Public Relations Campaign Pitch - Simone Rocha

Simone Rocha Autumn/Winter 2014 PR Campaign

Contents Introduction

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How the campaign was developed

5

Shop Visits

5

Survey

8

Target Market

10

Competitors

11

PR and Communications Audit

14

SWOT Analysis

24

PESTEL Analysis

29

Campaign Goals

33

Key Messages

35

Tactics and platforms

38

Sources

44

Pitch document written by Taylar Powell, Carla Reinhard and Crystal Cordova.

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5 Introduction

How the campaign was developed

This pitch document explains how we developed our campaign for the launch of Simone Rocha’s Autumn/Winter 2014 collection. It provides the reader with a clear understanding of our processes and of the reasons we chose our final tactics. Our campaign is backed up with thorough primary and secondary research, which will be shown in this pitch.

To be able to create a campaign for the launch of Simone Rocha’s Autumn/ Winter 2014 collection that is suitable for the brand and will reach the right audience, we conducted research in different areas. Our research was consistent of shop visits, an online survey, research into Simone Rocha’s target market, competitor analysis and a thorough Public Relations and Communications Audit. With those areas we covered all aspects of the brand to get an excellent understanding about Simone Rocha before creating our campaign.

We believe that the brand Simone Rocha would profit from our proposed campaign and that we would reach our campaign goals of increasing and creating consistency with Simone Rocha’s social media, creating a clear idea of who the Simone Rocha consumer is and raising the brand’s popularity without over-exposure.

Shop Visits As part of our primary research, we visited Browns and Selfridges where Simone Rocha is stocked to get an understanding of what the retail space is like, and also ask what the consumers are like that buy the brand.

Firstly, we visited Browns, and found that Simone Rocha is stocked in the ‘Browns Focus’ part of the shop. This area of the shop retails a lot of young, edgy brands such as JW Anderson, Rick Owens, Acne, and Jeremy Scott.

This suits Simone Rocha well, as Browns Focus claims to be ‘an unrivalled platform for emerging design talent’ 1 and this statement accurately reflects Simone Rocha. The location of the shop is on South Molton Street, Mayfair, which is a very wealthy location with a wide range of consumers who have a big budget to spend on clothing. Therefore, it means that consumers shopping in that area are going to be able to afford Simone Rocha’s clothes.

In the shop, a lot of Simone Rocha’s clothes were on mannequins, however they were at the very back of the shop and therefore it was difficult to see them. At Brown’s we conducted an interview with one of the sales assistants: What is the average of the Simone Rocha consumer?

Late 20’s to early 40’s.

What is the most popular item that people buy?

The T-shirt dress but all her dresses and shoes sell really well.

1: AW 2014

2: Selfridges London

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7 If you could describe the Simone Rocha consumer in three words what would they be?

Very fashion forward and chic. It is hard to think of three as her consumers are so diverse and there isn’t just one type of consumer that buys her clothes.

average age of the consumer being in their late 20’s to their early 40’s. Although Browns Focus is generally aimed at a younger consumer, the Browns store tend to generally attract an older consumer because of their more niche status and stock a wide range of highly expensive and luxury brands that a more mature and wealthy consumer is more likely to shop and afford.

As Browns consumers have bigger budgets to spend, they are more likely to buy the more expensive pieces from the collection such as the dresses and shoes. In addition, Browns consumers tend to be a lot more fashion forward and have a better knowledge of the fashion industry and upcoming designers, which is why they are more likely to also wear more niche brands such as J.W. Anderson and Ashish.

What other brands do Simone Rocha consumers buy?

J.W. Anderson and Ashish.

After visiting Browns we visited Selfridges where Simone is also stocked. In Selfridges Simone Rocha has a considerably smaller retail space with just one rail of clothing that is surrounded by other young fashion brands such as Preen, Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou, Roksandra Ilincic and Roland Mouret. Erdem was also very close to Simone Rocha, which we found very interesting as they have similar design aesthetics. Simone Rocha is located on the second floor in front of the escalator, and therefore it is highly likely that a lot of consumers are going to see and engage with the brand, and hopefully result in a purchase if not just making consumers aware of the brand. We also conducted an interview with a sales assistant in Selfridges:

In addition, Selfridges is a globally famous and well known store that people visit from all over the world which is why a much larger consumer base shops here, with the Simone Rocha consumer in Selfridges being between the ages of 16 to 50. Consumers who shop in Selfridges also have a wider range of budgets, with some being able to afford the higher priced pieces from the collection and some only being able to afford the cheaper pieces.

This is why a wider range of the collection sells in Selfridges, from the shirts which are relatively low cost to the dresses and coats which are much more expensive. Finally, the Selfridges consumer is more likely to buy cheaper competitor brands such as Toga as they don’t always have the bigger budgets to spend, or they are likely to buy a lot more expensive brands that are more famously known such as Christopher Kane.

What is the average age of the Simone Rocha consumer?

We have girls as young as 16 buying her clothes and women that are in their 50’s as well. Young girls will buy her dresses and older women will buy her coats and similar things as any woman can wear them at any age.

What is the most popular item that people buy?

Her jumpers overall but her black and white pearl skirt was really popular and even sold out.

If you could describe the Simone Rocha consumer in three words what would they be?

I would rather not answer that.

What other brands does then Simone Rocha consumer buy?

Toga, for definite. Also Christopher Kane.

After visiting both Browns and Selfridges, it was obvious that two completely different types of consumers shopped for Simone Rocha in each shop. In Browns, we found that generally an older consumer shopped here, with the

3: Browns London

4: SS14 Selfridges Pop-Up

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9 Survey

social media communication, which did not have a wide reach. Our survey also showed that people would invest into the brand because of the quality and the simplicity of the pieces. This indicates that Simone Rocha’s designs are seen as investment pieces. The survey provided us with keywords of what participants associate with the brand and how they would describe the design aesthetic. Asked to describe Simone Rocha in three words, the most frequently given answer was “fashionable”. This shows that Simone Rocha is seen as trendy and contemporary. This might be in connection with the association with the “new UK designer circle”, such as J.W. Anderson.

The answer “John Rocha” was given three times, which shows that people still associate her with her father, who is a famous designer as well. Another popular answer was “good quality” which shows that she is known to produce high quality products. We will definitely want to build on this general view. As well as fashionable, Simone Rocha is seen as unique, which makes it special and different than high-street brands that are just fashionable, but everyone wears them.

The second part of our primary research was an online survey that we conducted. Our aim was to see how well known Simone Rocha is at the moment and what people associate her with. We distributed this survey via the social media channels Facebook and Twitter.

Our survey was constructed to start with demographic questions to determine the age and gender of the participants. We then went into more detail by asking whether the participants are connected to the fashion industry, for example by being a fashion student. To get a clearer idea of potential consumers we also asked to indicate which publications they read regularly.

To get an idea of how well known Simone Rocha is today, we asked the participants to indicate whether they had heard of the brand before and if they had, where from. The next part of the survey covered purchasing from the brand by asking whether they had bought a piece of Simone Rocha before and if they had not, whether they would consider it. This is a good way of learning the reasons consumers buy or in this case don’t buy into a brand.

Following to this, the biggest part of our survey was dedicated to finding out what Simone Rocha is known for at the moment, as this is extremely important to know when developing a campaign. The questions addressing this topic were: If you would buy a piece from Simone Rocha, what would it be? What words first come to mind when you think of Simone Rocha?

Which of these four looks is the most typical for Simone Rocha? (Providing the participant with four runway looks that showed different aspects of Simone Rocha: Textures, Edgyness, Femininity and her use of pink). In three words, how would you describe the designs of Simone Rocha? Have you heard of Simone Rocha’s brogues (a type of shoe) before?

Asked about the most typical look of Simone Rocha almost half of the participants chose a white, pearl-embroidered dress. This showed that the brand is seen as very feminine and wearable, instead of dark, masculine and harder to wear. The most frequently stated word to describe her designs was ‘feminine’ which again reinforces her image as designer who is fashion-forward and feminine. Only a third of the participants had heard of Simone Rocha’s brogues before which caught us by surprise, because it has been a key item of hers in her collections. Analysis showed that participants with a connection to the industry like fashion students were familiar with the shoe. This is an important point, as it showed us that the shoe is known by fashion industry insiders but not by outsiders.

The results we got from this online survey were very interesting and helpful to create our campaign. It showed that still many people have never heard of Simone Rocha. In our survey, more than half of the participants (55%) had not heard of Simone Rocha before. We found out that even participants that are connected to the industry, for example through their profession, did not know the brand. This shows that the general brand awareness is still very low. The most common ways of hearing about the brand were traditional media, such as newspapers and word-of-mouth. This shows that Simone Rocha’s media relations have been very effective, in contrast to her

5: AW14

6: 4 Looks presented to survey participants

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11 Target Market

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When creating a Public Relations campaign, it is crucial to understand whom the campaign is targeted at. For this reason we conducted research to create a consumer profile. Research included analysing her followers on her social media channels. Instagram was very practical for this task as it provided us with a visual overview of the consumer’s life. Additionally to analysing her follower’s profiles we also searched for the hashtag #simonerocha and chose users that showed their purchases, which are her actual and not just potential consumers. As a second step in consumer research we used the information we got from the sales assistants when we visited Simone Rocha’s stockists Selfridges and Browns. They provided us with first-hand information about people who buy her collection.

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Shop: Would buy some clothes and pieces from places such as Net-aporter, but would mostly shop on websites such as The Outnet. Would shop in shops such as Browns Focus, Machine A and Dover Street Market.

Brands: As well as Simone Rocha she would buy brands such as Christopher Kane, Toga, J.W. Anderson.

Role Model: Her parents Style Icon: Someone such as Sasha Luss but she would be very aware and confident of her own style and not necessarily try and style herself like someone in particular.

Music: Haim.

Competitors

Gender: Female Age: 25-40 Occupation: Works within the fashion industry as a stylist, PR or journalist. Very good at their job and well respected. Makes a lot of money Relationship Status: In a relationship Income: £60,000 pa + Lives: In a big vibrant city such as London in an up and coming area of the city such as Hackney. She lives in an apartment or flat with her partner, or alone.

Hobbies: She would be very interested in cooking, especially cooking food from other countries and cultures. She would be very social and enjoy going out with her friends. She would equally enjoy having drinks at a posh hotel bar as much as going to an underground club in east London. She would enjoy travelling to unconventional holiday destinations such as towns and villages in Japan and China. She would enjoy going to galleries and being connected to the art world. She would be interested in indie film culture. She would also like to go to gigs for local up and coming musicians.

Car: Would use public transport but would also enjoy using taxis to get around.

Magazine: Would occasionally read Vogue and Elle but would regularly read magazine such as Dazed and Confused, Lula and i-D.

Based on primary and secondary research Simone Rocha’s closest competitors were determined. Those brands are the following: Erdem, Christopher Kane, Ashish, J.W. Anderson and Toga. The result of those brands comes from research into Simone Rocha’s stockists, price point, design aesthetics and target consumer. Visiting Simone Rocha’s stockists Dover Street Market, Selfridges and Brown’s in London, her placement on the shop floor was analysed, as this says a lot about a brand. At Browns, Simone Rocha can be found in the ‘Browns Focus’ part of the shop, where younger, edgier brands are positioned.

In Dover Street Market, Simone Rocha can be found on the third floor together with brands like Saint Laurent, Mary Katratzou, Erdem, Christopher Kane, Alexander Wang and in Selfridges her clothes are presented in the same area as Christopher Kane’s, Erdem’s and Toga’s. The placement of brands in a store shows which other similar brands their consumers are interested in and buy. It shows that these brands have a similar target consumer. All these stockists positioned Simone Rocha very similar and from this primary research only we can see that the brands Christopher Kane, Erdem, Ashish, J.W. Anderson, Toga and Mary Kantratzou could be Simone Rocha’s competitors, as they have a similar target consumer and a similar price point.

The next step to find Simone Rocha’s main competitors is to compare their design aesthetics, as this is an important point, why a consumer buys a

7: China

8: Erdem AW14

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13 a skirt. Toga, a Japanese fashion brand that showed at London Fashion Week for the first time this season, is established in Japan but not yet in Europe.

The lowest priced brand from the competitors is Ashish which does not go over £500. Ashish Gupta had his first show at London Fashion Week in 2004 and could establish himself as the ‘king of sequins’ since. His collections are stocked internationally4.

brand. Simone Rocha’s design aesthetic in three words would be feminine, elegant and simple. Erdem’s designs are very elegant and feminine, with more prints than Simone Rocha’s. Christopher Kane caters for a young, feminine consumer as Simone Rocha, with a bit less elegance and more casualty.

J.W. Anderson’s design are minimalistic, often working with special materials and silhouettes, as does Simone Rocha. The Ashish range is much more girlie and caters to a younger consumer, but as we have developed from research, Simone Rocha is bought by women as young as sixteen. Toga is less feminine and more edgy than Simone Rocha, but working with combining femininity and masculinity as well, for example with their skirt that has hidden shorts under it. Mary Katrantzou, a potential competitor at first glance, differs too much from the design aesthetic of Simone Rocha and her main competitors.

With her technique of combining extremely feminine shapes with flower prints, she misses the edge that Simone Rocha consumers are looking for in their clothes.

To get an even clearer idea of where Simone Rocha stands in today’s market compared to her main competitors, the brands have been put into a positioning map. The brands were compared in two factors: ‘Price Point’ and ‘Brand Situation’. Brand Situation refers to whether the brand is still seen as upcoming or whether it is already well established in the fashion market.

From the six competitors, Erdem is the most expensive brand. Prices go up to over £3000 for an organza-appliquéd tulle maxi skirt. Erdem is stocked in over 90 stores worldwide Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Colette, Dover Street Market and Harvey Nichols2. The brand was launched in 2005, six years before Simone Rocha and Erdem Moralioglu did therefore have more time to become a well-known designer. With its high price point and international image, Erdem would appeal to the older half of Simone Rocha’s customers, from around 30 to 35. Christopher Kane’s garments are expensive as well, but come in at around £1000 lower than Erdem’s. His label was launched in 2006. Graduating from Central Saint Martin, he belongs to the generation of new UK designers, but has a better brand awareness than Simone Rocha and managed to establish the brand. J.W. Anderson graduated from London College of Fashion in 2005 and launched his label in 2008 with a menswear collection, adding a women’s line in 20103. He is still seen as an upcoming, young designer. The price point of his designs is lower than Simone Rocha’s with dresses coming in at between £600 and £800. The two brands Toga and Ashish are considerably lower priced than the other competitors. A Toga top is available from £195, but prices still go up to £640 for

Compared to her main competitors, Simone Rocha’s position is somewhere in between. Her price point is high, but not as high as Erdems. She is known in the fashion industry today but has not raised as much brand awareness as the more established brand Erdem. With her image of still being an upcoming and fresh UK designer and her high price point, she differs from her competitors and has the opportunity to profit from this gap in the market.

Simone Rocha’s market position illustrated in a positioning map

9: J.W. Anderson AW14

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15 have a more obvious link to the collection, because they already show the invitees one key print or material that was used this season, but they want people to come and see the whole piece or how this material was used throughout the collection. Those two different styles of invitations, either capturing her inspiration or a key garment from the collection communicate different things about the brand. With the garment shots it seems that Simone Rocha wanted to really focus on the materials that she has used in those collections, rather than where the ideas for the designs came from.

Simone Rocha is known for her interesting use of materials, so the choice of those close-up shots is brand-aligned and reinforces this association. It is also a good way of reminding the invitees to look closely at the runway show, that it is not only about cuts and silhouettes but also about prints and the materials used.

Public Relations and Communications Audit To get an overall understanding of how Simone Rocha has been communicating until now, we conducted research into different areas of the brand’s communication. These areas include visual communications such as show invitations and video projects, as well as written communications such as their press releases.

Visual Communication Backstage Since her SS13 show, Simone Rocha has been working with photographer Jacob Lillis who captures backstage moments every season. Jacob Lillis lives and works in London and has shot for Dazed & Confused, Twin, Purple and Bidoun. His photographs are straightforward; they don’t hide anything. He does not try to make something more beautiful than it is, but he catches a moment of reality. Jacob Lillis goes close to the models and the collection pieces. With close-up shots, he focuses on showing the different materials that Simone Rocha uses in her collection. His photographs are often a bit off, as if he slipped and cut the head off a model or only caught half the foot of a girl who was walking around. These special image compositions make the photographs very interesting and different to look at. The close-ups give an extremely good and real impression of the materials used for the collection and make the viewer feel close to the garments as well. The style of photography makes the brand look exclusive and unique, without being overly glamorous. With choosing a local photographer Simone Rocha shows that she makes a point of keeping her brand connected to her home country.

Website Simone Rocha’s website is kept very simple and minimalistic. The main page consists of a white background, her logo on the left and an embedded Vimeo video of her latest collection on the right, that starts automatically when the visitor opens the website. A video as greeting for the visitor that opens the website gives him or her a good first impression of the brand. This main page mainly appeals to visual people who prefer visuals to text to get information about a brand. It invites the visitor to see the runway show, which makes the brand more accessible as it is a “view behind closed doors”. At the top of the page visitors find the page menu that consists of “Collection”, “Accessories”, “Show”, “Backstage”, “Film”, “Projects”, “Press”, “Bio” and “Contact”, at the bottom are two links to their Facebook respectively their Twitter page. The website is very easy to navigate, as it is kept very simple and clean and gives the visitor an overview of the website’s contents at a glance. The layout focuses on visuals to transmit information to the consumer. The only text on the website is Simone Rocha’s biography where the tone of voice is very professional and impersonal, which is suitable for a biography and fits into the website. With their website, the brand shows that Simone Rocha is about good design, creativity and materials rather than about the designer herself. The website is easy to use and provides visitors with all important information and a great amount of visuals so they can get an impression of what kind of brand Simone Rocha is.

Show Invitations Simone Rocha’s aim for the invitations is to have a connection with the collection without giving away too much. The first depicted invitation, Spring/ Summer 2013, does this by showing a place that inspired her collection.

This gives the invitees an idea of the atmosphere around the collection, without showing them any garment yet. The two other depicted invitations, Autumn/Winter 2013 and Autumn/Winter 2014, both show a close-up of a coat from the collection that the invitees are going to see. These images

10: Backstage Image AW14 by Jacob Lillis

11/12: Invitations SS13 (top), AW13 and AW14 (left to right)

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17 Video Projects

the models, instead of them acting for the camera in an obvious way. The music that accompanies the video is a song from the American alternative rock band ‘The Pixies’ which gives the short film a playful and edgy touch.

On Simone Rocha’s website visitors find videos that were produced to accompany her collections from AW10, AW11, SS12, AW12 and SS13. The video for her Autumn/Winter 2010 collection is a behind-the-scenes film of a shoot with the model Dree Hemingway. The fact that a famous model like Dree Hemingway plays the main role in this short film makes the brand look established and cool, since Dree Hemingway can be seen as a so-called it-girl. The connection to the well-established bi-annual art, fashion and feminism magazine “Twin”, where the editorial was punlished also influences Simone Rocha’s image. It reinforces Simone Rocha’s positioning as a brand that caters to creative people that are interested in art and fashion.

The last video that was uploaded on Simone Rocha’s website was produced for her SS13 collection and was filmed by Joe Ridout, a London-based filmmaker who has worked for clients such as Phoebe English and Moschino Cheap & Chic. The video is an edit of the SS13 runway show. It is filmed in black and white and edited to be very blurry and shaky, like filmed with a very old video camera. The music that goes with the video is the song ‘I wanna Be Adored’ by the band ‘The Stone Roses’, a British rock band that was successful in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The combination of the dark visuals and the rock music make the video seem very edgy and hard. It has a completely different atmosphere to it than the three previous videos, which always featured models that radiated a fragile femininity.

The video for Simone Rocha’s AW11 collection is called “Wanderlust” and was shot by American photographer Columbine Goldsmith. On Goldsmith’s website her videos are explained as maintaining a “slightly bizarre and uncomfortable feeling wrapped in beautiful imagery”5 and the viewer also gets this feeling from the video “Wanderlust” on Simone Rocha’s website. The fashion film was shot for the bi-annual arts and culture magazine “Dossier Journal”, which again shows that Simone Rocha is not only targeted at the mainstream fashion market but is also interesting as a niche brand with a strong art connection.

All videos compared, there is no consistency in them, as they have been filmed by different photographers/directors and been produced for different publications. This inconsistency can be interesting because visitors of the website see how Simone Rocha can be interpreted in completely different ways but is also confusing for the viewer, because the videos don’t support a clear brand identity.

The third video on her website, shot for SS12 is much shorter than the previous ones. The setting is a room that is flooded with sunlight, has high ceilings and is painted in white. The camera zooms in on a blonde model, wearing a white dress from Simone Rocha’s SS12 collection. The music is very soft, slow and has some piano sounds in it. All those elements create a very light, soft atmosphere that goes well with Simone Rocha’s SS12 collection.

Compared to earlier videos, this project has been created to have a much softer aura. It feels very feminine and fragile. The director of the video, Niall O’Brian was born in Dublin, Ireland, like Simone Rocha6.

For her AW12 collection, photographer Jacob Lillis, who also shoots her backstage pictures, produced a video for LOVE magazine. The video was shot around the house Simone Rocha grew up in Ireland, as this has been her inspiration for this particular collection. Two models, one male and one female, act as a couple. The video is quite similar to the “Wanderlust” short film for the AW11 collection because it feels as if the viewer just observes

13/14: Website layout (top)

15/16: Video SS12 (top) and AW12

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19 Social Media

It seems as if Simone writes tweets herself, which makes the brand more approachable.

Simone Rocha uses three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On Facebook, the brand has 14,145 likes. The last update was posted on the 13th of March, which means over two months ago. The last post was a photo album with all the looks from the Autumn/Winter 2014 show.

It generated 251 likes and 6 comments, which is a very small percentage of the over 14’000 people who see updates from Simone Rocha on their news feeds. On the 6th of March they posted a link to an article in the New York Times about the Autumn/Winter 2014 collection and a second link to an article on Dazed Digital. Together these two updates generated 104 likes and 4 comments. Besides collection pictures and press coverage, they also post editorials where models wear Simone Rocha designs. The two most popular posts generated 404 respectively 400 likes. One is a shared post from Elle UK in February 2013 with a link to their review of the Autumn/Winter 2013 collection. The second post shows Cara Delevigne in the September Issue of British Vogue. The fact that these posts are by far the most popular ones show that people who like Simone Rocha on Facebook like Elle and see the magazine as a reliable source. It also shows that they are interested in popular culture and celebrities such as Cara Delevigne. This leads us in the direction of an audience that is rather “mainstream” than “niche”. A reason for this could be that Facebook today is not an upcoming platform anymore and consumers that are interested in the niche and upcoming aspect of Simone Rocha might not have a profile.

On Instagram, Simone Rocha has 17,000 followers, which is the biggest number from the three platforms the brand uses. They post a new image around 6 times per week on average. Posts range from product shots like shoes from her newest collection to personal posts from events where Simone photographed her friends. Simone also posts images that inspire her, for example a photograph by Jackie Nickerson. Sharing her inspirations and personal pictures means that followers get to have an insight into her work and her life. This makes the brand more approachable and gives it a personality. Seeing what kind of artists or photographers she likes gives the audience the possibility to identify them with the brand if they have similar interests.

In conclusion, the brand does not have a personality on Facebook at the moment. They only update their site very rarely, on average once a month and with big gaps in between posts. They don’t entertain their followers with interesting content, but limit their posts to press clippings and collection images.

On Twitter, Simone Rocha has 10,500 followers. In contrast to Facebook, the posts/tweets are more varied on this platform. They retweet when others tweet about them, for example Interview Magazine or a stockist of the brand, Colette in Paris. Similar to Facebook, they post press coverage they generated, but their Twitter feed is more up to date than their Facebook page.

In May alone they tweeted eleven times, in contrast to zero posts on their Facebook page. On Twitter, they are more personal than on Facebook,

17: Simone Rocha’s Facebook page

18: Simone Rocha’s Instagram account

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21 Written Communication

portrayed in the media at the moment and with which topics Simone Rocha attracted the media. This was important to know for our campaign, so we could create a suitable media plan. Firstly, we analysed the coverage generated by her AW14 collection, then we carried out research on other topics that the media picked up.

Press Releases Simone Rocha’s press releases are presented very clean and basic. The brand uses a black sans-serif font on a white background with her logo at the top of the page and contact details from her PR Agency at the bottom.

The press releases follow a similar structure. First, the inspiration for the collection is introduced. Then, it is explained how this inspiration is apparent in her new collection. This is done by starting with the whole collection, explaining the clothes and then end with the shoe design. In the press releases, very specific words such as a “hatchling” yellow or “intricate crochet grids” are used to describe the collection. This allows the readers to create a very detailed image in their heads but also requires a good knowledge about fashion. The language used is sometimes difficult to understand, it is written for someone who is well educated and a business insider. It almost reads like a poem in some parts. The press release is kept short and limited to the inspiration and designs of the new collection. It seems as if Simone Rocha herself writes the press releases. This gives the reader the feeling of being told a story by the designer herself. It gives the feeling of being closer to the brand, of understanding the collection and having the possibility to look into the designer’s head.

The extract from the Spring/Summer 2014 press release shows that the language and the format used is different from prior press releases. It is less clear and simple, more literary. It almost comes across like a poem.

The sentences are short, sometimes they are only build of nouns separated by commas. This special format makes the press release look interesting and creative. What stayed the same is that the readers can already build an image in their heads. The use of many adjectives gives us an idea and a feeling of the collection but is still vague enough to not reveal everything.

It is not your classic press release, which fits the brand, because Simone Rocha is unique and special.

Press Coverage Additionally to visual research and research into her social media channels, information about press coverage was gathered to see how the brand is

“SS/14 ‘Tis Killing Warm.

Sheep, gorse, moss and rock.

The collection is the West of Ireland, Connemara.It’s hard, wet, dark, ugly, masculine, tailored, embellished and pearled.

Think of the sea, think of you and me.

Wet lace, patent cotton, heavy silk and thick tulle, hand crochet cotton and embroidered plastic.

It is a balance and a constraint, soft and rough and tough, men and women.

Mourning, communion, isolation, union.”

Extract from the Spring/Summer 2014 press release

The Autumn/Winter 2014 collection shown at London Fashion Week on February the 18th generated great press coverage. Coverage came in the form of short collection reviews on websites such as Vogue UK and Style. com or image reports from the runway such as on Elle UK or Elle Malaysia.

The runway reports are focused on the Elizabethan references, such as embellishment, in her new collection. Coverage on websites from established publications such as Vogue and Elle gives the brand Simone Rocha a more established image itself. The fact that the collection generated coverage abroad shows that Simone Rocha is a brand with international interest, especially in Asia. This probably partly stems from her own Asian background (half Irish, half Chinese).

The runway show was also covered on Topshop’s blog “Inside-Out” and on Dazed Digital, the website of the magazine Dazed and Confused. Websites like these have a different readership than Vogue and Elle. They cater for a younger, edgier audience. The reports also draw from Simone’s inspiration form the 1600s but they use another tone of voice that is younger and tailored to their reader. They portray the brand as cool and innovative.

Other coverage on her Autumn/Winter 2014 runway show includes a live panel discussion on showstudio.com, a runway report on the website of the American metro magazine and articles on small fashion blogs such as “Confessions of a Shoreditch Girl”. Furthermore, the Irish Independent published an article titled “Not just a material girl” two days after the show.

Looking at the coverage that Simone Rocha’s Autumn/Winter 2014 generated, it can be said that publications or online media with different readerships are interested in the brand. This is positive for Simone Rocha, as she reaches a wide audience. The press mainly picked up her inspiration from Anne Boleyn and the topic of the Elizabethan age. This makes the runway coverage more interesting for their readers. Publications such as the Irish Independent often mentioned famous guests such as Suzy Menkes and Anna Wintour. The fact

19: Coverage in Vogue US March 2014

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23 that personalities like the editor-in-chief of American Vogue and the coverage about it portrays the brand Simone Rocha as established and successful – a rising star that attracts the attention of the biggest names in fashion, but is still interesting for more independent publications such as Dazed & Confused.

Weaknesses:

Besides the presentation of her new collection, Simone Rocha is picked up from the media as well. Press coverage includes articles in American Vogue, Huffington Post UK, Telegraph and Marie Claire UK. The topic that the media builds their story around is often the fact that Simone is the daughter of famous designer John Rocha. Publicity like the interview “Like father, like daughter” on the website of i-D magazine where they talk about their relationship portrays Simone as a family person and let’s the reader see her as a human rather than just as a designer.

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Opportunities: • •

Another topic that the media likes to pick up is Simone Rocha’s meteoric rise. The article on Marie Claire, for example, is titled “7 scarily talented designers who are the future of British fashion” and covers designers such as J.W. Anderson, Ashley Williams and Simone Rocha. Rocha is portrayed as a new talent and as an innovative new designer with a big future in fashion.

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Strengths:

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Interest of target audience in visuals offer great opportunities to produce exciting visual projects More consistency on social media channels overall will lead to a clearer brand personality and gives the consumer the opportunity to identify with the brand Targeting specific publications rather than as many magazines and newspapers as possible will help to reach the right consumer

Threats:

After having audited key areas of communication of Simone Rocha, the next step was to evaluate them. We created a communication SWOT analysis to show what the brand is doing right and what has to be improved and changed.

• •

Press releases are not visually appealing and brand-aligned, they don’t have a consistent structure Social media channels have not been aligned with each other and the brand’s identity and what it wants to communicate Video projects are not consistent as they have been produced by different photographers/directors for different publications Press coverage is very widely spread and not target audience focused

If communication is not clear and brand-aligned enough, Simone Rocha could lose their brand personality and could get lost in the big market of upcoming designers

In conclusion, Simone Rocha has had a good approach in their brand communication, but it needs some refinement. After nine collections, the brand has still not managed to create a clear image of who the Simone Rocha consumer is. This can be ascribed to wanting to be involved in too many different things. This includes collaborations, video productions but also media coverage that is too widely spread. For our campaign, we had to define what kind of brand image we want to communicate and adapt all our tactics to this.

Website is clear and easy to use and has a consistent layout Using the same photographer, Jacob Lillis, to shoot the backstage images of the last four collections created consistent, brand-aligned imagery Invitation and backstage images shot by the same photographer create a good frame around the collection Focus on visual communication, such as video projects, is brand-aligned and right for Simone Rocha’s target audience A great amount of press coverage has been generated Simone Rocha has been included into the brand’s communication on their social media channels, press releases and with press interviews

20: Dazed Digital Coverage

21: AW14

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25 SWOT Analysis

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After auditing Simone Rocha’s previous communication, we had enough information and knowledge about the brand to conduct a SWOT Analysis, where the brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analysed and brought together. This helped us to see where we need to work on with our campaign and which strengths of her we could use to promote her.

Opportunities: • • • • • • • • •

Strenghts: • • • • • • • • • • •

Strong website-easy to use Easy to recognise designs Stocked in some of the biggest stores around the world Receives a wide amount press coverage Global presence Clothes worn by high profile celebrities such as as Rihanna and Alexa Chung Shares a lot of information about the brand on website such as previous catwalk shows Already developed a signature piece Secured front window displays in influential shops during fashion weeks Won awards including Emerging Womenswear Designer and Best Future Fashion Wallpaper* Award High quality clothing

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More collaborations with famous designers Develop use of social media and two way conversation with consumer Make website e-commerce Expand into more countries Build a bigger presence in the shops they are already retailed in Develop stand alone stores Become involved in more artistic ventures Expand on her Hong Kong/Irish heritage Become involved in collaborations and opportunities from winning awards Become involved with charities to recruit new type of consumer Still a very young and up and coming brand so lots of potential for growth

Threats: • • •

Weaknesses:

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No slightly cheaper price point clothes to attract a wider range of consumers

Not a good use of social media Relatively unknown brand even though they have a global presence Website not e-commerce Not a wide amount of collection carried in stores Very high price point of clothes High street brands make similar clothes for cheaper price Many brands make similar clothes that are better established Some degree of limitation and lack of variation in designs Staff in shops do not have in depth knowledge of her clothes as they manage a wide range of brands Poor engagement and interaction with consumers

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22/23: DSM New York (top) and IT Beijing Market

Copycat brand emerging Lots of young and upcoming new designers emerge every year so lots of competition Consumers only seeing her as the daughter of her famous fashion designer dad Less disposable income means that consumers don’t have the money to spend on her expensive clothes Celebrities that are not brand aligned wearing the clothes may alienate consumers Different types of consumers in different countries make it hard for the brand to have consistent key messages and ideals Consumers are generally more interested in cheaper fast fashion than investing in lasting staple pieces Collaborations with brands that do not fit with Simone Rocha could alienate consumers and put them off buying the brand in future

24: Alexa Chung in Simone Rocha

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27 For our SWOT analysis, we used all the research we had collected so far.

Considering Simone Rocha is still a young brand, she has a lot of strengths.

One of Simone Rocha’s biggest strengths is the brand’s website. This is because as previously outlined it is incredibly consumer friendly, with very easy navigation and also is laid out in a very visual way so it is likely that the consumer will spend a lot of time on the website. As a result, this means that the consumer is likely to develop a lasting relationship with the brand, and also remember the brand so that when they are out shopping or online shopping they will make a purchase from Simone Rocha. Also, the website contains all of the previous collections and allows consumers to watch all of the catwalk shows as well as view past fashion films made to support the collections. This means that the consumer can engage and become involved with the brand as much as a senior fashion editor at a magazine, meaning that they develop a positive relationship with the brand.

may be consumers who are not familiar with the brand and therefore do not know that the brand is sold on net-a-porter but could be able to afford the brand. Finally, another weakness of the brand is the fact that as Simone Rocha has no stand alone stores. The staff that work in the shops that stock her such as Browns and Selfridges have very limited knowledge on the collections and on the brand itself. This means that consumers are unable to have the two-way conversation and connection with the brand that they are missing out on with social media, in the stores themselves. This would result in consumers not having any channel to be able to form a strong and loyal relationship with the brand.

One of the brand’s opportunity would be to become involved with more collaborations with famous brands as she has done previously with Fred Perry and also with her upcoming collaboration with J Brand. This would be a good opportunity for the brand to not only raise their profile as the collaborations would gain a lot of press coverage but also to recruit new consumers that are fans of the brands that they are collaborating with resulting in more sales. Secondly, there is an opportunity for the brand to build and develop their own stand alone stores, as they are becoming big enough to warrant this, especially as the brands moves into a bigger collection range to include more accessories.

Another strength is that the brand retails globally across some of the biggest fashion markets in the world such as Europe and Asia. This is a strength as having a global presence means that the brand is thought to be very successful, and is likely to have a large consumer following. This means that the brand will make good sales and be profitable, creating funding for the brand to expand to even more countries and also be able to fund large catwalk shows that will raise the brands profile even more. In addition, Simone Rocha is already known for her signature piece, which is the brogue shoe. This is good as it means that consumers will want to buy a pair of her brogues as they are seen as the one item of clothing of hers that you should own. It also means that consumers and fashion editors will pay close attention to the brand, as they want to see how the brogue evolves each season, and therefore the brand will always get media coverage.

One weakness of the brand is that their use of social media is very poor.

This is bad as it means that there is no two-way conversation between the brand and the consumer and therefore the consumer is not going to develop a close relationship with the brand and not have any loyalty towards them. This means that consumers will look to Simone Rocha’s competitors that do have a two-way conversation with their consumers to build relationships with, as they feel more valued by the brand. This could result in consumers spending money with different brands instead of Simone Rocha.

Furthermore, the Simone Rocha website does not support any e-commerce.

This means that the brand is missing out on vital sales opportunities as there

Currently there is an issue of consumers not really being sure of the brands identity, and having their own shops will solve this issue. Having their own stores will increase sales as this means that the Simone Rocha stores will carry the full collection of clothes, as currently there is only a small selection of her collections available from the department stores that carry her currently. Finally, a good opportunity for the brand would be to become in more artistic ventures to show the artistic influence that Simone draws on from her mother who is an artist. This will mean that consumers who are interested in art will become aware of the brand and be likely to buy clothes from the collection. Having obvious and strong connections to art world also mean that the consumer will be able to get a better understanding of the lifestyle associated with the brand as well as the identity of the brand.

Lastly, the fact that many people only see Simone Rocha as the daughter of a famous fashion designer is a threat to the brand. This is because this means that the brand will struggle to develop a true identity of their own

25: Shoes from the AW13 collection

26: Simone with her father John Rocha

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29 as the press and consumers will constantly make links back to her dad, John Rocha. In addition, another threat to the brand is the fact that if there is another global recession, Simone Rocha will struggle to generate profit as the price of the clothing is very high and consumers may become unable to afford the clothes and instead will look to high street brands that offer similar styles of clothing for a much cheaper price which will result in the brand losing consumer loyalty and also not they will not be able to recruit new consumers. Finally, a big threat to the brand is the fact that many unbrand aligned celebrities such as Rihanna wear Simone Rocha clothing. This is a threat because it means that consumers are receiving the wrong messages and attach a false identity to the brand. It also means that if consumers are not a fan of celebrities such as Rihanna they may not want to buy the brand.

This ultimately leads to a loss of sales.

PESTEL Analysis Additionally to the SWOT analysis, which looked at internal factors, we also conducted a PESTEL analysis to get an understanding of the brand’s environmental factors which they have to take into consideration.

Political Political factors that might affect Simone Rocha at the moment or in the future include taxes and government stability, among others. Simone Rocha is affected by the tax systems in two forms: firstly, the corporation tax and secondly, the income tax, which influences the brand’s success indirectly via the consumer.

During the last years, the UK government has been working towards creating a more attractive corporate tax system to attract international businesses.

UK based brands such as Simone Rocha also profit from this development.

The corporation tax rate has been reduced from 28 per cent in 2010 to 21 per cent in 2014. The government will further reduce it to 20 per cent in 20157. Besides being affected by the corporate tax system, Simone Rocha could also be affected by changes in income tax rates as this influences consumer spending.

With stores in different countries, Simone Rocha could be affected by the government stability in each of them. Her main market, the United Kingdom, can be seen as providing the brand with a relatively stable political environment with a level of 0.41 on a scale from -2.5 to 2.58 Other government situations such as in Russia with a level of -0.82 might become a problem for the brand in the future and have to be observed.

Economical One factor that Simone Rocha might be affected by is the economic environment. After the worldwide financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, the recession in 2011 and the European debt crisis in 2011 and 2012, the economic situation on the most important markets around the world seem to recover from the crisis. According to the World Economic Situation Prospects Report 2014 published by the United Nations, Western Europe has “emerged from

27: Rihanna in Simone Rocha

28/29: Chart comparing the UK corporation tax rate to other countries worldwide (top) and Government stability of G-20 countries compared

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31 Analysed with his famous cultural dimensions model, Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede found out that the UK is a highly individualistic country. Hofstede’s analysis showed that “children are taught from an early age to think for themselves and to find out what their unique purpose in life is and how they uniquely can contribute to society. The route to happiness is through personal fulfillment.”12 Individualism has an influence on how consumers shop and what they want from a brand they buy into. Simone Rocha supports individualism as she does not promote a specific femininity but gives her consumers the possibility to express themselves individually with her clothes. The fact that British consumers are more individualistic than other nationalities affects their consumer behavior and is therefore a factor to consider when planning a campaign.

recession” in the second quarter of 2013. The GDP, short for Gross Domestic Product (monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period,9, of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland is expected to grow by 2.2 per cent in 2014, compared to 1.4 per cent in 2013.

As our PR campaign for Simone Rocha is limited to the UK, we can focus on the development of this market. People feel more secure again and are therefore spending money on products they don’t necessarily need, like clothing and luxury items in contrast to limiting their spending on basic needs like food during the financial crisis. April 2014 marked the best month in a decade for retail sales10. Sales were 6.9% higher than in April 2013. The recovery from the recession is a good development for Simone Rocha as the brand is part of the retail market. It must be considered that the market is still not fully recovered. This leads to ideas such as to communicate that Simone Rocha’s designs are investment pieces that are unique and will last for a long time, as this resonates with consumer behavior today. Consumers are spending their money more consciously if they are spending it on extras such as expensive clothes.

The high individualism in today’s culture has its effect on consumer demands.

Customisable products such as Nike shoes have gained popularity over the last years. Customising a product gives the consumer the opportunity to create something that no one else is wearing and is therefore directly connected to the high individualism that can be expressed with self-designed products.

Sociocultural

Technological

Simone Rocha could be affected by social and cultural changes that take place in the markets the brand is operating in. One sociocultural factor that affects the brand is gender equality, which is still a big topic today. The topic of gender equality is often connected to feminism, defined as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes”.

One often-discussed part of gender equality is the gender pay gap, which compares the pay of women and men in their jobs. In 2013, women were still earning 15% less than men in the same job position11 which shows that feminists have not reached their goal yet and gender equality is therefore still a current topic. Although there are still some issues to be solved, the position of women in society has changed dramatically through history. Today’s women can speak up and have their own opinion. In the UK they are allowed to express themselves and their femininity. Since Simone Rocha stands for strong women, the position of women in today’s society is something that needs to be observed, as it what they are looking for in a brand.

Technological changes not only have an immense impact on our daily life but the business environment as well. The fashion industry is a sector that is even more influenced than other industries as it is very fast-paced and competitive and always needs to reinvent itself and deliver something new to the market. Technological innovations that might influence the fashion industry and thus Simone Rocha include innovations in material production and new electronic devices such as Google glasses. Another innovation that could affect the brand is the still developing virtual reality that was already used by Topshop in connection with their latest fashion show. As an innovative brand Simone Rocha needs to be on top of technological changes as they could be incorporated in one of her campaigns or her products.

Another important sociocultural factor is individualism in today’s culture.

30: Timeline of the European debt crisis

Environmental There are two different categories of environmental factors that need to be considered: The impact the environment has on the business and the impact the business has on the environment. Simone Rocha stores could be affected

31: Cultural Dimensions Theory scores for the UK according to social psychologist Geert Hofstede

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33 by effects of global warming such as the recent floods in the UK. Another risk factor is the high occurrence of earthquakes in Japan, where Simone Rocha is stocked as well. Catastrophes like this have to be considered as they could possibly have a big impact on suppliers, transport and consumers. The brand has to be considerate about the fact that consumers are more aware of environmental issues today than some years ago. The term “Ethical Consumerism” has been introduced by the UK magazine “Ethical Consumer” and is used today to describe “the practice of purchasing products and services produced in a way that minimises social and/or environmental damage, while avoiding products and services deemed to have a negative impact on society or the environment”13

Campaign Goals

Ethical spending has increased from 14,000 billion in 1999 to 47,500 billion in 2011, which shows that consumers are increasingly interested in buying ethically produced products. Ethical consumerism consists of five categories: animals, environment, people, politics and sustainability (http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/shoppingethically/ourethicalratings.aspx). Categories that Simone Rocha needs to take into consideration are environmental factors such as pollution and toxics, people factors such as worker’s rights, political factors such as boycotts and sustainability factors such as energy efficiency.

Our research into the brands current use of social media has made us aware that there is a lot of room for improvement. Currently, the brands Twitter and Facebook pages are seldom updated are only updated with news on press coverage. There is no two-way conversation with the brand and the consumer, which is integral for a brand to ensure loyal customer relations.

A two-way conversation also helps identify who the ‘Simone Rocha girl’ is, and this will result in consumers being able to easily relate and identify with the brand. It will also help to recruit new consumers, as they will want to aspire to be a ‘Simone Rocha girl’. The brands Instagram account better reflects the lifestyle of a Simone Rocha consumer, as it includes a lot more artistic photographs that show how the designer is heavily influenced by art and therefore the consumer would be interested in art etc. There are also pictures of city life, which show that the consumer would be a city girl and so forth. Therefore, It is important that the brand brings all of their social media in line with their Instagram and also begin to post more often in tune with times when people are most active on social media in order to reach the widest range of consumers and increase consumer engagement with the brand. We would aim for the Instagram and Twitter accounts to be updated at least once a day, and the Facebook account to be updated at least once a week.

All of the above research including SWOT analysis, social media analysis and primary research has allowed us to draw informed conclusions on what we think the brand should be striving to achieve. These goals were then translated into our key messages, and our PR tactics are focused on achieving these goals. Also our key messages will be evident throughout our campaign.

Increase and create consistency with Simone Rocha’s social media

Legal Simone Rocha needs to be aware of minimum standards that have to be reached in each country the brand operates in. Minimum standards include points like the National Minimum Wage, that at the moment comes to £6.31 per hour. The minimum wage has been rising from year to year and as an employer Simone Rocha needs to be prepared to a rising minimum wage in the future. As a brand with a big number of employees in different countries, changes in minimum requirements could have a big impact on the brand.

32: Ethical spending in the UK between 1999 and 2011

Create a clear idea of who the Simone Rocha consumer is As the brand are very poor with social media and because the brand is still young and being established it is very hard for the consumer to get a clear idea of who the ideal Simone Rocha consumer is. This limits the amount of potential consumers that the brand can recruit, including those who cannot

33: AW14

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35 Key Messages

afford the brand but still admire the brand in the hopes of one day being able to buy into the brand fully. The brand needs to start promoting an aspirational lifestyle as it means that current consumers will develop a longer and more genuine relationship with the brand and they can connect and relate to them better as they see themselves within the brand. Potential consumers will also start to emotionally invest into the brand as they try to become the ideal Simone Rocha consumer themselves.

After an extensive amount of research into the brand’s current position we formulated goals that we want to achieve with our campaign and determined our target consumer. The brand’s key messages naturally followed from all this research. The key messages have to resonate with the target consumer and go hand in hand with the campaign goals.

Raise the popularity and awareness of the brand without overexposing

For our campaign we developed three key messages that encapsulate what we want to communicate and how we want the consumer to see Simone Rocha. These key messages were our checkpoints when we developed our tactics; they are the cores of our campaign.

To ensure a brands future success, it is important that the brand gains popularity and awareness with each season. Our survey showed that not many consumers had heard of Simone Rocha despite the brand having showcased six seasons already and being retailed globally in some of the most famous department stores. Therefore the brand should try and increase the awareness of the brand but whilst ensuring that the brand is not overexposed so much that consumers are turned off from the brand and become alienated. It is also important that the brand maintains their niche status. Raising the awareness of the brand will mean that not only will the brands sales increase (as more consumers who can afford the brand will become aware of it) but there will also be more consumers who want to aspire to being a Simone Rocha consumer and emotionally invest into the brand. Raising the brands awareness will also help to form the idea of who the exact Simone Rocha consumer is.

Celebrating the individuality and strength of women Simone Rocha celebrates a woman’s individuality. Even though we are all female, we express our femininity in different ways. Simone Rocha supports those differences and stands for the empowerment of every kind of women.

Connecting fashion and art Growing up in an artistic family, Simone Rocha was made familiar with creative thinking and expressing one’s inspirations and thoughts through art at an early age. Getting creative herself and designing a clothing line today, she is still inspired by other artist’s works, such as Louise Bourgeois. Drawing from her creativity and many inspirations, she has designed shop window installations for shops such as Dover Street Market in London or Colette in Paris. Simone Rocha does not only stand for fashion but also always for art.

Being unique and innovative Simone Rocha stands for quality and innovative materials. Together with her team she creates many of the materials for her collection herself. Developing new techniques, such as embedding embellishment into the garment, gives the Simone Rocha consumer the chance to wear unique, never-seen-before pieces. Wearing a Simone Rocha garment, the consumer can feel the work and thought of the designer and her team that has been put into creating this specific piece.

34: AW14

35: AW14

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37 How the key messages were developed Developing key messages requires a good amount of research. To get the messages right we had to know our brand and the target consumer inside out. A second requirement was, that we had our campaign goals defined.

it and strengthen it with this campaign. Simone often talks about femininity in interviews, this quote is from an article about her Autumn/Winter 2012 collection in Interview magazine and goes with our first key message: “It’s always about creating a tension—between masculinity and femininity, or hard and soft, or natural and man-made,” she explains.14

All our key messages developed naturally from our research. After doing primary and secondary research we felt that there were three main parts to this brand that people talk about and are interested in. The next step was to really understand those three parts, separate them clearly and formulate them so they develop into key messages. A big part of our research was looking at press coverage that Simone Rocha has generated until now. It became clear that the media was mainly interested in three topics:

In many interviews and articles it is mentioned that Simone takes her inspiration from art. The media often picks up that Simone Rocha is influenced by the famous artist Louise Bourgeois. This specific quote is from an interview published in last years April issue of Dazed & Confused and ties in with our second key message: “I’m a fashion designer, but I’m hugely inspired by art and sculpture. That’s what I find really exciting: the balance of that, and how it can influence clothes.”15

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Simone Rocha also talks about how she works to create unique pieces for her consumer. This quote is from an interview on the Harper’s Bazaar website about her Autumn/Winter 2014 collection: “For me I really want every piece to be really special and to have so much more than you might expect.”16

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How Simone Rocha plays with the idea of a different femininity in her designs, for example the article “Simone Rocha: Just a little bit of a lady” in the Telegraph Simone Rocha being influenced by her upbringing in a creative family with father John Rocha, a famous designer himself, and mother Odette Rocha, who is an artist, and the inspiration Simone gets from art in general, for example the video project “Tateshot: Simone Rocha + Louise Bourgeois”, where she talks about her inspiration from art How she develops and uses innovative material and techniques to design her collections, for example in her show review on Dazed Digital or on style.com

Additionally to getting our key messages through research into press coverage, our survey and Simone Rocha’s statements, we also matched our key messages to our target consumer. Our target consumer is a young, independent woman, who is confident about herself. Therefore, she will be attracted by the fact that Simone Rocha supports strong women and celebrates their individuality. Our target consumer is well educated and culturally interested. She likes to go to exhibitions and gets inspired by art herself.

They will therefore identify with the brand for having a close connection to art too. Lastly, our target consumer is a modern woman who has money to spend. But she will only be willing to spend such a big amount of money on a unique piece with outstanding quality. This is where our third key message comes in.

Not only in our secondary but also in our primary research became it apparent that these were the three main parts that the brand is associated with. Analysing our survey, we noticed that participants felt the same as the media. They described the brand’s collection as “unique” and liked the “interesting use of materials”, which ties in to our third key message of being unique and innovative. They also associated the brand with John Rocha, Simone’s father, which goes with our second key message of connecting art and fashion. Participants used the term “feminine” to describe her designs, which points toward our first key message of celebrating the individuality and strength of women.

In conclusion, these three key messages have been developed by thorough research into different aspects of the brand and we made sure that they encapsulate the brand as a whole, not loosing the personality but building a stronger one.

All of those key messages were supported by quotes from Simone Rocha herself as well, as we don’t want to lose her personality but rather build on

36: Simone’s parents, Odette and John Rocha

37: Louise Bourgeois

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39 Tactics and Platforms

enjoy to add to exclusivity of the event. Food will be provided from the Ace Hotel also in form of small finger type food that the guests can enjoy as we would understand that coming straight from a fashion show to the event they may be hungry.

To deliver our key messages and achieve our goals we developed suitable tactics and determined platforms where we would communicate the tactics.

At sometime after 9pm when we are sure that everyone that was going to turn up to the event was going to be there Simone Rocha would start her talk. She would talk about her history with the brogues and why she continues to redesign them each season. In addition, the designer would also talk about the design process of the brogue and how she decides how they will look each season. This will give the guests some thoughts to consider before they design their own brogues themselves. It will also allow for the press to get a better understanding of the way that the designer thinks when it comes to designing the collection, which will provide more information for a press story afterward.

Customisation of Brogues Launch Event The event would be held on Saturday 15th February 2014 at 8.30pm. This is because all of the important magazine editors and celebrity influencers that we would want there would be in London for London Fashion Week and also accounts for the fact that the last fashion show starts at 8pm and should finish by 8.30pm. The event would be held at Dover Street Market in London as Simone Rocha is stocked here and also there is a space of the ground floor that we think would be perfect for holding the event in. Simone Rocha is also going to be designing the space in which the event takes place, as she has previously designed windows and retail spaces for Dover Street Market globally.

Next, after the speech, we will distribute iPad’s to the guests, which will be preloaded with the app for the guests to then start to design their own pair of brogues. Different pairs of brogues will be around the event space for the guests to draw inspiration from. Simone Rocha herself will also be around to be able to give advice on the designing of their shoes. We have decided to use iPads as it means that the guests can walk around and still be able to enjoy the drinks and the music whilst still being able to design their own pair of shoes.

We would invite a range of magazine editors from publications that we think would be in the brands best interest to gain media coverage from. These would include publications such as Vogue, Elle, Wallpaper*, Dazed and Confused, i-D and Lula. We would also invite bloggers along such as Susie Lau as we think that she is also a girl who is very brand aligned and represents the Simone Rocha girl well. We would also invite celebrity influencers that we think also embody the Simone Rocha girls such as Elle Fanning and Marina & The Diamonds. This will promote the status of the event and create more of a buzz, as people will be interested in the celebrities. It will also help shape the idea of who the Simone Rocha girl is.

Finally, once the event has finished, we would then start the production of all of the shoes that the guests had designed at the event. We would then gift them these shoes in a brand-aligned shoebox and bag with a personal thank you message saying thank you for coming along to the event and that we hope that they enjoy the shoes. This way we are able to ensure that we have a higher chance of gaining good press coverage from the event afterwards.

At the event, we would have Alexa Chung performing as a DJ as we think that she is a great representation for a ‘Simone Rocha’ girl. Not only does she represent he brand perfectly, she also has experience being a DJ and currently is seen as a cool iconic woman and so we think that having her at the event will attract more press people. To eat and drink at the event we would hire in the barman from the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, as we think that the Ace Hotel has the cool east London young person vibe that we are trying to promote throughout the brand. We would also commission the Ace Hotel to design a unique cocktail for the event for the guests to

Invitation of Simone Rocha consumers On the 29th March 2014 we will hold an event where we invite the top five Simone Rocha consumers from around the world to the Simone Rocha design studio in East London. The top five consumers will be decided from

38/39: Dover Street Market (top) and Susie Bubble

40: SS12 Pink “X” Vinyl High Brogue

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41 consumers that spend a lot of money with the brand regularly but also have a large online social media presence so that they can promote the brand and the event as well.

Trickle Down Effect The reason that we have decided to do everything over a certain number of stages instead of just having the option for everyone to be able to design their own pair of brogues immediately is because as a brand we want to maintain the exclusive and niche reputation the brand already has. By firstly only inviting top magazine editors and celebrities that we think endorse the brand to design their own shoes so that the consumer will be interested and intrigued by the idea and want to be able to do it themselves. Then, inviting select consumers means that the idea is opened up to the public more and being accessible, but is still very exclusive. Finally, when the public are able to design their own shoes they will be very excited by the idea and will want to be able to do it themselves as they feel they will be a part of something very exclusive, especially as it is only available for such a short space of time. We think that if we make it available to everyone straight away it will attract the wrong sort of consumers for the brand and also cause the brand to become too overexposed.

The guests will have the chance to work with Simone Rocha herself closely and personally to design their own pair of custom brogues that will then be made for them and sent to them. This event will be much more of an intimate affair with the guests being able to get a really good understanding of how the brogues are made and the attention and detail that is needed to make the shoes. The event will be documented through the use of Instagram with the designer and the guests taking photographs to post on their social media channels.

This event will allow the wider consumer base of Simone Rocha to see that the brand really care about and appreciate their consumers and want to give something back for being loyal and supportive to the brand. It also makes the designing your own brogue ide a little bit more accessible to the wider public but also maintains some exclusivity as well.

In addition, we feel as though having three different smaller events spaced out over a number of months will mean that the brand is going to attract more press coverage that is spread out throughout the year rather than just receiving a huge amount of press coverage in one go that could lead to the overexposure of the brand and making consumers not want to be a part of the event and campaign.

Public Launch of Brogue Customisation on Website On the 26th April we will launch to the public the app on the Simone Rocha website where any consumer can customise and design their every own pair of brogues which they will have to pay for and can be sent to them.

We decided to launch it onto the website instead of creating a separate app that people can download onto their phones and tablets because recently there has been a big decline in the amount of people that are actually downloading and using apps regularly and so we think that this would be a waste of time and money to develop when people are more likely to use something that leads straight from the website.

Media Plan For the whole of the Autumn/Winter 2014 collection and also the PR campaign and event we want to try and attract as much media attention as possible and try to secure coverage in all of the publications that we think best suit the brand in terms of current consumers and also recruiting new consumers.

The public will have the chance to design their own brogues for three months only as the limited time will mean that consumers are more likely to do it as they know that they won’t always have the opportunity to do it. It also gives us the chance to see how successful the campaign and idea was and see how well consumers responded with the possibility of making it a more permanent feature of the website

Vogue To Vogue magazine we would pitch the angle of the inspiration behind the Autumn/Winter 2014 and also how the collection is on trend, as this is what readers of Vogue are interested in. As a mainstream fashion publication, it is unlikely that the magazine will dedicate a lot of space to an upcoming

41: Simone Rocha’s studio

42: AW14

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43 designer’s latest collection, however as part of the inspiration behind the collection was about the power of femininity and how women can embrace what makes them feminine and use that to empower themselves. As feminism is currently a very popular subject and Vogue often has features on feminism, they may be interested in this scope. It is still important to gain any sort of coverage in Vogue as it is the most influential fashion magazine in the world and reaches a massive range of consumers globally.

i-D To i-D magazine we would pitch a similar angle to Dazed and Confused as we would want them to cover the interesting use of textures and materials in their articles. i-D is a highly visual magazine and so for this we would pitch more of a fashion story or editorial of the collection to demonstrate the originality in more of a visual form as this fits more with the magazine. i-D readers are mostly concerned with being different and individual and not wanting to wear a brand that everyone else is wearing and so I think that the Simone Rocha collection fits well with this.

ELLE Similar to Vogue, to ELLE magazine the angle pitched would be the inspiration behind the A/W14 campaign and how the collection is on trend, as ELLE readers are mostly concerned with this. Once again, as a mainstream fashion publication it will be hard to gain a wide scope of coverage as they will report of every collection. However, as ELLE really champion feminism and empowerment of women, it is more likely that the collection will get more coverage in ELLE than in VOGUE. In addition, ELLE has more aspirational readers than Vogue, and so gaining coverage in ELLE will ensure that the brand gains more consumers who are aspiring to one day become the Simone Rocha consumer.

Wallpaper* Although Wallpaper* is not a fashion magazine, they have recently started to include more fashion into their articles and this is something that the brand should take advantage of, as this magazine reaches a completely different consumer to all of the other publications previously mentioned. To Wallpaper* we would pitch how Simone Rocha was designing the space for the event at Dover Street Market, as the Wallpaper* reader is very interested in graphics, construction and interiors etc. and so I think that this will suit the magazine and reader well. The Wallpaper* reader also tends to have a high disposable income and so it is highly likely that they will also be able to afford the brand as well. As the Wallpaper* reader is not necessarily interested in fashion, it is important that the brand does not pitch an article which only focuses on the clothes in the collection itself.

Dazed and Confused Simone Rocha gets a lot of press coverage in Dazed and Confused magazine, and so it is important to ensure that this is maintained. To Dazed and Confused the angle that would be pitched would firstly be the inspiration behind the collection. This is because the readers of this magazine are not necessarily interested in how the clothes are on trend, but also the inspiration behind the collection as they are more interested in culture and what a designer is influenced by. A Dazed and Confused reader would be more interested in the Elizabethan influence and how body parts inspire the collection, so this is what the article would focus on. In addition, to Dazed and Confused we would also pitch how Simone Rocha uses innovative materials and textures in her collections as the reader is interested by how the collection is different from other collections as they want to try and be different from the norm.

Lula Lula is another magazine that the brand often gets a lot of coverage in and therefore it is important to try and maintain this. The style of Lula magazine is such that there are not often features, but lots of interviews with people and getting to know the person being interviewed. Therefore, to Lula magazine, the pitch would be why Simone Rocha always chooses to design brogues and how they were the only type of shoe she wore growing up. This would be obtained from an interview with the designer herself. Lula readers are interested in fashion, so it would also be important to make sure that there is some reference and mention to the inspiration behind the collection and how it is on trend.

43: Vogue

44: i-D

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44: AW14

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