Hello! Welcome to my portfolio! I am currently studying Fashion Marketing at UEL, so this is a display of my best work up to date. I really hope that you enjoy looking through and clearly see my vision through out. I have attached my CV near the end for any employers. Sincerely all the best.
Contents
Brand research: Boohoo Campaign Critique Audit for John Lewis
Visual merchandising: Ethereal theme visual merchandising planning
Magazines: Everyday and Asterisk
Brand research
A campaign critique of
A brief background
The brand was founded in 2006 by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane. Boohoo specializes in its own clothing. Originally the brand started in a market stall in Manchester, and is now a ÂŁ3 Billion enterprise. Boohoo owns PrettyLittleThing, NastyGal, MissPap, and Karen Millan.
Who are the customers? The brand is the most popular with millennial women
Collected from YouGov
Situational analysis Finance • Sales rocket 40 % revenue (June 2019 The Guardian Business) • Sales increased 27% in Uk and 56% internationally. • The wider retail market struggles with the shift to mobile online shopping. • Overall Boohoo are performing well financially.
Previous marketing strategies New trends are on the website in under a week. Sites like missguided and Boohoo update their products daily. “Fashion for all� approach is well received offering sizes up to 26 and featuring plus-size models Daily promotional emails are sent to its customers. Advertisements can be seen on other websites like Facebook. Use of slang and youth culture is used as a promotional tool, and hashtags. Flash sales are frequent on the site. Collaborations with musicians often involved in Urban music. Eg: Quavo with Boohooman
Online strategies “Must have mentality” Limited time online timer on site Student ambassador program, the brand sometimes collaborates with high profile influencers like Love Island contenders. For the ambassador program the chosen students must have a good online presence. Categories for specific collections, like “festival shop” cleverly narrows down to what users are looking for.
Public perception The UK-owned fashion brand has received praise in the past for ending the use of Photoshop in images of their models and including plus-sized women on their site. It is often criticised for fuelling high street fashion's throwaway culture. In 2015 Boohoo was featured by Plus-size fashion blogger Nadia Aboulhosn and shares increased by 27% (BusinessInsider 2019) Boohoo received criticism for bodysuit from its customers who mocked it online. They said that the bodysuit looked uncomfortable looking. Sizing issues: Users claim that the sizes affect their self esteem along with H&M Poor quality control: Photos online showing dirty clothing received in deliveries
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About Boohoo’s brand campaign “send nudes” • The fashion brand Boohoo had a controversial email ad in July 2019 banned by the Advertising Standards Agency • The ad used the words “send nudes” alongside eyes emoji, but referred to the nude palette. The model was wearing a beige blazer. • Reasoning for the ban was that it made light of the harmful social trend. This is problematic as their main target audience are young and impressionable 16-20 year olds. The term can be
asked online and viewed as a form of harassment
Brands response Boohoo claimed they meant “nudes”referring to the colour of the clothes and that it was apparent in the email. ASA responded: “send nudes”would connotate a sexual meaning as well as referring to the clothing. Business Insider, 16 October 2019
In the context of an ad aimed at a relatively young audience who were more likely to be harmfully affected by pressure to share sexual images of themselves, we considered that the reference to 'send nudes' was socially irresponsible The ASA added: "Increased pressure to share such photos had been linked to negative outcomes for young people." •The result was Boohoo was warned to not show the ad again. Boohoo’s response "We note the ASA's ruling and recognise our obligations to ensure that advertising is socially responsible"
Why i chose this campaign Because it caused controversy online. Some sided with Boohoo and saw the ad in a humorous light
It appears from the reactions the popular opinion is ASA were too harsh and didn’t see the joke.
Understandably The ASA wanted to protect Boohoo’s young audience from what was seen to be promoted in the ad. Especially the core female audience who are the most vulnerable-and susceptible to the pressures of sending sexual photos online.
However as much as I see the light side of this ad, allowing it would advocate future ads which may overstep the mark.
Visual merchandising
Ethereal women’s wear concept
With the task of creating a window display, I decided upon creating a Spring-based concept with an“ethereal� womenswear aesthetic.
The mannequin might wear a flower hat like this hiding the eyes.
Lanterns/ candles will be used as props Artificial lilies
Mannequin will wear a flower crown
Wallpaper
Mannequins decorated with flowers
Gowns
Magazines The Everyday magazine i created in my first year which is a unisex fashion guide. Asterisk is my most recent magazine which is about subcultures and other related topics.