Best 46 seconds of video you will ever watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvEiSa6_EPA&feature=share

Block 2 - Links

Wikipedia's Story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abercrombie_%26_Fitch#Marketing_and_advertising

Sales within Social Media

http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=mattrhodes/158024/learn-abercrombie-fitch-embed-social-media-every-customer-touchpoint

Sending a wrong message to kids?

http://www.helium.com/items/912006-Business-Issues

Bock 2

The Abercormbie and Fitch franchise have developed unique methods in advertising and marketing their brand. These methods are somewhat controversial but have been both highly effective and cost efficient. I am going to analyse the branding and marketing strategy of the Abercormbie and Fitch franchise and how this compares to other major high street stores. In particular, I will be focusing on particular marketing techniques they employ such as promoting their brand through word of mouth as opposed to billboard/television/magazine advertisements and their use of in store employees to model during seasonal promotions as opposed to using paid professionals. 

Instore Employees

Getting ready for the show!

Lots of indecisive decisions and many group meetings later, we have eventually chosen what ideas we feel work and which don't. Our final meeting took place last week (as upsetting as that was for all of us), so we cloud finalise chosen ideas and to generate a powerpoint for our presentation the following day. This powerpoint worked as evidence for the audience to see as Louise and myself talked through our proposal. We structured our presentation in a generic order including an introduction, showing identified problems with the i, initial ideas and final outcomes etc. Our rough list (not exactly in order) was as follows:

1. Gavin 

– Introduction (show slide with brief description) 

- Present identified problems

– Present initial ideas/research

- we did investigation posters where we placed A1 sheets of paper with specific questions around the university.
Questions: What article do you read in newspapers?
What newspapers do you buy?
Emphasise how these techniques did not work and how we felt we needed to get face-to-face opinions with our target market to collect more in-depth answers.

- Problems with the availability
- The main problems with the availability of the i is that most shops do not sell it. However, the shops that do sell it have failed to place the product in an adequate area. The i could be found underneath lost of different papers and due to the design of the front cover, the logo was hidden.
One of the strategies was to get as many students to go into local shops to ask for the i newspaper. This was to analyse the the reaction of the shops to see if the amount of i newspapers which they had in stock, would increase.
(show e-mail from Carnoustie shop as evidence)

4. Louise

-Booklet
-We had an idea of having a small booklet within the i that was purely just for students, however this wouldn’t be cost effective and the booklet would consequently take away from the newspaper itself.

- With regards to poster design we started out initially making posters which advertised the i generally around the campus and what the newspaper had to offer. We played on the idea that it was cheap, simple, compact and to the point. The posters roles were purely just to increase awareness of the i amongst students as there is very little advertising for it in general. This is the current advert for the i just now. (show advert)
We then went down the route of associating the i with an event for example: red bull and fashion week. We wanted to associate the i with something that would make it popular – like tenants being associated with T-in the park and red bull being associated with fashion week. We came up with the idea for a Student Comedy Road Show, where local student talent could take part at all the different unions around the country.
At first we were using high profile names on the posters with the likes of Michael McIntyre and Russell Howard, however we changed this idea to a simpler look without any images of names of comedians as this was causing misconception about the event and what comedians would be performing. In addition, we changed the i logo so it was not the key feature in the posters and to make sure students were not put off thinking the event was all about the independent .

- To improve the poor product placement and availability factors of the newspaper, we decided to introduce American styled Newspaper dispensers that would be located around the campus in the hotspots. For example, beside vending machines to encourage people to pick up a paper while they were buying a quick snack.
This idea creates a quirky alternative and more interactive way to buy a newspaper and makes buying a newspaper more of an experience which in turn would tackle the problem of online readers. In addition it promotes the ‘’cool’’ factor of reading a newspaper and gets rid of the stereotype of a newspaper being ‘’fuddy-duddy’. The advantages of this are that there would be no other competition for this way of selling newspapers and in terms of funding, the box could be rented out to other companies who could advertise on the side of the box. It is also free to advertise the comedy road show on the side. 

7. Gavin

- Lastly, another low budget promotion would be to have the i put inside the independent as an insert during students’ holidays such as Christmas and Summer in the hope that they would pick it up and read it while they were at home and become somewhat of a tradition or a nostalgic attachment to home. Consequently, students may decide to keep reading the i when they return to university during the semester.

Keeping up to date

As our group is made up of myself and 8 other design students within the Duncan of Jordanstone, there has been a great amount of creative input as we try to take on the mighty i. We have created a wordpress blog specifically to keep on top with one another, to share any ideas with the group/module leader and to overall try and inspire anyone else that is interested. 

Blog - http://dcadadvertising.wordpress.com/

Initial Research - Competitors and Availability

Having put together a strong team to take on the mighty 'i', throughly read through the brief  to identify all problem areas, it was time to get down and dirty with as much research as possible. After a few group meetings we decided what the weaknesses of i were. The independent had aimed to produce a paper that would be a short but good 20 or so minute read that had informative articles on basic daily news and current affairs. This aim also dwindled on business, leisure, sports and entertainment  sections but although it may have created a decent enough interest in large cities, it failed to grab sufficient interest throughout the nation. 

As we felt the each issue would contain only short, but informative articles, the paper should be used for people that are always on the move or have a small amount of time in their day when they are looking to do something, for example, commuters going to work. This caused a major concern as it would then be placed in a field of competitors such as City AM and the Metro, both well known and very liked papers for such purposes of a quick read. So how often are these papers sold? Like said before, the papers are bought for those who look for something to do on a daily commute. The Metro is probably one of the most popular as its meets the target audiences needs, as well as it being completely free. The i only tends to rise in sales when competing papers are sold out. The Guardian, Times and Independent have recently played a large role within the aid of online reading and have surprisingly generated a lot of interest amongst students. If the i takes on this same role within the online community and re-think how to gain student interest, it will go very far. Then again, the i is only 20 pence, students love a bargain and that certainly is one.

As Dundee is a largely populated student city, as a group, we decided to go out and individually explore where the i was sold in Dundee. I retrieved my information by going into shops I knew students would take notice in when walking to and from University. 

My first stop was at the Premier shop outside the union as it is right beside halls of residence and is passed by a large majority of students daily. Although the premier did have a few in stock, it certainly would not be enough to satisfy the amount of readers that other leading newspapers currently sell. That is if the i could even reach that stage of popularity. Another thing that was noted was the positioning of the i newspaper within the shop. The more dominant newspapers seemed to be place over the i, making the headline logo less visible to the eye. This could also be a design flaw within the newspaper. The i logo is positioned vertically down the left hand side of the page, making it almost impossible to view when one paper is stacked on top of another. 

The next stop on my journey was a visit to the canteena. Their selection of newspapers was limited as it was never mind having a single i. I questioned the lady at the cash desk to see if I had just been the unfortunate one unable to get my hands on one. The lady explained that the canteena's stock had nothing to do with them and that the premier was in charge of it all. They also explained that is assumed from previous sales that it would be a waste to get some in without insured sales of the i.

Perth road of Dundee is another area highly populated with student as well as myself. I visit Nisa (previously Londis) numerous times a week for snacks and drinks. If I was going there to buy a newspaper, I know for a fact it wouldn't be the only thing I would leave with. The idea of product placement within a shop became noticeable to me when I stepped into Nisa the other week. As a student, it would make more sense to have the newspaper/magazine stall placed closer to snacks and drinks (areas in which I mainly go straight to when in Nisa like mentioned before) instead of where they are currently situated (beside fruit/veg and breads etc.

YCN Student Awards

For our Advertising and Branding Module, the choice of 8 different briefs were handed to us to tackle for the YCN student awards competition as well as the end of semester 1 assessment. The YCN usually has a good range of competition briefs and this years seemed to follow the tradition. These presented briefs were for companies such as Fedrigoni, The Feel Good Drinks Company, Heinz Salad Cream, i Newspaper, Industry Trust, Peacocks, Swarovski and Triumph. 

We were divided into smaller groups to go away and investigate the company in which we were assigned with. My groups company was the feel good drinks campaign that allowed not only myself, but everyone else in the class to gain a little more knowledge when having to stand up and resent company facts and figures. This was a good learning tool, not only to learn about a handful of companies, but to get a better understanding of how you could help/develop problem areas. 

After our day research, I returned to my original team to discuss what brief we would most like to do. Although myself and the few others that presented with me really enjoyed what we found about 'feel good', we decided to go in the direction of tackling the 'i' newspaper. The brief seemed to be aimed towards a more specific target audience but also left it very open to develop ideas in whatever way desired. The i is a British newspaper published by Independent Print, owned by Alexander Lebedev, which also published the Independent. The i newspaper is a new kind of paper designed for people with busy, modern lives. Colourful and accessible, concise and intelligent, it's an essential daily briefing for only 20 pence.

The Brief:

'We would like you to engage with a younger audience, specifically students, to make i the most read newspaper amongst the student market, as well as significantly raising our readership numbers. In addition, we want to build a student community and have in-depth engagement/interaction with this market.'

The Merchant City

If there was ever a time to get a free lift down to my lovely home city, then this would have been it. The only alternative on arrival, was not to go see friend and family, but to view the Merchant City. The trip was organised by our advertising and branding module with hope of us exploring surrounding retailers to analyse how each one market their business' and if any specifically stood out. The only problem that stood out for me, was that Buchanan Street was considered as part of the Merchant City? I believe not, but maybe I am wrong. This point made, could be a possible message to put out to visitors or even Glaswegians themselves, some type of promotion or mapping of where you are in the city and small description on it.

The expedition began by passing through George Square. Unfortunately for Pete and Dave who I was with at the time, the excitement of getting a chance to step into a Philadelphia movie set was a month or so too late. We captured some photographs along the way.

It was interesting to hear from others in the class that were not from Glasgow themselves and had only visited a couple of times, how they would stereotype the Merchant City. The aspect that neither of them could really pin-point what and which things that were actually in the area, they still had an idea of the area having connotation of an upper class standard. This point became much clearer and more realistic when we continued our journey. The place is crawling with designer shops and high-end cafe's. The Merchant City also includes the nicer side of architecture within Glasgow. Like said before, signage within the Merchant City lacks tragically. The outskirts of the area can change depending on what part you head for which dampens the beautiful picture you are initially left with. Problems have to be solved.

Glasgow is known for its wide range of shops and is one of the most successful shopping points in Britain. But as well as it's wide variety of shops to meet everyone's needs, Glasgow is made successful as it provides residents and visitors with 'an unequalled shopping experience'. From breathtaking window displays, to live street bands, Glasgow and most importantly the Merchant City always finds some way to intrigue the public into whatever is presented in front of your eyes. 

Examples of these are as follows….

Apple Store Glasgow

Glasgow Buskers

All Saints Glasgow Store

Abercrombie & Fitch - Hollister Store