OUGD601 - Synthesis

 The conclusion of the essay outlined that with every successful fashion brand comes a consistent and instantly recognisable branding campaign. As well as aesthetics such as logos, styles and the clothes themselves, these branding campaigns aim to play to the consumer’s emotions, thoughts and memories. The practical outcome that came from this conclusion included using Bape as an existing lifestyle brand and one that is described in detail within the essay. The focus was the recent store opening in Paris and the outcome was an exclusive event launch pack. The pack includes a small-scale editorial that features photographs from the event that was given to attendees. The small booklet acts as a physical memory of the event as well as an exclusive collectable. The publication, therefore, supporting the statement that brands aim to create memories for the consumer.

Another key point concluded from the essay is that lifestyle brands aim to target all aspects of a consumer’s lifestyle. In the past, this has come in the form of branding completely obscure merchandise items such as toilet roll and fishing hooks. By producing these items, the consumer will be reminded of the brand throughout everyday life. Informed by this was the decision to brand a pack of toothpicks using the Bape Paris imagery and logo. The item is only available to people who attended the exclusive launch and means that, with limited numbers produced, it will also become a collectable amongst streetwear fans, especially Bape’s committed followers. With exclusivity and limited availability playing key roles in Bape becoming the lifestyle brand that it is considered today, producing merchandise that is both of those things supports the research and conclusion of the essay.

As well as using emotion, memory and merchandise, the other important means of lifestyle branding mentioned in the essay is social media. Social media applications such as Instagram and Twitter allow brands to share and spread their story to a global audience in a matter of minutes. These apps are also used by most consumers on a daily basis and so brands can be sure that their target audience will most likely view their content at least once a day. This, therefore, informed the decision to redesign Bape’s Instagram feed for the purpose of taking the viewer’s focus off of the clothes, and promote the event put on for the store launch instead.

To sum up the link between the essay and supporting practical investigation, the aim has been to demonstrate a range of different branding techniques used by a fashion brand that takes some of the focus off of the clothes and earns them the ‘lifestyle brand’ status.