Certified Hat Person - Melbourne City Hatters
MOCKUPS generated with AI using own ad executions
Strategy
Target Mindset
Style-conscious Melburnians who like the look of hats and are open to experimenting with their personal style, but have yet to wear them regularly.
Problem
The audience likes hats and how they look on other people, but they feel self-conscious wearing them - feeling like everyone can tell that they're not a "hat person". For them, it feels unfamiliar, like they are "trying too hard", being performative or like they are pretending to be someone they're not.
Insight
The truth is that even though it might feel like you're out of place, nobody else knows that you're not a hat person except you.
Opportunity
Rather than convincing people that hats look good, City Hatters can challenge the belief that you somehow already need to be a "hat person" to wear one, and that it’s an identity you need to earn or qualify for.
Strategic Proposition
You don't need permission or experience to become a "hat person". All you need is a hat.
Creative Idea
Treat "Hat Person" like an official status, leaning into the absurdity of needing social permission to wear a hat.
Certified Hat Person
City Hatters positions itself as the authority on becoming a "Hat Person", treating it as an official status that anyone can achieve by simply buying and wearing a hat. The copy is deadpan and instructional, making becoming a "Hat Person" deliberately simple, while the line “Creating Certified Hat People since 1910” uses the brand's heritage to give the joke a sense of authority.
Extending the campaign
Become a Certified Hat Person
Customers come to City Hatters, where a sign invites them to become a Certified Hat Person. Staff help customers find and choose the hat that suits them best before they check out. When they check out, they receive a certificate declaring them to be a “Certified Hat Person”, alongside an enamel badge they can pin to their hat or keep as a memento.
This activation plays into the idea of people not feeling like they’re “hat people”. While nobody actually knows or cares if someone has worn hats before, City Hatters provides the reassurance they feel they need by playfully making their status official. The absurdity of being officially certified as a Hat Person turns purchasing a hat into a memorable, fun experience and gives customers the permission they feel they need to try something new and see themselves differently.
Social Media Amplification
To amplify the existing OOH campaign and in-store activation, Melbourne-based fashion and lifestyle creators (both paid partnerships & UGC), particularly self-proclaimed “non-hat people”, would be invited to City Hatters to find their hat and obtain their Certified Hat Person status.
The content would follow creators as they visit the City Hatters store and experience the activation, spreading awareness and encouraging their audiences to become certified themselves. This would further challenge the belief that someone is simply “not a hat person”, and therefore has no reason to visit City Hatters.
The content would be shared across short-form platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. This would also help strengthen City Hatters Melbourne’s current social media presence, which lacks regular, engaging original content and often relies on resharing content from its distributors.
AI Mock-up of the badge based on own 2D design
Certificate received by customers
Sign outside of City Hatters
Why it works
During research, it became clear that people aren't necessarily against wearing hats, but lack confidence in how they look wearing them. Comments across social media repeatedly expressed the feeling of not being a “hat person”, worrying that wearing one would feel unnatural or that other people would judge them.
By making “Hat Person” an official status, the campaign gives people the permission they feel they need (but don't actually need) to make that jump and wear a hat. City Hatters' heritage strengthens the joke through “Creating Certified Hat People since 1910”, positioning the brand as the authority on determining who gets to be a Hat Person.
The campaign first challenges the belief through OOH, then encourages behaviour change through the Certified Hat Person in-store activation, before the experience is amplified through creator-led social content.