HERO/ZERO PROJECT

What makes a brand work? What makes it considered a ‘hero’? A diamond in the rough. Well from a communication and promotion point of view it is a correlation between the marketing, brand aims and the product itself. All departments must be clear on the story they’re telling and stick to it. Based on this idea, a brand considered a ‘zero’ must feel very discombobulated. Like all brand departments have been given a different brief and are not working towards the same end goal. 

My group was given the starting point of ‘designer handbags’. Stemming from the idea of what makes a brand successful or not, our hero brand is Michael Kors and our zero brand is Paul’s Boutique.

Now, a bit of honesty. Initially these brands were chosen due to taste. We all like Michael Kors bags and dislike Paul’s Boutique bags. This was a major fault on our parts as fashion communication and promotion students, we must never let personal taste blind our judgement of a brand. Just because a product is not to your likening, doesn’t mean that brand isn’t working successfully in delivering to their target market. A market you may not be a part of.

Once our error was made clear we decided to persevere with the chosen brands but look at their marketing strategy. Through research is became clear that  both brand’s have the same target consumer. Paul’s Boutique list their ideal customer as "between 18 and 27 and is at university or perhaps a young professional working at a magazine, a PR company or a fashion brand/shop". We all agreed that Michael Kors would be working towards the same woman.

So why was it that collectively, we all agreed that whilst Michael Kors was hitting that target market, Paul’s Boutique wasn’t? Our opinion being that we are more likely to see a girl between 11 and 15 hold a PB bag, whilst girls our age were sporting a Kors - 2 members of our group toting a Kors bag that very day.

Our decision was what I pointed out at the start, a lack of unity. Once again, taste must be pushed to the side. For example out of the two adverts compiled in this post, I much prefer the Paul’s Boutique ad. It feels more real whereas the Kors ad has clearly been photoshopped to death. But what fails Paul’s Boutique as a brand is their inability to see themselves for what they are. They are not Kors, Chanel or Dior. So they shouldn’t be aiming for that target market. Own your quirkiness! Be a high street Moschino with their Barbie and McDonalds ispired collections. Be the brand for that girl who knows she wants to have fun and be loud with her accessories. Once the marketing, PR and design team at Paul’s Boutique come together as a unity, they could be unstoppable and possibly be a hero brand one day.

“I think that what I often see is that people are frightened of fashion and that because they’re scared of it, or it makes them feel insecure they put it down. On the whole, people that say demeaning things about our world. I think that’s usually because they feel in some ways excluded or not part of the ‘cool group.’ So as a result they just mock it. Just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress or a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from K-Mart it doesn’t mean that you’re a dumb person. There is something about fashion that can make people very nervous.”

- Anna Wintour

Image Analysis

We all look and absorb images. It is our human nature to try and break down an image in order to validate it within our minds. This means that any advertising campaign must carefully walk the line between overtly obvious and crudely mysterious.

This trick was taught to us in a seminar last week. Bringing in two magazines, one familiar to us and one unknown, we were to pick an image and following 5 steps, analyse it.
Step 1: what is in the image? Literally break it down.
Step 2: what image is it? Photoshoot? Ad campaign? Advertising what?
Step 3: what is in the image but with a little more detail. What kind of sofa? What colour are the shoes? The perfume bottle?
Step 4: what message is the image trying to convey?
Step 5: who created the image? When? For what purpose?

Introduction to Photoshop: Colour Palette

A major part of my university course is the introduction to varying software. Thanks to this training we will be more prepared for many industry based projects than other postgrads.

Our first IT session was an introduction to photoshop. Having only minimal experience with photoshop, the session has proved exceptionally valuable. 

The task was to comprise a colour palette and then think of a brand who’s newest marketing campaign could follow this palette. Due to the deep berry shade I personally thought of a brand with a more sophisticated target market, such as Marks & Spencers or Russell and Bromley.

Found the coolest little magazine shop in Nottingham! Ideas on Paper is a quirky, niche, independent magazine shop I hugely recommend for print media enthusiasts!

Amen!

FASHION ON FILM

A part of my university degree, studying Fashion Communication and Promotion involves watching a fashion film every two weeks. This is a great way of showing us how fashion can be expressed through a different medium. Not just in photography or a mannequin in a show window. I was initially intrigued at this idea. I have always been deterred from fashion films, as they always seemed utterly pretentious and above their audience. The trailers always made me feel that as a viewer, I must have some knowledge of the fashion industry otherwise I would be completely lost and incapable of enjoying the film to it’s full extent. To a degree, this is true. If you do not know who is speaking, the influence of what they’re saying is lost. But it is not as prominent as I first believed, which was a relief.

Bill Cunningham New York by Richard Press

This highly praised, 2010 documentary follows 85 year old Bill Cunningham, as he cycles around New York photographing those he feels are dressing “different” and who inspire him for his column in the New York Times. The day in the life style film tracks Bill from his tiny apartment in New York, of which he and the other residents of the building are to soon be evicted, to Paris where he is honoured for his efforts to fashion. Immediately, the audience warms to Bill. He lives simply but for the extravagant, dedicating his entire life to fashion. Even admitting on camera that due to his devotion to his work, he has never had time for a romantic relationship - something he does not see as odd. Contributors such as Anna Wintour and David Rockefeller, Wintour exclaiming “we all dress for Bill”, praise this little, frail man we see trawling around Manhattan snapping pictures of the wacky and brave. There are times, I found, when the documentary feels a little invasive. When the cameras are taken into Cunningham’s tiny apartment, compact with huge file cabinets of all his pictures, I felt as if I was pushing into a personal space for the inhabitant’s eyes only. I almost wanted to apologise and leave with my tail between my legs. But overall, this film was incredibly heartwarming. You cheer when Bill accepts his award, and want to offer a hug when New Yorkers shout abuse at the random man taking their picture (thankfully, of which is a rare occurrence). I adored this film, and would recommend it to anyone as their first fashion film.

Mademoiselle C by Fabien Constant

This 2013 fly on the wall documentary follows Carine Roitfeld, as she steps down as editor-in-chief of french Vogue and moves to New York to begin her own publication, CR Fashion Book. We follow Roitfeld from location to location, enough to leave your head spinning. Her jet set life is well documented and guest speakers are giving her continuous praise. From Tom Ford, who speaks of her as his fashion other half and Linda Evangelista, exclaiming that Roitfled “is Parisian chic”. Unfortunately, I did not warm to this film at all and was praying for it’s end. Mademoiselle C was met with negative reviews and I can see why. There was just no story. Rich, successful woman leaves a successful job to move onto another which goes well. Along the way she is continuously referred to as one of the highest and most respected in fashion. There was no mention of her journey to the top, beckoning the question, “why should I care?”, Roitfeld coming over almost robotic. There were moments of humility and this came from the former Vogue editor’s family. During filming Roitfeld became a grandmother, and scenes of the fashion icon scurrying around showing pictures of her new granddaughter on her phone was touching. The film also providing a moment of humour with Karl Lagerfeld pushing a stroller containing the new arrival, something exceptionally unnatural to the Chanel director. But the humour and humility ended there. Like others, I just found the film too distant and empty. I felt no warmth to Roifeld and it was more a sense of worshipping a fashion hero than an insight into a working woman’s struggle to adapt into a new position and the job it takes to begin a new publication. Everything just fitted into place, with the fashion elite singing Roitfeld’s praises. No hard work was displayed, just a pretty New York skyline. And for me this just isn’t enough.