CONT'D Future brand sceme

CONT’D THE FUTURE

CONT’D IS

A NEW, UNIQUE, ONLINE FASHION BRAND FACILITATING THE SALE OF PRE-OWNED CLOTHES AND ACCESSORIES CAREFULLY SELECTED AND PRESENTED USING SEASONAL TREND AND TIMELESS STYLE FOR THE ERUDITE WOMAN

www.contdstyle.com

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I INTRODUCTION CONT’D

is an entirely new fashion brand. The brand will stock carefully selected, stylish and wearable pre-owned clothes that are marketed using fashion trends and style as oppose to era (as Vintage shop would do) Alongside facilitating the sale of quality pre-owned garments, and by using fashion as a platform, CONT’D illustrates topical and cultural ideas using written word, newsletters, fashion photography and social media - intertwining fashion, culture, and current affairs to appeal to a consumer of the information age.

The site is different to any vintage or designer resale existing brand; instead the sole aim is to deliver handpicked, stylish - and most importantly wearable clothes.

In this document is the plan of action for CONT’D focusing on the next three months prior to the brands September launch, and with insights extended

beyond the launch when the brand shop is up and running.

CONT’D was born two months ago and since then we have seen a team start to develop, succeeded in creating the fundamental map of the website; establishing the website aesthetic and brand aesthetic; conduct the first line of product shoots to generate product imagery; conduct the first instalment of feature content based on the CONT’D trends; produce imagery illustrating the CONT’D trends; imagine, direct and produce a short film to entice the CONT’D consumer ideal; and establish contact with various professionals to build future professional relationships with.

At this point CONT’D is taking its first steps to becoming a new brand however there is some way to go to achieve perfection. The content exhibited in this document will illustrate the considerable levels of potential that CONT’D has within its capabilities.

Waiting to be unlocked: this is the future of CONT’D.

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CONSUMER The consumer will be thought of at each stage of development and eventual deployment of this concept and that is particularly true for the future and expansion of CONT’D. We will continue to closely study the consumer so that when the time comes for CONT’D to launch it is a tailor made brand for the CONT’D woman. To test run the products there will be a temporary shop on ASOS Market place. This can be monitored to understand the purchasing patterns of the consumer in relation to the brand and will highlight the successes as well as areas that need to be improved against these purchasing patterns of real consumers.

KEY TAKEAWAYS MORE CONSUMER RESEARCH AND TESTS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE CONT’D WOMAN

18-30 INTERESTED IN ART/ MUSIC/CULTURE INTERESTED IN CURRENT AFFAIRS INTERESTED IN FASHION PROFESSIONAL OR STUDYING EMPATHETIC INTELLIGENT ST YLISH PRICE SAVVY SHOPS ONLINE USES SOCIAL MEDIA FEMINIST

THE CONT’D WOMAN

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WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT Currently the CONT’D website is fully constructed with all the relevant pages intact, the aesthetic is fully developed and it coveys the right image of CONT’D as a brand, The future development of the website is to add more content.

The additional content planned for Autumn/Winter 2014/15 will be seven more feature shoots illustrating the remaining three trends: Red vs Blue, Burnt Fruit, and Pop Art. There will also be four feature shoots based on the styles adopted for the new season which: Ode to the Turtleneck, The Classic Black Dress, Silver Jewellery and a Work Wear collection. Theses photo shoots will take place on various locations and will mimic each of the themes with their own creative story lines to produce beautiful feature content that will serve as the main gallery site content on the websites home page on a rotation system throughout the Season.

These images will express all the necessary attribute to appeal the CONT’D woman, create an attractive home page environment and inspire the consumer to aspire to the images and to the CONT’D products.

Between now and September there will be a surge of stock that will be photographed and uploaded to the product pages to ensure there is a wealth of choice for our potential consumer.

There will be articles written on topics aimed to appeal to the CONT’D woman, eg the article that will accompany the short film will discuss the politics feminism particularly focusing on scholar Germaine Greer and art profiling the artist Ines Zenha. By the launch in September CONT’D plans to have a range of articles that will be illustrated appropriately ready to be submitted onto the Blog page.

The Website

KEY TAKEAWAYS MORE EDITORIAL CONTENT AND MORE PRODUCTS WILL BE ADDED TO THE WEBSITE

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POP-UP SHOP CONT’D is designed to be an online store, however one way to push sales of products is to stage pop up shops. As well as sales this is a great way to promote the brand face to face with the consumer in a controlled environment. Following the feature shoot that took place in April, we have been invited to take part in two Vintage Fairs hosted by the Roebuck hotel free of charge.

The Pop up Shop will be promoted through the website, the brands social media pages, posters will be created, and QR stickers will be placed in key

areas where the brands demographic would spend time.

Key areas to stage Pop up shops would be London, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield , Nottingham and Birmingham. These locations are key cities and have a large student population (students will make up a large part of the consumer demographic.

A key time to host a pop up shop would be during Fashion Week in London. This will also be a means of attracting press attention from fashion bloggers.

CONT’D Products

KEY TAKEAWAYS POPUPSHOPSWILLBEPLANNED OVERTHESUMMERTOPROMOTE THE BRAND AHEAD OF THE LAUNCH AND DURING LFW

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MENSWEAR RANGE In the coming months CONT’D will be developing their menswear line ready in time for the launch.

This is been developing alongside the womenswear already, and we have an exciting array of products that will appeal to the CONT’D man. The CONT’D man will share the interests of the CONT’D woman.

This will be a particularly profitable venture as based on the research conducted by CONT’D there is far less available for men in the resale market, and as part of a focus study there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that we can offer a product that is suitably appealing to the desires of the CONT’D man. The

aesthetic of the Mens range will focus less on trend and more on style. There will be inspiration taken from style icons over the last 100 years such as James Dean, Steve Mcqueen, Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger.

The range will be promoted along side the womens wear ranges and a new short film will be produced that will have a story line based on the missing photographs from the 1967 Blonde on Blonde Album

by Bob Dylan photographed by Jerry Schatzberg.

This will set the tone for the aesthetic of the product line for the CONT’D man.

Menswear product shot

KEY TAKEAWAYS A MENSWEAR COLLECTION WILL BE ADDED PRIOR TO THE SEPTEMBER AND PROMOTED USING A SHORT FASHION FILM

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SOCIAL MEDIA The social media pages are all up and running. Prior to the launch there will be a vast surge in the content.

We aim to achieve a full brand following by the time the brand launches in September.

To help achieve this Alice Menzies will be the social Media Coordinator. She has industry experience working the social media for the agency Pure.

We want to drive as much traffic as possible to the brands social media and the way to achieve this is to continue to post CONT’D woman inspired content with the relevant hash tags.

To create a relationship to the brand there will be competitions posted on the social media to win exclusive CONT’D products prior to the brands release. In order to partake in the competitions the user must share the post and then this creates a viral promotional scheme that will help get the brand recognised.

In the run up to the launch there will be a count down of the final 20 days. Each day a new piece of enticing content, competitions, enticers, and videos of what is going on behind the scenes in the preparation uploaded to the brands social media outlets to let the users know CONT’D is coming.

KEY TAKEAWAYS APPOINT SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR. POST A LAUNCH COUNTDOWN AND HOST .

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BRAND LOOKBOOK From now until the Launch CONT’D will be working on producing a second look book.

This will be a full and complete book of all the key seasonal trends and styles, therefore it will show case the work from the folk feature shoot as well as the up and coming 7 further editorial shoots. It will host the images from the full product offering of the brand. The look book will come complete with mood board inspiration and will be hardbound. The aesthetic will reflect the websites clean modern and sleek approach, and will be art directed accordingly.

The look book will be printed and issued to various PR companies, as well as a visual aid to investors. It will also be uploaded onto the site ISSUU.com. The release of the publication will be celebrated on the social media pages. The full document will be embedded into the website so that the consumer can look at it themselves.

Throughout the book there will be QR code links to relevant information, this will give the publication a user friendly element and could achieve a higher success rate of press.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A COLLECTIVE BRAND LOOKBOOK WILL BE PRODUCED AHEAD OF THE LAUNCH TO SEND TO PR COMPANIES AN UPLOAD TO THE WEBSITE

womenswear product shots

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RENEWAL CONT’D aims to achieve a line of renewal by the next seasons (Spring/Summer 2015). This will be the creation of totally new products made using old garments (that would otherwise not make it to the CONT’D shop) in a series of collaboration projects with emerging talent and graduate designers. We are extremely passionate at the prospect of hosting our own 100% new lines that will be branded and labelled as CONT’D products.

The market for this kind of venture is growing tremendously and brands such as Urban Outfitters and ASOS are already offering this service alongside a whole host of current Vintage shops such as Beyond Retro, Rockit, and We Are Cow. The charity shop TRADE have a wide selection of this kind of product that they showcase in a lookbook and the

line is hugely popular.

This will mark the true essence of our brand and enable us to offer products that fit the CONT’D woman and mans desires perfectly. Having a renewal line will build the demographic of the brand as well as generate more sales of more products.

The aesthetic of the new products will strive to be unique amongst the kind of products offered by the market competitors which is a often has a ‘Hipster’ esque vibe. Our products will strive to encapsulate a smoother, cleaner, more beautiful look. There will be a look book created for the new line that will be released February 2015, short film produced styled using the new line, and a series of promotional campaigns and editorial features.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A RENEWAL LINE WILL BE PRODUCED READY FOR LAUNCH IN FEBRUARY 2015. THIS WILL BE A COLLABORATION WITH EMERGING DESIGN TALENT

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GUERRILLA MARKETING In the build up to the launch there will be several means of Guerrilla marketing techniques employed. This os low cost a marketing strategy and will include sticker bombing and flyer posting. This will be performed to draw attention to brand and generate interest.

as the sort film that will excite the user giving them something to talk about and the make that secret door worth opening.

If it is link to content which is interesting and exciting, then a user is far likely to become a consumer and revisit the site or follow the next posted QR link.

The curiosity of the where the square will lead the user is half of the fun. Studies show that most people are intrigued by the unknowing and often hoping for something big or surprising. It will be important to link QR codes to more than just the company site, but to content such

One promotional avenue of utilising the excitement of the unknown when it comes to QR codes, is to have mystery links posted on the newsletter and social media that will lead the user to a surprise that will enhance the relationship with the consumer or promote the brand in some way.

KEY TAKEAWAYS QR CODE FOR

www.contdstyle.com

GUERRILLA MARKING WILL E CONDUCTED OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE BRAND

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LAUNCH EVENT To commemorate the brands launch there will be a scheduled event hosted by CONT’D that will be a celebration of the start of the brand. This event will be held in London . There will be examples of the best CONT’D products, and copies of the lookbook made available at the event.

The event will be for the purpose of inviting press and there will be a guest list of press and PR people invited.

This will be a great way of attracting a lot of press attention and will be pinnacle in really putting CONT’D on the fashion map.

KEY TAKEAWAYS PLAN AND HOST AN EVENT TO COMMEMORATE THE LAUNCH OF THE BRAND AND ATTRACT PRESS ATTENTION

POP ART TREND SHOOT

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NEWSLETTER Once the website is up and running there will be a regular (weekly) newsletter sent out to the brands mailing list. Access to the mailing list will be in the form of a content block on the home page of the website and visible on every other page of the website located at the bottom of the site.

The newsletter will include information about the brand, about the editorial content, and new products trends and styles.

Having a newsletter is an excellent way to communicate to the consumer and will ensure that the brand remains visible and active regardless of whether or not the user visits the site or the social media pages.

KEY TAKEAWAYS THERE WILL BE A WEEKLY BRAND NEWSLETTER TO UPDATE THE CONSUMER ON ALL NEW ASPECTS OF THE BRANDS ACTIVITY

MOCK NEWSLETTER

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KEY TAKEAWAYS The Keywords for this brand are...

cool, unique, stylish, socially conscientious, sustainable, intelligent andrisquĂŠ.

S t r e n g t h s Environmentally sustainable // Socially Sustainable // Profitably Sustainable // Unique Marketing // A New Way of Representing ‘Second Hand’ // Supports Graduates // Supports Charities // Forward Thinking // Fashionable Environment to Promote Sustainability // Tried and Tested Means of Collecting Stock // Coincides with trends of ‘up cycling’ // Positive Consumer Response So Far // Unique Product // Easy to Market Through Social Media // Can Offer More Competitive Prices than Current Vintage Stores

W e a k n e s s e s The Unique Products Only Available in One Size and Single Quantity// Stock for Each Trend is Not a Guarantee// Time Consuming Website Management// Competition From Larger Companies Such as ASOS and Ebay// Selling Cycle Could Move Too Fast For Stock Buying

O p p o r t u n i t i e s Press from Magazines Loaning Clothes // Work with Designers on re styling and printing on Recycled garments to Create Whole New Items // To Gain Advertising Contracts to Generate Income // To Work on Charitable Projects Using Fashion and the Brands Success // To Increase Stock With Success of Sales // To revolutionise the Second Hand Clothing Market // Make a Difference for the Better // More Lines of Products // More Blogs With Fashion Industry Workers //Frequent Events to Raise Money for Charity// Collaboration with Celebrities to Promote the Brand and Sustainability

T h r e a t s Competitors // Rate of Sales // Lack of Profit to Sustain Editorial // Not enough variation in Sizes // Sizing Each Garment To Ensure it is Suitable // Quality Control // Returns // Travel Costs of Gathering Stock //

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www.contdstyle.com