Digital Marketing Fashion Communication 2016
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Contents Executive Summary History SWOT PEST Competitors Consumer Profile The P’s Aims and Objectives Communication strategies Conclusion Bibliography Image list
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“Everybodys talking about
FCUK”
Executive Summary French Connection a well-designed, stylish clothing brand that appeals to a broad market as they set out to achieve back in 1972 ‘FRENCH CONNECTION WOMENSWEAR, MENSWEAR AND HOMEWARE French Connection offers quality clothes, sophisticated design and affordability sit at the heart of every product. Whether you’re after investment-worthy French Connection clothing or basic jeans and t-shirts to see you through the season, our stores are brimming with fashion that caters to every lifestyle. Since 2012, our homeware has taken those same brand principles to create effortlessly cool interiors to turn your house into an enviable haven.’
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History Founded in 1972 by Stephen Marks, French Connection set out to create well-designed fashionable clothing that appealed to a broad market. French Connection now offers a fashion-forward clothing range with a quirky spin on design, priding itself on quality and affordable prices. Having established a strong core clothing business, through unique design and a true sense of style the company has, over recent years expanded its portfolio into exciting new areas including men’s and women’s toiletries, sunglasses and opticals, watches and shoes. Driven by innovation and change, the brands strength lies in balancing new and exciting ideas with the basic promise of quality and affordability, established when the company was founded. Throughout this expansion and diversification the principles have remained the same; design-led products presented in a unique and innovative way.
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Strengths Well astablished and reputed brand Well known and strong presence in many countries around the world Well-situated stores Wide range of products Online shopping Student Discount Well trained staff Strong marketing USP- Logo FCUK
Opportunities International wholesale market Target younger audience Adding beauty products and collections Reducing the price of products Change the style of products
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Weaknesses High price clothing compared to its competitors and quaity Lack of casual wear Limited accessories Lack of trendy clothing Few strong collection campaigns
Threats Similar products with reasonable price in other high street brands Growing competition Unpopular campaigns Not keeping up with the latest trends
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Political -Loss before taxation of £(7.9)m (2014:£(3.9)m) due to the disappointing performance of the Spring 2015 Collection as forcast in the April trading update. -The board is committed to ensuring full compliance with the law and making all tax payments on a timely basis.
Social -French Connection have a website , a lively instagram and a twitter page. -‘French Connection listens to you, drops Angora.’ An article that went viral on the internet about FCUK announcing that it is ending the use of Angora in the production of its clothing and accessories with immediate effect.
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T Economical
-In the UK, the business meets its responsiblities under the packaging waste regulations through members of the Valpak group. -Wooden hangers are sourced from sustainable sources and they are not given away with products. -Reduction in packaging materials for finished goods, i.e. no plastic bagging and no inner cartons.
Technological -French Connection stores implement Loss Prevention Technology from Sanderson RBS and ‘SeeWhy’ software. -‘We will continue to invest in the people and systems to support this growth opportunity to ensure our customers can shop with us however they wish and get the very best multi-channel experience. The success of our click and collect program is an example of this investment.’
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Competitors French Connection’s competitors include: Reiss Warehouse, Zara, Urban Outfitters, ASOS, Arcadia and River Island
Is the main competitor. In 1971 the first Reiss store opened its doors in Bishopsgate London. In 2003 the fashion brand won ‘Fashion
retailer of the year’ at the British style awards and in 2005 Reiss stepped into the global arena with its first international store in NEW YORK followed by Dubai. In 2011 Reiss celebrated its 40th year and Kate (now the Duchess of Cambridge) wears Reiss to meet the Obama’s.
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Strengths Well-known brand Growing knitwear Collection Total control over brand equity Visual merchandising and product quality Conessions in House of Fraser David Reiss -Well-known designer Successful expansion beyond UK
Threats Increased competition Massively saturated market Change in buyer behaviour devaluing the market Foreign competitor coming in the UK market
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Weaknesses Organic growth since there is no strategy driving knitwear forward Confused brand positioning - market and designer No advertisement of future funding for growth or new collections Lack of maket research or marking information Lack of well known campaign
Opportunities Diffusion line into existing stores Increased number of retail outlets Women’s stores only Men’s stores only Enhanced use of concessions Big campaign for a new collection
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C u s t o m e r
P r o f i l e
Primary market is 25-35 year old professional females. Their secondary market is 18-50 females and 25-50 proffessional males. French Connection also provide a childrens range with a similar standard of quality as the adult
‘‘Well-designed, stylish clothing that appeals to a broad market as we set out to achieve back in 1972.’’ ranges.
The perfect customer profile would be a women aged 22-28 who would be a full time working women with a strong passion for shopping, socailising and her job. She would take an interest in the latest trends and would buy fashion magazines when she has spare time.
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Place They design, produce and distribte branded fashion clothing and homeware from their business premises in London, New York, Paris, Dusseldolf, Hong Kong and Toronto. French Connection operate retail stores and concessions in the UK, Europe, US and Canada and also operate ecommerce buisness in each of those territories. Further they wholesale their products to retailers operating in 50 countries around the world and have licensed partners operating French Connection stores across Asia, Australia and the Middle East. FCUK design teams are based in London, they arrange for the products to be manufactured in specialist third party factories in Europe and Asia supervised by local buying offices. The main countries where manfacturing takes place are China, India and Turkey.
Promotion French Connection have done many different types of campaigns and advertising promotions. The most well know campaign that they have done was when they changed the logo and got a lot of attention for FCUK. The brand put the logo on t-shirts along with a sentance with would catch the eye of the public, such as ‘Too busy to FCUK’ and ‘Go FCUK yourself ’. Other campaigns included a ‘Sketch to Store’ which was a stop motion film in black and white. French Connection have always had deals and sales throughtout there stores worldwide. They offer a 15% discount to students, as well as 20% discounts at the end of the season.
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Product French Connection are known for their elegant womens wear particually formal dresses. As a long lasting brand they have built up a relationship with their existing customers and therefore have a strong
‘At the heart of our business is a passion for the clothes. In 1972, when French Connection was conceived, we set out to create welldesigned, stylish clothing that appealed to a broad market. We have since worked hard to build on that vision and as a result, French Connection is synonymous with fashion and style.’ brand loyalty.
Price On French Connection’s website they have an average price range between £60 and £120 depending on the item and fabric. The sale goes from £10 up into the hundreds. On the Terms and conditions link they have a 24 step list of there rules and regulations. The points are 1. About us 2. Privacy Policy 3. Use of the site 4. Dealing with third parties 5. Intellectual property rights 6. Disclaimers 7. Limitation of liability 8. General information 9. Copyright and trade mark notice 10. Acceptance 11. Prices 12. Payment 13. Cancellation right - cooling off period 14. Returns 15. Customer service 16. Delivery 17. Student Discounts 18. Promotions during sale 19. Customs 20. Promo code -11FI328 21. Promo code -MVCFCD 22. 10% off sale promotion 23. 10% off sale promotional items 24. 10% off first order promotion.
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Aims and Objectives With this focus on fashion underpinning the business the brand aims to generate increased shareholder value through the retail and wholesale of fashion products. They design, produce and distribute branded fashion clothing for men and women to more than 30 countries around the world from their offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Toronto. The long-standing success in this most competitive of markets is a testament to their skills, passion and dedication of their employees around the world.
Thier globally recognised French Connection brand has been extended successfully into complementary licensed products including men’s and women’s toiletries and fragrances, shoes, watches, jewellery, eyewear and furniture. Their Design and Licensing teams work closely with branded partners to develop and enhance products for sale.
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Communication Strategies The brand become recognisable through FCUK advertisng campaign launched in 1997. They eventually flopped and hit the headlines and damaged the companies reputation. FCUK has now become interchangable with French Connection as the brand name and identity. To branch away from the FCUK advertising campaign, French Connection created ‘This is Man’ and ‘This is Women’. The advertising campaign received negative critism from its consumers. Now French Connection focus’ on minimalist campaigns showing attitude and maturity. Providing branding and visibility to their products, FCUK as a brand name and company has always believed in standing out from the crowd, therefore both the advertising creative and media choices are increasingly important. Powerful brand building advertising combines strong, innovative creative with a mix of conventional media, such as fashion magazines and billboards with high impact non-conventional
media such as moving projections, radio stations and more recently wrapping outdoor billboards with gaffer tape and having light motion banner. My fashion film is made to catch the eye of their existing and lost customers to fall back in love with FCUK. The film is about an ex couple who meet again for the first time after the breakup. The story line takes you through their memories and the way they reconnect in present day. Set in Brighton town, The Lanes, by the beach and the top of a cliff, the couple brighten each others day with the simple love they share. The film will be approximately minute long engaging the viewer to stay interested. The film will be shown on the website and social media to promote it. Although the film shows off some of the brands new collection, it’s main influence to to make the viewer feel happy for the couple and for them to succeed. This then shows the customer how easy it is to ‘Fall back in love with French Connection.’
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Conclusion French Connection is an undying brand that in the past have lost costumers because of advertising, however it now progressing towards a positive brand identity which stands against its’ competitor’s. As a company, the logo remains recognisable in the fashion world and will continue to get attention for its unique customer response. My film aims draw the customers that French Connection has lost in the past back to the brand. As well as insuring current customers that their loyalty is valued. As a strong women’s-wear and menswear and home ware company there is room for expansion with their ranges in order to gain new customers or a new market.
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Bibliography http://www.frenchconnection.com/?gclid=CP2-97CHysoCFRFmGwodkSkEMA https://www.reiss.com/explore/history/ http://www.realwire.com/releases/french-connection-stores-implement-loss-prevention-technology-from-sanderson-rbs-and-seewhy-software http://www.frenchconnection.com/content/investor-relations/fashion-our-business.htm http://www.frenchconnection.com/content/investor-relations/interim-results.htm http://www.peta.org.uk/blog/thank-fcuk-frenchconnection-listens-drops-angora/ http://www.slideshare.net/jasminebrough/finished-french-connection-presentation http://www.frenchconnection.com/content/legal/ terms+and+conditions.htm http://www.frenchconnection.com/content/students/ students.htm http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/commercials/ french-connection-manifesto/ http://www.frenchconnection.com/content/investor-relations/csr.htm https://prezi.com/p_stqqod6w4t/french-connection/ http://fashiongear.fibre2fashion.com/brand-story/ frenchconnection/marketing.asp
Image List https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/appearhere-blog/FrenchConnectionOpening/FCardholder. jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j_uzLaOiP3c/S8s3R2Hf-aI/AAAAAAAAARA/-Y3eKd3Z2B0/s320/ pie+chrts.png http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00295/106660795_P42FConne_295936c.jpg http://payload225.cargocollective.com/1/13/437557/6816774/ prt_200x212_1385473111.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZ0cMtdXEAApbSm. jpg http://images.slideplayer.com/23/6633920/slides/ slide_1.jpg http://smartcanucks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-10-16-at-11.41.24AM-500x424.png https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/65/28/ c1/6528c1b74e565fa44d7a518a8017bca7.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ a6/91/4b/a6914bb56d8cdba6d2223286ffd2606e.jpg http://fashiongear.fibre2fashion.com/brand-story/ reiss/popular-advertisement-campaigns.asp
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/ retailandconsumer/10392295/Zigzag-pattern-thatis-French-Connection.html
http://cache1.asset-cache.net/ gc/85256132-pret-a-porter-fashions-photographed-for-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QdjIy5%2FfxobgBt95wdgP7sKrck%2FXfySrs%2BJfjLafM1zs
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