MY REFLECTIVE REPORT LOTTI MARTIN-FULLER STUDENT ID: 201038548 FASHION BRAND ANALYSIS DESN 1658 WORD COUNT: 1136
C ON T E N T S INTRODUCTION
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THOUGHTS ON THE PROJECT THE GROUP CHOOSING THE BRAND ROLES ALLOCATED CONCLUSION REFERENCES FIGURE LIST
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
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HAT IS THE PROJECT? Studying fashion brand analysis has allowed me to expand my knowledge on how brands work to create a successful business, delve into the many different types of brands and answer the question ‘what is a brand?’ confidently. The method of assessment for this module is a 3000-word group essay about a chosen brand, looking into the strategic management issues that they could face, and how in turn they rebranded to keep the prestige and value of the brand alive. Abercrombie & Fitch (our chosen brand) underwent a process of brand repositioning to redefine their identity and “shift the position it holds in consumer’s minds relative to that of competitors” (Posner, 2015). Alongside this report, I am required to produce a reflective journal in order to discuss how we worked as a group, whether I am happy with my contributions and the overall outcome of the essay, and what I have learnt from this experience.
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T O N T H E P R O J E C T H O U G H T S
Up until attending university I rarely did any group work, however in the first term of my fashion marketing course I was required to do several group presentations. I found performing group presentations quite stressful due to time management issues and often a conflict of interest. I also found that sometimes people within a group can slack on their workload whilst others have to pick up the pieces. Going into this assignment I aimed to counteract all of the above issues, despite being unsure on how to write and share the workload of a group essay. I was excited to see how the dynamics of the group would work, and to add more experience of group work onto my CV as it increases productivity and effectiveness of the work (Campion et al, 1993).
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T H E
G R O U P
With all the other group projects that I have been a part of before, we have been assigned our group, however for this assignment we had to choose our group members. This was good and bad for many reasons, as you could choose your friends rather than people you could work well with, however upon choosing friends it could make the group more effective and meeting to discuss the essay would be easier too.
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THE GROUP CONTINUED In consideration of the above, I decided to be in a group with 2 of my close friends, whilst the other 3 members I hardly knew or didn’t at all. I thought that this would be a good mixture of people to aid the essay but it could also be a personal challenge to work with strangers and friends alike. 5 of the group members, including me, were girls studying fashion marketing, whilst the 6th member, Jacob studied graphic design.
Going into the group work we were all excited and eager to work hard so as to not let each other down and help fulfil aspirations such as a potential year in industry.
In my opinion, this made our group strong as the 5 girls had a fashion background and knowledge, whilst Jacob had the skills to present our essay on InDesign professionally with his graphic design knowledge. Upon deciding the group to work in, we exchanged numbers and created a group message in order to be in constant contact with each other, making sure that the research we all obtained wasn’t too similar to one another’s. 5
C H O O S I N G
T H E
B R A N D
The group and I met on several occasions to have a discussion about any brands that had a management issue, identified it, and overcame it to keep its relationship with its customer. We had around 3 brainstorming sessions as we all suggested brands such as Burberry or Louis Vuitton, however not being fully convinced we settled between two; Levis and Abercrombie & Fitch. After getting advice from our module leaders, we eventually came to the decision of Abercrombie & Fitch as Levis didn’t have as big of a brand issue than A&F.
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WHY?
Abercrombie & Fitch were once known as a cool teen brand; however, their then CEO Mike Jeffries drove the company into the ground. The brand was tainted with racism, allegations of fat shaming and continuous sexual marketing to young vulnerable teens. In the past 2 years A&F has undergone a huge rebranding, wiping clean their social media as this is the main way a brand can market itself “in order to maximise customer lifetime value� (Malthouse et al, 2013). Although this was only a recent rebranding, there is evidence of the brand keeping its value and maintaining its relationship to its customers.
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R O L E S
A L L O C A T E D Once we had decided to examine Abercrombie & Fitch, we then met up to discuss what roles we wanted to perform in order to make sure the essay would be an accumulation of the best of all our abilities. We decided to break the essay into 6 parts with each of us writing 500600 words each and writing the introduction and conclusion collectively when we met up for the last time.
Although the group was slow at times, we helped one another with each of the parts of the essay as we wanted the essay to reflect all of our opinions, not just the one person who wrote that section. Furthermore, this meant that the arguments and points put forward didn’t overlap continuously throughout the essay. This helped solidify the essays focal argument that there was discrimination before the rebranding, with diversity and inclusivity after.
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R O L E S A L L O C A T E D THE STRENGTHS WITHIN THE GROUP
I chose to write about how Abercrombie & Fitch overcame their issues and in turn protected their brand value, focusing on their rebranding strategies. To me, this was not only the most interesting and relevant part of the essay but was the hardest and therefore presented me with a challenge. As a group we decided to let Jacob present the essay on InDesign, although we do all have the required skills to do this as it is a major part of our fashion marketing course. Despite this, we all had design ideas that Jacob took on board and the final outcome is the amalgamation of this. 9
C O N C L U S I O N
WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?
Overall, I am happy with the final outcome of the essay, both in its argument and the way in which it is presented to reflect the old and the new Abercrombie & Fitch. This group project has taught me that a brand is “not a passive object of marketing transactions�, but a contributing member of a relationship with its customer (Fournier, 1998). I am more confident with working in a group, and although it is challenging organising myself and 5 other people to come together at the same time, it is more than fulfilling to see the end product and know the hard work that has gone into it from every member of the group.
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REFERENCES Campion, M.A., Medsker, G.J., Higgs, A.C. 1993. Relations between group work characteristics and effectiveness: Implications for designing effective work groups. Personnel Psychology, 46: pp.823-847. Fournier, S. 1998. Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4): pp.343-373. [Online]. [Accessed 26 April 2017]. Available from: http://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/weitz/mar7786/articles/fournier%20(1998).p df Malthouse, E.C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E., Zhang, M. 2013. Managing Customer Relationships in the Social Media Era: Introducing the Social CRM House. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27: pp.270-280. [Online]. [Accessed 25 April 2017]. Available from: http://blog.mikezhang.com/files/socialcrm.pdf Posner, H. 2015. Marketing Fashion. Pp.169. Second ed. London: Laurence King Pub.
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FIGURE LIST Page 0: Seek Logo. 2017. Abercrombie & Fitch Logo Vector. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: http://seeklogo.com/vectorlogo/168404/abercrombie-fitch Page 2: Abercrombie & Fitch. 2017. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: https://www.abercrombie.co.uk/shop/uk Page 3: Abercrombie & Fitch. 2017. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: https://www.abercrombie.co.uk/shop/uk Page 4: Abercrombie & Fitch. 2017. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: https://www.abercrombie.co.uk/shop/uk/womens-lookbooks Page 5: McCall, T. 2016. Abercrombie & Fitch Continues Rebranding Efforts with Holiday Ad Campaign. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: http://fashionista.com/2016/10/abercrombie-fitch-holiday-2016-campai Page 6: Colon, A. 2016. Why Did Abercrombie & Fitch Delete All Of It’s Instagram Posts?. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: http://www.refinery29.com/2016/10/126413/abercrombie-and-fitch-deletesinstagram-photos Page 7: Instagram. 2016. Abercrombie & Fitch. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BLgM6wgDkSw/ Page 8: Sauer, A. 2016. Abercrombie & Fitch Refreshes Brand In Time For Holiday Shopping. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: http://brandchannel.com/2016/10/13/abercrombie-101316/ Page 9: Farah, S. H. 2016. Abercrombie & Fitch Continues Its Efforts To Rebrand With A New Campaign. [Online.] [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: http://www.papermag.com/ambercrombie-fitch-rebrand-campaign1947523232.html Page 10: Abercrombie & Fitch. 2017. [Online]. [Accessed 28 April 2017]. Available from: https://www.abercrombie.co.uk/shop/uk/mens-lookbooks 12