RESEARCH REPORT – GREG

HOW DOES A FASHION BRAND CREATE A SUCCESSFUL SALES CAMPAIGN? – My hypothesis

Research Report

 

INTRODUCTION:

The hypothesis I have chosen to research for my report is HOW DOES A FASHION BRAND CREATE A SUCCESSFUL SALES CAMPAIGN? I chose this question as the leader of my research because I am very interested in the fashion industry especially fashion merchandising and marketing. Fashion merchandising involves developing campaigns, displays and advertisements, directing manufacturing and marketing as well as creating sales strategies for the fashion industry or the retail environment. I decided to focus my research question on this topic as it will link to my university choice. I plan on touching on most of the elements of merchanding and marketing in my project by touching on web analytics, web designs, and trend reports but most on particularly campaigning. I will begin my pack with research into the fashion industry as well as into merchandising and other related topics. I chose to use this question in my report because it gives me the chance to explore the fashion industry and really gain an insight into what makes a good campaign.

Throughout my research I will be using a wide variety of different methods and resources. The main resource throughout my research will most likely be the internet as I plan to look up a variety of campaigns and industry professionals in order to extend my knowledge of the industry and fashion campaigning.

I started my research by creating a mind map linked to my hypothesis.

I created this mind map as a way of understanding the characteristics of a good and bad campaign. By understanding what makes a campaign good and vice versa, I will be able to identify a successful campaign and also understand my hypothesis more.

 

I am planning to carry out primary and secondary research.

For my primary research I am going to create a survey on Survey Monkey. The purpose of conducting this survey is to get the general public’s opinions on the fashion industry and will allow me to understand what people already know and what they do not. This will help because I will be able to connect with my target audience more by introducing them to things they do not know and that they want to know more about. I am also going to carry out a focus group for my primary research. The purpose of a focus group is too gain feedback and guidance on a piece of work. I conducted the focus group by asking a group of classmates their opinion on my idea. My focus group was a female deographic of 17-20 year olds. I wrote down my hypothesis and placed it into the middle of the table. I then asked each persons opinion and for feedback on how it can be improved. The focus group was helpful because it allowed me to understand my hypothesis from different points of view.

For my secondary research I am going to research a group of industry professionals. I decided to do this so I understand the different job roles within the industry and to understand what the positions require you to do. This will allow me to understand who carrys out what tasks when producing a bussiness plan and fahsion campaigns, eventually meaning I will have an understanding of what goes on behind the production of a fashion campaign. I will also be using the internet and magazines as part of my secondary research this will be to produce mood boards, analzyse reports and so on. Secondary research may also come in the form of films, tv and book related to my subject.

In the research process I am aware that problems may potentially arise. These could potentially be if I am unable to find the information I need or if I have problems with college software such as computers deleting work. To prevent these problems happening I am going to enusre if I can’t ind a piece of evidence for research I have the oppurtuinty and time to look for something else that is related and could work well as research. I will prevent any software problems by regulary saving and backing up my work.

Fashion merchandising involves developing campaigns, displays and advertisements, directing manufacturing and marketing as well as creating sales strategies for the fashion industry or the retail environment. I will begin my research by looking into the fashion industry as a whole before looking into separate areas such merchandising and marketing in order to be more specific. I will then move onto create mood boards and research web design. I then plan to look into what makes a good campaign and analyse two different campaigns as a way of identifying what works well in a campaign and what does not.

 

 

METHODOLOGY:

 

The methods I used throughout my research were:

 

Online Research – I used the internet as a resource for my research in order to look into four industry professionals. I did this as a way of gaining knowledge in the industry and understanding what jobs there are and the skills they require. I also used the internet as a source to investigate different campaigns and what makes a good and bad campaign. I also used the internet to analyse brand websites and web analytics.

Survey Monkey – I used Survey Monkey as a research method because it allowed me to gain input from the general public. I was able to understand what they were unsure of throughout the fashion industry and then apply this knowledge so I can meet the needs of my target audience. Survey Monkey also helped me to analyse numerical data in order to gain information for my research.

Mood Boards – I created the two mood boards as a way of comparing highstreet and luxury shopping experiences. The focus of the moodboards was too allow me to understand the differences between competetors – I wanted to find out if luxury and highstreet campaigns were different, If luxury brands used more luxurious fonts and edits on their imaging and wether the campaigns projected the difference in price by looking more luxe or more affordable.

Mind Maps – I used the mind maps as a resource in order to learn more about industry professional’s job roles and as a way of understanding the characteristics of a good and bad campaign. By understanding what makes a campaign good and vice versa, I will be able to identify a successful campaign and also understand my hypothesis more.

Analyse two fashion campaigns – This method helped me to look into different campaigns and be able to spot visual details between them. I did this to gain a deeper understanding of the chracteristics dispalyed within a campaign and as a way of being able to idnetify how they work.

 

Focus Group – I conducted the focus group by asking a group of classmates their opinion on my idea. My focus group was a female deographic of 17-20 year olds. The focus group was helpful because it allowed me to understand my hypothesis from different points of view. The focus group taught me to use more specific terminology within my question in order to make it more related to my topic.

Analysing a brands website – This research method helped me to understand how an online shops website works and how to identify its strengths and weaknesses. I decided to do this because it allowed me to gain an insight into what goes on behind an online brand as well as the opportunity to look at things I would potentially edit on my website in my final project. I think to look at the website for the consumers eye, I was able to see things I wouldn’t if I were the one creating it.

Discussion with Copywriter – I spoke to a copywriting professional about what makes a good campaign. This helped me to understand the good and bad characteristics of a campiagn and also helped me to gain a further understanding of the industry.

The primary research methods were:

Survey Monkey

Focus Group

Mind Maps

Mood Boards

Discussion with Copywriter

 

The secondary reseach methods were:

Analysing a brands website

Analyse two fashion campaigns

Online Research

Analyse two fashion campaigns

Mood Boards

 

FINDINGS:

The first of my findings that had an impact on my research were my Industry professionals. The information I found acted as a way of gaining knowledge in the industry and understanding what jobs are around and the skills they require.

The first professional I explored was Maureen Chiquet.

Maureen Chiquet is a fashion businesswoman who was CEO of Chanel for 9 years.

Chiquet began her fashion career after graduating from Yale University in 1985. Following her graduation, Chiquet found herself working in the marketing department at L’Oréal Paris. Her role in the marketing department involved assisting to the manager and marketing team by helping with the production of marketing materials and literature ranging from web content to brochures and press releases. The role allowed Chiquet to put a foot into the industry by gaining both experience and contacts. Following her position at L’Oreal, Chiquet went on to work for the marketing and merchandising teams at The Gap and Old Navy before bagging a role as president of Banana Republic.

After gaining years of industry experience and increasing professionalism Chiquet now found herself in 2003 and with a position in Chanel, one of the biggest luxury fashion houses. The job was as president of US Operations. This role involved overseeing day to day tasks that contribute to the growth of the brand as well as strategic planning within the company and goal setting in order to push the company into achieving its goals; these goals could range from meeting successful turnovers, whether annually or quarterly to launching a new product well.

After gaining 22 years of experience it was now 2007. Following five years as president of US operations, Chiquet was now offered the position of Chanel’s CEO. The role of CEO is the highest ranked executive position in a company. The job has many responsibilities starting with making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of a company as well as acting as the main link of communications between a brands board of directors and corporate operations. This role is what made Maureen Chiquet so highly known in the fashion industry and opened the doors to her eventually being able to publish her book.

After 9 years as the CEO of Chanel news broke that Maureen Chiquet would be stepping down. Chanel released a statement, following Chiquets dramatic departure mid-way through Paris Fashion Week, admitting that Maureen Chiquet had stepped down from her role “due to differences of opinion about the strategic direction of the company”. In the aftermath of this statement, many rumours began to hit the circuit claiming Chiquet was fired however none of this was ever confirmed.

After leaving Chanel, Maureen Chiquet went on to publish her book ‘Beyond the Label: Women, Leadership and Success on Our Own Terms’. The book charts Chiquets unlikely path from literature major to global chief executive, giving guidance to readers on how she built her career and how they can discover their own paths and leadership values.

CEO JOB TITLE – What is a CEO?

A CEO is the highest ranking executive position in a company or organisation.

The role involves making major corporate decisions, acting as a link between company directors and corporates as well as keeping on top of the company’s in house departments such as marketing and financing in order to better the brand and ensure it has a positive growth. The role can be very demanding and requires a great deal of experience and professionalism.

Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose to research Maureen Chiquet as one of my industry professionals because she is a very successful name within the fashion industry and her direct links to the business sector work perfectly within my project. Her role as CEO worked within many areas of fashion business allowed me to gain an insight into how a brand is successfully run.

Maureen Chiquet also worked in merchandising and marketing prior to being CEO at Chanel. Given merchandising is my main focus in my project, I decided researching someone who worked within the industry would work perfectly.

 

The next industry professional I explored was Paolo Cigoginini.

Paolo Cigoginini was a fashion marketer who rose up the career ladder to eventually become Alexander McQueen’s Worldwide Marketing Director.

Paolo Cigoginini began his fashion career at Dolce and Gabana as an e-commerce director. An e-commerce director is responsible for collaborating with cross-functional partners in order to manage all aspects of the ecommerce business including developing business plans, creating content strategies’as well as developing promotional campaign’s and other online marketing mediums such as web designs, web analytics and web technologies.  The role allowed Cigoginini to develop his marketing skills and enhance his experience within the fashion industry. As well as running the ecommerce sector of the brand, Cigoginini also worked alongside the worldwide communications and marketing teams.

Cigoginini also had a role as Communications director at Bottogea Venta. This position acted as a pathway to his position at Alexander McQueen because it is owned by the same company; French Conglomerate Kering.

Paolo Cigoginini got the job as worldwide marketing director at Alexander McQueen at the end of 2016. He was the first to be employed by Mcqueens new executive chief, Emmanuel Gnitzburger.

Cigoginini’s new role involves overseeing the production and development of campaigns, merchandising store layouts and web designs, branding new products in order to increase sales as well as working closely alongside communications to keep on top of press releases, investor relations and PR.

Marketing Director Job Title- What is a marketing director?

A marketing director in the fashion industry is in charge of the brands development and implementation, this is controlled by the production of business plans and creation of brand strategies. Along with overseeing marketing strategies such as campaigns, event planning, digital marketing and PR. The role is very important in a fashion house as the way a brand is marketed greatly impacts the company’s turnover by determining whether a product sells.

Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose to use Paolo Cigoginini as my second industry professional because he works directly in the marketing sector. This meant learning the skills required for his role could help me to gain an insight into marketing and understand the skills I will need to apply to the marketing side of my project. I think Cigoginini is a very interesting professional that has a very important position in the fashion industry which also linked to my project because it allowed me to gain an insight into the different roles within fashion marketing.

The next industry professional I chose to look into was Tomoko Ogura.

Tomoko Ogura is known worldwide for her role as fashion director at Barneys New York.

Ogura began her career studying Economics at Dartmouth College. Following her graduation, she managed to gain a role on Barneys fashion merchandising team as a merchandising assistant. As her skills began to develop, she quickly climbed the career ladder and at just 29 found herself becoming the huge, New York stores director.

Ogura’s directing role involved her choosing which stock would appear in store by attending fashion shows and presentations as well as looking through portfolio’s and attending fashion fairs. The important executive role also required her to develop the stores private label collection whilst also keeping on top of monitoring the stores sales to help determine the type of stock to launch in store.

Tomoko Ogura left her position in Barneys. After four years in the position, it is said Ogura exited in order to take on a new opportunity.

Fashion Director Job Title – What is a Fashion Director?

A fashion director is in charge of managing the entirety of a store. They decide what stock is launched and how the store is merchandised. They are also dependant on monitoring sales in order to understand which stock is selling. A fashion director is the top spot in a retailer – the position is responsible for the daily running of the store as well as the other tasks mentioned prior.

Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose Tomoko Ogura as my third industry professional because her job allowed me to pick apart the different roles within a retailer and really understand what each one is responsible for. I also gained an insight into the role of a fashion director and how again the fact she started out as a merchandiser meant I had direct links to the basis of my project which allowed me to collect information on skills I can take forward with me into the production of my work.

 

 

The final professional I researched was Blogger and Influencer Sarah Ashcroft.

Sarah Ashcroft is a UK Fashion and Beauty Blogger.

Ashcroft began her Fashion career following graduating from FRA London. Seeking a job in PR, Ashcroft launched her blog ‘that pommie girl’ as a source for her interviews as she was regularly being asked by employers if she had one.

The blog which was created purely to help Ashcroft gain a position in PR, dramatically grew and Ashcroft found herself running it as a full time job. Upon reaching 200k on social media, Ashcroft found herself with floods of brands contacting her to promote their products with sponsored photos and collaborations.

After her blogs dramatic growth, Ashcroft then went on to create a YouTube channel in order to connect more directly with her followers.

After her massive growth on social media, Ashcroft then went on to collaborate with several different brands ranging from Missguided to Pretty Little Thing. These collaborations put her name on the fashion map and lead to her landing her own clothing line on etailer In The Style.

Ashcroft went from PR enthusiast to Social media star to designer in the shortest amount of time.

Blogger and Social Media Influencer Job Title – What is a blogger and influencer?

A social media influencer and blogger is someone who collaborates with brands in order to promote them and encourage people to buy products from the brands. The job is one that is dependent on having a secure following on social media platforms such as Instagram. The role requires posting sponsored photos and videos reviewing products.

Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose Sarah Ashcroft as my final professional because of her position within the media. Social media is such a major platform today and I knew that I would need to apply the media to my final project therefore by researching Ashcroft I was also able to research social media and how the platform works to help brands market and promote themselves.

My next biggest finding in my research was discovered when I analysed the two different campaigns. When comparing them I found out how campaigns can visually be presented as well as gained an understanding of what makes them good and what makes them bad.

I chose to look at one successful and one unsuccessful campaign as a platform of understanding how campaigns work and how they are set out and visually displayed as well as the different ways they can be launched, ranging from interactive campaigns to simple posters.

I did this to gain a deeper understanding of the chracteristics dispalyed within a campaign and as a way of being able to idnetify how they work.

The successful campaign I chose to study was the Burberry Kisses campaign.

This campaign launched in 2013 and was a partnership with Google. The campaign was interactive and involved allowing consumers to send a interactive kiss to anyone around the world. The idea of a kiss being sent linked to Burberrys new lipstick launch yet allowed the consumer to interact with the campaign in order to remember it.

I think the campaign is good because it is interactive – it allows the consumer to really take part in it and therefore means it sticks out in their mind and they’ll remember it. I also think one of the biggest strengths within the campaign was that it allowed people from all around the world to connect with one another in a new exciting platform, the campaign allowed you to send a message sealed with a burberry kiss! Overall the campaign was very successful. In the first 10 days of the campaign going live 13,000 cities sent a kiss and a total of 109 million miles were travelled by the kisses.
The unsuccessful campaign was Fashion Junkie by Sisley.

 

This campaign caused a lot of contravirsy upon its release. This was because a wide range of people found it very offensive. They believed it almost branded drugs as ‘fashionable’ and that displayed such an offensive image around young audiences was not morally right.

However, I think although the campaign was offensive it still stuck out in consumers minds because they were so offended by it! The contravirsy within the image caused the campaign to be talked about a lot and spread around the industry, meaning it got the publicity that the creators intended, it just was not as positive as they had hoped.

Another finding I came across was the way a consumer views a website and how important it is for a company to have a website that is easy to navigate.

I realised this when looking through Pretty Little Things website.

I chose to analyse Pretty Little Things website as it as an independent e-tailer that currently does not have an actual store consumers can visit. I analysed the website by taking screenshots of the different pages such as home screen, shop etc. I then cut out the images and stuck them into my  research book, then I wrote about the different options within the webpage. I decided to do this because it allowed me to gain an insight into what goes on behind an online brand as well as the opportunity to look at things I would potentially edit on my website in my final project. I think to look at the website for the consumers eye, I was able to see things I wouldn’t if I were the one creating it; I was able to see clashes in the colour themes on the website alongwith prices that were hard to read.

CONCLUSION

Overall I found that my findings have helped me to understand the fashion industry and what goes on behind merchandising and marketing. Researching the industry professionals helped me to understand fashion careers and the skills that are required in one. Maureen Chiquet was my most helpful industry professional because her career in merchandising and marketing prior to becoming Chanels CEO because it gave me an insight into what skills are needed in a marketing and merchandising career because it links directly to my project.

Although I did find my other industry professionals interesting and helpful to my study, they just did not completely help with understanding my hypothesis.

Looking into the two different campaigns and comparing them allowed me to understand the characteristics of a good campaign and apply them to my hypothesis.

Researching a brands website helped me to understand what is appealing to the consumer and how a consumers needs and wants within a website can be provided. I was able to analyse an e-tailers website and therefore identify issues and problems from the consumers eyes. This again was very relevant because it linked to my hypothesis because it gave me an insight into what consumers like and dislike within web designs and campaigns.

Throughout my research, I did not encounter many limitations within my methods. The only problem that ever arised was when I was researching my industry professionals – i found it very difficult to find out some of their past careers and put together timelines on how they climbed the career ladder. I overcame this problem by researching different websites as well as exploring other sources. In the future I will ensure to use books and other methods of research in order to look up industry professionals as i think it would allow me to find out alot more information.

In conclusion, I think my research went very well however in the future I think I would like to look into more information in order to gain more knowledge. In the future, I will definitely try to look into more sources in order to learn more about the industry.

References blog post to follow.