SHENSHI CONTENT STRATEGY CASE:

This case is the basis for assignments. The case is fictional but has appropriate
elements for you to consider as you create content for your own organization.
Shenshi is a popular Chinese mens clothing retailer with over 300 stores (117
owned and operated stores and 194 franchised stores) located in eastern China,
with headquarters in Fujian Province. It was started by entrepreneur Qingqing
Wang (English name Michael) in 2004 and has grown rapidly. The word Shenshi
translates to gentleman. While Shenshi has flagship stores in some of the major,
tier 1 cities where the competition is intense and the fashion culture is strong,
the majority of stores are located in smaller tier 3 and tier 4 cities.
Shenshi practices fast fashion, which was pioneered by international chains such
as Zara and H&M. Shenshi designers observe the latest fashion trends and create
their own versions of those designs. Their designs are not exact copies of other
brands, but have a similar look and style as the leading fashion houses.
Fast Fashion and Manufacturing
Mr. Wang has close relationships with clothing factories that can quickly take a new
design and produce a batch of products, which are then express-shipped to the
stores. The quantities produced are limited, which is okay because Shenshi
consumers understand that next month some items may not be available because
they may be replaced by new ones. This rapid turnover of styles creates a cuttingedge feel for the brand and compels customers to buy it now because it might not
be available tomorrow.
Early on, Mr. Wang began to consider that this rapid design, manufacture and
deliver approach was a capability that he could use to create clothes for cultures
and countries far from China.
To achieve its initial success, Shenshi employed 25 clothing designers and eight
clothing market trend analysts. This is more than most similar firms, but having that
depth allowed Mr. Wang to minimize the time it takes to get new products created
and to market. Shenshi designs can be developed in weeks and brought to retail in
a month.

Focus on Men
To date, Mr. Wang has targeted men because competitors are more focused on
women, which is also a far more complex market. While men may be less fashion
conscious, Mr. Wang believes that the younger age group he wants to reach are
very concerned about their social status.
Values: Making it into the Middle Class
In addition to the fast fashion aspects of the brand, Mr. Wang has been successful
in associating Shenshi with rising into the middle class. Wearing fashionable, trendy
Shenshi clothing is a signal to the world that someone is a rising individual who has
made it into the middle class.
Consumers do not expect their Shenshi clothing to last forever, and expect to
replace them in a comparatively short time. In this way Shenshi quality does not
have to be the highest and prices are much more affordable than more expensive,
well-known, international brands. However, Shenshi does not advertise the
disposable quality of its clothes in its brand communications or advertising.
The result of targeting rising middle-class consumers is that the average number of
products purchased annually by customers is 2.19, which is below other competitor
chains. Consequently, to maintain these low prices, Mr. Wang realizes that it is
necessary to increase his customer base, which will require him to target younger
customers. At present, 64.3 percent of Shenshi customers are between the ages of
25 and 40, and the CEO expects that percentage to rise even higher.
Given the size of the enormous, emerging middle class in China, Shenshis rapid
growth should continue, but it will not be enough to meet Mr. Wangs expectations.
So, Mr. Wang has developed plans to open more than 500 additional stores in the
next two years.
Even that does not satisfy Michael Wang. As noted above, the idea of linking his
Shenshi clothing to middle-class success has worked so well in China that Mr. Wang
believes that it could work in other countries as well.
Hes looked at the demographics and determined that there are growing middleclass cohorts in many developing countries around the world. In addition, in the
more developed nations in North America and Western Europe, there are large
groups of consumers who are struggling to remain in the middle class.
The Shenshi leader realizes that consumer tastes and fashions vary widely in other
countries. Nonetheless, his network of clothing factories can react swiftly to
produce moderate-sized batches of virtually any sort of mens clothing product at
a low cost. In short, Shenshi has the ability to satisfy regional tastes and styles.

Reviewing where things stood, Mr. Wang recognized that he is in a good position
to expand his company both in China and internationally. He believes that his swift
turn-around production capabilities and his insight into his target consumer is a
major marketing and company advantage.
He is determined to focus on brand concept that he has developed. Mr. Wang and
his Chief Marketing Officer, Ms. Guo, wrote a brand positioning statement to
capture the concept of the Shenshi brand:
For younger men who dream of a brighter future, the Shenshi brand of trendy but
affordable fashion makes men feel and appear more successful to others than they
are.
Mr. Wang tells his colleagues that this brand positioning statement will be used to
guide Shenshis subsequent marketing efforts

Past and Future Marketing Efforts

In the past, Shenshi mainly used public relations and events to establish its
reputation and communicate its brand concept. It also started a loyalty program
with a half million members who pay an annual fee to join the program and then
receive discounts. The up-front fee is a way to connect with their better customers
who are committed to buying often from Shenshi.
Members provide contact information upon joining such as their home address,
email address, and/or mobile phone number. Shenshi can contact loyalty program
members directly with text messages, emails, and direct mail. For example, they
will send text messages and emails to members announcing the arrival of new
products. Loyalty program members must show their membership card to receive
discounts. This process tells Shenshi what messages customers received and saw,
whether they purchased, and what they bought.
In the future, Mr. Wang believes that content will be an ever more important part
of his growth strategy.
After surveying his customers, reading Medill on Media Engagement and
deliberating with Ms. Guo, Mr. Wang thinks that three experiences will be
especially relevant to his customers and wants to base his content strategy on
them. The three experiences are inspiration, identity, and utilitarian:
1. The Inspiration Experience makes people believe that they can achieve
things in their own lives.
2. The Identity Experience makes people believe they belong to a group with
similar interests.

3. The Utilitarian Experience involves giving advice and tips to help people
make decisions about their lives.
Shenshi ran a survey that confirmed the importance of these experiences. A
majority of its customers agreed or strongly agreed with identity statements such
as:
1. I like clothes that make me appear successful,
2. I want to be considered fashionable by others,
3. I pay a lot of attention to how people think of my dress style
These three experiences (inspiration, identity, and utilitarian) are crucial to the
brand concept as reflected in the brand positioning statement and are the ones he
wants associated with Shenshi.
For the purposes of this course, assume that you are working with Shenshi as they
enter your own home-country market. Your role is to help them develop a content
strategy that fits with the Shenshi brand and the experiences to which they want
to communicate.

The Assignment
Setup
Assume that you have been hired to launch the Shenshi brand of mens clothing
in your country. Shenshi has a web site as well as a social and mobile presence.
For each of these, Shenshi will need to present content that you will create. Your
assignment is to develop one piece of content and an explanation of it for the
Shenshi brand as it enters your country and as it is summarized in Mr. Wangs
brand positioning statement: For younger men who dream of a brighter future,
the Shenshi brand of trendy but affordable fashion makes men feel and appear
more successful to others than they are.
Directions
The assignment consists of five parts labeled A through E. For each part except B,
you should develop a written response of 100-300 words. For part B, you will
create your original piece of content for Shenshi. It can be a written story,

graphic, or photograph. If you do use a photo or graphic, be sure to include with it

a written explanation of its purpose.
The five parts of this project are as follows:
1. Part A: Develop a persona for a representative of the target audience.
2. Part B: Write or create one piece of content that will appeal to the persona
you established above.
3. Part C: Explain the relevance of the content you created to the Shenshi
brand.
4. Part D: Explain the tone and voice you decided to use while writing your
content.
5. Part E: Explain the media and platform choices that you made to ensure
your audience engages with your content.
FORMAT for submission of Assignment
PART A: DEVELOP A LOCATION AND PERSONA FOR SHENSHI
(100-300 WORDS)
Please post the following:
1. The name of your country (INDIA)
2. Using what you learned, develop a persona for the target audience you wish
to reach. Remember that personas are fictional characters created to
represent the different user types within a targeted demographic, attitude
and/or behavior set that might use a site, brand or product in a similar way.
How would you describe a person in your country that would be a member
of the Shenshi brands target audience?
3. Briefly explain your rationale for creating the persona. How is this persona a
representation of the target Shenshi consumer in your country?

Example
Country: Canada 7
Persona: Alex, a 19 year old male from Newmarket, Ontario, is taking a year off
between high school and college. Although he is not sure what he wants to do and
is unsure about going on for more schooling, he does want to be cool. He is earning
money working for the local branch of the big drugstore chain supervising
inventory. He wears his own clothes to work (no uniform) and he wants to be viewed
as a professional as he likes the work and wouldn't mind getting a position there

full time for a few years as he knows he could do the job of his direct manager.
Explanation of the persona: Alex is an example of a young man who cannot afford
top name clothes, yet believes in his ability to work hard to better his position with
a company while looking professional and groomed.
PART B: YOUR CONTENT FOR SHENSHI
Note: As it was explained above, if your content submissions for Shenshi is written,
it should be 100-300 words. Or in place of a written submission, you can create an
infographic or a photographic story or a video. If you choose to submit something
other than written content, be sure to include a short written description with it so
your peer reviewers have a clear picture of what you intended with it.
Using the persona you described above, create one piece of content that will
appeal to your persona who might wear Shenshi clothes and who plans to succeed
in the work place. This could be a written story, infographic, photographic story or
video.
The theme of the content should be about a facet of the workplace or his life that
your audience would find engaging and represents the Shenshi positioning. An
example might be how he can manage his boss or how he can be more
successful working in a team. The content could also be about the lifestyle that
your persona is looking to gain after proving himself professionally. Please include
a heading with your content as it would appear in print or on the Shenshi
website/mobile app.
Your content should embody the three experiences that Shenshi wants the target
audience to identify with as they live their lives:
1. The Inspiration Experience makes people believe that they can achieve
things in their own lives.
2. The Identity Experience makes people believe they belong to a group with
similar interests.
3. The Utilitarian Experience involves giving advice and tips to help people
make decisions about their lives.
These three experiences are the ones Mr. Wang wants associated with Shenshi and
are crucial to the brand concept as reflected in the brand positioning statement.
The maximum file size for attachments in Part B is 10MB. Accepted file formats are:
txt, png, jpg, gif, pdf. 8

Example
Do you get ahead in business by working hard or by being in the right place at the
right time?
Some people work hard all the time yet never seem to get noticed outside of their
department. Some people seem to have the best luck and get assignments that
make them stand out in an organization. There are others who figure out how to
chat with the one person who will remember them and recall the name when
promotions are being considered.
So is getting ahead a matter of effort or of luck?
Both!
You need to work hard, contribute to the department and team. You need to have
a good attitude and be willing to undertake tasks. But you also need to be aware of
the larger organization and make an effort to ensure you know others from different
departments. What we called luck earlier may be a result of devising a strategy for
your personal development. So now is the time to create a goal plan for yourself.
Consider your strengths and your areas to develop. Think ahead: where do you want
to be in a year or two? What skills do you need to advance? How will you get those
skills? What people would it be useful to meet and gain insights in order to learn
from others?
Think ahead while working hard now. You can challenge yourself today and for the
future.
Why is this an appropriate example? Alex from Canada wants to be considered a
professional and this is content directed at him while he is planning to advance in
his company.
PART C: RELEVANCE TO THE SHENSHI BRAND
(100-300 WORDS)
Think about the strategic relevance of the content you have created and how it will
fit into Shenshis plan to expand into your country (INDIA). Remember, an
organizational strategy is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major goal
and is intended to have lasting power of over a year.
1. Theme: What is the purpose/lesson of your content?
2. Brand relevance: How will this content help the Shenshi brand to succeed in
your country?

PART D: SHOWCASE YOUR CHOICE OF TONE AND VOICE

(100-300 WORDS)
Voice conveys the persona of the writer. The voice that readers hear in your
content should be a kind of personality. Tone is the mood of the writers voice.
Tone gives a writing voice nuance and depth.
1. What tone and voice did you use in your content to draw in your target
audience and why?
PART E: PLATFORM AND DESIGN
(100-300 WORDS)
In todays traditional media and digital media world, it is important to remember
that content is best delivered in ways that utilize the strengths of the various
platforms available to present your media product. When we use the term media,
we are referring to the type of production used to tell a content strategy story. That
could be photographic or video images, graphics, audio or text. Platform is the
contents destination: mobile, tablet, or wearable device, for example.
Graphic design choices are also important because design should be appropriate
for the tone and voice of a brand. Choices of type and color add authenticity and
convey trust and credibility while also keeping the attention of the audience.
2. How do you plan to use different types of media to utilize the various aspects
of this content?
3. How will you design it to look and feel?