OUGD601 - Research - Brand/ Story

Brand / Story by
J H Hancock

Hancock, J. (2009) Brand/story. New York: Fairchild Books

Notes:

- Fashion Branding defined as "the cumulative image of a product or service that consumers quickly associate with a particular brand; It offers an overall experience that is unique, different, special and identifiable"
- Branding is also "a competitive strategy that targets customers with products, advertising and promotion organised around a coherent message as a way to encourage the purchase and repurchase of products from the same company"

-The advertising medium, context, and style should reflect the brand
 > for luxury items, creating high-quality print advertising for a product leads to a perception of superiority in fashion and quality
- The designer name, brand image and marketing strategy make the product appear unique to various markets
- Fashion branding is the process whereby designers, creative directors and retailers etc give fashion garments a unique identity
 > creating a clear vision and strategy for a company

- In their book Storytelling: branding in practice, Klaus Fog, Christian Budtz and Baris Yakaboylu describe storytelling as the means for creating a brand
- Storytelling process relies on the ability to make an emotional connection through its brand and to build target markets
- Fog et al. believe that a brand reaches full consumption potential when it makes an emotional connection with consumers
- Fog et al. also describe how advertising reflects the message, conflict, character and plot

Context, Consumers, and Meaning

- Jean Hamilton writes an article on "The Macro-Micro Interface in the Construction of Individual Fashion Forms and Meanings"
- Hamiltons theory suggests that, through storytelling, a context is created to entice consumers to repurchase mass-produced items
- Macro arbiters influence the micro-level meanings that consumers associate with their personal products

Negotiations with Self  (Micro) > to Negotiations with Others > to Fashion System Arbiters > to Cultural System Arbiters (Macro)

The following list includes the cultural and fashion system arbiters (macro) who underline this process:

- Designers and product developers
- Fashion ideas created by designers and product developers
- Interaction between designers, media, producers and distributors
- Trends in the cultural systems that may influence e.g. Eastern Religions, art, films, literature

- She goes on to say that fashion garments carry no meanings, it is the arbiters who give them meaning through context and/or display

- In his article " Texture and Taboo: The Tyranny of Texture and Ease in the J. Crew Catalog," Matthew Debord discusses the relevance of J. Crew's reinvention of mail-order catalogue sales in the postmodern era.
- By creating retail catalogues that depict hyperreal lifestyles, J. Crew entices consumers to purchase basic products that they probably already own.
- According to Debord, the catalogue has become a work of art that creates an aura of exclusiveness and allows consumers to shop from the comfort and privacy of their own home.
- The catalogue has created lifestyles that are fantasised and almost surreal
- What is significant about Debord's contextual analysis is his ability to recognise a retailer's talent to create meanings and fantasy associated with mass apparel for selling consumers
- Debord takes an art critic's view when discussing J. Crew's contextual marketing techniques
 > he does not admire the company's ability to generate revenue by creating a totally fantasy lifestyle advertising campaign
- Using a cultural context, the company attaches meaning to its products through the technique of brand/ story

Cultural Branding Through Fashion

- Cultural branding addresses the individuality of the consumer
- Douglas B Holt's concept of cultural branding is branding "derived from brands that have spun such compelling myths that they have become cultural icons"
- Cultural branding applies particularly to categories in which people tend to value products as a means of self-expression
- According to Holt, cultural activists and individuals study popular culture and then develop successful brands
- Brands are assembled through cultural knowledge rather than worrying about traditional consumer research
 > instead of analysing numbers, they come to understand individuals in their cultural context
- This cultural knowledge is developed in the following ways:
 > Examining the roles of major social categories of class, sex, gender and ethnicity in identity construction
 > viewing people holistically, seeking to understand what gives their lives meaning
- To succeed, a cultural brand must reflect an appropriate market
- They must also be consistently reinvented when the market place changes as a reflection of popular culture
- Successful fashion brands become attachments to the customer's lifestyle
 > as a result, the consumer does not feel like a member of mass population, but rather as unique and special
- Ralph Lauren's various divisions reach various cultural markets while reflecting a consistent Ralph Lauren brand message
- Vera Wang has used the cultural institution of marriage to turn her company into a conglomerate that demonstrates understanding of her target market as well as the needs of individuals
- These brand have become what Holt calls iconic fashion brands, which develop culturally contextual stories that consumers can understand and embrace
> this is what makes them successful.