Business Plan, Evidence and Reflection Book - Contemporary Fashion Business

One of my final modules at university, Contemporary Fashion Business, presented me with the task of developing and carrying out a business plan which creatively and visually evidences my individual contributions to my allocated working department. Engaging with key principles of business, production management, presentation, client handling and design practice within the fashion industry, this module allowed me to demonstrate my entrepreneurial skills, team working ability and workflow management through the process of creating professional presentations and business planning materials.

Working alongside my peers and working with different concepts of marketing, financial management, and event planning within The Lab 204 Creative Agency showcased my ability to engage with entrepreneurial activities, whilst working within a personalised industry-inspired team brief. I was placed within the Marketing and Event department within the Studio 204 Creative Agency, and our team was allocated the responsibility of organising and designing the Class of 2023 Launch Night event, as well as creating promotion and marketing material to advertise our event. The purpose of our event was to visually showcase the skills, abilities and work ethic of the Class of 2023 Fashion Marketing and Communication course, as well as launching our class into industry through offering networking opportunities with established industry members.

Budgeting and Funding Venue and Date Event Organisor (Awards and Speech)

Invitation Designer

Guest List

Promotion Assistant

(ME)

Press Assistant

Event Styling and Design

Event Planning and Coordination

Publicity Assistant

Sponsorship Outreach

Guest and VIP Communications

“We are the marketing and event organisation department for the 2023 Launch Night and Alumni Reunion for Studio 204. We are a collaborative group supporting each member of the team with our individual responsibilities for the planning and execution of the Launch Night.”

There were four members of the marketing and events department within the Studio 204 Creative Agency, and we divided up responsibilities and roles in accordance with our individual skill set and interests within the group. One of the first roles that I took on was acting as the Press Assistant for the Class of 2023 Launch Night, which involved creating a press package ready to send out to local businesses, schools, and industry members. This package aimed to provide a visual insight into who we all are over at Studio 204, as well as explaining the purpose of our celebratory event and creating a marketing material for the new fast-track course. I felt it was a good idea for me to take on the launch night press role as I have had multiple experiences interning within the press and public relations sector of the industry, therefore I had a good initial starting point of considering what were the most important aspects we needed to include in order to successfully raise awareness on the who, what, and why detailing of our event. It was important for me to ensure that the press package was inclusive of everyone’s individual skills, work aesthetic and personal journey across their three years as a Fashion Marketing and Communication student. Therefore, my starting point in achieving this KPI role was to initially research the impact and purpose of a press release within the fashion industry. This research process allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of what local businesses, industry members and media companies would be looking for within a press release in order to successfully gain media coverage and event attendance.

Having conducted my research into what makes an impactful press release, I also started to research into different universities and what they are doing in terms of advertising and marketing efforts in order to promote their fashion marketing courses. This process allowed me to gain an insight into discovering new ways to communicate our Class of 2023, creating a sense of differentiation creatively and visually between ourselves and other fashion courses. In addition, I was able to generate an in-depth understanding of why it is important to send out curated brand messages and sharing visual marketing narratives towards a target audience.

Developing my research and analytical skills, the next step was to create a visually engaging and information driven press package, allowing me to further showcase my creative branding and digital design skills also. Capturing the achievements and industry mentor influence over the past three years, my press package aimed to communicate the successes of the Class of 2023, as well as advertise the unique and industry-orientated selling point of the new fasttrack course. Following completion, the package was sent to my team-mate and Publicity Assistant, Charlotte, who was able to secure my press release to feature marketing coverage in media outlets, such as Chester’s Radio Dee. This process proved my ability to create an engaging press package, which captured the attention of press companies to then publish my writing across different communication channels.

(STUDIO

204 PRESS PACKAGE BELOW)

My second KPI was taking the responsibility of venue styling our Launch Night. This process involved researching, sourcing, and designing the layout of the venue for event, which is to reflect every student on the course. I decided to take on this role because I have a good eye for styling and pay attention to detail, therefore I thought I would be best out of the team to creatively communicate Studio 204’s branding and student stories. This process started off by booking meetings and visits with the site managers at The Storyhouse Garrett Bar, which is where our launch night is to be held. These visits consisted of taking pictures and videos of the hired spaces, taking note of key locations of plug sockets, lighting equipment possibilities, as well as asking questions regarding potential health and safety issues as we plan to use outsourced equipment. This process was beneficial to allow me to take responsibility for health and safety responsibilities within a real-life event planning scenario.

After the initial viewings of our venue, I then created a series of mood boards and compiled research into different types of venue styling possibilities, looking into local businesses to see what outsourcing equipment may be available to us. This process included looking into hiring LED lights, balloons, 360-degree photobooths and posters and signage, all whilst working within my allocated budget for venue styling. This budget was limiting however, so I had to consider different ways of dressing the space at a minimal cost as possible. It was important for me to reach out to a variety of different businesses when outsourcing products to ensure we could secure any hired products for the full duration of our event, as well as considering costings and best value for money, transportation and health and safety risks associated with equipment, such as electrical hazards. This process involved teamworking within my team, Jess in particular, as we had to keep each other updated on new costing development and budgeting changes. A key aspect of my venue design was considering how we could visually and effectively showcase our work from the Class of 2023’s final major projects, as a core purpose of the night was to creatively display the skills and abilities of our students in front of industry, family, and friends in attendance. This process included trial and error in testing out different ways of hanging our final image prints, as well as co-ordinating existing equipment used in Studio 204, such as soft box lights and backdrop frames. I also aimed to consider further marketing potential for those attending our event, such as using balloons and LED light up displays to act as photo locations for guests to use and then could share photos across social media, further extending the Studio 204 name and launch night message.

EVENT DECORATION INVOICES

LED NUMBERS & BRANDED STUDIO 204

LAUNCH NIGHT POSTERS

FLOORPLAN AND DESIGN MOCKUP

DESIGN MOCKUP

DESIGN MOCKUP

Another key element of my venue design process was considering how to incorporate the re-branding of Studio 204 into my venue styling, as it was important that I chose a colour and branding scheme that was reflective of the new 204 brand image. In attempts to extend the marketing efforts of the new fast-track course and the overall Studio 204 brand itself, I decided to create a variety of promotional poster graphics to also display around the venue to further create a cohesive branded look to our event. These promotional branded materials then got incorporated into my Studio 204 student branded video presentation that will be displayed on two portable TV screens across the venue space. One of the main reasons I decided to create my own marketing videos was because my allocated budget was limitng, therefore I had to think creativley at how I could still market the course and showcase our class for free. It was also important for me to take other’s opinions into consideration during the event styling process from the whole class, not only within my department to ensure the event was reflective of every student’s work and aesthetic, allowing me to accommodate to diverse viewpoints and styling ideas.

CLASS OF 2023 INTRODUCTION VIDEO

BRANDED PROMOTION DESIGN & EXHIBITION TESTING

DECORATION SOURCING & BUDGETING

The final KPI that I took responsibility for was planning and organising the running of the event itself, working with each individual department to create a timetable of events during the night. Through team-working and liaising with each different department, I was able to get an idea of what each team is working on, allowing me to create a running schedule of the event so on the night we can be prepared in the timings of speeches, the awards ceremony and class film showings for example. As we only have the venue hired from 5pm to 9pm, we only have an hour to set up everything, therefore it is important that we have a time sheet to stick to in order for the event to run smoothly and limit any overlapping issues. This timetable has been sent to every student attending and setting up the event in order to achieve a better sense of communication of what needs doing as we all arrive as well as ensuring every detail has been considered before hand to avoid any unexpected issues. My role extends to the launch night itself to co-ordinate the running order on the actual night also.

Each team member was also given the task of creating an invoice for their own personal contributions to the team in how they each responded to their KPI’s. The invoice was to include an estimate of how much we would each have been pr-agreed paid by our employers at the Studio 204 Creative Agency. This was an interesting task to complete as I had never made or used an invoice before, therefore it was a valuable experience to help me understand the financial costings side of working within a creative agency. This task was also helpful in allowing me to research into the monetary value of my tasks and roles completed across the project, and I now have a better understanding of the earning potential within events management.

In conclusion, I feel that I was very successful in achieving all my stated KPI’s throughout the project and I fulfilled my roles to the best of my ability. This project was extremely beneficial in aiding my learning in working within an industry-inspired brief, especially due to now having experiences in adapting and accommodating to diverse views, and live-acting business problems in a dynamic and fast paced environment.

Upon reflection of completing the Contemporary Fashion Business module, I believe that this project has really allowed me to excel my understanding of working within a marketing and events creative agency from a variety of aspects - such as financial management, interacting and managing working within a team environment, as well as employing appropriate techniques in communication both in written and verbal forms. One of the most significant learning opportunities I have taken from working within the Studio 204 Creative Agency was the ability to take on multiple responsibilities at once which has allowed me to showcase existing skills, whilst also having the opportunity to acquire new business-related skills. This new skillset includes improving my time management capabilities, developing an entrepreneurial way of thinking, and enhancing my ability to work and perform under pressure.

Reflecting on my performance in achieving my set out KPI’s at the start of the project, I believe I responded well to the brief from both an individual and team contribution point of view. My KPI of venue styling and decoration sourcing in particular really allowed me to engage in professional communication practices amongst business professionals and my team mates through both verbal and written communication efforts. Developing the ability to interact with a team and reflect on the actions of others has helped me to understand the importance of considering everyone’s individual viewpoints on situations, as this is the most effective way to resolve business issues and diversions across the project. There were run in occurrences throughout the project, such as external businesses changing their pricing and availability which I then had to adapt to managing difficult situations and overcoming them by changing the styling plan due to budgeting constraints. Effective communication efforts also came into play when responding to unexpected occurrences on the live project, such as difficulties in securing venues, budgeting limitations and unanticipated delays in communication from other departments. Working on this fast-paced project within a team has allowed me to enhance my abilities in accommodating and responding to ever-changing business environments, which I think has been a very valuable experience to have as the business side of fashion is a very fast-paced and demanding industry. Therefore, I have gained more confidence in getting a feel of what it’s like to work within this type of environment.

This project has also provided me with further confidence in working alongside a team, highlighting the importance of listening to other’s ideas, supporting other members within my team and realising the benefits of collaboration when making decisions and managing our own time. Prior to this brief, I hadn’t really worked this closely within a team before, therefore this experience was beneficial in emulating what it would be like to work within a professional team environment. This team working process was particularly beneficial when things weren’t always going to plan, as we did experience some difficulties in communication with the venue, as it sometimes took a while for us to hear back from the venue after we’d asked questions, for example. However, it was good to have a team in place to support each other if we were ever confronted with a problem. I was also designated the role of creating and editing our weekly update presentations to our peers and CEO, which allowed me to show accountability for taking ownership of a role within a team.

I think my response to my press KPI was well achieved in the way of my successfully writing an engaging press release which captured the attention of media outlets, consequently deciding to publish my press release to the public. This KPI allowed me to focus on my independent working abilities and the ability to solve problems independently. Carrying out a task from starting with research to fulfilling the task by creating a cohesive and branded press package demonstrated my ability to learn and expand my knowledge whilst working on a live brief. I think I responded well to this role in particular, as I succeeded in achieving the creation of a piece of marketing material for our launch night that was illustrative of Studio 204’s brand, the Class of 2023 student’s stories, and the unique selling points of the new fast-track course. These key elements were set out to be achieved during the initial research and development process of this job role.

In conclusion, I believe I have confidently responded and contributed successfully to our personalised brief and completed all of my Key Performance Indicators by the deadline and of a high standard. This project pushed me out of my comfort zone in the way of discovering and experiencing new ways of working, such as working within a diverse thinking team. The developmental task of completing weekly update presentation briefings in front of my peers, our CEO and established industry mentors has been really beneficial in helping my confidence grow in a personal and business sense. Overall, I think my contributions to the Marketing and Events Team demonstrates my ability to develop through a project in a professional manner from concept direction through to ending production.