W HAT'S I N SI D E?
// 04 Dissertation subject This is the summary of what the dissertation will be on and what will go into it.
//05 Digital fashion brands A moodboard on some of the existing fashion brands that have digital platforms already, apps and web.
// 06 Hype’s rise to success
This takes a look at the digital platforms within Hype and how they have helped.
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Introducing SikSilk
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Use the force Luke !
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Using Competitions
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Valuable Book list
and all of it’s pals. We look at how SikSilk have used current trends and social media to become so popular.
of Twitter that is. A closer look into the customer service that SikSilk provide.
A brief look into how using competitions to drive traffic towards the brand has become a sucessful and popular choice
This is a list of very useful books that have been recommended to me on the subject of UX and fashion branding.
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Statistics Balistic
An assortment of statistics gathered showing the rise of retail online shopping and the rise of smart phones and access.
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Hype Clothing Advertising style. A look into the tactics Hype use for their images and advetisements.
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The subject of my dissertation will be: The influence of digital platforms on the fashion industry. This will require me to research and understand the trends and digital strategies put in place by fashion retail brands. Digital design is the area of practice that I will focus on now and throughout the of my career, this combined with my awareness of the fashion retail industry led me to become enamoured with this topic for my dissertation. By looking at this subject within my disseratation I hope to understand the use of digital within retail further, as it effects so many different areas. Social media and existing apps, such as Instagram, have all had an effect on retail brands. It will be interestig to see the evidence of this more in depth when I begin to carry out my research. The negotiated project will be closely linked to the subject that I am proposing for my negotiated project brief. Whilst I am currently deciding between three definite briefs, the topic and outcomes are all very similar. I am proposing to create or strengthen the digital platform for a retail brand of my choice, or create a hypothetical brief. This will strengthen all areas of Experience Design within digital for me, as it will further my understanding of the strategy as well as the technical side of things, a.k.a the coding.
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Hype is the perfect example of a fashion brand which has used the power of social netwroking platforms, to essentially launch their own products. The begininng of Hype saw two students create a following on Facebook and Twitter so large, that they were able to gather enough interest and support to win competitions and build enough ‘hype’ around the brand. So much hype that when the first drop of their t-shirt line launched, it sold out 12 hours later. Hype is now stocked in high street stockists such as FootAsylum, Topman, Topshop, Two Seasons and soon to be stocked on Asos. Building the hype around hype before they had even launched any products proved to be a very successful marketing strategy. It allowed the followers to have an emotional connection, as though they had discovered it themselves. The followers anticipated the launch so much so that when it was dropped, it caused the immediate sell out. Hype are now opening up shop in Shoreditch, London on the 13th of June.
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This huge presence that they have on the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram networks, allows for constant free advertising. When users receive their products, they often post an image of themselves wearing it and tag it with the brand name, this furthers the hype and Hype clothing do not need to pay them for this endorsement. Another contributing factor of the success of the clothing brand is the fact that they have understood their target audience very well, very well indeed. They recognised the fact that the type of market they were aiming their products at, use social networking alot and frequently post photos. They also understood the concept of the audience feeling like they have discovered Hype all on their own and will therefore have that bond with them. The style of the products are exactly what the target audience responds well to. Having something very colourful and clashing, but on a reasonably safe piece of clothing.that they can wear everyday.
Example of an image posted via twitter by a pleased customer. This is free advertising for Hype as it generates interest, especially as it can be seen worldwide. The target audience for Hype would be very familiar with Instagram and Twitter, as this is how a lot of the original clientel was generated.
Like many others, Hype have understood the power of having a celebrity endorse or represent their clothing. The cooloer the celebrity the better. In this case it is a member of rudimental. Not the stereotypical type of celebrity, but a celebrity to the target audience. If they see it on an idol, they will buy it. Though they have the huge social networking presence, the other promotional material is just as important to reach all possible customers. The print adverts are just as important, although they are often repeated digitally on the website or as a Twitter cover photo, they are very necessary. The style of photography lends a ethereal, majestic quality to the images, and the locations are often mystical. Giving a hazy overall look, one which the traget audience will associate with summer days and long nights. It strengthens the bond between the two.
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When it comes to the mobile website, the UI and U is very straight forward and simple to use, so the whole focus is on the clothing and the products. The style of the patterns of the clothing is so intricate that the clean cut finish actually compliments it. The user can also share the pieces that they want on social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, strengthening the presence of the online following, which is the root of their initial success. This again drives traffic towards the websites and in turn, creates more ‘hype’ and interest about the products. The user can also bookmark pieces that they want, as a lot of the time the target audiences are stereotypically the consumers that financially have to wait until pay day to afford the clothing. The UI is very simple and minimalist, so that it is very easy to navigate round The logo is very strong as are the use of images within the catalogue and website, so the rest can afford to be kept simple and clean. If it wasn’t for the style of advertising and images, a clean cut website would not have necessarily worked. The quality of the lookbooks have transformed quite dramatically from 2011 to 2013. The aim of the lookbooks was to reflect the personality and qualities of the brand, which would appeal and direct traffic towards the brand. The theme is usually based on the outdoors, with an ethereal majestic quality to it, the models are the stereotypical consumers of the brand, fun and young.
SikSilk are another example of a retail clothing brand that have used social networking to help launch and build a clientele. Using both Twitter and Instagram, SikSilk are fast becoming a much coveted brand, despite the higher than high street prices. Combing celebrity endorsements with some clever marketing tactics, their list of stockists is ever increasing. Like Hype, Siksilk have understood the needs and desires of the traget audience and have responded to this accordingly. So their laid back, fun approach to the advertising and lookbook shoots, correspond with the type of model that they use. All the typical consumer, so that the target audience will become enamoured with them. They sell silk jerseys, vests and baseball shirts, which are all in the retro style. This alternative look is very marketable and is part of the reason for the success of SikSilk. As well as understanding the trends and behaviours of their target audience.
This once again proves how much of a useful tool social networking sites can be. Due to the digital nature of the clientele, a decent website is required to be able to actually view and purchase the goods. The digital and social networking platforms works well with this particular retail brand and it is hard to imagine that they would have had the same level of growth and success, had it been via the traditional use of printed catalogues and mail orders. The internet is so widely used now, especially with the target audience, that if the brand had not been on the internet, the consumers would not have known that they even existed. I will explore further their use of celebrity endorsements, style of advertising and their choice of strategy and why they have become so coveted in this compeitive day and age. Considering the climate and the fact that there are so many retail fashion brands out there to choose from, they are still growing, despire the price tag.
These are some of the celebrities that SikSilk have sent their jersey’s too, to endorse. The celebrities are mianly from the reality television show, Geordie Shore. The tv show is extremely current and therefore a lot of the target audience will know exactly who they are. The Geordie Shore cast themselves have a cult following and SikSilk have acknowledged this and used it to their advanatage to gain free advertising. And so many of their fans will buy SikSilk purely because the cast owns a similar shirt. SikSilk use Twitter to connect with these celebrities and ask them if they can send them some products. Most recently they tweeted Mollie King from The Saturdays, once again proving how digital can further a brand’s strategy.
Part of the reason SikSilk are so sucessful is for the fact that they make full use of social networking sites such as Twitter. They respond to the tweets and mentions which they receive, this in turn then goes to promote a good customer service and relationship and also drives more traffic towards the website and the brand. It proves how useful the Twitter platform is considering that they have 19,436 followers to date, all of these are potential customers. Without Twitter, many of these people would be yet to hear about SikSilk and the buzz surrounding them. It is also another platform to promote their website on.
The Instagram photo trend has made it so that users can take images of a high quality that other users will see and share, which again drives traffic towards the brand again. The tags that the users attach to the image are usually very popular and this again broadens the audience that they brand will reach and broaden the touch points of the consumer. This also shows the versatility of the brand as it shows that the products are not just suited to the models that SikSilk use in their campaigns.
The responsive website allows the website to be accessed from any device. This is very important so that users can order products from their smart phones. The website is very clean cut and minimalistic. The focus remains on the strength of the catalogue images used on there, as well as the stremgth of the products themselves, as they are all bold colours. The use of white space makes them stand out alot more, and the simple navigation makes it very straight forward to use. The products are all unisex so it is split up into the styles of the products, wether it be football shirts, vests or jersey’s.
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Online competitons are one of the best ways to drive traffic towards a retail fashion brand. It can be launched and promoted through either Twitter or Facebook for no charge, leading to free promotion. The competitions usually require the user to like and share the promotional image for the chance to win whatever is on offer in the image. This is turn then promotes both the brand and the competition to the users friends, as everyone likes free things. There are often giveaways that are promoted via blogs, but more on that later on. Competitions give consumers that couldn’t necessarily afford the product a chance to try it out, which improves customer relations with the brand. Taking it from a high end fashion brand, with a certain type of customer, to one which is more friendly. Various brands differ on the whereabouts they would have their most customers within the internet, but a common ground in the current market seems to be on Twitter and Facebook.
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A competition of this nature also broadens the brand, and raises awareness to a new sort of consumer. The more potential consumers, the better. High end fashion brands like Chanel do this to appear to be more purse friendly. But more and more frequently, start up brands launch competitions on Facebook which require a certain amount of likes, so that their page gets promoted for free and they are seen as being affordable. When a brand is first being launched, first impressions are incredibly important as there is only one first impression. Referring back to Hype as an example here, they built their clientele and hyped up their brand before it was even released. Then when it was eventually released, the buzz around it was so huge that it sold out within a matter of hours. A competition can help with this. Whether it be a give away, where the consumer has to only like and share, or they have to complete a task for the chance. Either way it is good for the public relation skills.
These are a few examples of the facebook competitions for the like and shares. The images are usually faded out with a bold text on the top, or it is an image of the products to eb won or given away. This way the user’s friends identify the image as being part of a compeition, and nothing else. Instant recognition for the purpose is what would draw in new and excited customers and users. For instance, the image at the top is from a Missquided Facebook competition, which gets people entering it via Facebook and will boost their ratings.
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Web form design - Luke Worbleski || Don’t make me think- Steve Krug || Designing for the social web - Joshua Porter || Mental Models - Indi Young || Sketching User Experiences - Bill Buxton || Creative Workshop by David Sherwin.
Mobile first - Luke Wrobleski || Responsive web design - Ethan Marcotte || Fashion brands: branding from Armani to Zara - Mark Tungate || The App design handbook by Nathan Barry || Digital Marketing by Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones || Designing Interactions - Bill Moggridge | tapworthy: Designing great Iphone apps - Joshua Clark || Communicating Design - Dan Brown || Adaptive web design by Aaron Gustafson
ÂŁ78bn - estimated value of the UK online retail market in 2012 300% - growth of mobile-commerce in 2012 â‚Ź825bn - estimated value of the global B2C e-commerce market in 2012 80% - percentage of smartphone and tablet owners who use their devices while watching TV ÂŁ851m - annual cost of failed UK online deliveries
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This hypothetical clothing brand would benefit massively from having digital platforms, much like Hype clothing did. As they are a similar style of clothing and a similar concept, with a similar clientele, a similar strategy would work very well. Building a buzz via the digital platforms so that there is much anticipation for the drop of the clothing.