公关传播方案pr plan for a&f

Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

Abercrombie & Fitch Brand Makeover Report

By Ting Xia (Summer) 14754702

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Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

Brand Overview

Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American retailer of high-quality casual apparel for young consumers, which is also a namesake brand under the company. It was founded in 1892 as a sporting and excursion goods brand for the elite. The modern-day A&F was established by Michael Jeffries when he joined in 1992, which began to focus on teen retail market. The brand targets 18 to 22 years old, especially those “cool kids” who are good-looking and popular in school and also willing to spend a lot of money on their appearance. The company even only hires those good-looking people and uses this to attract teens who want to be part of its fantasy world. The tactic worked brilliantly in the 1990s. However, the provocative brand position makes it one of the most controversial brands in the world and received many criticisms regarding its discriminatory employment practices, heavy in-store advertising, controversial products and the CEO‟s inappropriate comments and so on. Although it currently has 285 stores worldwide, the brand is gradually losing its unpredictable teen consumers and has experienced a steady decline in sales in the last few years. This report will attempt to explore the challenges A&F is experiencing and its need for an image makeover.

Brand Identity Posner‟s Brand Onion (2011) is used to explain A&F‟s brand identity.

Brand in Action Brand Value

Brand Personality

High quality, well-fitting

The unique store

Beautiful, sporty, youthful,

Privilege and casual

and sporty products; stands

environment: luxurious look,

provocative, energetic, fit,

luxury

for beauty, youth and a

dim lights, heavy in-store

natural, cool, casual, trendy,

sophisticated lifestyle; an air

photographs, a strong smell of

exclusionary, confident,

perfume, extremely loud and

wholesome, and sexy

stylish music.

Essence

of exclusivity

Provocative advertising: racy

Good-looking and fit models for store

Cathy logo on

customer service

overpriced T-shirt to represent brand

marketing photography, Didn’t sell larger sizes Opens its flagship store usually with semi-nude males and females for an increased alongside upscale before, but launched

identity, but it was

plus sizes after a

retailers and stores in

removed this year

public backlash in

international high-end

2013

locations

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tone of sexuality.

Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

Challenges 1.

A significant decrease in sales and stock price

A& F Co. Financial Performance from 2010 to 2014

A&F Stock Price Activity from DEC 2014 to FEB 2015

(FactSet Research Systems Inc, 2015)

As the graph shown, A&F experienced the decline of sales in 2014. Last year, its overall sales is $ 4,116.90 million which dropped 8. 73% compared to 2013. According to the company‟s latest report, it net sales declined by 12% in the third quarter of 2014, which ended on November 1, 2014 dropped to $911.4 million from $1.03 billion. Similarly, the company‟s stock price has also seen a steady fall in last three months. On February, stock plunged to its lowest level at approximately $ 25.5. These statistics indicate that A & F is suffering financially and its brand image has seen a slump.

2.

The aging of the brand

On January 22 this year, Bloomberg Business published an article (Berfield & Rupp, 2015) to reveal the fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, which suggested the brand‟s exclusive image has already lost its appeal to young people. Many comments show that the brand is not „cool‟ anymore. In the past, A&F created a world of „cool‟ and popular kids. If you want to join in this fantasy, you should wear A&F. However, Teens now prefer to shop in fast fashion brands such as Zara, H&M and Forever 21.

Then, the controversial image always gets it involved in some conflicts and infuriates many 3

Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

people. In 2002,A&F sold a shirt which featured a slogan “Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White”. This caused a boycott of Asian American students so the company removed the design later. In addition, it didn‟t sell large sizes in order to keep the brand exclusive for its target audience. In 2013, its former CEO Mike Jeffries‟s comment about this issue went viral and caused widespread outcry. Mike admitted that A&F only for “cool, good-looking people and did not stock women‟s clothing in extra-large sizes. He said: “We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong, and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” The CEO later apologised for his inappropriate speech and announced to sell larger sizes above 10. However, the brand still faces significant media criticism in the next few years. Piper Jaffray (2014) did a survey about what brands teen girls no longer wear, A&F ranked second in the list. In the same year, 220 A&F mall stores closed and even its LA flagship store has announced to close in 2015. Until now, the brand is still in decline.

Clothing brands no longer worn by U.S. teen girls in fall 2014 (Piper Jaffray, 2014)

Ira Kalb (2014) attributed its downfall into 4 reasons: “failed to listen to marketplace signals, lost brand focus, failed to confirm its brand royalty, and negative publicity.” Firstly, A&F keep doing the same things when marketplace has already changed. While its target demographic has matured and moved on, the company itself remains stagnant. Then, the 4

Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

brand positions itself as the synonym of „cool‟, but their target audience college kids do not think it is cool anymore. Their definition of „cool‟ appears to be outdated. Moreover, the company misread the willingness of its customer to stay with the brand when the brand became too expensive. Finally, negative coverage caused by its elitist attitude has hurt the brand. All these reasons prove that the brand is in need for an image makeover to reclaim „cool‟ as well as change its negative image on press.

3.

Reinvention

A&F has already realised that the brand‟s long-standing marketing strategies are no longer effective, so it started to reinvent itself in 2014 (Adams, 2015). Vara (2014) pointed out that as American youngsters has lost their interests in basic logo products, the brand decided to phase out them and replace with fashion-forward merchandise. According to Maheshwari (2014), A&F also change how it describes itself. In the past, it was “the essence of privilege and casual luxury”, but now the description becomes“the next generation of effortless All-American style” and “the essence of laidback sophistication with an element of simplicity”. The brand also works hard to embed the new slogan into everything it produces these days by including some quite different looks in its categories. In addition, the retailer sold garment with shirtless male models and unique shopping environment for a decade, but now it puts shirts on models and lowers the volume of the music pumping through the stores.

However, many analysts and reporters believe that these changes still may not be enough to bring customers back. The brand‟s financial performance in the last six months also proves this. Trefis Analysts (2015) state that what they have done is just a small part of its efforts to reinvent itself and new leadership should help it regain some of its lost brand value in 2015.

Securities analyst Betty Chan (2014) commented that A&F lack of vision to what their customer base wants. Marcellus Neel (2014) reveals that part of the new marketing effort must be a concerted public relations effort. A&F‟s previous exclusive image has gone deep into people‟s mind, so the company should focus more on communication to revive brand interest.

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Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

Media Coverage This section analyses how Abercrombie & Fitch is portrayed in traditional and new media.

1.

Traditional media coverage

The brandâ€&#x;s challenges are long-term problems, so the analysis focuses on the coverage in the last year until 11 February, 2015.

Coverage over Time

(Factiva,2015) There are 5380 news articles in total mentioning Abercrombie & Fitch in the last year. Dow Jones Newswires wrote 973 articles mentioning the brand which is the maximum. Other publications are mostly mainstream press such as Reuters, UPI, The New York Times and The Times. Some Business press namely The Wall Street Journal, Theflyonthewall.com, WWD, Benzinga.com and Economic Week also mentioned A&F for many times. Coverage apparently peaked on December 2014 after the company announced the step down of Michael Jeffries due to sales decline. The number of articles on other months is quite equal.

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Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

(Factiva, 2015)

In terms of subject matter, the most significant one is management moves, which has 574 mentions. Last year, the CEO‟s departure is certainly the biggest news of the brand. Most of these articles are neutral. There are also some positive coverage that regard the move as a new opportunity for A&F to reinvent itself, but others is negative and believe that even Mike‟s retirement cannot save the decline of the brand.

Other subjects include analysts downgraded A&F, stores closure, sales decline, and the brand become „uncool‟ and so on. These are mainly negative which depict A&F as a struggling and unattractive retail brand. Some articles mention its previous negative news to justify the decline. For example, Bloomberg Business‟s article (2015) review the fall of A&F and portrayed it as an aged brand with photography of old shirtless A&F models. Another interesting article is from Daily Mail (Pleasance, 2015) which said Abercrombie and Fitch has been accused of defacing its store on London's prestigious Savile Row after painting one of the upstairs rooms brown and criticised that it is always out of keeping with luxury street.

Although A&F was reinventing its position, the newspaper still portrayed it as a maverick brand.

Positive coverage can also be found even though they are few in number. These subjects include successful expansions to Asia and Latin America, the donation to a humanitarian organization and its reinvention strategy.

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Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

On the whole, the brand has to alter its declining and relatively negative image by communicating their rejuvenation message with the public as well as doing something different and exciting to regain its attractiveness.

2.

Twitter and Facebook Coverage Twitter & Facebook Tone

Negative tweet example

Sentiment 11%

2% Postive Negative

87%

Neutral

(socialmention.com, 2015)

(twazzup.com, 2015)

Due to the limitation of metric tools, only Twitter and Facebook activities in the last month can be monitored. Since there was no big news about Abercrombie & Fitch during the period, the brand has been mentioned for only 104 times and 87% of mentions were neutral. Positive mentions were 11%, but they were mostly advertising information. Oppositely, 2% negative mentions should be taken seriously. For instance, one was from a top influencer @Melissarauch who is an American actress and has 427242 followers. She said that “I feel bad when I see pants with „Abercrombie & Fitch Atheletics‟ which is not quite the lofty bragging point it used to be”. This proves that some consumers really think A&F is not „cool‟ any more.

Wider Trends 1.

The Shifting Taste of Target Consumers

A&F has barely updated its brand image since the early 90s, but its target audience college students have changed a lot as they are fickle, trend-driven, and lacking in brand loyalty.

According to Piper Jaffray analyst Steph Wissink (2014), past young people‟s fashion was to show their identity by wearing the „right‟ brand label signaled a level of conformity. But 8

Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

today‟s youths are non-conformists and they prefer to show that they are different from others.

The popularity of social media enables them to view hundreds of different looks to help them figure out what they want to buy and how to style it. They don‟t need a brand to help them to define themselves and don‟t want to look like each other. Hence, A&F, whose name and moose logo were signature design embellishments, is gradually losing its audiences. An image makeover is needed to help the brand to reconnect with today‟s youngsters.

2.

The Rise of Fast Fashion Brands

The millennials also favour durable purchase namely those classic and easy-to-match apparels that can be worn for many years. Fast fashion brands such as H&M, Zara and Forever 21 consequently permeate into the market. These brands are brandless, but also trendy which exactly meet today‟s young consumers‟ needs. They are cheaper as well. The recession affected consumers‟ spending behaviour. Teens no longer want to spend much on their clothes.

When A&F lost its identity appeal, young people become even more unwilling to accept its high price.

Conclusion A&F is suffering due to three reasons. Firstly, it was the synonym of „cool‟ among youngsters in the 90s, but today‟s new generations do not agrees with its definition for „cool‟. Hence, the brand image lost its attractiveness and experienced a significant decline. Then, the brand‟s previous exclusive image causes a range of negative coverage which further pushes consumers away. Finally, fierce competitions from fast fashion brands make it more difficult to regain success. The brand has already started its reinvention, but the messages are not effectively delivered to the public. Media still portray it as a struggling and aged brand. Hence, A&F is in need for a PR makeover to redefine its „cool‟ and rebuild a positive image.

Database& Metric Tools Factiva socialmention.com twazzup.com 9

Brand Makeover Report-Consumer PR-Ting Xia

Reference

Adams, E. (2015) Mapping Abercrombie & Fitch's Painstaking Reinvention Strategy. Available from <http://www.racked.com/2015/1/13/7561749/tracking-abercrombies-plan-to-get-cool-again> [Access 6 Feb 2015]

Berfield,S. & Rupp, L. (2015) The Aging of Abercrombie & Fitch: Behind the decline of Abercrombie & Fitch and the fall of its mastermind, Michael Jeffries. Bloomberg Business. Available from <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-01-22/the-aging-of-abercrombie-fitch-i58ltcqx > [Access 6 Feb 2015]

Chan, C. (2014) Mizuho's Betty Chen Says Abercrombie & Fitch Seems To Have A 'Lack of Vision'. Available from <http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/14/12/5068679/mizuhos-betty-chen-says-abercrombie-fit ch-seems-to-have-> [Access 6 Feb 2015]

Kalb, I. (2014) Why Abercrombie & Fitch Isn't 'Cool' Anymore. Available from <http://www.businessinsider.com/how-a-brand-loses-its-cool-and-what-it-should-do-to-get-it-back-2014-11?IR=T> [Access 6 Feb 2015] Maheshwari, S. (2014) Abercrombie Strips Out The Sex And “Ivy League Heritage” From Brand Descriptions.

Available from <http://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/abercrombie-strips-out-the-sex-and-ivy-league-heritage-from%239jca7e#.sk35K GwW0N> [Access 6 Feb 2015]

Neel, M. (2014) How to Save Abercrombie. Available from <http://www.businessoffashion.com/2014/05/op-ed-save-abercrombie.html> [Access 6 Feb 2015]

Piper Jaffray (2014) Taking Stock With Teens - Fall 2014. Available from <http://www.piperjaffray.com/3col.aspx?id=3268 > [Access 6 Feb 2015]

Pleasance, C. (2015) Fashion chain Abercrombie and Fitch in trouble with its Savile Row neighbours - for painting the store brown. Daily Mail. Available from <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2930284/Fashion-chain-Abercrombie-Fitch-trouble-Savile-Row-neighbo urs-painting-store-BROWN.html> [Access 6 Feb 2015]

Trefis Team (2015) Abercrombie & Fitch Changing Its Long Standing Strategies. Available from <http://www.trefis.com/stock/anf/articles/275009/abercrombie-fitch-changing-its-long-standing-strategies/2015-01 -23> [Access 6 Feb 2015] Vara, V. (2014) Abercrombie & Fitch’s No-Go Logo. Available from <http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/abercrombie-logo > [Access 6 Feb 2015]

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By Ting Xia (Summer)

Introduction Abercrombie & Fitch is an American brand of high-quality casual apparel for young consumers aged 18 to 22. In the 1990s, the brand was one of the most popular youth fashion brands. Youngsters regarded it as the synonym of „cool‟ and enthusiastically wanted to be part of its fantasy. However, in the last few years, A&F has gradually lost its market share and experienced a significant decline in sales and stock price.

The brand‟s image has seen a serious slump. On one hand, for most millennials, A&F is not cool any more.

On the other hand, the brand‟s exclusive position has caused widespread outcry. In 2013, its former CEO Michael Jeffries admitted that A&F only for cool and good-looking people, so they do not sell large sizes.

This comment has received much negative coverage until now.

A&F has already realised the problem and came up with a series of reinvention strategy. It has changed its description from “the essence of privilege and casual luxury” to “the next generation of effortless AllAmerican style” and embed the new slogan into everything it produces these days by launching large sizes, replacing basic logo products with fashion-forward merchandise and change in-store environment.

However, the new messages are not effectively delivered to the public. Media still portray it as a struggling brand while consumers still think the brand is not for them.

This proposal is designed to help communicate new brand values and create a new image for A&F to revive brand interest, mainly targeting fashion-conscious university students in the UK.

Aims 

To redefine A&F‟s „cool‟ and increase awareness of new brand values through the PR campaign



To build a positive image for A&F and rejuvenate brand interest by the end of the year.

Objectives 

To secure positive coverage on mainstream and fashion media within the next 6 months from April to October.



To increase interactions with new young generation online by 20 per cent during the campaign.



To drive sales both online and in physical stores by 5-10 per cent at the end of year.

Key Messages 

A&F stands for a new fashion trend that is effortless, but still stylish.



Everyone can have their unique effortlessly fashion style with A&F.

Strategy This proposal uses a strategy that put communication focus on A&F‟s comfortable and stylish attributes instead of its previous sexy and attractive image to restore consumers‟ trust and renew their interests. The strategy combines online and offline activities to reach target audience and interact with them in a positive way by promoting a new trendy style that everyone can get effortlessly. Using fashion-oriented approach to create an effortless fashion trend and reposition A&F as a valid fashion choice.

Strategy Theme „Effortless, yet Stylish‟ The proposed theme challenges the notion that fashion is complicated and requires many efforts. We recognise the potential of A&F‟s new position in satisfying target audience‟s latent needs for easy fashion. In order to keep up with fashion trends, today‟s young people spend much time and energy in dressing themselves and some already feel it tiresome sometimes. Under this theme, we will use a wide range of tactical approaches to set a new trend of effortless style for youngsters to follow. Our theme also can be easily articulated in many different tactics and allow us to effectively communicate A&F‟s new fashion identity and inclusiveness.

Tactic 1 A Survey Story In April, we would work with a survey company to poll young consumers aged 18-22, especially those university students, about how much time do they spend deciding what to wear, their feelings and reasons for putting too many efforts into dressing and how they perceive fashion and effortless style. Based on the results, a story will be created and pitched to media, which can generate buzz for the upcoming activities and evoke people‟s interests for effortless style. Coverage can also cause discussion about this issue via social media.

This tactic is intended to induce young people to rethink their relationship with fashion by reminding them that they have expended too much effort on styling themselves, in which communicates a message that being fashionable does not mean putting as much effort as you can.

After implementing the tactic, we will expect coverage on fashion and lifestyle section of national newspapers and free city newspapers namely The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, Metro and London Standard Evening, etc. The story title could be “Young people spend nearly one year of their lives deciding what to wear”. The article would include detailed survey results, quotations from A&F spokesperson and possibly fashion influencers about their definition for fashion and experiences of styling effortlessly.

Tactic 2 Mobile & Social Media Engagement Along with survey story, a series of interactions via mobile app and social media will start in order to communicate with target audiences directly. On A&F official application, we will update effortless looks together with styling tips for people in different shapes and sizes on a daily basis, which aims to demonstrate the inclusiveness of A&F and communicate a message that everyone can get effortless style with A&F regardless of your shapes. This can not only help better engage existing APP users, but also attract new customers to download the APP, access to exclusive content on it and consequently make purchase decision. The APP‟s shoppable feature makes it easier to conduct purchase action, so this tactic will also help drive sales online.

Video examples: 1. https://instagram.com/p/zul8GWM5Zm/ 2. https://instagram.com/p/0IRX_9s5e_/

In terms of social media, Vine and Twitter will be the main channels for this campaign. A vine campaign called “style in 6 second” will be launched in April and last for two months. Social media users will be encouraged to create a video of 6 second effortless style on Vine (see video examples) and then share on Twitter using hashtag #StyleIn6Second. The 6 second implies how effortless A&F‟s new style is.

Participants can also challenge their friends to post their content by tagging them. We will choose the best look every week to reward winners with A&F essential items. It does not matter whether they feature A&F item in the video. The key criterion is if it is consistent with our main theme. A ripple effect will be expected.

A selection of influencers will help us to spread words and reach a wider range of audiences. Effortless style icon Alexa Chung will be the first one who posts her 6 second style video using A&F items and invite her fans to join in. Then, fashion bloggers like Gemma Cartwright, Essie Button and Lily Melrose will gradually join in the conversation. Hopefully, their support can help our Vine campaign go viral online and trigger more discussions around the brand as well as effortlessly fashion style. Except for improving online presence and engagement, this tactic also has the potential to increase visitors and shoppers to A&Fâ&#x20AC;&#x;s official website. When people see item they like in Vine videos, they may head to the website to search for more information or even buy it.

(Gemma Cartwright)

Tactic 3 (Essie Button)

(Alexa Chung)

(Lily Melrose)

Design Competition In June, we will launch a microsite for a design competition, calling on all fashion students to upload their own designs for A&F using â&#x20AC;&#x153;effortless chicâ&#x20AC;? as the theme. In order to receive more works, A&F will offer scholarships and showcase opportunities to winners. A series of promotional emails will be sent to all UK universities. Announcements will also be seen on all A&F social media pages, official webiste and application. Meanwhile, we will post mood boards and suggestions from A&F design team on the microsite to inspire participants. Instagram account will be taken over by A&F designers. They can choose entries they like to post via Instagram attaching their exclusive comments and also inviting followers to share their ideas. The public will also be invited to vote for the work they like through the microsite. The top ten designs will get the prize.

This tactic aims to reach the target community directly and generate a two-way conversation with them, delivering a message that A&F is democratic to everyone and create opportunities for young people to define their own style. Using fashion students as the influencer, we can attract more young people to get involved in. Students who have participated in the competition are expected to talk about A&F on social media and also encourage their friends to join in to support them. Additionally, content and voting section on the microsite have the potential to drive traffic to the owned media.

Tactic 4 Capsule Collection & Catwalk Show Finally, a capsule collection for London Fashion Week will be launched in September including all winning works and new designs from A&F. The collection will be presented on catwalk and also available for purchase in selected stores and online for a limited period. A PR-oriented catwalk show will be held in A&F‟s London flagship store during London Fashion Week. We would use A&F‟s own staff as models to showcase new garments, conveying a message that fashion is around us and A&F allows everyone to be in the spotlight. All influencers involved in the social media campaign will be invited to watch the show and help us secure media coverage. We will invite journalists from target media to attend the show and provide exclusive content behind the show for them, such as backstage pictures, interview with designer team and competition winners.

This tactic is intended to highlight the new fashion identity of A&F by associating it with fashion show and fashion week. A connection with high end fashion can also help A&F reach more new audiences who can afford its relatively high price compared to general fast fashion brands.

For earned media, we expect coverage from both mainstream and fashion-related media such as The Telegraph, The Guardian, Metro, Grazia, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, etc. The story will be “effortless style hit catwalk and lead a new youth fashion trend”, in which they would introduce the capsule collection and the show, interview A&F designers and also include voices from fashion students and bloggers to make effortless style as a valid fashion trend. After the show, guests may post the

pictures of the show through social media, which can also trigger discussions about the new trend and the brand. Moreover, the launch of capsule collection would drive traffic to A&F website for buying these trendy items.

(Flagship store on Savile Row)

Summary To sum up, this plan is not only consistent with A&F‟s new identity, but also able to effectively reach and engage target audiences to overcome current challenges to its image. This campaign uses the brand‟s new slogan as theme and articulates it through all tactics, which redefines the cool of A&F as effortless fashion. This allows us to accurately communicate the new brand values to young consumers through the campaign. The four tactics support different aspects of our strategy. The survey and social media campaign mainly focus on “effortless” while design competition and catwalk show pay attention to “stylish”. They work together to help articulate the campaign theme effectively and also create a trickle-down effect.

Firstly, the survey story comes out to make people rethink their fashion philosophy and arouse their interests to the new „cool‟ style. Then, by implementing social media campaign and design competition, we can interact with target audiences directly and use the influence of fashion bloggers and students to create and lead this new trend online. Finally, the catwalk show will turn the effortless style as a valid fashion choice and bring the brand back into fashion. Furthermore, the choice of influencers and the messages embedded in each tactic highlight the diversity and

inclusiveness of the brand, which will help demonstrate the brand personalities of A&F in a positive way so as to change its old exclusive image.

Rationale This PR strategy is carefully planned to solve current challenges to A&F‟s brand image. Since the brand has already reinvented itself before, what PR should do now is mainly to communicate the new message tactically and make it appeal to target young consumers. Therefore, we use the brand‟s new slogan “the next generation of effortless All-American style” as the campaign theme, but reword it into a more catchy title “effortless, yet stylish”, which combines the new brand message with what this campaign aims to achieve: bring A&F back into fashion. This theme also redefines the brand‟s new „coolness‟ as effortless fashion, so the campaign will endeavor to attract young people to accept and follow the new trend led by A&F. Mintel‟s youth fashion report (2014) also pointed out that a fashion trend is one of the top 5 reasons for youngsters aged 15-24 buying new clothes.

Therefore, the overall strategy of this campaign is appropriate to our target audiences.

According to our previous research, there are two main problems. Firstly, the new generation does not agree with A&F‟s definition for cool. Past young people‟s fashion was to show their identity by wearing the „right‟ brand label like A&F, whose big logo and classic style truly appeal to them. Nevertheless, today‟s youngsters prefer to buy fast fashion clothes which are more stylish and also easy-to-match, so they can style themselves in their own way and show their differences from others.

Therefore, this PR plan appropriately associates the brand with fashion week and catwalk to restore young people‟s passions. We also work with fashion bloggers to spread words and also add credibility to A&F‟s fashion identity. According to Mintel (2014), friends are the biggest influencer for how young people dress themselves. So we choose fashion students as key influencer as they are always early adapters for a fashion trend among young people. They help us to influence their friends and cause more social mentions. Moreover, we interact with them through design competition and allow them generate their own content. Hence, they will feel more involved and then naturally endorse our campaign and the brand. These content from them also have great potential to influence the perception of their peers.

Young consumers‟ inclination for uniqueness is reflected in this campaign as well. Except for encouraging fashion students to create their unique designs, we also invite the general youngsters to define their own style through the Vine campaign. Young people are more inclined to image-heavy social sites and snackable content (Mintel, 2014), so we choose Vine as the main communication channel. Furthermore, the idea of “6 second style” is inspired by “3 minute makeup challenge” on YouTube last year. A number of beauty vloggers accepted the challenge and made their own video on YouTube, which made the challenge quickly went viral online. This proves that the approach works well in the fashion-related sector. Young people are willing to express themselves and active on social media, so our online campaign will proceed smoothly.

Another challenge to A&F is negative publicity as it used to only focus on good-looking people and refuse to stock large sizes in order to o keep the brand exclusive for its target audience. Its exclusionary image and elitist attitude has gone deep into people‟s mind and also received much negative coverage. To change this situation, we put our communication focus on the comfortable and stylish attributes of the brand, and also work hard to embed the message about inclusiveness and diversity into every tactic. On one hand, the choice of influencers has been carefully considered. Alexa Chung is a fashion icon who is famous for her effortless style. She is influential in fashion and also quite fit with the campaign theme. We would use her to reach a wider range of audiences. Unlike Alexa‟s thinness, fashion bloggers like Gemma Cartwright, Essie Button and Lily Melrose are all not very skinny, especially Gemma who even write a fashion blog for big girls.

These influencers can represent people in different shapes and show the inclusiveness of the brand.

On the other hand, the brand content we create and the way we communicate with audiences also allow us to show our care to different groups and desire to get everyone involved in. The two-way conversation will penetrate through the whole campaign to help build trust. We encourage customers to share their ideas and reestablish brand definition together. By launching social media challenge or design competition, we highlight the democratization of the brand. After participating in these activities, target consumers will feel that they are part of A&F world and have a certain connection with the brand. This can truly help rejuvenate brand interests and even maintain customer loyalty.

Furthermore, we plan our tactics step by step to achieve objectives and expect a trickle-down effect. This is a six month campaign, in which the first month aims to redefine the brand‟s „cool‟ and evoke people‟s interests for effortless fashion style using storytelling with the help of mainstream media. Then, in the following four month, we focus more on social and owned media to interact with audiences directly. Fashion bloggers and students help us to generate buzz and make our messages more convincing. They function as early adapters of the new trend led by A&F. Finally, a catwalk show during London Fashion Week links the small-scale trend with mainstream fashion. Accordingly, the brand will regain its fashion status and become a valid fashion choice along with effortless style. Such arrangement will also help us to secure coverage from April to October, so brand will invariably maintain exposure during the campaign period.

Reference Mintel (2014) Youth Fashion - UK - December 2014. Available from <http://academic.mintel.com/display/679691/> [Access 6 Apr 2015]