case study
meet the team
JESSIE JOHNSON Account Executive
EVELYN TARGONSKI Strategic Planner
KELLY LEONARD Assistant Art Director
ANDREA URQUHART Art Director
SUNNY TRAN Copywriter
KATHERINE YORK
Assistant Account Executive
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table of contents INTRODUCTION.....................................
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BRAND INTRODUCTION................... 9 SWOT ANALYSIS....................................
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CREATIVE BRIEF.....................................
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CHALLENGE.............................................
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STRATEGY AND APPROACH..........
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CREATIVE EXECUTIONS...................
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RESULTS AND METRICS...................
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FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS...
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introduction THE PROBLEM Ekkos is a nonprofit clothing company that creates handcrafted shorts, shirts, and headbands from one of a kind colorful fabric. All of the profits go towards providing a secondary education for African orphans. While Ekkos is a successful business, their lack of a physical store and low brand awareness have been an issue.
THE STRATEGY We began by creating a cohesive brand identity for Ekkos. This included a style guide, packaging supplies, and creating branded materials such as business cards, stickers, and buttons. We also redesigned the logo to better fit the brand. To further drive brand awareness, we worked to improve Ekkos’ social media presence. Although their Instagram had an impressive amount of followers, we sought to increase their followers on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, we created Snapchat geofilters as well as hashtags. We felt these changes and additions helped to effectively reach our college-aged target market.
THE RESULTS An article was published in both the print and online version of The Red & Black and several partnerships were formed on social media for giveaways that help raise brand awareness. Additionally, #GiveAdventure was used over 50 times on Instagram. Ekkos found an 15.3% increase in Instagram followers, 11.3% increase in Facebook followers, and 21.4% increase in Twitter followers.
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brand introduction Ekkos apparel was founded by UGA student, Rachel Ehlinger, when she was just twenty-one years old. After traveling to Kasoa, Ghana and working at an orphanage, Rachel drew inspiration from her journey and started Ekkos in the summer of 2015. Today, the nonprofit clothing company creates eclectic designs and produces high quality clothing centered in the Athens, Georgia region. Products include handcrafted shorts, shirts, and headbands for both men and women with every product being uniquely its own. At the age of fourteen, orphans in Africa are sent into the world with only an elementary education to provide space for new orphans, and while some children are able to provide for themselves, the vast majority face homelessness and extreme poverty. Using the profits from Ekkos, Rachel has provided free, secondary education to children in Africa where education is a luxury and is often very expensive. Ekkos invites customers to join its mission to spread education and foster positive change. Through Ekkos’ high quality, eclectic clothing line, customers have the ability to make education more accessible and encourage the spread of knowledge.
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S.W.O.T • LARGE SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING
• LACK OF COHESIVE BRANDING
• LOW BRAND
• COMPELLING BRAND
AWARENESS ON
SMOOTH MANUFACTURING,
• AMAZING IMAGERY AND PRODUCT VISUALS
OF STATE
AWARENESS
• NO BRICK AND MORTAR STORE
• WEBSITE DESIGN
• POPULAR COMPETITORS PAIRED WITH OTHER
• INTERNATIONAL SALES
PACKAGING, AND SHIPPING PROCESS
• BRAND AMBASSADORS OUT
CAMPUS
STORY • ESTABLISHED AND
LOCAL ATHENS VENDORS
• LOW BRAND
AND EVENTS
• UNIQUE FABRIC DESIGNS • GREAT CAUSE
• PARTNERSHIPS WITH
CHARITIES
• EXPANSION TO MORE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
• NO PHYSICAL STORE
• ROOM AND WILLINGNESS
TO TRY ON CLOTHES
TO ADD NEW PRODUCTS
BEFORE BUYING
• LARGE MARGIN FOR GROWTH WITHIN ATHENS COMMUNITY
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creative brief
KEY FACT:
Ekkos is a non-profit online store selling vibrant, hand-stitched clothing made from African wax print fabric. Because each item is hand-stitched, each item is uniquely different. All profits from sales provide secondary education for orphans in Africa.
PROBLEM:
Because it is a relatively new nonprofit, there is a low brand awareness. It does not have a stationary location so customers must solely rely on the online images of the products online when choosing the right one for them since they can’t try them on first.
OBJECTIVES:
To create a unified brand image. To Increase brand awareness by 20% by May 2016.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
The target market for the online store is college students age 18-24.
INSIGHTS:
Name: Sarah Age: 19 Story: “As a new student at UGA seeking to find unique brands with a story, I constantly find myself eager to learn more about and support people and businesses that resonate not only with student life but also with life outside of the college bubble. I feel connected with my community when I hear about inspiring ideas created by students like myself in different involvements on campus, which ultimately motivates me to get involved with these causes. While it is easy to get solely caught up in the swirl of college life, I, along with most students
seek to maintain that sense of doing something for the greater good and supporting causes outside just UGA. ” Name: Taylor Age: 21 Story: As a junior at The University of Georgia, I’m starting to think beyond college life and begin to explore different events and jobs happening outside of the UGA bubble. My first two years of college I focused on myself only and worried about making good grades, friends, and establishing myself as a full time student. However, now that I feel situated in Athens as my new home, I want to explore different ways to get involved with campus life other than my own school work and social life. I would love to feel more connected to the outside world and discover different ways to find my own purpose.
PROMISE:
To empower children with the gift of education by having every single purchase make a difference.
SUPPORT:
Every 200 US dollars provides secondary school education for an African child for one year.
TONE AND MANNER:
Earthy, rustic, lively, colorful, active, adventurous
MANDATORIES:
Logo, website, social media
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION VEHICLES:
Instagram, Facebook,Twitter, Snapchat, website and blog ,guerilla
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challenge
Ekkos is aiming to simultaneously raise brand awareness and increase sales throughout various markets. Ekkos has a large following on Instagram of about 7,000 and we hope to transcend this number while also increasing followers and fans on both Facebook and Twitter. Because Ekkos is an based in Athens, Georgia without a physical storefront, its followers are widely dispersed. Ideally, we would like to centralize the brand and plant roots within the Athens community before largely pursuing an aggressive plan to expand. In summary, we face the challenges of brand awareness and slow sales due to the lack of a physical storefront and the brand’s newness.
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strategy and approach
We began with a thorough analysis of the brand’s presence on every medium it was using at the time. At the beginning, Ekkos already had a very strong Instagram following, an international customer base, and several brand ambassadors around the nation. While the brand was excelling within these aspects, there was a lot of room for growth through different mediums such as Snapchat, a variety of branded materials, and event marketing. The mediums we picked were specially selected as a way to effectively reach our adventure-seeking, college-aged target market.
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tactics and creative executions
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style guide logo
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logos
EKKOS For our first logo design, we used an Adinkra symbol that means: “He who does not know can know from learning.” It is a symbol of knowledge, life-long education and continued quest for knowledge. Adinkra is a cotton cloth produced in Ghana which has traditional Akan symbols stamped upon it. We thought this logo was unique since its origins stem from the same spot Ekkos’ origins stem from, Ghana. Its meaning aligns perfectly with the Ekkos mission for education. It even plays off of the fact that Ekkos makes clothing to give orphans education and this symbol is used in cloth production. We liked this symbol because no matter where Ekkos grows from here, this logo shows its origins.
For our second logo design, we used a globe to highlight Ekkos as a global company while still showing its origins in Africa. Our founder, Rachel, had her roommate create the watercolor background featured in the globe. Its calm colors match the new modern style that Rachel aims to capture with her brand. This is the logo that was selected by the client and is currently in use.
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business cards Ekkos founder, Rachel, needed business cards to hand out at her pop up shops. We designed business cards that mimicked the watercolor style of her logo.
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branded materials
STICKERS Stickers are incredibly popular amongst college students as they put them on their laptops, cars, or water bottles. Producing stickers featuring Ekkos’ logo would be a great and easy way to boost brand awareness. The stickers would be handed out to people at the pop-up shops, placed inside orders, or available for purchase on the website.
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BRACELETS We wanted to create another product with the Ekkos logo that matches the adventurous earthy vibe of the company. These beaded bracelets with a metal logo pendant are a cute accessory that are an extension of the brand’s image.
BUTTONS We wanted to monopolize on Ekkos’ eye catching fabric designs by creating buttons that featured these fun patterns. Buttons like these are great for putting on bags or clothing apparel and are popular among the target market.
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STAMPS The stamps were developed in order to give the packaging materials a personal touch and rustic feel. This also helps to save money on packaging costs because the founder, Rachel, can purchase plain boxes and personalize them herself.
T-SHIRTS We created vibrant promotional t-shirts in order for people to represent the brand name whenever they are out and about.
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TAGS Since Ekkos sells online and there is no physical store, we wanted to help create a strong brand image with the packaging materials. The tags were created with thick recycled brown paper and are individually stamped in order to match the worldly and rustic vibe of Ekkos.
SNAPCHAT FILTER Ekkos clientele are active and love to explore. We created a two filters so they could take pictures and represent the brand on all of their adventures or try on one of the headbands.
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guerilla marketing
THE GIVING TREE Promotional flyers attached to Ekkos fabric will be hung from trees across UGA’s campus. Attached to the flyers will be coupons and stories of the orphans who are sponsored through Ekkos. The fabric in the trees will catch the attention of those passing by and draw them in learn more about Ekkos. This idea could also be used on other campuses through Ekkos ambassadors.
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press
PUBLICATIONS In order to boost brand awareness in Athens, we reached out to several Athens publications. We knew that the Ekkos mission of furthering education was something our local community would support. After our communications, The Red and Black published an article on March 16th, 2016 featuring Ekkos.
snapchat filter
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS AND GIVEAWAYS To engage Ekkos’ Instagram followers, we suggested that Ekkos partner with similar companies and host giveaways and promotions. Rachel had already began several partnerships, so we further encouraged her with this idea. Recently, Ekkos has partnered on Instagram to host giveaways with Luno Wear and Madee By Lexi. She is also partnering with a couple, Mehedi Hattum and Erin Azouz, as they bike 10,000 miles through Latin America. The hashtag #letsgocarino is used to track their journey and they will be sharing Ekkos products along the way.
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SURVEY
Based on a final survey with 57 respondents, Ekkos brand awareness is at 31.6% with the majority of people hearing about Ekkos by word of mouth (50%). Although this awareness number is relatively low from the survey’s respondents, 37.5% stated interest in wearing Ekkos shorts, 40.4% stated interest in wearing an Ekkos headband, and 78.9% stated interest in wearing an Ekkos pocket t-shirt.
RED & BLACK PUBLICATION
The article featuring Ekkos appeared in both online and in print for this weekly publication. The Red&Black has a total print circulation of 10,000 copies printed every Thursday, generates an average of 30,000 online views every day, and gets 405,000 pageviews each month.
#GIVEADVENTURE
Used 50 times on social media sites.
results & metrics
INSTAGRAM:
FACEBOOK:
TWITTER:
12/2/2015 5977 1/20/2016 6205 2/17/2016 6402 3/20/2016 6897
12/2/2015 248 1/20/2016 258 2/17/2016 269 3/20/2016 276
12/2/2015 42 1/20/2016 42 2/17/2016 46 3/20/2016 51
15.3% increase
11.3% increase
21.4% increase
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future recommendations We recommend that certain updates should be made to the website. Some of the recommended updates include a desing and format that more accurately aligns with the brand image, adding and editing the blog content, updating the “About� page content to better align with the more developed brand image and include the background story in an inspiring form, ordering the donation amount options on the donations page, and expanding the apparel images throughout the website. We also recommend having a photoshoot where pictures will be taken of people doing adventurous activities while wearing EKKOS apparel around Athens. These pictures would be uploaded to different social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and the website, to make the clothing relevant to Athens consumers and give a background of where the clothing is made and where the Ekkos idea began. To spread brand awareness, we also recommend having Ekkos branded items and apparel.
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www.ekkos.org
www.facebook.com/ekkosforafrica @ekkosapparel @ekkosapparel