INTRODUCTION
The Brand Management Module acts as the finale of our creative work, the skills we have developed, and the personal brand identity we have established during the 3 years of studying Fashion Marketing and Communication. This module builds on the Concept and Direction Module in which we completed extensive research tasks to provide evidence for our branded strategy’s outcome. The branded strategy will involve the development of visionary concepts that will shape our brand identity while displaying skills in consumer research, trend prediction, and production management. We have been asked to respond in relation to our identified career paths upon the completion of university. With negotiation with our Lecturer/Tutor Tracey Hall, I have established my own unique response to the brief for the Brand Management Module.
Throughout this book, I will creatively display and delineate the journey of which I have taken to evolve the narrative of my final major project titled The Chaos Within Conformity. I have explored a variety of factors that contribute towards the evidence as to why I have chosen to create the concept for my campaign. In this book, I will also provide the details behind the process and execution of my campaign mirroring my chosen market level and consumer.
For my final major project, my main aim was to establish a campaign that hugely mirrors my authenticity as this is one of my main values and to produce a project that will be a crucial fragment for my leap into the fashion industry. The initial part of my journey began with a reflection on the ‘Brand Me Module’ as we have been requested to respond to our personalised brief in a medium that best reflects our chosen career path. The purpose of the ‘Brand Me Module’ was to support the interrogation into the background, influences and experiences that have established our own brand identity as creative individuals. So, what have I taken forward from ‘Brand Me’?
While growing up it has come to my attention in recent years that my upbringing was very much female-orientated, and I think that this is extremely evident through my creative work. The female orbit within my life consists of all fire signs (including myself) in terms of the zodiac, concluding with the result of strong, independent, and unapologetically authentic women. Fire signs are also described as bold, brash, creative, and daring so being brought up in an environment of such, these traits have played an important role in my creative journey.
I find that no matter what avenue I venture down in terms of research I always found myself most interested in topics relating to female empowerment. I came to this conclusion during my research conducted in the ‘Fashion Forecast Module: Life on Mars’. This module was a very pivotal moment in my time studying Fashion Marketing and Communication, I established my own signature style that I feel is recognisable to me as a creative. The Fashion Forecast Module demonstrated where my style lies and the influences that I reflect through my creative storytelling. With that being my proudest creative work, I figured it would be nice to incorporate some aspects of it into my final major project.
Throughout all my previous modules, the skill that I have enjoyed learning the most is conceptual styling, I feel this is something that just comes naturally to me. Styling has always been something that I have enjoyed since the very early stages of my life. I remember my mum owning a load of organza scarfs in a variety of colours that I would drape around my body transforming them into products like dresses and pants with the use of accessories such as belts. Even in the way that I would play as a child, I was forever switching the clothes from one Bratz doll to the other, creating new outfits to what they were previously purchased with. My interest in styling continued as I grew into adult life, I always portray my own sense of style and find thorough joy in styling my female friends. Thus, being said, the career path I have selected to explore upon the completion of the university is the role of a Creative Stylist.
INTRODUCING MILLY SHIMMIN: THE BRAND
After establishing my chosen career path as a Creative Stylist, I thought it important to reidentify my personal brand identity to discover how I wish my brand message and values to be portrayed by potential clients. As a Creative Stylist, it is crucial to possess your own signature style in the way that you work as a form to stand out from the rest, an aesthetic that is authentic to you. This is something which I was able to establish during the Fashion Forecast Module, which has continued to be prominent throughout the rest of my work. As a creative with an optimistic mindset, this is very reflected in my work, from the concepts that I develop to the way that I execute them, I always manage to incorporate colour. The use of colour is probably one of the most noticeable aspects of my creative work. After colour, it would be ‘shape’ as I tend to operate with materials that ruffle, ruched and puff to create dimension between the model and the position they are photographed in. I create shape not only with the materials but also in the way that I creatively direct the models to position themselves within the frame, I think this is an effective segment in generating the narrative behind the styling. Another aspect that is integral to my brand identity would be my ability to incorporate humour and irony within my work, always providing a light-hearted yet powerful response to a profound concept. So, to put my words into perspective, my brand identity essentially serves the purpose of creating a positive experience for the viewers of my work, with the brand values of Authenticity, Optimism, Expression, and Relatability. For the outcome of my final major project, I wish to create a campaign that is reflective of me as a creative while capturing my brand values.
THE INITAL CONCEPTION
The general definition of perfection is ‘having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.’ But my concern is, who decides what is desirable? The patriarchal ideology is the answer… the misogyny of Men. In the very early stages of life, from the creation of Eve for Adam that decided the fate of women in society, females’ expectations of themselves have been unrealistically dictated by men. This is what we call the Male Gaze. The male gaze ‘describes a way of portraying and looking at women that empowers men while sexualising and discriminating women.’ From a feminist perspective, the male gaze is considered to limit and define women in ways that are harmful and demeaning. Despite the ever-changing cultural shifts within society, this dynamic will always be present unless women take a stand. A lot of the time, females do not actually realise that they are conforming to the male gaze, as we are programmed to believe that this objectification is normal and that we should strive for perfection.
The idea of perfection has been intertwined into our brains since before we could talk, through organisations such as Walt Disney. The entire basis of Walt Disney movies is unrealistic stereotypes and expectations of beauty. It is very evident that we and the children of today are brainwashed to perceive beauty through an unrealistic lens in their creation of princesses that do not resemble any sense of normality. This contrast of conventional vs unconventional beauty standards is proven in the way that Walt Disney paints their villains to have features that are associated with common insecurities such as facial moles, wrinkles, to appear either cubby or extremely thin. This also supports the idea that women who fit into the conventional standards of beauty are valued more for their appearance as opposed to those who don’t. Walt Disney is guilty of the negative portrayal of female gender stereotypes, toxic masculinity, and unrealistic body standards. To strengthen the reliability of my research into conventional vs unconventional beauty, I conducted an Instagram Voting Poll for my followers.
Prior to the final stages of developing the concept for my final major project, I studied a variety of topics that have given me the knowledge to develop a successful campaign. To ensure that my primary research data was reliable I orchestrated an interview with the relevant interviewee and conducted an Instagram voting poll related to the different types of beauty. I also conducted secondary research such as investigating documentaries, critical analysis of articles and the 10x10 formula. The method that I find to be most effective in contextualising my ideas is the 10x10 formula, this involves indicating applicable adjectives associated with your study and transforming the words into questions to challenge yourself. At this point in my journey, I discovered that I ought to encapsulate a campaign that inspires a new perspective for Generation Alpha as a future consumer regarding the current pressures of the Gen Z consumer, but I hadn’t yet created a plan as to how. To add further depth to my campaign concept, I explored subjects that are to blame for the current pressures on Gen Z, to discover how to combat this issue for Generation Alpha.
I initially began with the interrogation into the negative effects that social media influencers are implementing on the Gen Z consumer. Despite the many positives of influencer marketing such as attaining a reliable face for your brand, however, how reliable is their digital identity? A study conducted by the City University of London revealed that 86% of females between the ages of 18 - 30 admitted that their digital identities were not true representations of their real lives while 70% of the participants expressed that they felt pressure to showcase a ‘perfect life’ on social media. I believe that the rise in social media influencers is partly to blame due to the individuals only displaying the small fragments of their lives that are ‘perfect’ rather than the real normality. Thus, leading to the fake façade of this almost utopian influencer lifestyle, that their followers crave because who wouldn’t want a ‘perfect’ life? however, this got me questioning where this need for perfection originated, because in retrospect influencers are not to blame as they too are victims of this idea of perfection.
The purpose of the Instagram Voting Poll was to gain a sense of how beauty is perceived by each generation. Enlisted in the information regarding the primary research, I included a small snippet of the concept surrounding my final major project, accompanied by the task. The task was to vote between a side-by-side collage of two female celebrities accordingly to my follower’s idea of beauty. I was tactical in the choice of female celebrities, as I chose two with similar positions within the industry but with almost opposite kinds of appearance, as I thought it would be interesting to see how they are judged for their outer exterior. I ended the information of the research by stating ‘Let’s celebrate every kind of beauty’ as I did not want my research to be portrayed a physical comparison between both females. The response to the Instagram Voting Poll was as I imagined, the celebrities who displayed more conventional features were chosen than those with unique features. However, surprisingly a small minority of my Gen Z followers were more lenient in the choice of unconventional beauty. With my primary research solidifying my secondary, I was abandoned by the thought of, what is the result of a society brainwashed to strive for perfection, in a world heavily oversaturated by social media influencers supporting the unrealistic expectations set by misogynistic men. The answer is a lack of authentic identity. The lack of authentic identity within society’s youth today, is a subject that I wish to tackle through the creation of my visually engaging campaign, to provide a solution for the issue of ‘perfection’.
THE CAMPAIGN CONCEPT
In the very early stages of our life, we are programmed to strive for perfection, ensuring that our uniform is neat, our appearance is tidy, and make sure that we conform to the school rules… This continues if not worsens into high school life. Then into adult life. It is a never-ending cycle of conformity to unrealistic expectations. We are striving for something that simply does not exist. Perfection is not real it is just the consequence of conformity. Are we not bored yet? Bored of conforming to stereotypes, misogyny, and conventional expectations? The need for perfection has created a society in which individuals fear their authentic identity. This issue forces us to believe that everything that makes us unique is wrong. Our confidence has been destroyed by conformity. Can we reverse this before it is too late?
My campaign comes from the perspective of female empowerment, as a response to the beauty pressures we see Gen Z to be struggling with today. My journey of research was a mission to find the answers to the restoration of confidence and embracement so that our future consumers, Generation Alpha can escape the cycle of conformity. One of the main influences for my campaign was my 9-year-old niece Mia. There was an incident in her life recently, where her confidence was completely knocked over, she was judging the calories within her meals, the way that she looked and comparing herself to those around her. This was frightening to see at such a young age because while she should be enjoying her youth, she was worrying about how she looked. This is due to the extensive amount of exposure that Generation Alpha have regarding social media. A generation that knows no other than technology, growing up in the age of social media it is only inevitable that they too will adapt to the cycle of conformity. This was a real eye-opener, that Generation Alpha is already affected by the pressures that we see Gen Z under but at the age of 9! Children have the potential to be whoever they want to be until society tells them otherwise.
My campaign response is the answer to the change that is needed for Generation Alpha as a future consumer. The solution was discovered within unconventionality. In my research, I explored celebrities that did not fit the traditional convention of beauty and the common denominator that I found was their unconventional beauty mindset. This was something that they acquired throughout their career, a mindset that they chose to look beyond the unrealistic expectations of women and celebrate themselves for exactly who they are. A prime example of this would be rapper and singer Lizzo. She is so fearlessly herself in the way that she portrays herself, to the subjects she brings awareness to through her songs. Her entire persona radiates optimism and contentment with herself, she is the perfect example of how every female in this world should feel. The unconventional beauty mindset is something I wish to achieve through my final major project, encapsulating a campaign that inspires confidence for our youth to regain a sense of authentic identity. From this, I developed the concept plan for the visual outcome of my campaign, exploring the contrast between conformity and chaos. Embracing the beauty that is hidden within ‘imperfection’ through the medium of positive daily affirmations translated onto playing cards.
THE CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
I have chosen to visualise my campaign concept through the combination of positive affirmations and playing cards as I believe that this is the perfect solution. Positive affirmations can be used to stimulate motivation, encourage positive changes, and boost self-esteem. Neuroscientific research reveals that there is ‘MRI evidence to suggest that certain neural pathways are increased when people practice self-affirmation tasks. The reason why I have chosen to incorporate playing cards is for both conceptual and tactical purposes. The conceptual purpose of the playing cards is an act of feminism, reclaiming the way women are portrayed through the gambling industry, almost like a symbol of freeing women from the male gaze. The tactical reasoning behind the incorporation of playing cards is a technique to market my campaign concept. When exploring Generation Alpha as a future consumer, I discovered that the best method to market towards this generation would be to re-evaluate the 4 p’s of promotion. Rather than focusing on product, place, price, and promotion, it is believed that brands must turn to emotional branding, prioritising engagement, experience, exclusivity, and emotion to successfully market to this consumer. Generation Alpha desires brands that speak to the consumer, this means that brands must switch their thinking from ‘What should I sell?’ to ‘Why should I sell?’. This is exactly why I have created the physical cards to stimulate engagement and experience between my consumer and campaign. The reason why I have created physical cards is that consumers are craving in-person interactions, and longing for a sense of community and with one pack of my affirmation playing cards comes endless amounts of games and fun with multiple participants all while blindly manifesting selflove through the affirmation aspect.
The title of my campaign addresses the opinions formed by those who choose to live unapologetically themselves, in the way that they’re often perceived as unstable, erratic, and chaotic. The ‘chaos’ part of the title is the representation of our authentic identity, the escapism from the pre-set judgements of society. I have captured the ‘chaos’ through the technique of colour and expression within my conceptual styling shoots. Linking back to Generation Alphas’ consumer values, they prioritise branding that evokes emotion, this is partly why I chose to represent colour with chaos. From the styling to the branding of my campaign, I have been very selective in the shades of colours I have used such as pastels, purples, blues, yellows, and oranges as all represent positive, calming and balance associations. For the styling of the concept of ‘chaos’ I explored expression through the colour coding of the outfits, the positioning of the models within the frame, and the disproportion of the materials used. The ‘conformity’ part of my title evidently reflects the entire narrative of why I have chosen to create my campaign. The way in which I have creatively captured the concept of conformity is via the idea of uniformity, due to the lack of authentic identity due to the years of conformity to unrealistic expectations. The concept of uniformity represents the idea of everybody appearing the same and hints at the expectations set in place for uniform dressing in terms of school, the workplace, and the following of trends. I have chosen to display the concept of uniformity by utilising men’s ties, repurposing them into skirts and styling different shapes onto shirts and transforming them into belts. Ties were very fitting due to them being predominantly worn by men in power, this reflects the concepts which I explored regarding the way women are viewed as inferior to men.
When it came to selecting the models for my styling shoots, I wanted a diverse set of females that represents every kind of beauty. As there are 52 cards in a complete deck and I knew I was personalising both sides, equalling 104 in total, it was important that I had more than one face for my campaign so that it did not become repetitive. I acquired 8 models, who I felt were the best fit for my final major project and each one shared the very same values I was wishing to portray through my campaign. To incorporate a personal aspect of the models into the campaign, I asked each of them to share with me some of the affirmations that they use in their daily lives as a way of boosting their self-esteem. This supported the creation of 52 different daily affirmations for the back of each card. After capturing both looks 1 and 2 of my styling shoots, I then removed the background of the imagery and transported the subject onto the card templates I had curated. This part of my journey was a very long process but undoubtedly the most rewarding, as I got to see my styling concepts come to life after photographing, managing, and creatively directing 8 styling shoots and styling 16 different outfits to best fit the narrative of my campaign.
THE CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
To navigate successful promotional strategies, it is crucial to consider the market level and prioritise the target audience. The market level that I have chosen most suitable for my brand identity is the luxury designer market as I feel this offers the most freedom in developing visionary concepts. The gap that I believe is very evident within this market level is the lack of relatability for its consumers, this is something I have tried to incorporate within the promotion of my campaign. The place in which I intend to promote the product of my campaign is via the girl’s bathroom within female-centred bars. The affirmation playing cards will be accessible from a vending machine. I chose this type of location due to the congregation of female empowerment that usually occurs within the girl’s bathroom on a night out. A marketing strategy like this has the potential to go viral on platforms such as TikTok like the disco toilet in Albert Schloss that people have been flocking to see just for a photograph! In terms of social media marketing, I intend to create short promotional videos prior to the official launch of my campaign. This will include videos with the public, instigating a quick card game, that will result in the winner leaving with a pack of my affirmation playing cards. Linking back to the values of Generation Alpha as a future consumer, they seek experience within brand campaigns, so this type of video establishes that of such. The final film which I have created as part of the promotional material for my campaign includes overlaying my videos from the styling shoots onto a secondary sourced video of rapper and singer Lizzo preaching about self-love. I am very proud of the outcome of my final film as I feel it encapsulates everything that has been part of my journey to ‘The Chaos Within Conformity’.
THE CONCLUSION
In conclusion to my personalised brief, I believe that I have created the perfect campaign to outline and showcase myself as a creative prior to the completion of my studies in Fashion Marketing and Communication. I am pleased to have created a final major project that best reflects my own personal and brand identity through a concept that I feel very passionate about. The journey to ‘The Chaos Within Conformity’ has been my favourite aspect of the Brand Management Module as it allowed me to demonstrate all the skills in which I have acquired during my time at university whole showcasing them to the best of my ability!
