E-Journal by Rashmi Sarraf

APPLICATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA E-JOURNAL

RASHMI SARRAF 1

WEEK 1

TRADITIONAL MEDIA VS NEW MEDIA CASE STUDY OF ADIDAS AND NIKE

FOCUS MORE ON ADIDAS 2

ADIDAS USE OF NEW MEDIA 3

NIKE USE OF NEW MEDIA 4

PAY PER CLICK ADIDAS VS NIKE • It’s an important aspect in new media but the fact here is that it is always going head to head against a competitor’s. • Adidas includes financial benefits or special offers in the headline of the advert. From doing this, Adidas has given more of a priority to the financial aspect of their products making clear to bring in more customers, they need to promote their special offers more. • A special offer in the description is the typical place to put it as Nike has done but putting it in the headline attracts attention. If a brand does not provide much information in the description, it will give the user a reason to click on the advert so that they can find out more information. So, a better place to put it is in the description.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION ADIDAS VS OTHER BRANDS • As shown in the image, when we search “running shoes online” in Google, Adidas Google Ad appears 1st and at the top position in the results. This shows that Adidas has a good quality score. Quality score is a form of measurement Google uses to rate these links. In order to have a good quality score, a website needs to do well in these following areas: 1. Click through Rate 2. Relevancy 3. Landing Page Quality • Click through Rate refers to how the webpage is able to to drive strong rate across keywords. In the case of Adidas, its click through rate is stronger as compared to its competitors. This implies that when a user searches for “Running shoes” , he/she is more likely to click on Adidas rather than other brands. • Adidas also has a higher relevancy compared to its competitors. The landing page title, URL link and meta description, all contain the search keywords “running” and “shoes”. Hence, the search keyword matches with all the 3 areas of adidas’ landing page which is not the case with its competitors. • Adidas’s landing page quality is better than the competitors. The products do not clutter up and the size of the images are also pleasing to the eyes of the visitor. Also, Adidas is more optimised and relevant than other brands as when the user opens other sites, they get to see things not related to “running shoes” as well which is not the case in Adidas. 6

CONTENT MARKETING CULTURE AND RELEVANCE • At Adidas, Culture has been put at the core of their content marketing strategy. Culture has the power to create or nourish longer-lasting, stronger and more engaged relationships with the target audience. Culture is the joint values, ideas, ideologies of a group and creates a feeling of membership and belonging as well. • Relevance is fleeting. As content marketers at Adidas, they try to create a continuous flow of moments of relevance that leads the consumer from awareness to purchase and retention. • The best way is to use content to connect the target audience to the organisation’s culture which has been the main practice at Adidas. • Steps that they took: 1. Find what Defines you 2. Sync all parts of the business 3. Apply the filter across the board 4. Authenticate their culture 5. Dare to disregard the numbers 7

SOCIAL MEDIA Adidas Originals

• Social media is a natural extension of Adidas’s wider approach to marketing. Interestingly, Adidas Originals has more followers on Twitter than the main Adidas account. • Steps that they are taking to make it happen are: 1. Creating hype - It creates hype around its highprofile collaborations. Kanye West was snatched from Nike, The brand has cleverly built on the rapper’s wider fan base. Adidas puts a huge focus on the personal and direct involvement of the influencers in the actual designing process. The way they post on social media, continuously reinforcing the topic of originality and creative and artistic expression. 2. Giving Control to Consumers - The consumer focus has been integral to the success of the brand in recent years, with the brand aiming to create conversation about youth and street culture rather than simply promoting it’s products. The social media campaign surrounding the release of the iconic Stan Smith shoe, cleverly made consumers feel part of the story. 3. Organic Content - Social media is also a way for fans and consumers to show their appreciation. Usergenerated content is particularly widespread on Instagram, with fans posting their love for the brand as well as excitement about product launches and exclusive events. Through Instagram, Adidas also makes use of imagery from musicians, fashion designers and model to reinforce its tagline of “We are Originals” - including the consumer in the collective ‘we’. • By delivering its message on social media in a natural and authentic way, it has truly connected with a new and highly engaged young audience.

EMAIL MARKETING NIKE IS THE WINNER • Adidas makes it easy to join their email list by providing multiple signup options on their website. Whereas, Nike’s email signup form is pretty straightforward and after signup also promises to not share their information with anyone as one of the biggest sign up barriers for consumers is fear of their privacy. • The welcome email of Nike has the subject line “You’re In” - which makes the consumer feel as if they are part of something exclusive. Adidas, on the other hand has a powerful hero image with “The Journey Starts Here” subject and the promised 15% oﬀ coupon. • Adidas has a similar aesthetic in the other emails it sends to its consumers and has nothing new. Even on special occasions, there is not much Adidas has to oﬀer. But they do try to compel the audience with the “last chance” email. • Nike’s email strategy is capitalised on the amount of bigname brand partnerships. They also raise the stakes in their special occasion emails. 9

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY 6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ADIDAS • Digital and Technology : Adidas’s five year strategy issued in 2015 has the name “Creating the new”. Adidas is constantly striving to be the world’s best sporting apparel brand. They use digitalisation as the key part of their marketing strategy. The company also spends 90% of its marketing budget on digital campaigns and social media. • Speed : Adidas has digitised the production process with 3D printing technology and robotics. High-speed manufacturing is one of the essential parts of their marketing strategy. The purpose being to deliver the most innovative and personalised experience for their customers. • Relationship with consumers : The brand tries to connect with their customers and create premium, connected and personalised experiences. They try to be everywhere the consumers are and also deliver multichannel, unified and unique experiences. • Open source innovations and collaborations : Adidas tries to collaborate with as many people as they can and connect with them to shape future sports. They also try to bring cool products to the market. • Strategic cities : Six cities ( London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo ) , have strategic importance for Adidas which shape the consumer’s perception, trends and buying decisions. In Europe, they focus on selling especially soccer products, but the US is a key country for other subsidiaries like basketball and baseball. North America is the biggest market in the sporting goods industry, and its total share is 40%. • Portfolio : The company constantly revisits its portfolio and concentrates on making more precise targeting and reducing complexities.

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY 4 THINGS TO KNOW AND 5 BRILLIANT NIKE CAMPAIGNS • Building meaningful stories and tagline : Nike Campaigns are really eﬀective. They focus on creating meaningful stories to build a loyal fan base. They also induce emotion in the consumer through “emotional branding”. Nike tells its stories with a traditional narrative of a hero who overcomes hardships, fights with an enemy and leads to glory at the end. In most cases, the enemy says to the hero that “You can’t”, but the tagline comes to help and tells “Just Do It”. These kind of ads aim to evoke particular feelings and make the Nike products more meaningful in the eyes of the customers. • Distribution Strategy : Nike creates exciting experiences that people would talk and share with each other. It also has subsidiaries like Converse, Jordan and Hurley. They help them to grow. Through various channels, Nike distributes its products worldwide. • Targeting Strategy and Mission : They are not only a footwear brand but present in sports equipment, clothing and many other things. Nike uses diﬀerent and separate targeting strategies to remain at the top. They also have a strong portfolio which helps them retain their customers and provide multiple products to them. • Financial Statistics : Nike’s digital marketing has brought victory. They have created huge revenue, has the largest market share and a great brand value. • 5 Brilliant Campaigns are : 1. Nike Air Jordan and Facebook Messenger Bot Collaboration 2. Nike: Reactland 3. Nike Unlimited Stadium 4. Nike: The Wonder Woman of Vogue 5. Nike: Equality

ADIDAS USE OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA • By combining an idea with an emotion, customers can draw connections between brands, and their feelings, beliefs or ideas. At the forefront of such storytelling, we have Adidas. It is one of the most successful brands when it comes to using it as a marketing concept, and it makes use of the years of history and connections, to build a connection with their audience. • When we look back, we can think of the 2001 movie “The Royal Tenenbaums”, which has a star-studded cast, and they’re all kitted out in Adidas tracksuits, even for occasions that can be only described as absurd. This might look like a basic product placement, but it is actually a stepping stone in Adidas’ story, when the brand actually became a landmark of a generation, thus establishing the “cool factor” that we still know and love. • The Lionel Messi Adidas advertisement was the basis of the Adidas ads campaign, and it spoke of the battle that he faced with growth hormones, serving as a reminder that even bad things may sometimes lead to positive outcomes. • You could even find Adidas magazine ads in the #MyGirls online magazine, which was made to educate and inform young people on the truth of female sporting success. This campaign, out of nowhere, added an entire chapter to the story, one that pushed women to feel pride in what they achieve, and it also eradicated inactivity in younger people. 12

NIKE USE OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA • During its 6.0 campaign, Nike took the brave step of introducing a line of printed T-shirts using Nike slogans such as ‘Get High’, ‘Dope’ and ‘Ride Pipe’, supposed to be a sports lingo rather than a phrase recommending drug use. • In June 2015, Nike entered 8-years collaboration with NBA to be their league’s oﬃcial supplier starting in 2017/2018. • Nike has many famous athletes as its sponsors, this being their most powerful tactic for selling and promoting unique design and production technology. The first professional athlete to become Nike’s sponsor was Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase. • Traditional endorsement and product placement marketing is very much alive and well. Nike oﬀered two beautiful proofs in point that any marketer can learn from. Tiger Woods and Rory Mcllroy on the Tonight show. The show was heavily marketed as the first time the two had appeared together on a talk show. The casual viewer saw the two youngest golfers ever to win major championships joke, interact and play Face breakers with Jimmy Fallon. They also saw a remarkably interactive and funny advertisement for Nike’s new golf clubs performed live. It was a wonderful product placement endorsed by two of Nike’s top marketing assets from the same sport on the top-rated late night show. • Michael Jordan and Roger Federer at the U.S. Open. Roger was playing and Jordan was in the stands. Federer was wearing the Air Jordan shoe technology and, of course, the announcers hyped the new shoe while panning to Jordan in the crowd. The post-match interviews for the next three matches continued to promote the new shoe, resulting in incredible endorsement with far greater reach than any commercial. • Nike’s ability to blur the lines between placement, endorsement and traditional advertising would be impressive even if they weren’t leveraging world-class athletes.

How has Digital Marketing helped these brands? Adidas does have an advantage over other companies with the fact that they already have amazing products. In a way, the things they want to sell aren’t really a hard sell, and they already have deals in place for huge stars to endorse and wear their products. Sport video is something people look at pretty often, which is another thing that goes so far for Adidas. The “There Will Be Haters” campaign with the launch of the new Adidas football boots is a great example, as the adverts and videos created with the stars Adidas uses went viral because of the profile of the stars, as well as the product. Their main competitor is perhaps Nike, which is well-known to anyone who knows a bit about sport and brands. However, Nike focuses on the athletes that use their equipment and are contracted to do so, and this separates the two brands. Adidas’ methods are similar, they both share amazing content, and get huge responses. But, what makes Adidas diﬀerent? Adidas actually sticks to an enforced company culture, and compared to Nike, they aren’t that fierce as a brand. Their equipment and products are good for the all round sportspeople, from the beginner level, to professionals. They’re more of a “good guy” brand, and this is important. By no means are Nike the “bad guys”, but they have premiere athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo which can be portrayed in such a way, and this gets swept into the Nike brand too often. As an example, for the launch of Cristiano Ronaldo’s new boots, Nike produced a video that portrayed him as an “out of this world” superstar. Adidas, on the other hand, recognize their athletes as global stars, and don’t go for the “best in the world” moniker. They don’t commit to debatable statements, such as Cristiano Ronaldo being the best in the world. Sure, he has won an award that lets him claim that, but Messi is contracted to Adidas, and he’s won the same award a few times with no such claims. As far as social media goes, Adidas has a hierarchy for their channels. The general account oversees and collates all of the content of the other channels, thus promoting the content as a part of the brand. Just like on Twitter, the Adidas account shares the content from the other channels. Based on the research above, you’ll find that you can actually learn a few lessons from the way Adidas uses marketing and social media. The key ones would be: • Have a clear strategy (Adidas’ use of separate accounts) • Visual content is amazing • Real-time marketing can get you results and engagement • “Superb content” is absolutely essential

ZARA

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS WEEK 2

INTRODUCTION ▸ Zara is a go to brand for every person as they provide the customers what they want and when they want it. Their flexible supply chain and technology-driven approach has resulted into great business results. ▸ In the fast fashion industry, constant chain is expected; new products should be available on a regular basis. Fast fashion thus requires even faster marketing. But, despite all this Zara refrains itself from traditional advertising like television commercials, internet ads or billboards. ▸ Zara has social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. They mainly use Instagram and Facebook due to the importance of pictures and videos in marketing of the products. Their fanbase consists of mostly young females.

FACEBOOK ▸ Zara adds to its followers every year with 28M followers on Facebook. The brand posted 550 times with more than 70% of it being photos and 20% of it being videos of the content. ▸ Most of the visual content involves cookbook-style photos. The clothes they make do most of the talking for them and drive the customers in terms of engagement in likes and shares. ▸ The videos they post also gain high engagement with over 6 million views. ▸ Zara also participated in 255 user conversations, mainly receiving a positive response (81%) from the audience.

TWITTER ▸ Zara has 1.3M followers on Twitter with 80,000 followers being added last year. Their Twitter strategy centres around conversing with their customers and responding to their queries and concerns. Zara tweets 52 times a day approximately, out of which 98% of their tweets are replies. Customer tweets are mainly regarding delayed deliveries, product damages or misplacements and bad in-store customer service. The brand opts to handle queries through requests to direct message, apologies or otherwise directs them to the brand’s separate customer service handle @ZARA_Care. ▸ With content, they are the top performing in product launches and new arrivals. They also manage to stay relevant by joining conversation about social issues. ▸ Zara regularly gets featured by top magazines, journals and websites. They are also mentioned by a number of high profile influencers.

INSTAGRAM ▸ Zara has 39.1M followers on Instagram. It provides as a perfect platform for their visual brand image. They have a total of 2958 posts on this platform. ▸ Zara runs a number of campaigns which draws a lot of engagement for the brand. They even released a sustainable clothing collection under the label “Join Life”. ▸ They took an interesting approach with their influencer marketing on Instagram. They launched a campaign named “Timeless” which featured models over the age of 40. It featured fashion industry veterans Malgosia Bela, Yasmin Warsame and Kristina de Coninck. The video campaign involved these women discussing the effect of ageing on their personal style. This effort also earned social media praise for the retailer.

YOUTUBE ▸ Zara has almost 76K subscribers on Youtube. ▸ They generally upload small videos to promote their campaigns. ▸ The new videos generally revolve around their retail seasons. ▸ The Zara woman campaign video hits around 5.5M views in both Autumn Winter 2019 and Spring Summer 2019.

PR CRISIS ▸ From the “Love Your Curves” campaign to Pepe the Fog controversy, The brand has made its own share of negative publicity. The most famous scrutiny was the one where the shoppers had found notes from unpaid labourers sewn inside their clothes. This was a serious issue and the brand refused to make use of social media to address the same and chose to be silent. ▸ Currently, during the Fashion Revolution week, Many people are asking the brand regarding “Who made my clothes?”. But there is no such response from the brand on any social media platform they use.

TAKEAWAYS ▸ Content Consistency - Zara generally is highly dependent on visual elements. They have a photo-oriented synchronised layout across its social platforms. This is important as the customers are able to resonate with the brand identity. Maintaining a uniformity helps consumers know what content to expect from the brand. ▸ Posting Consistency - Similarly, posting should also be regular when building brand consistency. Zara manages to be regular by at least posting once every day and remain consistent. ▸ Customer Relationship - Customer research is very important as to what they want which the brand has been successful in doing. They consistently use social media to talk to their customers and this in turn have have managed to retain brand loyalty. ▸ Organic Growth - This attributes to endorsement from their consumers which include fashion-focused influencers and bloggers. Every season, there’s a Zara item trending on social media and their brandrelated hashtags account for millions of results.

WEEK 3

ICONISE YOURSELF Chiara Ferragni

ABOUT She started her career with a fashion blog called â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Blonde Saladâ&#x20AC;? in 2009 which has now turned into a global retail business with 20M followers on Instagram. She makes a living by her prolific social media presence and is known as the most successful fashion blogger worldwide. She has got consistently positive Instagram statistics by staying true to her audience. She has launched her own clothing brand Chiara Ferragni Collection in 2013, currently estimated to be worth millions of dollars. 28

After the launch of her blog, many brands started contacting her, it was then that she realised she could influence the sales of a product or increase the notoriety of a brand. She chooses whom to have a collaboration with on the basis of the kind of connection she has with the brand. For example: When Pomellato had called her to be the face of the brand, she had bought her first ring from there, so she could feel a connection with them and thus agreed to sign them. She also shares her life through Instagram in a very spontaneous way and keep things natural. In 2009, when she began posting #ootd photos on her blog, the Blonde Salad, she was still a college student studying international law. Those early looksâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a strategic mix of designer handbags, vintage finds, and Zaraâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;captivated fans, who followed her to Instagram in 2012. In 2013, with the launch of her brand, she made a loyal fan base for her. She also continued to do endorsements with a select group of luxury labels, which not only paid her handsomely for sponsored posts but also helped further elevate the profile of the Chiara Ferragni Collection by association. Ferragniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand, which has an emoji-like winking eye as its signature motif, is now carried in more than 400 stores, including flagships in Milan, Paris, and Shanghai, and generates $25 million in annual revenue.

#FERRAGNEZ She is married with an Italian rapper, Fedez, and the couple’s nuptials in Sicily in 2018 earned a cool $36 million in Media Impact Value for sponsor brands. The highly Instagrammable, three-day extravaganza included a performance by the groom —a social media heavyweight in his own right, with 7.6 million followers—fireworks, a Ferris wheel, and a hashtag (#TheFerragnez). In terms of placements, the biggest winners were Dior (which provided two couture gowns for the big day —one embroidered with lyrics from “Favorisca I Sentimenti,” the song Fedez wrote to propose to Ferragni) and Prada (which supplied a bespoke crystal-covered cocktail dress for the rehearsal dinner). For its part, Pomellato contributed hisand-hers wedding bands swathed in pavé diamonds. #TheFerragnez, by some calculations, generated even more online impact than the royal wedding, garnering 67 million interactions over four days.

ACHIEVEMENTS Italian Director Elisa Amoruso has made a documentary on her. The film charts the meteoric rise of this dentist’s daughter from the bedroom community of Cremona, Italy, to number one in the fashion category on the 2017 Forbes Top Influencers list. Ferragni was recently tapped to be an ambassador of Pomellato for Women, The Milanese jewellery brand’s campaign celebrating female leadership. In 2015, Harvard Business School published a case study on her entrepreneurial success. Among her style choices and inspirations, The Blonde Salad charts her collaborations with an impressive roster of design houses, including Dior, Louis Vuitton , Ermenegildo Zegna, Benetton and Mango. She was announced as the brand ambassador of Amazon Fashion and the face of its Spring 2016. In 2017, Ferragni stepped up to the helm of her TBS Crew to become its president and chief executive. Ferragni’s namesake line, Chiara Ferragni Collection, started out in 2013 as a footwear line with Luisa Via Roma. It has since expanded into clothing, accessories and children’s wear and boasts four flagship stores and over 300 retail doors. The company reported 2016 revenues of €17 million ($20 million).

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY Ferragni insists that she doesn’t have a social media strategy. She says she posts instinctively. “If I feel I want to do something, I do it. This is a strength in this world where to be authentic wins” , She says. Her posts can be surprisingly candid or excruciating depending on the point of view of the viewer. She posts about six times a day. She also manages to be a mom and a boss at the same time. Ever since the birth of her son Leone, he has been a regular feature on her feed. She also had her picture as a hoarding on a building in Italy which seems to be an apt metaphor for what digital has done to traditional media.

INSTAGRAM

WEBSITE : C H I A R A FERRAGNI COLLECTION

WEBSITE : THE BLONDE SALAD 35

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES

“THE SECRET TO SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT THINKING ABOUT IT TOO MUCH.” CHIARA FERRAGNI

WEEK 4

BRAND CASE STUDY SUPREME

ABOUT Starting as a skate brand on Lafayette St in NYC on 1994, one simple red boxed logo has gained global recognition with stores in Japan, France and the UK. Celebrities have been wearing the brand ranging from Kanye West to John Mayer and has amassed a huge cult following. The brand has been making headlines about collaborating with the MTA, making bricks with their name on it, but one thing they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do is spend money on convention advertising. 39

TARGET AUDIENCE Supreme has consistently been true to their core audience, young, urban skaters who spend more time kick-flipping oďŹ&#x20AC; the steps in Union Square or hanging out at their local bodegas than they do anything else. Understanding their demographics, they use a â&#x20AC;&#x153;high demand, low supplyâ&#x20AC;? business model as a means of both creating a garden wall and generating more and more interest from those outside of it. Young kids in SoHo touting the newest Supreme sweatshirts, teeshirts, and hats are looked upon with envy, seeing as they either got one of the few products that will ever be made to look like that (once something is sold out, they never remake it again) or paid a ludicrous price on the consignment market. 40

3 Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S OF SUPREME SUCCESS CONTROL COOL COLLABORATIONS

THE SUPREME THEORY OF HYPE BRANDING Supreme takes a diďŹ&#x20AC;erent approach to brand marketing and advertising, which involves letting their products speak for themselves through the use of exclusivity who buys their product and who advocates their product. Packaged together in short form content on their social channels, minute long videos or photos of their skate team in their clothes, they release everything organically and the buzz immediately arises. No campaigns advertising your biggest collaborations of the season, no large scale press releases, just a short announcement and a release is all they need to reach their already dedicated audience and spread buzz to new buyers who are coming in every season. 1. The Art of Limited Supply : Supreme has always maintained a small inventory, and never released a ton of pieces. It does not sell in multiple stores and keeps a sense of authenticity which drives up desirability and demand. They also keep the products cheap and aďŹ&#x20AC;ordable while they can sell it at huge prices just to create significant hype that led to a more brand equity. The secondary resale market has its product pricing as high as 1200% more than the retail price of the product.

THE GIRL THAT GIVES YOU HER NUMBER, BUT NEVER ANSWERS WHEN YOU CALL. SOLD OUT - DOCUMENTARY

2. Unique approach towards Customers: Supreme’s website is quite diﬀerent from any other retailer’s website. Supreme maintains a simple, darkthemed website that only shows the bare essential options for customers. This ‘stripped down’ minimalist design forces all the attention onto the single graphic — supreme logo which is strategically placed. Supreme clearly wishes to display the exclusivity of their brand through their site design. It’s a clear message — “It’s the customers who chase the brand and not the other way around.” Supreme launches the lookbook on their website three days before their new drops. There is a mailing list option on the homepage but when one

actually joins, he/she gets nothing from the brand. Supreme uses their email list as another tool to portray the message that ‘you chase us’ in their marketing. There is also a diﬀerent approach when you sign up for their email list and have two options ‘subscribe’ and ‘unsubscribe’ and when the user clicks ‘subscribe’, the display message says you are unsubscribed. Supreme uses their email list for two main purposes: • To update consumers on their weekly new arrivals/drops • To send secret emails to a list of selected customers.

3. Collaborations to increase the brand hype : Collaborations with right partner can create brand awareness, increase brand momentum and hype for both the parties. Over the years, Supreme has collaborated with many parties including Nike, Rolex, Playboy, Japanese Red Cross Society, MTA, Lacoste, Timberland. Celebrities, especially those from the hip hop culture have also helped to generate word of mouth for the brand with celebrities such as $AP Rocky, Tyler the Creator and KanyeWest wearing the brand. Once more and more hip-hop fans saw their favourite artists wearing Supreme it expanded Supreme’s each. Supreme’s greatest brand collaboration was between Supreme and Louis Vuitton in 2017. 46

There was a point when Supreme was advertising to a wide audience, but that time has long been through (even their old print ads go for hundreds of dollars online). While high end luxury brands such as Dior, Gucci, Prada and the works are still dumping millions into their print and digital ads as a means of remaining relevant, Supreme has etched itself into the stone pillars of coolness and exclusivity through remaining true to their brand. In the modern age brand awareness, even outside of the fashion industry, brands should be relying just as much on their identity than innovation and disruption. Supreme has never changed their business model, their persona and how they wish to operate as a business. Their success relies purely on what they do to provide their customers access to an exclusive lifestyle at a manageable price point while resisting any and all temptations to sell out.

DATA FINDINGS Over 13.9M Instagram followers.

Founder, James Jebbia, net worth of over $40M dollars.

Their products resell at over 1200% their retail price. Twitter:

“IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT COOKS THE RECIPE OF SUPREME’S HYPE BRANDING , IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO FOUR FACTORS : SCARCITY. AUTHENTICITY. IDENTITY. PERCEPTION.” SOHAM KULKARNI

BRAND CREATION USE OF INSTAGRAM

CREATION PROCESS ABOUT THE BRAND - I looked at areas which I wanted to work in and themes which I had interest in. - I came up with the concept of GLITCH. This aroused my interest from Day 1. - Glitch for me means, something which is trippy and has an unknown feeling to it. I also wanted to work with the old form of glitch which was visible in Television, Internet Explorer, Old games. This kind of made me revisit those days and explore the components. Glitch also can be related to something which is loading or is in the process but fails to do so. - Through the brand, I want to convey the message of being torn and happy at the same time. The feeling of unwillingness and having layers to the personality. The story of an extrovert, as to how the person opens up to the world as a playful person but the inner soul is hurting and in pain at the same time. The feeling of portraying something which the person is not and thus moving towards a change in the same. - The name of the brand â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Un.Certainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; means something which is unpredictable and up in the air. Fashion Industry is constantly changing and to cope up with the changes, it is important that a brand does not stick to certain practices and keeps a balance between the two. - The objective of the brand will thus be to bring in new changes in the fashion industry whenever and wherever needed relating to glitch(always loading and looking for new areas). 53

UN.CERTAIN LOGO

Through the logo, I want to convey the message of uncertainty and edginess. The garments will have the same pointed and artistic feeling. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to incorporate a lot in the logo as I wanted it to be simple with the aesthetics of the brand.

TARGET CONSUMER GENERATION Z

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Where Millennials end and Generation Z beginsâ&#x20AC;? Generation Z- Born Between 1995- 2010 They have been accustomed to digital media from a young age but are not necessarily savvy. They are more educated, well-behaved, stressed and depressed generation in comparison to previous ones. They are prepared to stand up for what they believe in, regardless of the cost. Gen Z is the most diverse generation in history and can bring change in the society. 58

PRODUCT CATEGORY

Retro Fashion - Avant-Garde The fashion meaning of retro, first applied to clothes in the 1970s, refers to styles that are either copied or adapted from earlier periods. Fashion has often taken the past as inspiration. Retro can thus be defined as a process of scripting history into nostalgic narratives of the chic and trendy. Avant-Garde are ideas, styles, and methods that are very original or modern in comparison to the period in which they happen. The brand will mix retro with avant-garde in the upcoming collection.

INSTAGRAM PAGE 60

DATA ANALYSIS 61

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Instagram Link : https://instagram.com/un.certain.91? igshid=wb629bl0plsc

BRANDING BUSINESS VISITING CARD

GARMENT LABELS

FUTURE PROMOTION PLAN 2 MONTHS Due to the constraint of time that we had for the assignment, I could not fully promote the brand I created. I would like to propose some ideas which will benefit my brand in the future. 1. Currently, I’ve made only 21 posts on Instagram and used only Instagram as a platform to promote the brand. Further, I would use other platforms as well. I’m looking to forward to create a Pinterest account for the brand wherein I will constantly post digital prints for the brand through which the customers can choose their favourite ones. I had posted some on Instagram but that is just the beginning. 2. On Instagram, I will further create more posts in which I will show the current collection. I was also thinking creating surveys on Instagram to engage the audience more and connect them with the brand. 3. Feeling connected or having a connection with the brand is very important for the customers to build a relationship. I’ll make use of Youtube to do so. By creating a YouTube channel for the brand, posting videos of relevance and creating a platform where in people can send in their clips which the brand would combine. The videos may not be wholly related to fashion but would connect the consumer to the brand by creating stories. For example : Life of an Extrovert and an Introvert. 4. The brand will also constantly remind its customers of the upcoming changes in the fashion industry and how can a consumer and a brand cope up with it. Also, the brand uses all sustainable practices to be called a sustainable brand but my focus is not to make it all about it. I would focus on other practices which the brand is currently not following and how can that be brought in. 5. Further, I would develop my own platform which will incorporate the supply chain of diﬀerent products made by the brand. The mapping of all products at all stages will be done and recorded on this platform for the consumer to make it more transparent.

6. I would not like to restrict myself to only digital media. I also want to look at Traditional media. In traditional media, my plan is to participate in start-up competitions wherein the brand gets more known to a wider public. 7. I would also approach bloggers and influencers for promotions and try to reach to a wider audience. 8. Data insights on all platforms will also help in knowing what the audience is expecting and liking and thus help in making content.

LEARNING MODULE Starting the module, researching about different brands and getting to know about their campaigns and social media strategy made me gain a lot of knowledge. The comparative analysis between Adidas and Nike made me think about which brand I prefer more in comfort and style. Seeing Zaraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social media statistics made me wonder the importance it holds. Researching about Chiara Ferragni was so much fun, getting to know how an influencer has so much control over the public that her wedding can be more popular than that of the Royals. Supremeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case study made me learn about how wrong the philosophy of running after the consumer is. Them being a brand have always made sure that the customer has some sort of desire for a product due to limited supply and always feels special being a member of the Supreme family but that being said, they have a niche customer base. This module helped me develop my own aesthetics for the brand I want to create and helped me in promoting the same. The Digital Marketing course on Business of Fashion was also very insightful. I had a great learning experience by attending the course with Drew Elliott and getting to know about his journey from an intern to a CEO of Paper Magazine. 71