Branding Task 2.

Topshop

Brand strategy
The overall atmosphere of the store is buzzing with colour and vibrancy. The displays are funky and eye-catching; the wallpaper is girly and floral with childlike drawings of London, giving a playful feel. It truly is an amazing experience! However when I first visited the store, I felt like I had be subjected to ‘image overload’, there was just so much to look at I didn’t know where to start, when I did find what I was looking for, there was so many different versions, I felt spoilt for choice and found it impossible to make a decision! Saying this I totally credit their wide range of merchandise, it is always up to date and on top of the latest fashion trends. Arcadia and Topshops target is to be Britain’s biggest provider of young fashion, which so far they have achieved by catering for all types of fashion groups, (such as punk, rock, gothic, trend, BoHo, Vintage, glamour ect.)

Brand proposition
Products sold in Topshop range from, dresses, tops, knitwear, jackets/coats, jeans, trousers, shorts, skirts, leggings, playsuits, shoes and most stores sell Kate Moss’ collection. However, the flagship store situated in Oxford Circus hold more unique garments. And smaller boutiques invest their products in Topshop.
Topshop Oxford Street is the world's largest fashion store and is also the home of the brand's flagship store. Topshop on Oxford Street offers many services to its customers such as a nail bar, a one hour tailoring service, a hair salon by famed catwalk hairdresser Daniel Hersheson, and a one hour delivery service whereby customers can place an order to the store and their products will be delivered by Vespa scooter to them within one hour, providing that they live in the delivery zone. Topshop also houses an EAT sandwich bar. So when shoppers want to have a break, there can, and then finish off indulge themselves in Topshop luxury goods. Topshop Oxford Circus attracts around 28-30,000 customers each day.

Brand expression/communication
Topshop when it comes to brand expressions and communication is on the ball. Not only are the cloths fully labelled up with Topshop tickets, they give out bags with Topshop written all over. Not to think about the steady positioning in the flagship store.

The 3 final slogans.

Final Posters for POSH.

Logo

Target Demographic Video's

Target Demographic

Bathroom Graduate (video 1)
What Would I Sell Them? A digital radio
How? Advert in free press (London Lite/Metro) or radio advertising
What Messages would I send? Better quality sound & simple to use

Getting Ready Graduate (video 2)
What Would I Sell Them? A better value mobile contract
How? Direct mail/ radio advertising/ tube ads
What Messages would I send? Unlimited text messages

Pre Friday Graduate (video 3)
What Would I Sell Them? A mobile with MP3 player/radio
How? Online advert (Amazon)
What Messages would I send? Everything you need all rolled into one

Weekday Eve Graduate (video 4)
What Would I Sell Them? A DVD
How? TV advert/ magazine advert (style/heat)
What Messages would I send? Staying in is the new going out

Work School Graduate (video 5)
What Would I Sell Them? Gig tickets
How? Internet / local radio advert
What Messages would I send? Easy to book, for one night only

Bathroom Party Girl (video 6)
What Would I Sell Them? Blonde shampoo (in nice packaging)
How? Promotional voucher in paper
What Messages would I send? Sexy hair for everyday (free bag on every purchase)

Bedroom Party Girl (video 7)
What Would I Sell Them? Wind down CD
How? Internet/radio advert
What Messages would I send? Separate yourself from the fast moving world

Pre Friday Party Girl (video 8)
What Would I Sell Them? Raving Glow sticks
How? Bus stop/ tube adverts
What Messages would I send? Stand out in the crowd, lasting all night long

Travelling Party Girl (video 9)
What Would I Sell Them? Oyster / student 3rd off travel card
How? Bill board advert/ outdoor
What Messages would I send? Save money on travel

Travelling Professional (video 10)
What Would I Sell Them? A portable TV with radio
How? Advert in The Times
What Messages would I send? TV and radio anytime anywhere

Bathroom Professional (video 11)
What Would I Sell Them? Electric toothbrush
How? Train adverts/local radio station adverts
What Messages would I send? Save time in morning/ long lasting fresh breath

Getting Ready Professional (video 12)
What Would I Sell Them? Children play pen – educator
How? Local radio / train adverts
What Messages would I send? Keeping your children occupied and educated

Shopping Professional (video 13)
What Would I Sell Them? Online food shopping service
How? Sunday times/ Weekend supplements
What Messages would I send? Weekly shopping delivered straight to your door

Weekday Eve Professional (video 14)
What Would I Sell Them? Bath time toys and bed time story books
How? Train/ outdoor adverts
What Messages would I send? Extra bonding time with your children

Luella

Comp shop group exercise
Luxury designer market
How does the brand add value?

POSH poster

POSH voucher

Slogan

"That filthy habit

just became posh"

Photo Shoot on a Sunday afternoon.

I thought it would be interesting if I designed a poster for my new brand 'POSH'. So i grabbed a few family members and asked them to dress up as smart as they possibly could. I took numerour amounts of pictures of them in all different possitions and imported them into photoshop. Im not 100% sure what i want my poster to look like yet. I have so many idea's going through my head. As my product is called Posh, i was thinking it would be affective if i used a famous hotel on Park Lane i.e The Hilton or Savoy hotel as a background to my poster. In my opinion, i think that designing a poster is a good idea because i can copy it into magazine articles, billboards, back of taxi adverts, tube adverts etc.

In a previous lectures, Jon Kitto raised the question 'what will the packaging look like?' which got me thinking and admiring other brands packaging. I think that this is important because it can start word of mouth advertising. And if you are clever with it, the public will start to catch on to the brand and reasurch into the company.

The 4 C's

The table above shows the 4 C's (communication, credibility, cost and control) and how effective they are on different mediums. It appears that TV had a low accurancy in terms of flexability, targeting and control. But high interactions and cost. Radio had a medium/low accuracy throughout. Cinema and Internet are good at interacting and controlling.

Packaging. Im a visual learner.

I developed POSH Sugarfree Mint Chewing Gum as when researching the chewing gum market I found a potential gap for the product. I realised that "nearly half of all 45-54 year olds chew gum in the UK", but there wasn't very many products out there aimed for them, but more for the younger generations such as Tridents alternative flavour combinations, which can also be seen in Wrigley's products as well. There is room for competition and a new brand.

Researching further into this market, I saw a huge gap when looking into more upmarket shops and stores. When looking in Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser, Marks and Spencers and other stores such as these I noticed that they did not sell chewing gum, but just simply mints. The reason for this I believe is that this part of the potential market find it perhaps rude to chew gum as it is socially unacceptable and there is a negative view on it.There was a potential for a product which is not being sold on this market to make profit and be successful. This is where the idea came from. To develop a POSH chewing gum which could be acceptable due to the brands message.Sugarfree Mint Chewing Gum. It's Never Been More POSH"

The overall concept of the packaging and promotion is to in a way "take the mick " of this audience, in the way that they act and speak and behave. This is where the idea of the straplines on the packaging came from. The P.S. explaining that this, chewing gum, was infact a filthy habit which was now acceptable among this market!

The packaging had to add a substantial amount of value in order to please the target market. I looked into brands that I thought already appeal to them such as Green and Blacks Chocolate, Divine Chocolate, and Dorset Cereals for inspiration. I choose black and gold as this seemed to be a popular choice among packaging, and to me stated exuberance, elegance, desire and ultimately looked POSH. It is over the top you could say, with the individually wrapped gum, and the duel sliding opening technique, to keep in line with the taking the micky attitude and message that I developed the brand to have. It is a dry sort of humour that I felt would appeal to the market.

Tom Cruise we say?

Tom Cruise the brand.

Tom Cruise the brand is seen today as cool, stylish and sophisticated. Being married to Katie Holmes and hanging out with the Beckhams is not what we call an average lifestyle.

Cruise’s increasingly visible dedication to the controversial beliefs that accompany Scientology has produced brand instability and disastrous results. Most recently, on June 25, the German Ministry of Defense announced that “it did not want him to film United Artists’ upcoming WWII movie Valkyrie at the country’s Bendlerblock war memorial” because, according to ministry spokesman Harald Kammerbauer, Tom Cruise is affiliated with a cult.

POSH

Over the weekend, i have been thinking what i want my project to be based on. I have decided I am going to be branding a new exclusive chewing gum range called 'Posh'. I have started by designing the packaging for Posh (see above)

POSH is aimed at the older, more sophisticated market.

It will be sold in department stores such as Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

So why will it work?

A gap in the market.

The older generation.

A transformation to attitudes and gum.

Differentiation from the competition.

A need for sophistication.

A POSH audience.

'I have never heard of such nonsence'.

Well you have now.

First Day Back

Today was our first day back from our work experience. We had a lecture with Jon Kitto, which i enjoyed very much. It got me thinking about what i want to be?

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Coco Chanel.

My brand is going to be based on 'posh' chewing gum. The new must have product to fill our handbags.

What do i need to start thinking about?

• What bag would this product come in?


• Vouchers


• Posters


• Magazine adverts


• Taxi ads.


• Tube ads.


• What celebrity has it?


• What will the logo look like?


• Will it have a slogan?
  
• What shops will sell it?