Art School - Reflective Report

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Reflective Report -AD5604- Ellie Preston

This report is reflecting on my 360 degree campaign plan and A/W 19 forecast for my chosen brand, Art School. After gaining feedback and conducting further research, I’ve decided which elements I think will and won’t work for my brand. This report will also discuss some new technologies taking over the fashion world as well as the marketing and communication strategies of 2 brands that I feel are similar to Art School, Charles Jeffrey’s LOVERBOY and Matty Bovan.

Since the original creation of my 360 degree marketing plan and forecast for Art School, they have held their A/W 18 show. This, combined with conducting more research over Christmas and with the ever changing times of fashion and technology, I think it’s extremely important to review my original campaign plan and decide which elements I’m going to take forward. My plan had quite a lot of different sections, so I’ve split up my analysis.

The main basis of my whole campaign is the opening of a pop-up store in Manchester. I decided to follow the original brief and bring Art School to the North, as I feel like they do have a potential follower and customer base here, with Manchester having a large LGBT+ community that I think would help to support the brand.

The store would feature exclusive art-work, have the models from their shows working and interacting with customers and also gives customers an opportunity to feel and see the clothes in person. My main reasoning behind opening a popup is the fact that it will give Art School a bricks and mortar store, without the costs and commitment and is an opportunity to bring the experience of their shows into a more physical and immersive space.

Positives: Physical & immersive experience for consumers Drives followers and new customers to the store and brand No commitment Gives Art School more opportunities in the North Negatives: Could be hard to replicate for end of year show Are physical stores still popular enough to drive sales?

Will Art School appeal to the North?

The second biggest part of my marketing campaign is definitely the monthly club nights. Taking place on the last Saturday of each of the months the stores open, I created it to provide customers with an experience and draw in Art School’s younger target audience to the store. It would be held in the basement of the pop-up and is a place where people of all sexualities, genders and races can come together with their friends and have a good time. A limited amount of garments would also be available to purchase.

What works: - Fits in with Art Schools younger target audience; the main targets for their most recent show (A/W 18) - Provides customers with an experience - Will generate more sales What doesn’t work: - Might not be as appealing to Art Schools primary buyer audience (Women aged 50+) - Would be hard to replicate for end of -year show

Next we have the monthly club nights. Taking place on the last Saturday of each of the month the stores open, I thought it would provide customers with a unique experience and draw in Art School’s younger consumers to the store. It would be held in the basement of the pop-up and is for people of all sexualities, genders and races. A limited amount of garments would also be available to purchase, increasing sales.

Positives: Fits in with Art Schools younger target audience; the main targets for their most recent show (A/W 18) Provides customers with an experience Will generate more sales Negatives: Might not be as appealing to Art Schools primary buyer audience (Women aged 50+) Would be hard to replicate for end of year show

An element of my campaign that gives the pop-up a longer lasting effect is the use of exclusive merchandise. Featuring t-shirts, phone cases and a tote bag that doubles as the store packaging, these are all items that will be set at a more accessible price point and therefore will generate more sales. I think it’s important to make the store live on after it closes, to keep people still interested in Art School.

What works: -Helps the experience to live on -Exclusive so would drive more traffic and sales -More accessible price point What doesn’t work: -Could make brand appear less luxury because of price point

A smaller section of my campaign is the creation of posters which I have designed myself using photography from Art Schools previous shows. I chose to use posters in my campaign as it was a way of advertising the store and club night offline, that wouldn’t be too expensive and could be distributed throughout Manchester. These images could also be used for social media content.

What works: Easy to create Cheap Offline approach, seen by lots of people Can be used for social channels What doesn’t work: Younger target audience might not see, everything is becoming more digital Will they be circulated to enough people?

Technology and Social Media has fast become the most valuable and immediate way for brands to market their products, as well as bring new innovative inventions to their customers in order to provide them with unforgettable experiences.

In this report, I have focused on two new technological methods in which brands are starting to adopt into their communication strategies, and I think Art School could in the future too.

Firstly we have Farfetch’s ‘Store of the Fu-

clothing rails that can virtually add items to

ture’ which is a model store of how they pre-

your wishlist, which you’re then able to try

dict physical retail to become like in the

on in the digital mirrors and swap for differ-

future. Farfetch’s founder, José Neves, states

ent colours and sizes without having to move. In

that the store “links the online and offline

the future, when this type of technology is more

worlds, using data to enhance the retail expe-

readily available in stores, I think it would

rience” and also claims that physical retail

work well for Art School as it would give them a

while still account for 80% of sales by 2025,

physical bricks-and-mortar store, that can pro-

so stores have to adapt and become more inter-

vide their customers with a modern, technologi-

esting, digital and connected as technology

cal experience. (Kansara, V A. 2017).

advances. (Conlon, S. 2017). The store includes

“It’s a bit like an operating system for the store. You build the apps”

The next form of technology that’s taking the fashion world by storm is virtual reality. Many brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Dior, Coach and Balenciaga have installed VR headsets in their stores over the past 3 years or so, enabling customers to watch their latest collections through the headsets, immersing themselves in a different world. (Jiang, E. 2017). Again, this is about providing a more exciting experience for the customer and I think it would work amazingly for Art School. With their boldly colourful and theatrical shows, if they chose to go down the ‘Store of the Future’ path, having these headsets in store would enable their consumers to completely engage themselves in their performances.

This next section is focused on two brands I see as being similar to Art School, Charles Jeffrey: LOVERBOY and Matty Bovan, and discusses the way both brands are communicated.

‘The ringleader of London’s next generation of club kids.’

The first brand I’ve decided to focus on is Charles Jeffrey: LOVERBOY. A brand born from the London queer club scene, Jeffrey uses predominantly performance and film to communicate his brand. Loverboy is similar to Art School in many ways, including the fact that they both shown at London Fashion Week Men’s, yet their clothing is strictly for male wear only. As well as having the same references, relating back to 80’s club nights and the use of models of all genders in their shows. I would say overall, Jeffrey has a balance between online and offline communication approaches.

Recent ways Charles has chosen to communicate his brand is through; Film: Jeffrey tends to bring out films alongside his collections, with his most recent one being titled ‘Tantrum’, exclusive to SHOWstudio that is supposed to portray the struggles of growing up gay in a less accepting place. (Evans, G. 2018).

Exhibition: Jeffrey currently has an exhibition titled ‘THE COME UP’ showing at NOW gallery in London from the 30th November 2017 to 11th Feb 2018. Its described as being

an ‘interactive and three-dimension-

al representation of the Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY brand and cult club night.’ (NOW Gallery. 2017).

Installations in Dover Street Market London and New York. Featuring art murals that make his designs stand out and help to draw attention, as well as reflect the message of his brand. (Dover Street Market. 2018).

“I do feel my clothes are not just strictly womenswear though, and have never considered it so rigid.�

The next brand I’ve researched into is Matty Bovan. Created by York Based designer, Matty bovan himself. Showing with the womenswear presentations, A/W 18 will be his first ever solo show and collection away from working with Fashion East. His collections are described as being a ‘parallel world of post-apocalyptic utopianism’ with a large use of knitwear and rigid, unusual fabrics.

The use of bold colours and silhouettes, along with the non-binary appearance of Matty Bovan is what I think relates the brand to Art School, as well as the Fashion East roots.

Recent ways Matty has chosen to communicate his brand include: - Fashion Film: Bovan collaborated on a fashion film with the infamous Barbie.

‘GIRLNESS’ was a film to communicate how girls are in 2017, featuring women from his hometown wearing his garments and creations. This collab also featured Barbies wearing small versions on his S/S 17 collection. (Weinstock, T. 2017).

- Collaboration with Wool and the Gang: His next collections will be in collaboration with a sustainable wool company, with Bovan stating “Knitwear has moved with technology so much recently - I can almost see it becoming like 3D printing.”, it shows he’s looking towards technology. (Pike, N. 2018).

- Yorkshire Rose Zine: Matty created a Zine to go along with his S/S 17 collection.

Named after his home county, it launched with House of Voltaire in London where you could buy signed copies, as well as online.

(Stansfield, T. 2016).

To conclude, for my 360 degree marketing campaign for Art School I have decided to make some changes to allow my campaign to be adaptable to the exhibition space. Instead of the pop-up store and club night, which I think will be unmanageable to translate, I’ve came up with a few more ideas for the main part of my campaign. One being an online and offline zine, inspired

by Matty Bovan, with the online version incorporating film and not just imagery.

Or, a contemporary fashion film inspired by Charles Jeffrey, for the promotion of the store and club night. Smaller possible elements I want to take forward include the professional printing of posters, t-shirts and a tote bag.

Conlon, S. Farfetch Announces Store of The

from http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/ar-

Future. Vogue. Retrieved from http://www.

ticle/33986/1/london-designer-matty-bovan-de-

vogue.co.uk/article/farfetch-announces-store-

buts-sinister-zine

of-the-future Weinstock, T. 2017. barbie gets a matty bovan Dover Street Market. 2018. Charles Jeffrey

makeover. i-D. Retrieved from https://i-d.

Loverboy. DSML. Retrieved from

vice.com/en_uk/article/7xb9ae/barbie-gets-a-

http://london.doverstreetmarket.com/dsmpaper/

matty-bovan-makeover

collections_ss18/charles_jeffrey.html Evans, G. 2018. London Menswear A/W 18 Charles Jeffrey. SHOWstudio. Retrieved from http://showstudio.com/collection/charles_jeffrey_london_menswear_a_w_18/tantrum_charles_ jeffrey_loverboy_a_w_18 Jiang, E. 2017. Virtual Reality: Growth Engine for Fashion? Business of Fashion. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion. com/articles/fashion-tech/virtual-reality-growth-engine-for-fashion Kansara, V A. 2017. Inside Farfetch’s Store of the Future. Business of Fashion. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/bof-exclusive/inside-farfetchs-store-ofthe-future NOW Gallery. 2017. THE COME UP: Charles Jeffrey. NOW Gallery. Retrieved from http://nowgallery.co.uk/exhibitions/the-come-up/ Pike, N. 2018. We Didn’t See Matty Bovan’s Next Collaboration Coming. Vogue. Retrieved from http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/mattybovan-london-fashion-week-knitwear Stansfield, T. 2016. London designer Matty Bovan debuts sinister zine. Dazed. Retrieved