PITCH DOCUMENT BY SANDRA FALASE
“Fashion should never be taken too seriously...it should be fun”- Agi Mdumulla & Sam Cotton
S.A.N.E PR Who Are We?
Taking the first initials of our names in order to form our agency S.A.N.E established in 2009, we are a collective group of four individuals with a vast variety set of skills, most especially within the fields of marketing and promotion. Having represented clients both past and present such as Susana Bettencourt and Ryan Lo, that also fall into the emerging market, we are very drawn towards working with New talent and positioning their Brands to parallel with its aspirational goals. As well as our representation of young designers, we have also had the opportunity to work with retailers such as Zara and Topshop, with our brief being to Re-brand their current markets. As a specialist agency one our most recent recognitions, were to create short films to promote our clients in a way that would bridge the gap in the market of where they were preforming the least, since the production of these videos brand awareness and following has risen by 10 percent.
THE BRAND Brand Summary So who are Agi & Sam, with the beginnings of the brand dating back to 2010, the co designers Agape Mdumulla and Sam Cotton have often been quoted for stating the ideology that fashion shouldn’t be taken to seriously, this unwavering brand value has been highlighted and referenced so heavily within the aesthetics of their collections to date, with the inimitable use of bold prints and nostalgic imagery. Showing their first season at LCM/ LFW in 2010, showcasing their FW/11 collection, since then the brand has frequently shown at Fashion East each year. Retail Presence With their retail presence scattered across 4 continents, Agi & Sam have a total of 12 in-store and online stockists, with the UK based Stockists being Liberty, Harvey Nichols and Machine A. Other stockists include:
(Online ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢
The Corner Hypebeast The Unconventional 6000AD
US, Middle east and Asian Markets: ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢
H Lorenzo Waterstone Nightvision AMNA D-Mop
Online Presence: Like most Fashion Brands, Agi & Sam have developed a convenient online platform of a website for themselves, as it is a quick and easy way to access information about the brand. Other online platforms controlled by the brand are their Tumblr page, which documents the different milestones that the brand accomplishes this includes features in publications, Buyer visits and Fashion Week News. However the brand are also represented on the websites of their stockists and on the official website of their representative PR agencies.
Social Media The Menswear duo are avid users on the social networking platform of twitter, with daily frequent updates giving insight to life of the pair surrounding Agi & Sam as well as their own personal lives. The brand is also on Facebook, however it doesn’t provide the instant relay of information and news that their twitter account offers.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
➢ The Unique selling point of the brand is their witty use of humorous aspects to inspire their collections. ➢ As an emerging brand in the sector, you need to have something that sets you apart from other competitors; as a result the Brand’s use of strong bold and bespoke prints gives them an advantage. ➢ Acquiring acclaimed stockists such as Liberty London and Harvey Nichols. ➢ Launching a premium Women’s wear collection in October 2012.
➢ The brand seems to be relatively unknown outside the Fashion Industry and is still yet to make a firm footprint in the Fashion Industry. ➢ They have never partaken in an on going campaign in the past.
Opportunities: ➢ The designers are regular exhibitors at the Fashion east and LCM shows and one the 2012 award in correspondence with the Fashion East Shows. ➢ The recent release of the the Woman’s Wear collection ➢ The brand are now represented by Exposure PR, who have offices in San Francisco, Tokyo, New York and London enabling them to be recognized with an agency with international presence.
Threats/ Problem For the past two years the brand have been building up themselves as a relevant Menswear brand, however with the recent production of their Women’s wear in October 2012 they have to appeal to a wider and completely different target market, the opposite sex. With that in mind both markets have to be brought together by the brands value and lifestyle appeal, and with the financial backbone of nations worldwide still recovering from a recession having a toll on the fashion industry, the brand have to prove that they are relevant.
THE AIMS
Instead of being split up into different counter parts and aspects, Agi & Sam need to be promoted as a brand, that is full of life. ➢ The brand could potentially extend their initial fan base into other markets, through the collaborations with different innovative platforms ➢ To garner more public recognition of the brand, most especially with the Women’s Wear further more attaining a customer base with a velocity, that will soon bring it up to the level of the Menswear. ➢ A rise in brand appeal towards international markets ➢ Having Features in other niche magazine aside from Fashion. E.g. lifestyle ➢ Acquiring a Stockist that promotes a lifestyle alongside fashion.
MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES Social media- measure a months worth of twitter activity including Profile hits, Retweets, Hash tags and the growth of followers. Throughout the duration of the campaign and a month after, statistics will be collated to see whether the brand have increased their social media presence by at least 10%, as well as looking at the traffic and hits they have gained on their twitter profile and official website.
Specific: to expand the current consumer market that Agi & Sam have, by incorporating their brand value of humor into the campaign strategies. As a result we aim to increase their followers on twitter and generate profile hits and trending topics surrounding the brand.
Measurable: As part of our research strategy in order to understand the positioning of the brand, a focus group centered around the aspirational target customers that the brand are trying to appeal to, will be pitched with the brand’s current values then be asked to give feedback where needed, with these results collated we will use the focus group to see whether the campaign is more relatable to their interests Achievable: In order to enter one of the competitions the brand will be offering throughout the campaigns, the twitter users have to be following the brand, this strategy will insure an increase in followers, with this tactic in place strive to achieve at least a 15% increase of followers for the brand through out the duration of the campaign and at least a 5% increase in the three months after.
MARKET OVERVIEW
The emerging sector is one that is very exciting and when strategically approach can potentially harness success for a brand with a good business plan, however in the current climate of the economic downturn we are currently facing in the Eurozone, there are many factors that can pose as threats. With the depreciation of the British pound consumers are less likely to part with their expendable income on luxury goods, Across Europe population growth is minimal and will eventually start to decline over the next 15 years (Mintel), with all this factors adversely affecting the luxury goods retailing industry it has brought about some opportunities including the fast growing channel of online distributions, making products more accessible to a mass demographic at the convenience of the consumer, which will encourage them to spend more.
ERDEM
The brand is utilizing these online marketing and sales channels to some extent, through the use of e-commerce Stockist sites such as Hypebeast and The Corner. One of their strong competitors Christopher Shannon who offers both a menswear and Women’s wear collection and is stocked in Liberty London and Harvey Nichols Similarly to Agi & Sam, Is utilizing the aspects of mass appeal and accessibility as his collections are sold on Asos. Other Similar brands in regards to aesthetic or brand ethos include ‘Aqua by Aqua Man’, Christopher Shannon And Topman; potential competitors for the brand’s women’s wear collections include Erdem and Fam Irvoll.
CHRISTOPHER SHANNON
THE CURRENT TARGET MARKET If I were short of a few words to describe this up and coming brand I would say; Agi and Sam is a brand for the classy urban male with high dosage of street cred. The average Agi & Sam customer Gender: Male/Female (menswear/recent woman’s wear tailored brand) Age: 24- 34/ a person who are young at heart Profession: Creative industry professionals (photographers, illustrators, PR) Financial status: middle class background/ established in their profession Status: middle class/ urban Location: City Dwellers/ London Salary: £40,000+ Spending habits: Fortnightly food shopping, once a month, saves up for luxury items Technology: Apple products (MacBook, iPhone, iPad), Samsung, Adobe. Social life/ Hobbies- music gigs/ events/ exhibition openings/ Bars/ Traveling/ Cult classic Film fans/Music (urban, indie, punk classics E.g. The Buzzcocks)
IDEAL TARGET CUSTOMER
Name: Guy Age: 31 Description: slim, tall, and brunette (with a few grey hairs trying to creep their way in) Lives with his long term Girlfriend according to him, FiancĂŠ according to her. Location: London Occupation: Product designer Gadgets: iPhone, MacBook, iPad, Windows tablet, Kindle Travel: Commuter/rides a bike Social: Bar music sets, outdoors film screenings, escape to the country, and spending time with the Mrs. Shops at: Topman, The Kooples, Cos
TARGET MEDIA/ INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS As well as products being pulled in for fashion shoots in publications such as Dazed and Confused and i-D, the brand will target the market of Music and Lifestyle publications both online and print, these include: NME which is a notable magazine in the music industry and Rolling Stone magazine as musicians are frequently profiled for feature issues, those who have covered the magazine in the past include ➢ both ➢ ➢
Noctis Magazine, Life Magazine and Swagger New York, which are based online.. Glossies: GQ and Men’s health/ pop. Paper: Metro and Esquire magazine/ Stylist.
‘DUMMY’ FEATURES
TARGET STOCKISTS Target stockists- Selfridges and Harrods are notable for promoting an ideal lifestyle alongside the fashion aspects of the retailer, in order for Agi and Sam to successfully rebrand themselves as a brand that uses lifestyle as one of its fundamental values, they have to be associated with key retailers that uphold the same ethos. Ideally one of the two stockists will be an interesting part of the market to intercept, especially because the two brands haven’t worked together in the past. However Selfridges is known for being in support of new emerging talent, which is where Agi & Sam fit the criteria.
This is highlighted in a past collaboration in February 2012, that Selfridges partook in alongside 15 young talents in fields ranging from fashion to art, of which the work of those that were showcased included selected designers such as Matthew Van Der Horst, conceptual window Displays were showcased to those who passed by in London for the whole duration of February.
KEY MESSAGES
It’s not just a brand it’s a lifestyle and to make an effort to provide with some laughs (forced or genuine) throughout the month of Movember, the Mo’ the merrier. To showcase Agi & Sam as a compassionate and light hearted brand that is aware of the issues that affect day-to-day life.
THE SOLUTION
The key-defining factor that makes Agi & Sam what it is, is their ability to inject humorous aesthetics into all of their collections, since this is reflected in the actual product, who is to say it has to stop there?
ONLINE COLLABORATIONS Youtube Collaboration and Fashion Blogger Collaboration 21st-28th October As a British brand, we thought it would go hand in had to use Youtube personality bloggers such as Kick the PJ shorts (UCA Alumni studied Animation), Charlie is so cool like and Nerimon. All of the above are well known in the world of Youtube and often use puns and one-liners as the inspiration for their Youtube videos. The three would potentially collaborate on a feature video with the inspiration of it, being a particular one-liner that the viewers can guess at the end in the comments section; those who can correctly guess or creatively interpret the one-liner will be the winner, with the prize being to go to the music night and interview on of the special acts. At the end of the video there will be a QR code available for the viewers to scan for more information, however this isn’t possible and the person who comes up with the most creative way to scan the QR code on their phones will also be the winner of the same prizes listed above.
Film Shorts go online/ viral 28th October Actual QR codes that lead to a selection of film shorts on the Agi & Sam website, will be placed in bizarre places e.g. a moving vehicle (difficult to scan), the Underground (no internet connection) on purpose, to play on the fact that it is meant to be a quick response but it is in fact a long process if one does succeed in loading up the content. If someone is successful their will be a little message saying “ If you got here by scanning the QR codes, congratulations you have succeeded the quest but you could have just typed in the website below”.
ONE-LINER TWITTER CAMPAIGN One liner twitter Campaign (winners announced on the 10th) 1st-7th November Having gained some exposure from the collaboration with the Fashion Bloggers and Youtube personalities, the brand will launch their twitter campaign. Twitter users will be asked to tweet the brand their best one-liners using the hash tag #AgiandSamOneLiner, the 3 winners of this competition will be the users that come up with the most witty One-liners, this will be judged by Retweets and Favourites. In order to be entered in the competition the users have to be following the Brands twitter account and have to Retweet their tweets about the competition to their followers. The 3 winners this competition will be invited to the event, receive an exclusive Agi & Sam T-shirt and receive back stage passes to meet the acts. The winners will be announced via twitter and will be private messaged for their details to receive an official invite.
EVENT NIGHT 14th November - This will be a collaboration involving the fusion of music, Comedy and Fashion. The key purpose of this event is to showcase the personality and lifestyle aspects of the brand. Sponsors for the event will include Liberty, District MTV and Spotify. Inspired by the Lanvin 2012 ad Campaigns, separate rooms will showcase the Pre-fall 14 collections for both Women’s wear and Menswear. The rooms will be marked with semiotic W.C signs for both genders. A litter voice over will play at the beginning stating that the male species are banned from the room and vice versa.
Room 3 : Will include an anonymous booth of awkward firsts and dad jokes, with the best contributed content being put up on a wall filling up the logo of Agi & Sam, some of the best tweeted one-liners will be put up on the wall as well. Out of those who chose not to be anonymous, one lucky winner will win a cheesy Dad Shirt to take home. There will also be a Photobooth sponsored by Spotify that will contain humorous props such as the infamous moustache. There will be an option to tweet the pictures as well.
Room 4: This will be the biggest room where the Acts will perform, the main act will be revealed on the day however, there would be a few teaser videos floating around online giving away hints (referencing the Topshop ‘who’s that girl’ campaign with Kate Bosworth). Bar- Hired staff will be given the pleasure of saying cheesy jokes and one-liners e.g. Shaken not stirred, there will also be a donation box for the run on the side for quests of the event.
MUSIC ACTS MAIN ACTS: 2 door Cinema Club The Wombats Bombay Biycle Club
Supporting Acts: AlunaGeorge Friends Grimes
MUSICIAN AND FASHION PERSONALITY
Solange Knowles She used to be known for being Beyoncé’s little sister, however she has created a name for herself as a recording Artist and fashion itgirl; she contributed to Vogue UK’s online ‘what I’m wearing page’ in February 2012 and is set to release an Album in 2013. Her style is all about bold prints and tailored cuts which ties in with the aesthetic of Agi & Sam.
LOCATION & INTERIOR DESIGNER 1960’S Industrial site, near the London attraction of Soho. Address: The Sorting Office 21-31 New Oxford Street, London WC1
Phoebe Lewis, an innovative young interior designer, that has a list of events in her portfolio including the launch of the Forever 21 London store opening, of which was held in the same location so she will have the experience of working with the space.
BUDGET FOR EVENT MUSIC NIGHT
Press Release 02nd January 2013 Release date – 14th October 2013 AGI & SAM MOUSTACULAR NIGHT ‘MOUSTACULAR’ London, England. Agi & Sam are happy to present the Moustacular; which is sponsored by Liberty London. In aid of Movember and Prostate Cancer UK, the brand have organised an event to help bring awareness and raise money for the charity. With an overdose of humour and splash of music the night will be a MOUSTACULAR evening. The event will be held at the old post sorting office in Oxford Street on Thursday 14th November 2013 at 6pm, A five minute walk from Tottenham Court Rd station. Expect the unexpected and be prepared to laugh uncontrollably while drinking a cheeky beer, take full advantage of our moustache photo booth, after popping in to the little boys and girls room. But just make sure you don’t wee yourself with excitement after listening to the glorious bands in our music room. A night that you most definitely would not want to miss! AGI & SAM are a young menswear designer duo, aiming to bring humour within the fashion industry, as they believe that fashion should never be taken too seriously. Recently showcasing with Fashion East, they also have launched their first womenswear brand. With the moustache containing a strong aesthetic for the brand, what better opportunity for Agi & Sam and Movember to collaborate for a good cause. Agape Mdumulla, from the duo Agi and Sam says ‘I am extremely excited for the Moustacular as we promise to generate continuous laughs and are aiming to bring humour and a good cause together. Sam and I (Sam Cotton, the other half of Agi & Sam) will be waiting to see who has one to many in our east end bar and ends up on stage rocking it out with our bands! See your Mo’s there bro’s’and girls.
For more information please contact: S.A.N.E PR 22-23 Little Portland St London W1W 8BU Tel: +44(0)20 7907 7130 Notes to Editors: Please use quote provided in text above, if any more information is needed please contact us at ‘S.A.N.E’.
MOVEMBER RUN 30th November An organized charity event of which the participants can either dress up as famous mustached characters e.g. Sherlock Holmes or purchase one of the Agi & Sam mustache print T-shirts. Throughout the run participants will chased by two razors.
Press Release 27th December 2012 Release date – 1st November 2013 AGI & SAM FUNDRAISING NOVEMBER RUN ‘Remember Remember the Mo’ of November’ London, England. Hyde Park Corner During the time of November, we witness a lot of men growing outrageous moustaches to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK. Agi & Sam are calling both female and male (with moustaches or not, unless you ladies are prone to the occasionally tache) to help fundraise money and to also participate in a fun day out. Agi & Sam are showcasing a running event in aid of Prostate Cancer UK. The running event will involve participants dressing up as their favourite moustache celebrities/historians and running away from a giant dress up razor blade. The event will take place in Hyde Park, London at 12 o’clock – Sunday 30th November 2013 to end the glorious month on a high of Movember. The winner of the Movember Run will win a glorious goodie bag containing Agi & Sam goods, worth £200. Registration will be proceeded through the Official Movember website with a donation of £10 to enter, Minimum age required is 18 years old. The £10 will then be donated to Prostate Cancer UK, there are only 100 places so you better hurry your mo’ up. Agi and Sam are a young menswear designer duo, aiming to bring humour within the fashion industry, as they believe that fashion should never be taken too seriously. Recently showcasing with Fashion East, they also have launched their first womenswear brand. With the moustache aesthetic within the brand, what better opportunity for Agi & Sam and Movember to collaborate for a good cause Sam Cotton, from the duo Agi & Sam says ‘ We are thrilled to be apart of this years Movember while helping to bring awareness to Prostate Cancer UK in a Moustabulous way. I personally cannot wait to see everyone’s moustaches and how they react to the gigantic razor. Get your Mo’ down there Bro’.
For more information please contact: S.A.N.E PR Notes to Editors: Please use quote provided in text above, if any more information is needed please contact us at S.A.N.E PR
BUDGET FOR MOVEMBER RUN
EVALUATION/OUTCOMES
With this campaign focusing on the personality and identity of the brand, the initial outcomes would be to extend their fan base beyond the creative industry and appeal to mass markets. With the collaboration of the music artists the brand could potentially see their clothes feature in niche music publications, another aspect of this collaboration that will prove to be beneficial for the brand is the forming of relationships between the brand and music PR agencies, having major celebrities and musicians photographed in Agi & Sam will give the brand the exposure and recognition that the campaign is aiming to achieve. ➢ The media buzz will garner interest amongst buyers, stockists and, major retailers. ➢ Fashion week: Men’s Collections will be fast approaching keeping the brand in the media eye. The measure of the brands social networking campaign will be measured by the amount of followers they gain throughout the duration of the campaign; a minimum of a 15 % increase in followers is expected throughout the campaign and a month after.