for Trunk Club S Situation The opportunity A brand repositioning campaign is a concentrated chance to move the Trunk Club business in its category, with a short window and high stakes. T Task The job Turn attention into measurable demand for Trunk Club: plan the mechanics, set targets against category benchmarks, and build in the measurement. A Action How it runs Insight before identity. Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. Old Spice moved only after research showed most body-wash purchases were made by women. For Trunk Club, this is the anchor of the plan. R Result The verdict On incremental lift against a baseline for Trunk Club, not reach and not impressions. That is the honest scoreboard for a brand repositioning campaign. ## The math behind a Trunk Club brand repositioning campaign 0% Category figure relevant to Trunk Club Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year Source: [Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) 0% What the public data tells a Trunk Club team Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh Source: [COLLINS](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/) 0% A reference point for Trunk Club forecasting Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those u Source: [AdMonsters](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) Linked Benchmark a Trunk Club plan should cite Every figure on this page links to its publisher. Source: [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) #### Quick facts BrandTrunk Club IndustryIts Category Campaign typeBrand Repositioning Primary channelsPaid, owned, earned Planning horizonMonths ahead of launch Core measureIncremental lift, not reach Source basisPublic benchmarks, linked RGM useWorked example, not a recipe **Honest note** There is limited public campaign detail specific to Trunk Club, so the depth here comes from the brand repositioning-campaign discipline itself, with sourced benchmarks and named example campaigns. No Trunk Club figure is fabricated. ## Defining the brand repositioning campaign First principles, then Trunk Club. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — as a Trunk Club team knows — — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. For Trunk Club, the detail is not optional. It is not a logo refresh. A Trunk Club-scale brief should name this. It is a change in who the brand is for and — and Trunk Club is no exception — what it stands for, executed across product, message, pricing, and media. For Trunk Club, the detail is not optional. Done well it opens a larger market. That holds directly for Trunk Club. Done carelessly it confuses the customers a brand already has. This page applies that definition to Trunk Club. **Claim:** Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year by May 2010 and 125% by July 2010. **Source:** [[Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing]](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/). **Context:** The campaign reached its audience by targeting the female purchaser — for Trunk Club, a real factor — after research found women bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. For a Trunk Club plan, it is the kind of figure that anchors a target. ## How a brand repositioning campaign is run These are the components a Trunk Club-scale team has to coordinate for a brand repositioning campaign. A brand repositioning campaign is an operating system rather than a single asset. For Trunk Club, these parts have to work together: **Claim:** Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh, and Intuit later acquired the company for about $12 billion. **Source:** [[COLLINS]](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/). **Context:** The refresh, built with the design agency COLLINS, repositioned — for Trunk Club, a real factor — Mailchimp from an email tool to a small-business marketing platform. It is the sort of benchmark a Trunk Club brief should cite. 1. **Message before mark.** Mailchimp's repositioning began by changing the homepage line from 'Easy Email Newsletters' to — and Trunk Club is no exception — 'Build Your Brand, Sell More Stuff' — the words shifted before the identity did. Trunk Club would budget real time against this. 2. **Proof at the product level.** A reposition is only credible if the product backs the claim. A Trunk Club team reads this closely. New positioning with an unchanged product reads as spin. For a brand like Trunk Club, getting this wrong is expensive. 3. **Media weight to force the reframe.** Perception is sticky. It applies cleanly to Trunk Club. The new position needs sustained paid weight, often anchored — for Trunk Club, a live factor — by one high-reach moment, to overwrite the old association. This is the part Trunk Club cannot afford to improvise. 4. **Insight before identity.** Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. That holds directly for Trunk Club. Old Spice moved only after research showed — for Trunk Club, a live factor — most body-wash purchases were made by women. Trunk Club planners flag this as a make-or-break detail. 5. **Audience redefinition.** The campaign names a new target and a new occasion. That is exactly the Trunk Club situation. The visual system follows that decision — it does not lead it. A Trunk Club-scale team treats this as non-negotiable. ## The benchmarks that frame the work Read the numbers first. Public benchmarks set the realistic range for a brand repositioning campaign at Trunk Club before any creative work. For Trunk Club, the reference points for a brand repositioning campaign come from public its category benchmarks, not internal optimism. **Claim:** Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those using three or fewer. **Source:** [[AdMonsters]](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/). **Context:** A reposition needs coordinated weight across channels, not — Trunk Club included — a single hero spot, to overwrite an entrenched perception. It is the sort of benchmark a Trunk Club brief should cite. Table: the three numbers that decide whether a Trunk Club brand repositioning campaign is judged honestly. | What to measure | Why it matters | | Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven | | Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one | | Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked | ## The metrics worth tracking Measure what matters. For Trunk Club, these KPIs show whether a brand repositioning campaign actually worked. A Trunk Club brand repositioning campaign should be measured on the following. Unaided brand awareness against the new positioning, perception-tracker shifts on the target attributes, audience-mix change in — and Trunk Club is no exception — new customers, price realisation versus the old tier, and revenue growth attributable to the repositioned segment. For Trunk Club, reach is the start of the measurement question, not the answer. Incremental lift is the answer. ## Where these campaigns go wrong The failure patterns are predictable. A Trunk Club team can design each of them out in advance. A Trunk Club-scale team should design around these recurring errors: - Alienating the existing base faster than the new audience arrives, creating a revenue trough. - Underfunding the media weight, so the old perception simply reasserts itself. - Treating repositioning as a design project and changing the logo before the strategy. - Repositioning the message while leaving the product — and Trunk Club is no exception — untouched, so the new claim has no proof. **The common thread**Notice the shape. None of these is a creative failure. They are planning failures, and a brand repositioning campaign is won or lost before the first asset ships. ## How RGM reads the Trunk Club example For Trunk Club, the value is the model. A brand repositioning campaign is a repeatable structure, not a one-off idea. The audit pattern is clear. A brand repositioning campaign rewards the Trunk Club-style team that builds measurement in from the start. The point is transfer. A brand repositioning campaign for Trunk Club or any its category brand is defensible only when the numbers are planned and proven. ## Quick answers on this case study Is this brand repositioning case study based on Trunk Club's own reported results? : No. Every statistic is a public, linked benchmark for the brand repositioning campaign type, applied to Trunk Club as the example. Where a figure cannot be sourced publicly, it is omitted rather than guessed. What should a team take from this Trunk Club brand repositioning case study? : Treat it as a structural template. Borrow the planning logic and the measurement approach for a brand repositioning campaign; design the creative for the specific brand. How are the benchmarks here verified? : Each figure carries a fact-atom linking its publisher. Sources include Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the Association of National Advertisers, and major business press, so every claim can be checked. **Keep reading** Foundational concepts and channels behind this case: - [what growth marketing is](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/) - [marketing attribution](/learn/marketing-attribution/) - [audience arbitrage](/learn/audience-arbitrage/) - [growth marketing services](/services/) - [advertising platforms](/platforms/) ## Frequently asked questions How long does Trunk Club repositioning take to show results? Here is how this applies to Trunk Club. Perception is sticky, so a reposition needs sustained media — as a Trunk Club team knows — weight over months, often anchored by one high-reach moment. For Trunk Club, the detail is not optional. Old Spice saw unit sales move within a single quarter, but durable perception — Trunk Club included — shift on brand-tracker attributes typically takes a year or more of consistent investment. For Trunk Club, that is the practical takeaway. What is the biggest risk in repositioning a brand? For Trunk Club and comparable its category brands, this is the answer. Losing the existing base faster than the new audience arrives. A Trunk Club team reads this closely. A reposition that swings too hard can confuse loyal — as a Trunk Club team knows — customers before it attracts new ones, creating a revenue trough. It applies cleanly to Trunk Club. The safer path moves deliberately and keeps a — for Trunk Club, a live factor — credible thread back to the equity already built. Trunk Club case: does the product have to change during a reposition? For Trunk Club and comparable its category brands, this is the answer. Often yes, at least visibly. A Trunk Club-scale brief should name this. A new position is only credible if the product backs the claim. That is exactly the Trunk Club situation. Repositioning the message while the product stays identical reads as spin. That is exactly the Trunk Club situation. The strongest repositions pair the new story with — for Trunk Club, a live factor — a real, demonstrable product change customers can verify. A Trunk Club team would plan against exactly this. Trunk Club case: what is the difference between a rebrand and brand repositioning? Here is how this applies to Trunk Club. A rebrand changes identity assets — logo, colour, typography. In the Trunk Club context, that detail carries weight. Repositioning changes strategy: who the brand is for, — as a Trunk Club team knows — what it means, and what tier it sells at. For Trunk Club, the detail is not optional. A reposition usually drives a rebrand, but — as a Trunk Club team knows — a rebrand without a strategy shift is decoration. For Trunk Club, this is the load-bearing part. Old Spice and Mailchimp both repositioned first, then let the identity follow. For Trunk Club, that is the practical takeaway. Trunk Club case: where does a repositioning campaign start? For a brand like Trunk Club, the short answer is direct. It starts with a customer-research insight, not a design brief. For Trunk Club, this is the load-bearing part. Old Spice repositioned after finding that women — Trunk Club included — bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. A Trunk Club team reads this closely. The insight names the new audience and occasion, and every — for Trunk Club, a live factor — later decision — message, product, media — serves that finding. The same logic holds for any its category brand, Trunk Club included. Why is Trunk Club the brand featured here? Trunk Club is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the brand repositioning mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; Trunk Club is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand. ### Sources & references - [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) — Documents the Old Spice unit-sales lift and the female-purchaser insight. - [COLLINS — Mailchimp rebrand case study](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/) — The agency record of the Mailchimp repositioning and engagement lift. - [Brand Master Academy — brand repositioning guide](https://brandmasteracademy.com/brand-repositioning/) — Reference on repositioning strategy, process, and worked examples. - [AdMonsters — integrated campaign contribution data](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) — Multi-channel campaign contribution benchmark. ## Related [#### All case studies The full RGM case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### What is growth marketing The foundational concept behind every campaign type.](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)[#### Incrementality testing How to prove a campaign actually caused the lift.](/learn/incrementality-testing/)