Written Brand Outline

X N FE L L LIVE THE MOUNTAIN WAY EVERYDAY Written Brand Outline Jasmine Richings

This document discusses the Axnfell brand and strategy in detail All work for the Axnfell project has been undertaken and completed by Jasmine Richings

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Contents 1

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1- Business Case 1.1- Mission Statement 1.2- USP 1.3- Brand Philosophy

2 - Target Market 2.1- Customer Profiles

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4 - Collection Concept 4.1- Materials 4.2- Costings

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7 - Advertising 4.1- Online Advertising 4.2- Print Advertising

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10- Lookbook

5 - The Axnfell Store

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8- Axnfell Website

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3 - Market Analysis 3.1- Competitor Analysis 3.2- Competitor Graph 3.3 Competitor Analysis

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6 - Branding and Packaging

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9- Sitka Bi-Annual Magazine

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Business Case The following document details essential information that answers if the Axnfell brand would be commercially successful, through researching into the current sportswear market, branding packaging trends and advertising techniques. As well as accounting for all of the outputs created for the Axnfell brand including visualisations and mock up’s of possible stores and a website.

1.1 Mission Statement To inspire young adults to lead a more active lifestyle through providing current active wear based clothing and building a community where people can connect and share/plan experiences.

1.2 USP Axnfell isn’t just a brand, it’s a lifestyle choice. Offering garments and products that can be used for purpose and everyday life at mid-point prices. When you buy Axnfell your buying into the community of like minded people, giving you much more than just a coat.

1.3 Brand Philosophy Inspired by the perfect hiking location, The Isle of Man, Axnfell strives to create a community where like minded people can connect, share experiences and plan new ones. The products and garments are an integral part of the brand as they aim to inspire young people to be more active through mixing practical active wear necessities with current streetwear trends, making them desirable to the target market of young adults and able to be worn for both purpose and everyday life.

Axnfell also promotes healthy and local food and drink throughout all of it’s eateries, supporting the local community that helps grow it’s own and furthermore promoting a healthy lifestyle.

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2.1 Custom e

Target Market Axnfell is aimed at young adults between 18-30, the Axnfell customer is a very varied one so could be anyone from a 21 year old backpacker to a 27 year old dad who loves hiking and wants to meet other individuals who share his passion.

Approaching individuals with a sense of adventure and creativity, there is no particular style shared by the Axnfell consumer other than the desire to be more active and connect with others who share their passion.

Through the stores and social media, Axnfell are able to reach all of their customers and spread their community.

Sarah. 20. Backpacker Sarah love the way Axnfell mixes trend and durable material, this allows her to wear Axnfell garments and products while she backpackers over the world exploring various terrains while looking good and getting the correct protective materials hiking garments need.

er Profiles

Jason. 28. DJ and extereme hobbiest DJ Jason likes how he can wear his Axnfell clothing for his extreme hobbies because of their sports fabric and also can wear them for DJing work because of their cool aesthetic appearance, making Axnfell his go to brand.

Tom. 24. Creative Tom is a recent creative graduate and appreciates the community that Axnfell offers that allows him to connect with others who share the same passion for hiking as well as provide clothing he can wear both on and off the mountains.

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Market Analysis 2016 saw a surge in sales of sportswear for non-sports use, this is thanks to the athleisure trend that began in 2015 and strived in 2016. Mintel reports that 50% of British people in 2016 were buying sportswear for fashion purposes only. Furthermore, 32% of purchasers say they prefer to buy from sports retailers who follow the latest trends.

High levels of consumer interest in health and wellness trends is also driving growth in the activewear market.

Currently over half of UK consumers take part in sport at least once a week, with younger consumers in particularly taking the trend seriously as 28% of people aged between 16-24 exercising five times week or more. As a result of this, younger consumers are the most likely group to have bought sports products over the past year, with three in four Brits aged 16-24 purchasing new items.

Samantha Dover, Retail Analyst at Mintel, speaking about the sales within the sportswear market; “The sports goods market continues to grow at an exceptional rate. Driven by a rising interest in health and wellness amongst young consumers, coupled with an increasing acceptance of casual dressing, the athleisure trend is dominating the sector. The success of the market has seen increasing levels of competition from non-specialists, and more than ever, retailers need to establish their position in a crowded sector.�

This information on the current sportswear market is overwhelming positively for Axnfell; with the largest amount of sportswear consumers being their target market of young customers. What is also positive about these statistics is that 32% of purchasers say they preferring buying from retailers who follow the latest trends, something Axnfell strives to provide.

Although it seems the athlesisure trend is dominating the market, figures also show that of those who have bought sportswear for purpose in the past year, 45% have done for so running jogging, the highest statistic over clothing for any other sport. Despite Axnfell not being a brand focused on running in particular, the apparel for running and jogging is similar to that of hiking garments in most respects, so overall this is a positive for Axnfell.

The Mintel report also detailed how there is an increasing level of competition from non-specialists, this could be taken as negative because Axnfell is a specialist brand that provides professional hiking and activewear, however because Axnfell garments are also aimed at being worn for everyday life, consumers buying just for aesthetic value can still get that when buying into the Axnfell brand, turning the negative into

a positive.

As the Axnfell store operates an Axnfell Eatery, research into the current food market as also been undertaken. The Mintel 2017 food and drink trend report identify how a interest in authenticity and a product’s story has expanded the use of craft, artisan and handmade claims in food and drink over the past few years. A positive for Axnfell as each Eatery promises local produce as a way to give back into the community that is helping grow their own. The Axnfell Packaging and branding in both the store and Eatery reflect the handmade and artisan qualities seen in the food and products its sells, something thats is also on trend (WGSN) and will be explored further in the branding and packaging feature.

As Axnfell strives to get young individuals to lead a more active and healthy lifestyle it would be hypocritical not to emphasis the importance of healthy eating, therefore the Eatery menu focus’ on fresh and healthy food. With the growing interest in health and wellness, especially on younger consumers behalf this makes Axnfell even more desirable to their consumer as they provide what their customer wants.

3.1 Competitor Analysis Although Axnfell have introduces an innovative and original concept within a brand, there are a few key retailers with a product and price range that rival the brand young sportswear/day wear appeal; The North Face, Patagonia, MKI and Rapha.

Patagonia’s mission statement is, “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” They use clever marketing to create successful campaigns promote consumers to think about waste. With a mid-high price point on products and garments, consumers not only buy into the Patagonia brand for high quality active wear but also the brand image. As well as successful campaigns Patagonia have a strong social media presence. However while Patagonia excel in marking, promotional and the technical ability of their garments they lack in the originality, trend and ‘fun’ appeal to their clothing.

The North Face is quite similar to Patagonia in terms of price point and their clothing qualities, like Patagonia The North Face’s garments also lack in originally as focus on function. Their campaigns focus on promoting the intense and extreme sports that their clothes are made for, but like Patagonia consumers also buy into the The North Face for the brand name and just wear in everyday life. Active on social media with focus on sport related content.

MKI are a Leeds based brand a concept store that sell streetwear inspired garments of their own line and also other brands with a similar aesthetic. Their clothing has a low to mid price point making it affordable and accessible for most customers. As MKI is a small local brand they don’t advertise their products but do have a good social media following and other streetwear based brand such as END in Newcastle stock their line. The MKI store showcases great visual merchants with a crisp and fresh aesthetic. Because MKI doesn’t sell practical sportswear like Axnfell it can’t compete with it in this respect.

Rapha are a cycling based brand that also offer a cafe as part of their stores which are worldwide, this is why Rapha are a competitor as there are little other sports based brands that offer this. Obviously Rapha and Axnfell can’t compete on clothing as each are for different purposes; it’s the experience and community feel you get from buying into a brand like Rapha that makes it competitor. Rapha advertises in high end magazines such as Twenty Six, Cereal and also have their own publication ‘Mondial.’ They also have a strong social media following, posting cycling based content and short films cycling in different locations.

Rapha Store Interior

The North Face Advert Patagonia Advert

MKI Store Interior

Price

High

3.2 Competitor Graph

Low

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Low

Creativity

High

3.3 Market Position Axnfell’s position in the market falls somewhere between it’s competitors as it is a mix of all of them and offers something completely new to the hiking market. Consumers buy into the Axnfell brand for current and on trend hiking appeal that is suitable to wear both on and off the mountain, as well as to be part of a community that encourages leading a active and healthy lifestyle for the young. In a scale of price point Axnfell lies under that of Patagonia and The North Face, making it more affordable and assayable for the young consumer; above MKI and on a similar level to Rapha. Promotion and social media wise Axnfell is a the top of the market, constantly posting engaging content through it’s social media channels that reflects the brands views and ethos and well as keeping consumers up to date with the brands latest releases; this is a mixture of the strategy used by Axnfell’s competitors as Patagonia, The North Face and Rapha all base their content on the sports their brand promotes and MKI focus on promoting their line.

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Collection Concept

Moodboard

Axnfell’s Autumn/Winter 2017/18, ‘The Snafell Collection,’ so named after the mountain on the Isle of Man; takes inspiration from original explorers garments such as those worn by Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen who were the first two explores to lead expeditions to the South Pole. The garments in the collection have details such as polyester webbing, pocket details and warm heavy materials which are inspired by the explorer research and are a nod to utility. Native inuit tribes were also a inspiration for the A/W collection as they are based in similar extreme climates to that of the explorer expeditions. What was most influential about the native inuit garment research was the use of panelling and intricate patterns, being one of the main design features throughout the Snafell range. As Axnfell is a modern brand targeted at youth/ young adults research was also done into current designers techniques and streetwear trends to insure the collection would appeal to the target market.

Design Development

Inital Research

Each garment in the collection has been named after the plantation or area o the Isle of Man where it’s panelling and or pattern detail as come from; The Ayre Parka, The Brookdale Trouser Combo the Rhenny Top and The Axnfell Original Top.

Design Development

Design Development

Inital Research

Current inspiration comes form the likes of menswear designer Craig Green who uses a lot of utility details throughout his collections as well as the use of panelling; and also Vetements who create modern clothing for both male and female showing an oversized silhouette, of which was also fond frequently in street style research and historical research of explores and native inuit tribes. To keep the collection innovative and original the Axnfell design team looked close to home for pattern and panelling inspiration, using shapes and line detail from zooming into areas on the Isle of Man map such as plantations and glens. These details are seen throughout the collection in panels, pockets and screen printed line detail.

4.1 Materials Navy Waterproof Nylon Ripsop

Materials used throughout the collection which include; waterproof ripstop nylon, mock eyelet sports mesh, micro fleece, jersey and diamond quilted microfibre; come from a mixture of inspiration such as fabrics used for expeditions and native inuit times, the heavy weight fabrics like fleece and diamond quilted microfibre reflect the weight of garments worn in those times and situations. More modern fabrics like waterproof ripstop nylon, mock eyelet sports mesh reflect the current activewear trends and are lightweight so easy to layer and remove.

Pale Blue Diamond Quilted Microfibre

Orange Polyester Webbing

Red Cotton Jersey

White Cotton Jersey with screen print detail

Orange Microfibre

Navy Mock Eyelet Sports Mesh

Navy Sportsmesh

4.2 Costings The costing for each garment has been calculated through adding the cost of the materials used, adding the time it took to make with a steeamstress’ average hourly rate and finally adding 30% for profit.

The Ayre Parka: £21.33 in materials, £81.60 for hours to make at seamstress hourly rate plus 30% profit margin = £133.90 then round up, retail price = £140

The Ayre Parka £140

The Brookdale Trouser Combo £80

The Rhenny Top £48

The Axnfell Orginial Top £30

The Brookdale Trouser Combo: £17.30 in materials, £40.80 for hours to make at seamstress hourly rate plus 30% profit margin = £75.53 then round up, retail price = £80 The Rhenny Top: £11.09 in materials, £24.48 for hours to make at seamstress hourly rate plus 30% profit margin = £46.50 then round up, retail price = £48 The Axnfell Original Top: £5.99 in materials, £16.32 for hours to make at seamstress hourly rate plus 30% profit margin = £29 then round up, retail price = £30

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The Axnfell Store Recent research suggests that adding an eating experience to a store increases footfall, which then hopefully leads to more sales and regular customers. Having an food experience and space to sit and communicate in the Axnfell stores is an integral part of the brand as this allows a place for people to meet, share experiences and plan new ones.

Each Axnfell Eatery promises as much local produce as possible, as a way to give back into the community that is helping grow their own.

There is also a focus on fresh and healthy foods which reflects the same message as the clothing, to lead a healthy and active lifestyle.

The interior of each store and eatery is minimal and crisp with wood and furnishings, with large airy space that lets light in and plant decoration, that reflect a modern and current brand with a passion for the outdoors.

The Axnf ell Eate ry Today’s Specials: on Noa Bakehouse Smoked Salmon Sourdough a ched eggs on No Knockaloe farm poa ugh rdo Sou use Bakeho

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Branding and Packaging Branding for Axnfell is modern and simple, the logo which features abstracted map lines is bold, legible and represents the brands affiliation with mountains. The logo has been screen printed across the in the store packaging such as, coffee cups, small brown paper bags for the Eatery and a mixture of different sizes bags for the store and tissue paper to wrap the garments or any take away foods in. All tags on the garments are also screen printed; this gives a artisan and craft feel, keeping up with current and future packaging trends. (A/W HumaNature Packaging report, WSGN) This approach also fits with the local produce that each eatery stocks.

As well as selling food each Axnfell Eatery also sells it’s own merchandise, separate to that of the store. The merchandise includes eatery uniform top with either a Sitka Spruce 1951 logo or Japanese Larch 1985, named after the trees and years they were planted in the Axnfell plantation, with the words Explorer on the back. The same logos are also available on cotton tote bags, along with an Axnfell logo print; and small aprons, all available in a black or white.

This technique of selling merchandise through the eatery is inspired by merchandise sold at concerts and bars such as Belgrave Music Hall.

Logo:

XNFELL

The Axnfell logo uses a basic bold font and abstracted map shapes to grab attention Font: Arial Regular, A is drawn to make look like a mountain

Slogan: LIVE THE MOUNTAIN WAY EVERYDAY Slogan respresents how Axnfell is a lifestyle brand that you can wear everyday Font: Abyssopelagic, free from behance

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Advertising Advertising is an hugely important aspect of the Axnfell brand, advertising in the right places ensures to gain the highest reach of customer attention.

The adverts shown opposite are from the Autumn/Winter 2017/18 ‘Snafell’ Collection; they show candid images of the model hiking in the Snafell Collection. These images have been chosen as straight away you can tell what kind of product is being advertised and a simple and eye-catching to be noticed when turning a page or walking past a billboard.

X N FEL L LIVE THE MOUNTAIN WAY EVERYDAY

Lanscape advert for print and online

Electronic billboard advert

7.1 Online Advertising Online placement is an important factor of the advertising strategy to keep with digital trends showing that 87% of internet users (Mintel 2017) have noticed this method of advertising with at least 47% clicking on the ad to be directed to the brand website.

Axnfell would advertise on hiking/ walking based websites such as; backpacker.com climbmagazine.com climber.co.uk and daily streetwear website highsnobiety.com

climbmagazine.com

highSnobeity.com

climber.co.uk

7.2 Print Advertising

Climb Magazine

Print adverts would also run in hiking/walking magazines; Climb, Trail, The Great Outdoors

Trail Magazine

Examples of magazines for print advertisments include; Cereal, Twenty Six and YUCA- all high end fashion and lifestyle publications that the target market of 18-30 buy

Cereal Magazine

A print route of advertising has been chosen because although digital platforms give instant impact, magazines are a little more prestigious with readers often holding on to them, or passing them on to someone else; this high circulation and readership allows for further reach.

YUCA Magazine

Printed advertisements will be seen in magazines suited to the target market.

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Axnfell Website The Axnfell features an online store featuring both mens and women clothing/ products, Store Location, as well as being able to buy the Sitka Magazine, Axnfell Travel Guides and link to the Axnfell Community where users can connect through a free sign up.

The layout of the website is simple and legible, easily viewed on a laptop and mobile devices which is essential for young target market. The homepage allows users to click one of the options beneath the logo or the ‘Snafell Campaign’ or “New In! Snafell Collection.”

Website mock up on Phone

Website mock up on Laptop

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Sitka Bi-Annual Magazine The Sitka magazine is a Bi-annual publication by Axnfell that features a preview on the next seasons collection, interviews, travel guides and more.

Brands such as Asos, Net-a-Porter and Rapha all have magazines that are published either monthly or bi-annually.

Having a magazine allows Axnfell to reach new customers who perhaps haven’t seen their online presence or one of their stores.

The Sitka Magazine would be sold in stores such as Village Bookstore, Colours May Vary and the Axnfell store itself. It would be sold in these stores as their main market is between the ages 18-30 like Axnfell’s.

Sitka Magazine cover mock up

Sitka Magazine mock up

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Lookbook The Axnfell Lookbook is a small book featuring the current seasons garments, this would be published every season and available for publications to view the collection.

The Snafell Collection Lookbook shows a different take on the collection to that of the campaign images. Unlike the campaign images, which focused on capturing the garments in their natural environment, the lookbook images intent to capture the fun and young spirit of the brand. A variety of camera angles and background offer a range of images which show attitude and a playfulness.

Lookbook cover mock up Lookbook pages mock up’s

X NFELL LIVE THE MOUNTAIN WAY EVERDAY