Who said that big brands can't retain the DNA of what made them interesting in the first place?
This past week in New York, I visited the Marc by Marc Jacobs store on Bleecker Street, the little brother store to Marc Jacobs mainline collection. Both businesses are owned by LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate. Marc Jacobs is also the Creative Director for Louis Vuitton, the company's largest fashion brand. So, you might expect that the company feels corporate and over marketed.
Thus, it was a pleasant surprise to walk into the Marc store and see a huge yellow chicken mascot sitting in the store window. A (suitably cool) photographer named Thom was taking photos of customers posing with the chicken and then posting them in the store windows for all to see. As Thom explained, the tradition of taking these kinds of photos goes back years in Marc Jacobs history to Marc's infamous Christmas parties, where extravagantly dressed up patrons would pose together as momentos of the party. You can check out some of these photos on Thom's website.
By translating this fun experience into the store, customers are engaging with the Marc Jacobs brand in such a cool way, that is not staged or fake, but an authentic part of Marc's lifestyle and appeal. Some more photos of the instore antics are below.
Yesterday, as I was picking up my regular morning cappucino from Ottolenghi (the best espresso in Notting Hill), I was surprised to see literally hundreds of people queuing all the way down Ledbury Road, waiting in anticipation for the latest batch of Anya Hindmarch "I am not a Plastic Bag" bags to go on sale. While Ledbury Road is often buzzing on weekends, it is usually quiet during the week, giving Notting Hill the village-like charm that it is famous for. I had read on the Vogue site that morning that these bags were being released, but I never expected people to be so desperate for the bags that they would wait outside on a cold weekday morning for hours on end. I guess that fact that Lily Cole, Keira Knightly, Lilly Allen
and others have been spotted with these bags of late has something to do with the pent-up demand.
On the surface, from a business and marketing perspective, the exercise appears to be great for the Anya Hindmarch brand, which is not terribly well known outside of fashion circles. By partnering with Sainsbury's to widely distribute the bags later in April, she would appear to be building brand awareness with a new audience of customers who would have found her regular collection of bags out of their price range. That said, the company
claims that they had no idea that the bags would be in such demand,
that this was not some clever marketing exercise, and that they really wanted to focus on the environment as a key concern for the British public.
Taking the company's claims at face value and with a pinch of salt, lets evaluate the potential for success on both of these aims anyway, i.e. 1. creating awareness of the Anya Hindmarch brand and 2. creating awareness of environmental issues.
First, yes, there will be more awareness of Ms. Hindmarch's brand, but it seems that it will be with customers who can't afford her regular bags. So, how will she monetise and cash in on this awareness? She certainly isn't making any money on the £5 bags themselves. Having hundreds of people show up at Harvey Nichols and Harrods and Ledbury Rd to buy a £5 bag is one thing, but how will she take that first interaction with these customers and extend it into a meaningful relationship that will create revenues down the road? Furthermore, since an environmental position is not a core part of the Hindmarch brand's DNA, the effort in and of itself doesn't seem feel authentic, as it would for high-end enviro-conscious brands like Noir or Edun.
Second, if this was an aim to increase general environmental awareness, by using celebrities and 'fashion', Ms. Hindmarch has only served to attract fickle customers who just want what's perceived to be hip. They are not necessarily buying into the environmental movement (even after buying the bags they probably still haven't heard of An Inconvenient Truth, the Kyoto Protocol or Carbon trading). Rather, they are likely just buying into yet another trend that will one day fade when the next trendy 'it' item comes along. Just the fact that people were spending £200+ on these bags on Ebay shows that many consumers are missing the supposed point altogether. It still remains to be seen whether people actually continue to use the bags instead of plastic bags once the hip factor has worn off.
To be honest, I found this whole "not a plastic bag" initiative quite confusing. It is important that companies think carefully about what the specific purpose of each activity is, to be sure that it aligns with their overall strategy and to ensure they execute on it well. The Hindmarch company has potentially made several mistakes that could have negative impact over the longer term. The "We are What We Do" charity that partnered with Hindmarch on the initiative is publicly stating that they are unhappy with how some things have turned out, especially with regards to the bags selling on Ebay, which is a direct result of marketing the bag like a fashion item. For the broader public, its just another high-street fashion
collaboration of disposable fashion a la Giles for New Look, Proenza
Schouler for Target, and Stella McCartney for H&M: here today, gone
tomorrow. If only environmental issues and the problems that they could
bring for all of us were as simple as that.
This calls into question the credibilty of Hindmarch's environmental aims and certainly takes away some of the halo effect of the initiative. By treating this bag like any other fashion item, Hindmarch created a
buzz that might be helpful for a Dior saddlebag, but which seems stupid
for a canvas bag trying to send an environmental message. (Maybe they weren't really worred about sending the environmental message at all?) This in turn has resulted in some negative press about the bags on the BBC and some blog sites questioning the real eco-friendliness of the bags. Real environmentalists are finding this all laughable and it could turn them off the brand completely.
As far as I see it, the only things that Hindmarch has successfully done is to create brand awareness amongst a customer base that could never afford her products and create buzz about a product in the same way as every other "it" item, allowing smart Ebayers to capitalise on the buzz while the Charity partner looks on and wonders what went wrong, and why the money being made is not going towards the cause that the whole things was supposed to be about.
This marks the week that one of America's most successful fashion brands hits the shores of Europe, with the opening of the first European Abercrombie and Fitch flagship in London's Savile Row. The hype has been nonstop, with the media going crazy, London buses trumpeting the new store's appearance by draping themselves in images of perfectly proportioned models baring their torsos (and the preferred Abercrombie aesthetic) for all to see. According to reports, there will always be two models in swimwear in the store at all times.
Shopping at an AF store is about the experience of Abercrombie and Fitch. It speaks volumes about the brand and what it stands for. The signature music. The achingly hip (an invariably attractive) store associates. The artfully ripped clothes and distressed sweatshirts. I remember being shocked one day, walking into a suburban Chicago A&F store to see the sales associate spraying perfume on the mannequins in the store. It seemed to me that over years, the company had got its in-store experience down to an exact science, a formula that works in New York and Newport and everywhere in between.
The science of A&F is now being tested in London. It will be interesting to see how this formulaic aesthetic and defined approach works in London. Up until now, the brand has had quite a bit of appeal here in Europe, especially because of the fact that it wasn't (legally) available here. European shoppers would come back with one of those perfectly hip pieces of Americana -- jeans or a sweatshirt -- as a postcard of their latest trip Stateside. What Abercrombie does, it does very well indeed.
However, once the brand becomes more readily available here and the novelty factor wears off, this tried-and-true formula will be put to the same test as every other store's offering. London shoppers are a demanding bunch and are used to rapid turns of inventory, cutting edge design, an innovative merchandising. They will be looking for something fresh each time they come into the store, and I suspect the formula may need some tweaking and constructive diversions from the tried-and-true in order to translate Abercrombie's American success to this new market. With that said, I can't wait to check out the store myself and see how it has all turned out.
Does this story sound familiar? A supermodel in her early thirties has the whole country watching her all the time. Her image peeks back at you from every magazine you open up. She is the face of everything from soap to high-end couture. She has the effortless international cool chic that every other woman in the country wants to emulate, and that every man wants a piece of. Young disciples around the country wait with baited breath to see her upcoming collections, which will take her signature cool and make it available to the masses.
No, she is not Kate Moss. Nor is she Milla Jovovich. Welcome to wonderful world of Vaneeza Ahmad, aka Vinnie, Pakistan's most famous supermodel and one of its leading actresses. Vaneeza and her boyfriend Shehryar also happen to be good friends of mine in Karachi. I was very excited to hear that Vaneeza has recently launched a collection of "lawn prints", banking on her celebrity reputation, business acumen and creative skills to take her career to new heights.
The collection bucks the Pakistani tendency to focus on the elite couture market that is out of reach for most average consumers. By working on a collection of printed fabrics that are beautiful, well-made and accessibly priced, Vaneeza is able to reach a wide audience, staking her position as one of the proponents of the democratisation of fashion in Pakistan, a trend we have seen take hold in much of the West over the last 10 years. But, don't expect Vaneeza to stop there. She will continue modeling, acting and expanding her V9 collection to include a full collection of RTW and homewares, building one of Pakistan's first true lifestyle brands.
Here are some publicity images from the V9 collection which was unveiled in a series of exhibitions across Pakistan this month:
All photos are copyright Vaneeza Ahmad and were taken by Zoobs.
Yes, this blog is a commentary on the Business of Fashion. But, it is also a blog, more generally, on how you can take artistic and creative ideas and channel them in a way that is economically sustainable (and commercially lucrative) over the long term; how you can make the worlds of creativity and commerce co-exisit and feed off of each other harmoniously, without worrying about "selling out." Yes there is always a tension between the creatives and the corporates, but if the right balance is struck, the results can be magical.
For example, when John Galliano takes his fantastical ideas from Haute Couture origami and oriental dreams and declines them for his RTW show in a way that is sumptuous, beautiful and (just slightly) more accessible to a larger audience, he understands the realitities of the business, but does not compromise his creative energy for this. He just finds a way for them to co-exist. In this way, the high costs of designing and showing a couture collection are justified not only by the brand-building and awareness of the Dior brand that comes from these spectacles, but also because his couture collection acts as a creative playground from where he can take the most extreme creative ideas and then use the same raw material to adapt them for RTW, fragrance and accessories which are huge money makers.
Today, I was reading an article from the New York Times on one of my favourite Indie bands, The Arcade Fire whose balance of creative and business sense, one could argue, is equally astute as Galliano's. I first came to hear of the band through word of mouth a few years ago from friends in Montreal and New York. Intrigued, I showed up outside the venue for Arcade Fire's intimate sold-out European debut concert in a tiny venue at King's College in central London, without a ticket in hand. With a bit of patience and some luck, I managed to snag a ticket from someone who had an extra one to sell and walked into this concert, knowing almost nothing about the band. There was a palpable sense of expectation in the air. The room was filled with important European music industry execs who wanted to see what all of the trans-Atlantic fuss was all about, hard-core fans who had been following the band's progress on blogs and music media like NME and pitchforkmedia.com, and many former Montrealers like me who wanted to share in the excitement of a homegrown Montreal talent creating waves in the global music industry. I walked away that night knowing I had witnessed a magical creative moment.
Since then, The Arcade Fire have gone on to play sell-out shows all over the world, their debut album Funeral has sold 750,000 copies, and they now count Bono and David Bowie among their biggest fans. Not bad for a bunch of former McGill University students who were signed up to an independent record label. Expectations have therefore been even higher for their second album Neon Bible. which comes out on March 6th.
The Times article today struck a chord (really, I swear, no pun intended) with me as it was clear from the article that it is not only their creative talent and vision that has propelled them to success. It is also their common sense approach to business, aptitude for marketing and PR (while still remaining somewhat mysterious), and the strong collaborative and consensus driven leadership style of Win Butler and Regine Chassagne.
First, the common sense. This isn't a band that went on alcohol-binge-benders bashing up hotel rooms and burning through cash like the paper it is. This is a band that paid for the recording of its own albums, bought a studio-cum-Church to record its second album, retained rights to its master recroding and brand, and then licensed it to music companies Merge and Universal. Furthermore, they are constantly pushing the creative envelope (another similarity to Galliano) but do so in way that is still reasonable (which Galliano has learned though the year). For example, they shipped themselves off to Budapest to work with a 60 piece orchestra there because it was more financially realistic to do so than doing the same in North America. In short, they have kept control of their affairs, their cash, and themselves so that they can shape their creative output in a way that is consistent with their values and insipiration, but that also allows them to reap financial rewards. To be clear, these are not ascetic idealist types who think that commercial success somehow invalidates the value of their creative success. They have found a way to be comfortable with both.
When it comes to marketing, these guys have combined the use of edgy new media and traditional mainstream media platforms to create a huge profile and awareness of their music and brand. First, they seize the zeitgeist of their target audience and deliver marketing messages that resonate because they are authentic and true to what Arcade Fire stands for. As the NYT article points out, instead of a 'professional' marketing strategy for their new album they produced instead an iMovie for distribution on YouTube, complete with a toll-free 1-800 hotline number for fans to call in to hear material from the new album. What the article fails to mention is that their professional marketing strategy has also been built on venerable media outlets like TIME Magazine and the New York Times reporting on the band's curious modus operandi and cult following as a cultural interest piece, while at the same time giving them another important audience to reach: the audience who will pay for their music because it is perceived as cool and hip by those in the know. Broad media coverage like this is priceless, but the band manages to do it without losing their creative edge. To top it all off, their penchant for theatrics is not just a little similar to Galliano's use of spectacle and fantasy in his runway shows. Both Galliano and the Arcade Fire understand that conjuring up and delivering dreams that people want to be part of is always the making of great marketing.
Finally, they also seem to have the management of their ever-growing cast of musicians and complex business affairs under control. And, while its seems that the band is driven by consensus and shared values of what feels right and consistent with what Arcade Fire is about, there is also clear leadership in place in the form of Win Butler and Regine Chassagne. Butler strikes me as a visionary leader who knows where he wants to take things and inspires others to come along with him. Regine pushes people to test the limits of their creative energy and this brings the most out of her bandmates. Even if the results arent always spectacular, she encourages risk-taking. At a recent London show that didnt go off as they wanted, she improvised and brought the audience outside the concert venue and fired up one of their hits from the first album. Leadership in innovation, clarity and vision is something this band has in spades.
And so, I think Arcade Fire is a great case study for any young designers who want to be true to their creative selves while still recognise the need for commercial success. You can check out a video of their impromptu performance in London's Porchester Hall lobby below to witness the almost religous fervour that captivates the audience as they launch into one of Arcade Fire's best songs from the first album. If you look carefully you can see Coldplay's Chris Martin amongst the Arcade Fire faithful.
It seems like forever since those heady, spirited days of the dot.com boom. There was no 9/11, no War in Iraq, no "Axis of Evil". Instead there was champagne was flowing freely, the NASDAQ, FTSE and DOW soaring to new heights, and millionaires (at least on paper) were
being created overnight. Wanting to relive that spirited time and on recommendation of my friends Matthias and Abi, I recently finished reading "boo hoo", the story of boo.com, one of Europe's most high profile Internet stories of spectacular boom and heartwrenching bust.
boo.com was set up in London by 3 Swedes -- Ernst Malmsten, Kasja Leander and Patrik Hedelin in 1998. Malmsten and Leander, the real visionaries behind the business, had previous experience and success with Internet businesses in Swedem. This was very impressive for 1998, before many people had even tried the Internet, let alone figure out the commercial potential it could harness.
boo was to be the world's first online shop for fashion and sportswear. In a world with the hindsight of the successes of Net-a-Porter, eLuxury, ASOS and Yoox, this seems like an obvious idea. But, Leander and Malmsten faced substantial pessimism and doubt about boo's potential from many of the people they contacted. Through sheer determination, optimism and hard work, they slowly won people over to their idea.
Even if you are not interested in Internet businesses or business planning, this book is chock-full with lessons about setting up new businesses. It would be an insightful read for any entrepreneur. Since I was living in London at the time of boo.com's meteoric rise
(and then dramatic fall) and knowing the ultimate conclusion of the business, I found myself rooting for Malmsten and
Leander the whole way through, and wondering what I would have done in
their shoes. What decisions would I have made differently? What
decisions did they execute brilliantly? A few of the lessons that resonated most with me:
Focus - be clear about what your company is about and what it is
trying to achieve so as to understand what the core competencies of the
business need to be. In the case of boo, not focusing meant they
spent time an energy launching a new magazine and opening an
international network of offices to support a business website that
hadn't yet been launched. This burned cash and detracted from the essential tasks at hand.
Choose investors and strategic partners who believe in you and your idea - they will end up being the ones to support you when things don't go as planned, not just because their money is at stake. That said, as an entrepreneur, to use a quip from the book, you might always want to think of your investors as "the enemy." The worst kind of investors for a start-up are the ones looking for a quick buck, who'll walk away without warning, when the going gets tough.
It's never too early to build a company culture - boo got as far as it did due to the commitment, excitement and buy in from its employees. This is an incredibly valuable resource and your employees can become great sources of guidance, energy and realism.
Beware the publicity machine - The media is very powerful, and while boo built an amazing profile in such a short period, having extremely high expectations from
the marketplace can add additional pressure while the foundation of the
business is being set up. And, if you aren't able to deliver what you promised, when you promised it, the media will be just as happy to tear you down afterwards
Choose your partners carefully - Partnership is very tough. Having partners who don't add value or whose objectives are different from yours will eventually lead to breakdown of the partnership. Being completely aligned and having tough conversations early on about roles, vision, strategy and exit strategy are crucial. Even then, it is inevitable that partnership issues will arise -- these should be discussed openly and honestly so they can be resolved
I recommend this book highly. It is extremely readable, accessible and interesting, even to those who have no business training. It addresses all the nuts and bolts of building a business and as such, offers lessons to everybody in any business.
By the way, in case you're wondering what happened to the company's assets, brand and domain name, I went to the boo.com website and it says "A new boo.com is on the way" and then provides an opportunity to dress a guy in "slick" or "street" clothes. Also, rumour has it that Natalie Massenet of Net-a-Porter scooped up some of the expensive servers and hardware that was purchased to support boo's complex website and all the traffic it was to receive.
The Business of Fashion is getting a lot of play of late. At the recent CFDA/Fashion Fund awards in November, Marc Jacobs spoke at length about the ups and downs (and downs) of starting a new fashion business. Many young designers rush into setting up a business, attracted by the perceived glamour and fun that is associated with the fashion industry. There are wonderful fairy tale stories of young talented designers graduating from St Martins or Parsons and then going off to achieve fame and fortune. The stories we hear less of are those that describe all of the failed companies and dashed hopes that are the cruel reality of this industry. I am glad that Marc shared his stories with some of the upcoming stars of American fashion who were in the audience, including Doo.Ri Chung, Proenza Schouler and Peter Som.
One of the most common questions I am asked by designers who have just come out of fashion school (at both the bachelor’s and master’s level) is: “Should I start my own business or should I go work for a big fashion house?”. The truth is, the right answer depends on you and your aims. In our first article on the Business of Fashion Basics, we will pose the questions that you need to ask yourself – so you can make the right decision.
Vanessa Friedman has written an insightful article on the career of Giles Deacon, one of London's most celebrated emerging designers -- though, the 'emerging' title can't be his for much longer, especially now that he has been appointed Creative Director of the British fashion house, DAKS.
As I suggested in a previous post, I still wonder whether Giles' destiny is actually to become Creative Director for a Parisian fashion house of international renown. (Suzy Menkes asserted the same point this week in her glowing review of Giles show yesterday in the IHT). It would not be hard to fathom that DAKS is yet another stepping stone in a career that has seen Giles go from Bottega Veneta to Gucci and finally to his own label. If one were looking for a case study on how to carefully build a platform for success in the fashion industry, Giles' story is a good one. Before he set up his own label, he trained with the best at St Martins and then went on to work with the best, including a stint with Tom Ford at Gucci where he must have learned a great deal from Ford, one of the masters of luxury brand management. Now, with 6 seasons of his own label under his belt and his widespread recognition as a creative force to be reckoned with, Giles has also proved he has the creative wings to soar with the biggest names in the industry. But, before he can do that, he needs to prove that his designs have the commercial muscle to support an international fashion brand, and hence the new role with Daks.
In her article, Friedman makes much of the fact that it would have been a dealbreaker for Giles if DAKS required him to shut down his label in order to focus on their line full-time. In fact, she says, DAKS encouraged Giles to keep his own label, as a furtive playground in which he could explore his vast creative interests, while keeping to a more commercial formula for DAKS. I would have recommended that DAKS think about going even further by investing directly in Mr. Deacon's label to share further in the benefits of the increased attention that Giles will surely earn as a result of the DAKS' substantial investment in rejuventating the brand. Also, by tying Giles' own label's future to their cash and operational support, they may have at least been able to try to hold on to him for longer than his 2 year contract, by offering more support for his business in the future.
What will DAKS do in 2 years if Giles leaves, once DAKS have found some of that creative momentum they are looking for from Giles? What's to keep him from going off and designing for a big fashion house in Paris when they come knocking (and come knocking they will -- they already are). Even then, Giles may not have been open to taking any investment from DAKS because his plans may always have been to leave. Also, why give away any equity in his business when the consultancy fee may be enough to keep his business running? On the other hand, his business could surely use some professional management and operational support to grow more quickly and deliver what the buyers are expecting, when they are expecting it -- and DAKS could have brought this to the table. Now Giles will need to find someone else to help him with that if he is to truly monetise the elaborate groundwork he has put into place (either knowingly or organically) to get him where he is today. He has little room for error.
Over the coming months, in addition to our regular musings on the Business of Fashion (as well as a few creative diversions and digressions on new collections, hot fashion news, and industry analysis), The Business of Fashion will introduce a regular series of articles on setting up a new fashion business, and what it takes to be successful both creatively and financially in this competitive space. We'll call it "The Business of Fashion: Basics"
It is true that there is an increased market demand for collections from emerging designers largely due to the consumer's ever-developing need for individuality and uniqueness in this world of mega luxury brands. It is also true that starting up a fashion business is tougher than ever, and more than 95% of start-up fashion businesses fail, and not just because the designer didn't hit the right creative notes. More often than not, it is the lack of proper planning, funding and infrastructure that lets even the most creatively gifted designers down.
Stories about about the financial challenges that plagued some of the industry's best known names early in their careers -- John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, and Isaac Mizrahi, just to name a few. This series of posts will try to uncover the secrets to success and provide a logical reading path for readers who are thinking about their own fashion businesses and how to take them forward:
How do I go about writing a business plan?
What is better for me, equity or debt financing?
Where do I allocate my limited resources, to a production manager or sales manager?
How do I go about creating the necessary PR support for my business?
etc.
We hope to touch on these and many other topics in the months to come and look forward to receiving your feedback. In the meantime, this is the proposed set of articles that you can expect to see here soon:
The Gap announced today that Paul Pressler has been pushed out of the organisation as it struggles to find ways to turn the business around. Part of the problems the company is facing is addressed in my previous post: "Mind the Gap?"
I am not surprised by this move as public companies often try to make high-profile leadership changes to signal to the market that they have recognised a problem and are trying to fix it. Whether they actually manage to turn things around, remains to be seen. You can read more about it in today's WWD - their prognosis for the company's future is not terribly optimistic.
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