THE VALUE OF SEMIOTICS The Brand Structure The Brand Identity The Target Market The Communication Strategy
Carolina Olofsson Istituto Europeo di Design 2010
MIU MIU
Semiotics is the study of communication through symbols and signs, it can be used as a complement to the traditional marketing mix i.e. product, price, promotion and placement. Semiotics clarifies brand identity by locating the meaning of the logo, packaging, advertising and the messages that it sends out. The analysis helps the companies to build and sustain a brand equity and the value attached to the brand name and the logo that attributes and differentiates companies from others on the competitive arena.The study of signs is therefore essential in marketing to build and develop communication strategies. In the following semiotics has been applied to the Italian brand Miu Miu to identify its brand structure and identity, consumer target and communication strategy. Moreover semiotics can direct how Miu Miu can develop the communication strategy to attract a different target.
Brand structure Miu Miu was founded in 1992 under the Prada Group and is headed by Miuccia Prada that focuses on the design and the image of the brand. Her husband Patrizio Bertelli has the role as the business manager. The brand has positioned it self as a younger brand with a little lower price range compare to it’s sister brand Prada. Miu Miu produces woman's wear with one spring collection and one fall collection including garments, shoes, bags and accessories. The production is located in Italy and China where they mainly produce shoes, bags and accessories. The price for the finished products have a average on 1000 to 1500 euro and the brands main markets are in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. The trade and distribution is mainly by the brand and through independent retailers.
Style signature
The style signature is described through taxonomy which identifies the main characteristics of the garments.With in the analyze Miu Miu’s style characteristics can be identified as simple and classical with a little extra edge. The brand plays with the line between a girly style and a little provocation and a more feminine and sophisticated style.The girly style comes from the use of innovative cuts that circles between the legs, hips, waist and chest and the use of different patterns and prints that comes and goes through the collections. The femininity is seen in the straight lines, the following shapes and the use of soft earthy colors that leans into each other. From a semiotic point of view the designs dominates of a continuity and length variation and a orientational vertical filed, which in other words means that the designs reveals skin by using short cuts ant see-through material. The vertical filing comes from the narrow silhouette and the straight lines.
Communication and signs
The communication through symbols and signs is mainly used when brands are creating an advertisement, a website or a commercial. Above there are examples of different advertisement campaigns by Miu Miu.
Miu Miu advertisement In the advertisement campaigns Miu Miu communicates with symbols in forms of characters such as the doll look, the pinup look and the young traveling woman.The communication through indexes gives a feeling by adding location like a hotel, hallway, a stage and the highway. Miu Miu uses some specific icons that gives a recognition of the brand and common icons are the bags and the sunglasses In the advertisements Miu Miu is alway consistent with the brand name and the logo.
Miu Miu Website Miu Miu is a brand that puts high importence on a visual approach which gives a high importance to icons and symbols. The aim of the web site is to emphasis the garments,the design and put less attention to the indexes and the communication through text. The emphasize on the garments is created by using darker colors and shadows that highlights the models and the design signature. Furthermore the communication is through images and videos that communicates the latest campaign and the history of the brand. A visual communication make it easier to communicate to the international market.
The target customer
Target and customer From the style and the communication strategy of the brand it’s possible to identify the ideal target that Miu Miu wants to capture. Miu Miu’s aim is to capture a young sophisticated woman who values trendy fashion with a little extra edge. The woman is international and lives in the cities , she want to bee seen and identify and she often relates to different characteristics such as the doll look or the younger girl.
The new target The new target is an active younger woman that values craftsmanship and creativity. The client is in the beginning of her career and works in a more creative field such as a designer, photographer or an artists. The new client lives in the cities and interacts in smaller communities and she wants to be identify as a person that is sporty and values eco thinking, quality and the production process of the garments.
New communication strategy The analysis of the brand structure, the style, communication strategy and the target clarifies Miu Miu’s placement on the competitive market. In the following Miu Miu will develop a hypothetical strategy for a more crafty and active target to increase it’s market. The new strategy will be based on the previous analysis and a semiotic theory
Communication strategy The first step in developing the new communication strategy is to identify what elements in semiotics that is important for the brand to keep and how the brand will extend it’s communication through semiotics. Miu Miu has a good visual communication through symbols and icons that mostly is conveyed through images and videos that tells the story of the brand. It is important for the brand to sustain this communication strategy to keep the brand identity. The main elements that is important for Miu Miu to ad is to put higher focus on the arty part and craftsmanship, which can be accomplished by emphasizing the communication of the hand painted prints and patterns that the brand uses. The four webpages below is a concrete example of how Miu Miu can change their communication. Welcome page The new welcome pages captures everything that the website can offer. The new approach is to keep the visual communication but with focus on some new elements such as the craftsmanship of the collection and an active lifestyle. The welcome page will also give a selection of language since the market is international
Collection The aim of the page is to communicate something more than fashion and style . The collection page will focus on combining text and images to comunicate more information aboute the product. This is to capture the intrest of a crafty target that wants to know more about the essence of the products. The pages would tell the story about different elements in the garment by describing the colors through a color pallet and by highlighting details such as the prints.
Creative studio The creative studio it communicate that the brand puts value into production process, from the first sketch to the end product. The design part will describe the designe process and will follow the designers work through different steps. The fabric part describes what kind of fabrics that are used in the production such as organic fabric or a special type of leather.The production part gives information about the production, where the garments are produced and by who. Mui Miu Active Miu Miu active will be a collaboration that integrates fashion and an active life style.The purpose of the project is to make workout clothes for a younger and active woman. A potential collaboration partner is Nike.The limited collection will have the Miu Miu characteristics in the design with prints, and characteristic cuts, revealing legs, hips and waist.