Keira Davitt-Bailey
Welcome to my final major project campaign brand book. The purpose of this final campaign book is to provide a more in depth insight and exploration of my final major project concept, final campaign outcomes and reasonings into why I have exectued my campaign across the media channels chosen. After creating my own final major project brief, this book aims to take you on the journey of further understanding my campaign concept, narrative and purpose, whilst visually illustrating and communicating my final campaign outcomes. After undertaking a strong research and development process in creating my campaign concept and visual aesthetic, I am pleased to introduce you to the final outcomes, bringing my campaign to life. Welcome to the ‘Youth Diversion’.
Before reading on further about my campaign narrative and final concept outcomes, I wanted to provide a campaign overview. My final campaign is called ‘Youth Diversion’, which is a play on words of exploring one of my campaign’s messages of diverting youth audiences from continuing the cycle of further contributing to sustainability issues within the fashion industry. Whether these issues be the result of the overconsumption of fashion, or the trend of only giving your clothing a short life cycle, ‘Youth Diversion’ aims to deter young and impressionable consumers, Generation Z in particular, from extending this industry problem. Researching into potential solutions to divert Generation Z from continuing to consume fashion in an un-sustainable manner, ‘Youth Diversion’ demonstrates a potential solution to this problem, incorporating digital fashion technologies and innovations into the everyday consumer’s lives in the form of a luxury-high street market collaboration. The selection of these markets also aims to communicate a solution of bridging the gap between the luxury market with the out of touch youth consumers, particularly Generation Z. Creating a digital fashion collaboration incorporating the narratives of sustainability, digital fashion innovation and creating accessible and affordable luxury acts as the focal point of my final campaign.
Strengths
My campaign has a clear and defined target audience. My campaign is accessible and visible across a vartiety of marketing channels.
Weaknesses
Some consumers are still not confident or enthusiastic towards digital fashion innovations.
Limited edition, need to keep the narrative going.
Opportunities
Social media is continuing to grow as a marketing tool for brands. The audience reach is uncapped, meaning my campaign has potential to reach audiences beyond my defined segment.
Threats
Social media algorthims are always changing, so may need to adapt the types of content the brand shares. The digital fashion world is quickly evolving, there may be a threat of the next new ‘trend’ upcoming.
‘Youth Diversion’ will take the form of a social media campaign and a visual merchandising campaign and will be promoted through a marketing communications film. Following on from my research and development process during the creation of my campaign, I decided to create a digital fashion based collaboration, between the high end luxury brand Chanel, and the popular and accessible high street brand Zara. I felt that a branded collaboration would best execute the undertone narrative of creating more accessible and affordable luxury for younger consumers well, as this market crossover can aid in maximising the audience reach, benefitting both brands. The crossover market collaboration was chosen to introduce younger audiences, such as Generation Z, into buying into the luxury market level (Chanel), therefore collaborating with a high street market level brand who already has the support and custom of Generation Z (Zara).‘Youth Diversion’ acts as the collection name of the Zara x Chanel collaboration. The key influences behind my digital fashion campaign were discovered during my research into the Metaverse, which can be defined to be a ‘3D virtual space where humans experience life in ways they could not in the physical world’ (Tucci, L. 2023). Looking into the capabilities of digital fashion innovation and the new experiences that the Metaverse could bring to the consumer joruney, I knew I wanted to explore creating a digital fashion concept within my collaboration. My research into the psychology behind what drives consumers to purchase into the luxury market, and the demands of Generation Z and sustainability also had a key influence on creating my final campaign concept.
‘Youth Diversion’ is positioned within the accessible and affordable luxury segment in regards to it’s market level sitting. One of the driving narratives behind my campaign concept is to create a way to bridge the gap between the higher end luxury market being out of touch and unaccessible to younger generations. Therefore, positioning my campaign within the accessible luxury segment aims to allow higher volumes of youth consumers to buy into luxury and making luxury fashion more readily available to them. Incoporating a Haute Couture brand like Chanel into my final campaign was done so to convey the idea that these types of fashion brands do have the power and capabilities of reaching new, untouched audiences through switching up their marketing techniques and exploring new ways to connect with consumers outside of their targeted segment. Particularly within the accessible luxury market, “luxury brands need to adopt a wholly more open, accessible attitude in order to resonate with these more politically engaged, globally aware consumer groups that value diversity and disdain the status quo” (Pow, D. 2018). A brand like Chanel has a very defined target consumer, and has done so for decades, rarely stepping out of this defined consumer base. Therefore, I wanted to use Chanel as my luxury market brand for my campaign to illustrate a way in which the brand could become more accessible to Generation Z and younger consumer bases. Using Zara as my high street market collaboration partner, I chose to do so because my research shows that Zara already has a strong Generation Z following and existing consumer base. As a result, I aimed to bridge this disconnect between Generation Z and the luxury market level by creating a campaign which is targeted at the accessible luxury market to ensure both brands are reaching new audiences within my campaign concept.
My target consumer for my ‘Youth Diversion’ campaign is Generation Z. I decided to target my digital fashion collaboration campaign towards Generation Z after discovering within my research development that this generation is becoming increasingly conscious about their own personal contributions to issues within sustainability across the fashion industry. I discovered that “the vast majority of Generation Z shoppers prefer to buy sustainable brands, and they are most willing to spend 10 percent more on sustainable products. The report also found that Generation Z along with Millennials are the most likely to make purchase decisions based on values and principles (personal, social, and environmental)” (Petro, G. 2022). As a result of these findings, I thought it would be best to target my campaign towards Generation Z because I wanted to further explore the idea of how fashion brands can incorporate different ways of marketing, communicating and designing fashion with less negative environmental impacts. These findings really influenced my research into the Metaverse and finding technology based soltuions to contemporary fashion issues.
As well as labelling my campaign as targeting the Generation Z cohort as a whole, I also wanted to share some more key characteristics and details to illustrate more specifically who my campaign is targeted towards.‘Youth Diversion’ is targeted to those in Generation Z who are conscious of sustainability issues and want to contribute their part to reducing it’s impact onto the industry. My campaign consumer is also someone who is interested or wants to become engaged with the possibilities of digital fashion innovation, NFT creation (Non-fungible tokens) and experiencing new ways of visually conntecting with a brand through online marketing or experiencing a digital innovation in a physical store. Social media obsessed and fashion fowards, my consumer is also interested in buying into the luxury market, however at a more affordable price point due to having lower levels of disposable income.
I decided to proceed with a minimalistic style of branding for my ‘Youth Diversion’ campaign in terms of logo design and visual graphic representation. This is because I wanted the focal point of my campaign to be on my digital NFT collection itself, in order to entice consumers into being curious and interested within the product catalogue. As my campaign is a branded collaboration between Chanel and Zara, I also felt it was still important to represent both brands within my branding development so that both partners would still have their own visible representation that existing consumers already know and support. I also liked the idea of showing minimalism across my campaign branding to symbolise a sense of luxury and desirability, signaling my market positioning of affordable luxury.
My final campaign narrative is made up from a variety of different conceptual messages that ‘Youth Diversion’ aims to convey through visual marketing communication and efforts of storytelling. The first main campaign message that my digital fashion collaboration aims to illustrate is the worldwide issue of the overconsumption of fashion and excessive purchasing of trends with small product life spans. This is a key issue within the fashion industry, and my research and development aims to question whether switching to sustainable fabrics, or the recycling of existing materials is enough to try to resolve the damaging environmental impacts. Considering this factor and my research into the Metaverse and digital fashion creations, my campaign aims to explore the futuristic and innovative uses of virtual and technology based fashion, illustrating a potential solution to reducing the need for physical overconsumption of fashion and physical purchasing. Creating a digital fashion campaign provides a contemporary and forward thinking response to relevant fashion industry issues that the industry still faces today, therefore my campaign also aims to futureproof the fashion industry by considering ways of adapting and progressing the industry in terms of digital and virtual fashion communication. This idea continues through to my next campaign message of creating a collaboration which is providing the consumer with their needs and demands from brands. “In terms of providing an experience, the fashion industry is getting a makeover as technology and innovation are forging new relationships between brands and their customers” (V, Medium.com 2021).
My research into the demands and expectations from Generation Z in regards to their values, ethics and interests in relation to choosing which fashion brands to support evidences that this generation is becoming much more vocal and clear of their brand expectations (Lee. D, 2023). My campaign aims to highlight an example of two fashion brands, Chanel and Zara, who are listening to the demands of a Generation Z consumer and are then becoming responsive to the consumers needs, providing them with a collaboration product which is inclusive of sustainable and accessible luxury fashion concepts. Striving to meet the expectations and demands of a targeted consumer, ‘Youth Diversion’ aims to visually communicate this idea of creating a sustainable collaboration story through digital and technological industry advancements.
My campaign also aims to explore the idea of digital fashion communication not only in a product design concept, but also through a visual merchandising and exhibition concept. To better extend the narrative of digital fashion communication within my campaign, ‘Youth Diversion’ further coveys the possibilities of Metaverse creation through creating a fusion between virtual fashion installations within physical Zara and Chanel stores, as well as the campaign’s online and social media presence.
Positioned within the affordable luxury market level, my campaign also aims to communicate the idea of bridging the gap between Chanel and the higher end of the luxury market and the Generation Z consumer demongraphic. This gap is to be bridged through selecting Zara as my collaboration partner, a brand who already has the loyalty and connectivity of Generation Z.
The Metaverse connection to my final major project takes form in creating a collection of NFT (Non-fungible token) products, which are a digital token creation which is existent in the virtual world of the Metaverse. NFT’s can take form across multiple different creations, and be described as “digital assets which could be photos, videos, audio files, or another digital format. NFT examples include artwork, comic books, sports collectibles, trading cards, games, fashion and more” (Kaspersky. 2023).
The NFT collection includes 3 different looks which are in the style of a monochrome and futuristic aesthetic to further convey my digital campaign narrative. I decided to go with the idea of creating an NFT collection for my final campaign outcome because I wanted to showcase that sustainable fashion doesn’t have to always be made from recycled materials or sustainable fabrics. Brands could instead experiment with digital art design and create visually engaging concpets that captures the attention of their targeted consumer base.‘Youth Diversion’ aims to encourage consumers to consider purchasing digital clothing as opposed to physical clothing, as an NFT is something that you as an individual own a unique and specific right to, meaning unless you sell your NFT it will be yours forever in a digital form. I was really interested in creating my own interpretation of what a Chanel x Zara collaboration could look like after researching into the Metaverse involvements that other luxury brands have created within the market level. My NFT collection demonstrates the visual concept of buying into affordable luxury, whilst also buying into investment pieces rather than repeated purchases of short cycle fast fashion micro trends.
When considering which channels and avenues I wanted to go down when marketing and communicating my campaign to a Generation Z consumer base, I decided to create a social media marketing campaign. During my research process for my final major project, I discovered the many benefits of using social media channels such as TikTok and Instagram to market and promote new product launches, brand collaborations and overall raising brand awareness and creating a social presence with a consumer. “Social-media marketing advantages include a low-cost way for businesses to increase visibility and brand awareness, and Access to social media has revolutionized how businesses market their products and engage with consumers” (Brookins, M. 2016).
In attempts to generate high levels of visibility, audience reach and campaign sales and promotion, my social media campaign will consist of a variety of different videos, reels, static imagery posts and opporunities for consumer and audience interaction across TikTok and Instagram platforms. I decided to create a series of reels and videos in particular, experimenting with different post-production editing techniques such as glitching, shadow creation and logo development to further communicate the idea of NFT’s being an art form of moving imagery. ‘Youth Diversion’s’ moving imagery content can also provide consumers with an insight into what the NFT could look like on their own individual social media channels, as the purpose of an NFT is to virtually wear the clothing, as opposed to physical wearing. This aims to demonstrate to consumers the wearability and fluid movement that comes with physical clothing, however still present with virtual clothing also. I felt creating a social media campaign would be the best way to reach Generation Z audiences, as my research process showed me that this segment of people are social media obsessed, with some spending over 4 hours a day on social media channels.
I decided to also create a physical visual merchandising campaign as well as an online social media campaign in attempts to further communicate my campaign narrative from creating a first-hand digital consumer experience in store, also. Looking into the benefits of visual merchandising, I disovered that “it can attract new customers by simply creating mesmerising window displays,from product placement to sale signage and floor plans, they will surely make a purchase that will help to boost your sales” (Novella, L. 2019). As my campaign narrative revolves around the exploration of creating digital fashion innovation to provide a potential resolution to reducing overconsumption, I felt it would be a good idea to consider what this digital concept could also look like in a physical store presence. Both of my collaboration partners, Chanel and Zara, have physical stores, so I wanted to capture further marketing and communication potential for those existing customers in store to extend the message. The idea of showcasing my digital NFT collection through holograms in physical stores allows consumers to actually witness Metaverse capabilities right in front of them as opposed to looking at digital content online, which aims to further encourage consumers to buy into Metaverse fashion and the concept of NFT’s. Digital hologram installations also provides an interactive and immersive experience for the consumer journey in store, which can be a benefit for Chanel in particular to generate a better connection to a youth audience by creating a visual exhibition of the collection which customers can take pictures of and engage with. Consumers could then potentially posting about the merchandising efforts on social media, further spreading my campaign’s ability to create digital art forms in the real world.
To create a sense of introduction to my ‘Youth Diversion’ campaign, I decided to create a series of final campaign films which feature all 3 of the looks from my NFT collection. I felt that creating these videos for my social media channels would provide an insight into what my campaign is about from both a visual perspective and a brand collaboration perspective. During my research process into brand collaborations within the luxury market level, I discovered that many of these collaborations create ‘teaser’ style films which aim to generate a sense of excitement and intrigue across social media channel, generating a conversation about the new product line or collaboration. I thought that my campaign would benefit from creating a ‘teaser’ style introductory video because I think the idea of Chanel not only collaborating with a high street brand, but also devling into Metaverse advancements and digital technology within their brand has the potential to create a sense of ‘shock’ factor amongst all audiences. The whole purpose of my campaign narrative is to raise awareness and spread the word of how brands can incorporate elements of digital fashion innovation within their work in order to improve sustainability status within the industry. Therefore, my campaign films aim to get consumers talking about the collaboration, extending the collaboration message, which could be the result of consumers getting excited about my campaign’s potential.
In conclusion, this campaign brand book aims to provide a sense of reasoning and justification behind my campaign concept, giving an insight into my thoughts and ideas on how I could sucessfully execute my final major project. My campaign goals are to successfully execute an impactful campaign which aims to hightlight the issues regarding un-sustainable practices within the fashion industry, and provides a potential solution for how fashion brands can each do their part in combating this contemporary issue. As well as this, my campaign aims to make luxury fashion more accessible and affordable for Generation Z and youth audiences, as well as delivering a product and experience portfolio which caters and delivers their needs, wants and expectations from brands.
Tucci, L. (2023) What is the Metaverse? Retrieved from https:// www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/The-metaverse-explainedEverything-you-need-to-know#:~:text=The%20metaverse%20is%20a%20 vision,not%20in%20the%20physical%20world.
Pow, D. (2018). Accessible luxury winning over Millenials and Generation Z. Retrieved from https://www.dalziel-pow.com/news/ accessible-luxury-millennials-gen-z
Petro, G. (2022). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ gregpetro/2021/04/30/gen-z-is-emerging-as-the-sustainability-generation/
Voor, Medium. com. (2021). Benefits of virtual fashion. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@voor3d/benefits-of-virtual-for-fashion-f7f20cdc215
Lee, D. (2023). Gen Z in the age of realism. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/reports/retail/gen-z-fashionin-the-age-of-realism-bof-insights-social-media-report/
Kaspersky. (2023). What is an NFT? Retrieved from https://www. kaspersky.co.uk/resource-center/definitions/what-is-an-nft#:~:text=NFT%20stands%20for%20%27non%2Dfungible,which%20makes%20 each%20one%20unique.
Brookins, M. (2016). Retrieved from https://smallbusiness. chron.com/advantages-having-facebook-presence-companies-18594. html
Novella, L. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/ pulse/5-benefits-visual-merchandising-retail-leonardo-novella/
