Though the return to school may feel like a distant whisper, marketers are already ramping up activity around the critical spending period. JanSport is among them, having recently launched the second iteration of its “Always With You” campaign targeting Gen Z following a successful first run that led to the backpack maker’s highest-grossing sales day in its 57-year history.

“Always With You” asserts JanSport’s status as a companion for students, with them in hallways and classrooms and as they navigate everyday moments. Strategized specifically for short-form platforms like TikTok and YouTube, the effort follows last year’s playbook by including a series of musical spots that blend the absurd, cringeworthy humor favored by Gen Z with relatable chaos in hopes of stopping them mid-scroll. Beyond back-to-school, the campaign is intended to transform JanSport from a nostalgic legacy brand to a modern-day staple.

“We doubled down on humor and emotional connection with Gen Z while refreshing our product line with the trends that we’re seeing across Gen Zalpha: Bows, coconuts, animal prints, more,” said Lindsay Read, JanSport’s head of marketing. “We’re still that trusted and nostalgic brand, but we’re speaking even more directly in the language of our audience.”

Informed by research indicating that 78% of Gen Z is more likely to share humorous ads and 67% favor authentic content, JanSport’s 2024 campaign highlighted its backpacks as the sidekick to students, who featured in a variety of spots while singing deeply specific, deadpan jingles about moments with their backpacks — from keeping them company in the bathroom stall to providing comfort during a breakup.

This year’s effort offers a different perspective, this time featuring JanSport backpacks as the protagonist. The bags sing and dance in a handful of 15- and 30-second spots that follow them as they fall in love, “rot” without remorse and get packed full of belongings. The effort was created without CGI or artificial intelligence — rejecting adland’s current fixation — and instead utilizes handmade effects, puppetry and original songs written by music shop Mophonics and agency Party Land, which handled both this year and last year’s campaigns.

Driving results

The choice to leverage the same strategy as last year follows positive results, with JanSport having generated a 71% increase in purchase intent and 385% year-over-year boost in engagement within its first month. On TikTok, the campaign helped JanSport achieve a 65% YoY boost in traffic and 24% increase in engagement rates, making the platform the brand’s top-performing social channel.

This year’s campaign, which launched June 16, has already shown signs of growth over last year’s effort, including longer view times, high interaction, positive sentiment and “super strong” engagement metrics, Read said. The brand is also seeing higher engagement rates on YouTube.

Spending among U.S. consumers this back-to-school season is expected to rise 3.3% year over year to over $33 billion, according to Coresight research. Over two-thirds of respondents to Coresight’s survey said inflation will limit their spending this year. However, there has been no signs of slowing for JanSport, Read said.

“We are seeing trends that are beating our forecasts already this year with traffic to our site, so we’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to match the highest-grossing day that we achieved last year this year as well,” she said.

Modernizing a legacy

Though absurdity leads JanSport’s campaign, there’s also a focus on durability, the top sentiment held for the brand, according to Read. Instead of pushing that message directly — and running the risk of losing consumers’ attention — “Always With You” focuses on emotions.

“Consumers are looking for value right now, and we deliver that through having a durable product that can span years,” Read said. “It’s not really just about the products we use, but it’s also about telling the story of it being a companion, a memory keeper and a constant.”

While that story may already be understood by the older generations whose shoulders JanSport has adorned for decades, a broader purpose of “Always With You” is to modernize the brand for younger cohorts while still holding true to its origins. On that front, the marketer in May also kicked off a brand legacy campaign nodding to its roots in outdoor heritage. JanSport was founded in 1967 by three hikers who started the brand to avoid getting a job, Read explained.

“They were the start of being rebellious youth leaders, and ultimately, weaving youth culture through everything we do is how that plays into what we’re doing today,” she said. “Youth cultural alignment is something that we’re always trying to keep our pulse on and stay ahead of, and that’s the homage to our three hippie founders from the ‘60s.”

To grow loyalty with Gen Z, JanSport prioritizes continuous consumer insights, disruption and studying what makes the cohort tick, Read continued. The executive also views platforms like TikTok as a content playground, not just a media channel, measuring success not only by views but also through other engagements like saves, shares and comments. With those metrics in mind — which Read bills as emotional currency — the brand hopes to become not only a practical choice for Gen Z, but the cool one as well.

“Our goal ultimately is to become part of the cultural scroll,” she said. “When a backpack sings and someone comments, ‘I’ve watched this five times,’ or, ‘Put this song on Spotify,’ we think of that as a win for winning the hearts of Gen Z.”