Supreme - Branding, how it's done.

Branding 

Supreme - How its done.

I have deliberately left this for my final blog as I know I’d have the most pleasure writing about this brand. Supreme is a brand that I have huge respects and desire for. In my eyes, and it terms of brands I have witnessed, Supreme play the role of a brand the best and most effective by far. They have a huge loyal following that don't only like their products, but worship the brand and support and stand by any move they make. 

Supreme 

Supreme was established in April 1994, originally as a skateboarding brand in New York. The brand was created by a guy called James Jebbia, who was born American but lived in England between the ages of 1 and 19. It was the gang of rebellious young, New York skaters and artists that became the store crew, staff and customers. The first Supreme store opened on Lafayette Street in downtown Manhattan. It was designed with skaters in mind, with a unique design on the store layout, the clothes arranged around the outside of the store with a large space in the middle. This meant that skaters with backpacks on could skate right into the store, and still feel comfortable. There are now other stores in Paris, London, Tokyo (Harajuku, Daikanyama & Shibuya), Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. These modern stores still try to imitate the original Lafayette street store design. Unlike other clothing brands, who release their new collections all at once, Supreme releases a small number of items at a time, typically five to fifteen. This "drop" occurs online and in store once every week on Thursdays at eleven in the morning (eastern US time). This strategy maintains the aura of "hype" that the brand creates. Their shoes, clothing, and accessories create a big secondary market for supreme clothing, because items are produced to a very limited quantity and also because there are only ten stores worldwide.Supreme has a line of collaborations with brands such as Nike, Air Jordan's, Vans, Clarks, The North Face,  Hanes, Playboy, Levi, Timberland,Commes des Garçons, Stone Island, UNDERCOVER, White Castle as well as many more. Fashion photographer Terry Richardson has produced some of the most notable pieces which include photographs of Michael Jordan, Kermit the Frog, Three Six Mafia, Lou Reed, Lady Gaga, Brandon Taylor, and Morrissey.

Target Market 

Supreme originally started off by targeting skaters. Every shop had areas for their customers to skate in, and the style of the clothes appealed to people who skated. Now they have broadened their market and Supreme is now bought by punk/hip hop heads, who are possibly seen as ‘hipsters’. Because their prices are so high, this makes it harder to poorer people to buy and makes the brand image more high end and wealthy. The standard Target market these days for Supreme would be ABC1, males slightly more than females, aged between 16 and 30. 

Effective Methods of Marketing 

As the brand grew, Supreme established itself as a brand known for quality, style and authenticity. Over the years, Supreme has worked with some of the worlds best designers, artists, photographers and musicians - who have all helped continue to design its unique identity and attitude. 

Supreme products have always been out there and controversial, using swear words, nudity, brutality, crude humour etc. This I feel appeals to their target audience effectively, but puts them at the top of the map as it gets the brand noticed.

Supreme have publicly used celebrities to help market their brand, by putting pictures of them on their clothing (mostly T-shirts), Supreme have used people like : Raekwon & Elmo (2005), Mike Tyson (2007), Kermit the Frog (2008), Lady Gaga (2011), Kate Moss (2012) and Neil Young (2015). As well as using celebrities for clothing, they also have publicly expressed certain celebrities who like the brand, wear the brand and buy the brand. People like Tyler the Creator, Kanye West and Skepta are people who make it clear they wear Supreme. By Supreme having this celebrity boost, it helps influences everyone to but the products as well. 

By using these effective methods to prove quality and following this has gathered Supreme a huge following and allows them to now charge significantly high prices for their products to allow only well off people to purchase and push the brand to a higher end street wear brand. 

Where Now? - Future Plans

Supreme seems to be a spontaneous brand that doesn't give much a way and likes to surprise it customers, so making predictions on what they could do next is very tricky. What I can put my trust in, is that Supreme will continue to collaborate with big well know, related brand and keep working with quirky/controversial celebrities. I believe that the following will expand more and more and Supreme will become as big over in the UK as it currently is in America. 

Branding - Google - The overview.

Branding 

Google - How did they do it? 

History Of Google 

In 1995 Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford School, Larry was 22 and Sergey was 21 when they met. A year later the duo began to collaborate on a search engine called BackRub, it was at Stanford they noticed this search engine as it had been running on their servers for over a year there. On the 15th September 1997, ‘google.com’ was registered. The name ‘google’ comes from word play on the word googol, which is a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by one hundred zeros. Larry and Sergey felt that this reflected their mission to provide infinite amounts of information on the web very well, and also had a nice ring to it. On September 4th, 1998, Google files for incorporation in California. Larry and Sergey open a bank account in the newly established company's name and Google sets up workspace in a garage on Santa Margarita Ave., Menlo Park, Calif.and in 2000, Google win their first Webby Awards: Technical Achievement (voted by judges) and People's Voice (voted by users). In 2000 google made great progress and added features to their search engine, such as 10 variations of languages you could search in, which were : French, German, Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian and Danish. Today, search is available in 150+ languages. In March 2001, a man called Eric Schmidt, is named the chairman of the board of directors. In February, 2002, the first Google product for enterprises is released: the Google Search Appliences is a yellow box that businesses can plug into their computer to enable search capabilities for their own documents. In December 2003, Google launched - Google Print (now known as Google Books), which included small extracts from books to appear in search results. In 2004, the programme expands through digital scanning partnerships with libraries. To date, more than 20 million books have been scanned. In December 2004, Google.org was established, this was dedicated to the idea that technology can help make the world a better place, which is something Google as a brand stood by and believed in strongly. In February 2005, Google Maps went live and just two months later,satellite views and directions were added to the product. In November 2005, which is really interesting is that Google Analytics was released, this is for measuring the impact of a website and marketing campaigns. Analytics is based on Urchin, a company Google acquired in March 2005. In October 2006, Google spoke openly about its acquirement of Youtube, the worlds biggest video sharing company. From around this time onwards, Google continued to expand by creating and acquiring so many sub brands and sub projects such as : GooglePlex, Google Chrome, Google Safe Browsing, Google Map maker, Google Voice, Google TV, Google Art Projects, Google Wallet and Google Ventures.

As I'm sure you have now imagined, Google are a company that have come up with innovative, smart and efficient ideas to stay up-to date and impress their consumers in a futuristic way by providing them with options they are astounded can even exist. 

Target Audience 

Google’s target audience are literally everyone living. The internet and computers tend to be used ever so slightly more by the younger half of people, however are widely used by everyone. Spanier, Google’s marketing director, said ‘when you have a potential customer base of eight billion-plus you’ll never get a marketing team big enough. How do you make decisions, how do you organise, how do you scale? I could have a team of a thousand people and still not have enough,”. Google have obviously proved that this can be done, and marketed enough with quality, to show everyone that google can be simply used as their number one search engine. 

Branding (Logo/Image)

From 1998 to 2015, the Google logo has gone through various twists and turns. But this latest redesign by The Tech Giant is decidedly its most significant one. Commentators find that the new logo is friendlier and more dynamic. The colours have been retained. It's the font and animation that have had a makeover.The company on 1 September, not only created a new logo, but a new brand identity.

McDonalds - The History and Story.

Branding 

McDonalds - How did they do it? 

The History of McDonalds 

Dick and Mac McDonald opened their first McDonalds branch in 1940. This first store was located on 14th and E Street, in San Bernardino, California. It was a typical drive through restaurant with a large menu with lots of variety. Shortly after this opened Mac and Dick realised the demand was high but shut their restaurant down to make improvements and altercations. Their self service, drive in restaurants then re-opened in December with a more concentrated menu consisting of nine items - Hand-burger, Cheese burger, Soft Drinks, Coffee, potato chips and pie. In 1949, the potato chips were replaced with ‘the worlds best french fries’, and the thick milkshakes made their debut also. In 1954, Multi-mixer salesman Ray Kroc visited the McDonalds restaurant intending to sell the brothers more multi-mixers however was so impressed with the operation that he got on board and started helping the brothers with supplies etc. In 1956 Kroc hired Fred Turner to work as the counterman, Turner then became the head of operations and did things like quality checks, services and cleanliness. In 1958, McDonalds sold its 100 Millionth hand burger and in 1959 their 100th McDonalds branch opened in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. In 1962, the McDonalds in Denver became the first food and beverage outlet with indoor seating and in 1963 McDonalds opened their 500th restaurant in Toledo, Ohio, which mean many branches where set up through the whole of the USA. In 1965, McDonald celebrated their 10th birthday by offering shares in the company, the first public stock offering was $22.50 per share. In 1966, Ronald McDonald appeared in their first TV commercial which included him on a flying hamburger. 1967 was a big year of the brand, McDonalds went international and at this time has branches open in more that 119 countries around the world. McDonalds continued to expand and add more and more branches and more variety to the menu, in 1975 McDonalds introduced the breakfast menu, including the famous Egg McMuffin. in 1978 McDonalds opened it 5000th restaurant in Japan. In 1979, Happy meals made their debut which helped satisfy the young end of the target audience. 1980 was the year of McDonalds 25th Anniversary. On January 14th, 1984, Roy Kroc unfortunately passed away. In 1987, McDonalds began to receive some negative coverage for being unhealthy, so this year a salad was added to the menu as a healthier option. In 1996, McDonalds launched their online website as a means of up-to-date communication with consumers. In 2005, McDonalds celebrated its 50th Anniversary. In 2007, the packaging was updated to something nicer and fresher. In 2009, the McCafé goes viral, and it is marketed very well to spread awareness. 

Clientele 

McDonald's aims to offer a friendly, fun environment for everyone to enjoy. They seek to appeal to a wide range of people, from families who love our Happy Meal, to workers grabbing breakfast on-the-go or eating in to enjoy our freshly ground coffee and free WiFi. Because their target market is so large and varied and they pretty much target everyone, they alter each meal to a different sub market. For example the happy meal is ideal for kids, the coffee etc for older sociable people, and thing like chicken nuggets share box for large groups of teen agers etc. 

Effective Marketing Methods 

Most of the best things McDonalds have done is read trends and patterns in the market effectively and acted to provide the certain products they feel they need. For example they noticed that their image was for people to nip in and out and quickly grab food, so the way they have been advertising recently is to have people sit down and spend some time there socialising with their buddy’s. They have marketed effectively to try an adapt this image which I think consumers are catching on to. 

McDonalds have also been very effective with their ‘Im Loving it’ slogan along with the well know whistling theme song. They have made it very recognisable, with a friendly, inviting vibe. 

Future Plans 

McDonalds plans to continue to stay up to date with trends and introduce more and more to the menu, this will help ensure they are meeting their consumers needs. They will also continue to work on producing products that are healthier and have less fat in them, to make McDonalds an option for healthy eaters also. 

Nike - The brand's journey.

Branding 

Nike - How did they do it?

History 

Nike was founded in January 1964 and was originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), it was created by a track athlete from the University of Oregon, Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowman. The company initially operated as an organisation that distributed for a Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger - which is now ASICS. Within the first year of business RBS sold 1300 units for the Japanese running shoe, making a gross profit of $8,000. However by 1965 ‘RBS’ has recruited some full time employment and sales reached a more respected $20,000 by the end of that year. To prevent the employee’s from having to sell from the boots of their cars, they opened their first retail store in Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1966. Nearer 1971 the relationship between RBS and Tiger was coming to an end but BRS bounced back by releasing its own line of footwear, which had the ‘swoosh’ which was newly designed by Carolyn Davidson and re-branded by changing the name to ‘Nike’. In 1976 the company hired John Brown and Partners as their first advertising agency which were based in Seattle. The following year Nike created its first ad called ‘there is no finish line’ This was the first ad which showed what the company was about and gave the consumers an idea of the brand image. By 1980, Nike had attained 50% market share in the US. The founder of Nike’s advertising agency Dan Weiden cam up with the simple yet very effective slogan ; ‘just do it’ in 1988. During the 1980’s Nike continued to expand and release different products to satisfy athletes of many different sports and regions. But it was during this decade they got some very valued celebrity endorsement on boar - Michael Jordan, who helped make record breaking sales and sponsored the likes of Tiger Woods in 1996. Nike kept launching new editions of their landmark training shoes. They developed Nike Shox in 2000 which was very well recieved worldwide. Today Nike is a vast empire which encorporates various sports like tennis, baseball, soccer, cricket and athletics. Phil Knight’s innovative business mind and Bill Bowman’s drive to find better solutions has resulted in Nike being one of the most profitable and well recognised brands on the planet. in 2012, their annual revenue was more than $24 billion dollars. Nike today has over 44,000 employee’s and is a brand valued at around $10billion dollars. 

Target Audience 

Back in the day Nike or RBS as it was once known as, was all about providing for athletes and sports people. The brand image is still similar and the brand continues to provide sport wear for their active target audience. These days Nike have noticed an increase in demand with female consumers. Nike have been increasing production in sports bra’s and sport tights which are very popular in the active female. Nike says that the woman’s line has the potential to add $2billion to sales by 2017. Another market segment that Nike target are children. Sport is a very common hobby with kids at school. Nike provide sports wear for kids to support through many sporting leagues, clubs and federations. And because Nike have managed to get all the big stars and children's idols in Nike wear this influences their desire to want nike clothes when playing sports to look like their role models! When Nike released the ‘LunarTempo’s’ in 2014, these were very popular with runners, which are another huge target audience for Nike. 

Future Plans 

In 2018 Nike have plans to expand their head quarters, near Beaverton, Oregon as they brand is constantly expanding they’ll need room for more employee’s etc. 

Branding - Apple - The Story.

Branding 

Apple : How did they do it? 

History of Apple 

The fairytale of everyones favourite tech, start up company begun in ones garage involving 3 humble friends and some very clever ideas. Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak (3 21 year old, high school drop outs) started the company, Wozniak took just 10% of the company but back out 12 days later for $500 dollars, had he of stayed in the organisation, he’d be worth 72 billion dollars today. Jobs met his friends in a computer club, in Menlo park in California, it was at this club the inspiration was instilled to create technology in a much simpler format. in 1979, Jobs and Wayne clubbed together to create most advanced type writer we now all call computers, as it looked a lot different (quite like a television set), you can imagine everyones reaction to this new creation. Jobs priced the new computer invention at $666.66 dollars, but closed a deal with Byte Shop, in Mountain View, to supply them with 50 computers at $500 each and it was this purchase that really got the business off to a good start and in 1999 the Apple 1 sealed its place as the most collectable PC of all time. From then on the two masterminds continued to create technology keeping up to date with the newest electronics. In 1984 Jobs presented the ‘Macintosh’ as a business meeting, the Macintosh was the first affordable computer to offer a graphical user interface, replacing fusty text-based operating systems with an intuitive layout of folders and icons. The Macs famous Superbowl advert was an outstanding method of marketing which spread the word of the new computer marvellously. In 1985 the company now had a board of directors who actually voted for Jobs to be fired, they said when he got an idea in his head, it was his way or no way, and even John Scullay, the director of Pepsi at the time who was hired to ‘babysit’ Jobs, could not handle working with him. 

The first iMac was released in 1998 which had 2 assets no other computers on the market had in those days; It was a unit that required minimal set up and was simple to use, but it was also pretty. And good looking computers were non-existent in those days. When this computer was released in different colours, Apple announced that they taking were 3 times more than the previous years. In 2001 the iPod Mania was released, this formed a category of its own and was extremely popular. The iPod sold for $399. Apple's timing and its ingenious advertising couldn't have been more perfect either, the adverts consisted of the newest ‘freshest’ songs of the time, and since its debut 350 million iPods have been sold. While continuing to perfect Apple, Jobs also founded another tech company called NeXT, it was here Jobs picked up a few new tricks and came out with the Mac OS 10. Its ‘aqua’ look and soft edges was what consumers loved and the OS 10 continued to evolve, there were 9 different variations over the years ensuring stability, speed and easy. These were major selling points for Apple and helped them compete, if not better their rivals Microsoft in a very competitive year. In 2003, Apple launched its iTunes store offering legal music for 99 cents per song, this was an ideal way for Jobs to link the iPod and iMacs together. In its first week iTunes sold 1 million songs and had sold 50 million songs within the first year. From then on Apple has continued to release up-to date products and now has a range of 6 different iPhone variations, around 15 iPod variations and around 17 variations of computers. 

Clientele 

Apple now have a very wide target audience and has features in each product to help satisfy a variety of needs. I will now explain who the main kind of people are, that Apple target and how products satisfy each ones needs:

Teenagers - Teenagers are considered key customers for apple, they’re interest is forever growing of up to date technology and gadgets. iPods and iPhone’s are the most popular products with teenagers, mostly because they love socialising with friends via social media and gaming apps tend to appeal to them. 

Students - The apple products have many features which appeal to the ‘on-the-go’ student, their products are light, meaning carrying them to and from school is much easier. Products such as iPads, iMacs and iPhones are students most handy gadgets as they can record notes etc with these products in an organised way. 

Business people -  People that work in business are very intrigued by all Apple products and a wide range (iPhone/iMac/iPad) of products seem to meet their working needs. These products are used to finish work efficiently, used for research and projects and documents can be sent easily to and from clients. 

Young people/children -  younger kids tend to enjoy playing on the apple products. The colourful, inviting fonts tend to sit well with them and the products are very straight forward to use for a young child to understand. Many game applications can be downloaded easily for them to play on or parents can download learning games for their children. 

Adults - adults in general are a large target market for Apple. All their products help meet needs for people but they are most useful to adults for their everyday needs such as phone calls, map directions, internet connection, documents and cameras. By carrying a small device like an iPhone, these products can make anyones life easier. 

Effective Marketing Methods 

Apple explains that one of their best decisions was to focus on the aesthetics and looks of the products. They were aware that they had a product which worked better than any other on the market and was far more advanced technology than others on the market but understood that people like good looking things as well as efficient, high quality products. So they focused on the gorgeous curves and slick edges of each product to make them more visually pleasing. 

We are in a time where pricing strategies are slightly all over the place and big brand can ‘milk’ the situation slightly and charge ridiculous prices. Apple products are obviously expensive but the company justified why and explained very clearly as to why these prices were set. Apple are aware that they produce products for people that love the brand and match their price by explaining each benefit and future of the product. So many iPods, iPhones etc etc have been bought now that most people trust the lifespan and quality of the products. 

‘you don’t own a tissue, you own kleenex, you don't own an MP3 player, you own an iPod, you don't own a smart phone, you own an iPhone’ .. do you see what Apple are trying to do here? Apple have used very powerful marketing strategies to get the idea across that not only do they want to be market leaders, they want to own the market they are in. By doing this effectively they have now set a trend for the technology market and everything from now on is compared and usually put to the side for the apple products. 

Future Plans 

Obviously I can’t tell the future but can suggest a few rumours or ideas of where apple may take their brand in the future and what kind of products might be released. The latest range of products was the Apple watch. This didn't actually kick off to the start that was expended in comparison to the other product lines, currently all in store display area’s are discreet and are slightly drowned out by the bigger, more well know products. However a predicted AppleWatch2 should be released around this month. This product should be far more outstanding and have more valuable features such as wifi connection, prettier exterior and a longer battery life. 

Apple are expected to release more and more products, the iPhone 7 is due to drop in the up coming months, this product will have more useful features and be slightly different as features that aren't popular will be swiped. The home button is a feature people don't expect to see on the new iPhone 7, and a larger/clearer screen. 

Things like iPads and Apple TV will also continue to become more advanced as the years go on, but a personal prediction is that I believe apple will start selling actual TV’s and change the whole Television industry the same way apple did with mobile phones.  

Branding - Adidas - How did they do it?

Branding 

Adidas - How did they do it? 

Perhaps I should have mentioned in my first blog that I will be posting based on large, well known brands and discussing the marketing strategies and branding methods they have used to gain power, success and social status that they have today. These brands I will look into, interest me hugely, inspire me and most definitely manipulate me in such a way; that I have the desire to want what they provide which they aim to instil in people like me. What I enjoy researching is actually how they have managed to do this to me, and discovering their journey from being perhaps one person with an idea, to the worldwide ‘brand’ they are today. 

The History of Adidas 

Every great story has a beginning! and this one started in 1924, in a small town in Germany called Bavaria, when Adi Dassler registered his business - “Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik” with aim to provide athletes with the best equipment possible. Providing Amsterdam in 1928 and Berin in 1936 with gold medals, were huge steps for Adi. The business was then put on slight hold, down to war and corruption, until 1949 when Adi started over, at the age of 49 with a team of 47 employee’s to register the company - 

“Adi Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik” , and on the same day they released a shoe with the signature 3 stripes we still see today! 

This kicked the shoe supplying company off to a great start. in 1969, once the kick game was cracked Adi released its first clothing product. This was a tracksuit names after Franz Beckenbeuar - A famous football player/manager. This tracksuit became the first apparel for Adi Dassler’s brand and opened a whole new business to a company known for providing sneakers.

In 1970 adidas conquered yet another branch of business by manufacturing and providing the footballs to for the FIFA wold cup - the ball was created black and white for visibility reasons while watching the game on TV. In 1972, Munich held the olympics - It was for this Adidas brought out the new ‘trefoil’ logo which represents lifestyle and street. 

Adi Dassler unfortunately died on the 6th September 1978 after single handedly changing the sport wear industry, however his son - Horst, carried the business on to what it is today. In 1984 Horst took a big step for Adidas and released a sneaker that had a small computer on its tongue, tracking steps and miles etc which provided stats on your sporting activities. Horst then realised that Adidas had cracked the sporting side of things but wanted to make the company a more commonly worn brand, so he felt he had to break into the fashion industry. 

The hip hop Legend - Run DMC worked with Adidas to launch the song ‘my adidas’ - which was about people from troubled neighbourhood’s having passion for shoe wear. This co-lab of hip hop art and streetwear set the everlasting street wear fashion off and also allowed adidas to promote in a ‘non-sporty’ way as well. 

Horst’s sudden death in 1987 left Adidas in a vulnerable position as this meant the brand had to either die with the family or be passed onto someone un-related. A man called Robert Louis-Dreyfus became the next CEO of Adidas in 1993, and made the impossible job look very simple. He took the almost bankrupt brand and decided it simply ‘needed to be steered down a new path’. In 1995 the new and improved brand became public with a new slogan that fits better than bangers and mash - ‘we knew then, we know now’. in 1994, as money issues were still being resolved, Adidas’ marketing team turned back to the original focus (of making athletes better) by producing the ‘equipment concept’ , the ‘street ball campaign’ and the ‘Predator football boot’. 

In 1998 Adidas moved into a new HQ just outside Herzogenaurach and as of 2013 the ‘World of Sport’ is now home to over 3000 employee’s. In 2004, a marketing campaign was launched using David Beckham to promote the new slogan and prove that ‘impossible is nothing’. Since the Adidas have continued to prove that they support and dominate both the fashion and sporting industries, and continue to use huge names to promote the brand. 

Target Audience 

It is no secret that Adidas is originally a sporting brand which aim their product’s at those who play sports and aim to achieve sporting activities at a high level..or at least those who love or have a passion for sports. By convincing people that their products will enhance and better them at any sporting activity they do - in the early days of existence - they successfully set this image for their brand. They continued this idea throughout the brands whole life span and by publicly linking with huge sporting names such as : David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Dustin Johnston, Sergio Garcia and Usain Bolt (which are just a fraction of the sportsmen they have sponsored) - They have continued to convince their target audience that if you use adidas products or wear adidas clothes this will help you be the best in the world at your specific skill.

Adidas admit that their strongest consumer market is people between the ages of 18 and 29, however feel that the 14-19 year old target market is one of the most influential consumer group in the world and are realising that more and more of this age range are becoming ‘adidas lovers’ .

Recently Adidas have focused slightly more on their ‘adidas original’ sub-brand which also satisfies the fashion side of the brand. They are now very popular in street wear and have used the huge up and coming grime MC - Stormy, very recently, for their campaign which involved linking up with the famous Japanese fashion designer NIGO, this involved a drop of a new range of clothes. By doing so, Adidas are effectively adding to the image that their clothes are cool and satisfy those who are out and about, always active and therefore ‘street’. 

Effective Marketing Methods 

When the German national football team faced the unbeatable Hungarians in the 1954 World Cup final, they won so much more than just a trophy. Their victory was heard around the world for decades to come but it was Adidas who benefited hugely. That was the first game that a lot of the players wore the adidas football boots, which were the first boot to have screw in studs. This made adidas a household name on football pitches all round the world. 

‘impossible is nothing’ is a very famous phrase which Adidas released as their slogan in 2004. This was a marketing strategy which inspired a lot of people and is something their target audience can relate to. This managed to convince many potential consumers and get them on board the adidas hype. Many customers are now continuous and loyal to the brand.

By teaming up and gaining promotion off those who already have a huge following will increase your hype too! - very like an ‘insta famous’ profile shouting out one with less follower. This smaller profile will obviously gain more followers, a bigger hype and more awareness. Like this Adidas sponsored huge events such as : FIFA, UEFA, NBA, Cricket and Olympics. And by doing so gained the same effect of a world wide following and a humungous fan base. 

Future Plans 

The adidas group have recently presented a business plan which should run until 2020. This plan focuses on sales to grow at a high, single digit percentage rate each year and will drive the net income up by 15% on average each year. Adidas now also want to show a strong focus on ‘speed cities and open source’. The adidas Group aims to continue its growth in all relevant markets with a focus on six key cities: Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo. Across these cities, the adidas Group will invest in talent, attention and marketing spend.

Branding - Louis Vuitton - How was it done?

The History of LV

The designer and entrepreneur Louis Vutton was born on the 4th of August 1821 in a small region of France called Anchay. Louis Vutton came from a hard working, working class family which consisted of joiners, carpenters, farmers and milliners. Vutton's mother sadly passed away when he was 10 years old and his father quickly re-married. legend has it that Louis Vutton’s step mother played up to the stereotype of the ‘wicket step-mother’ and was unfortunately a cruel woman who was very unkind to Louis Vutton. This led the stubborn and driven young boy to run away from his family home at the age of 13 (in 1835) and head for the capital city - on foot! It took Louis Vutton over 2 years to reach Paris, making brief stops along the way for work, food and shelter. At the age of 16 Louis Vutton had reached Paris and was ready to start his new life. He was taken on as an apprentice in a workshop making and packaging boxes. Vutton became very good at his job and the trade was a highly respected, urban skill which meant that after a couple of years LV started to gain a reputation for his work. In 1854, Vutton married and a few months after his marriage he opened his own workshop, selling and manufacturing boxes to hold valuable and delicate items. Louis Vuttons business continued to expand - even though civil wars destroyed his workshop resulting in him having to change address and start from scratch. Along with the new address came a strong focus on luxury. And it was in 1872 that the luxury brand was created. For the next 20 years Louis Vutton created luxury luggage until he sadly passed away at the age of 70 in 1892. The Louis Vutton brand however did not die with him and his son Georges carried it on. George then took the brand from selling luxury luggage and trunks to manufacturing and selling ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewellery, accessories, sunglasses and books. in 1913 George opened the Louis Vutton building which was the largest luxury luggage store in the world - at the time. It was in fact Louis Vuttons son, George that created the well known LV logo, that remains with the brand today. Between 1945 and 2000 LV continued to expand and bringing new products to the market all produced with their signature LV leather. In 2001 LV collaborated with Marc Jacobs and made a range of luxury bags which people say put LV on the highest level possible in terms of a brand and gave the brand the luxury image it has today. Since then LV have carefully selected high end brands to collaborate with and hand picked specific celebrities to work with. 

Clientele 

It is no secret to who the brand Luis Vutton targets their products towards, you could take a very educated guess based on the price of the products alone! LV produce extremely high end products that appeal to the eye of those with far too much money. However the brand is desired by a whole range of diverse people with pay cheques that are many sizes!  By collaborating/publicly linking with other luxury high end product like : Hermes, Chanel, Supreme. This helps remind people of the standard of the brand. So LV target their brand to ABC1 people - and extremely rich people who can afford to ‘splash out’ on their products. By using certain celebrities like :  Madonna, Angelina Jolie and now Jaden Smith in advertising and promotion and perceiving them in a ‘rich/wealthy’ light, this has increased the desire of the brand as many people want to be seen and respected like they have for these celebrities. 

- LV is one of the worlds most counterfeited brand in the world with millions fake products produced and sold every year. Think of how many ‘looky looky’ men you have seen on holiday with a wide range of ‘LV’ belts and wallets. 

Effective Marketing Methods 

Luis Vutton has been the brand it is today for a long time and gained its status a long time ago. Things like the internet were not around at this time for the brand to spread round the world in the matter of a few clicks. LV first gained its respect back in 1852 by producing boxes and packages for Napoleon III’s wife - which was an amazing marketing method as it spread the brand name around France and eventually the world extremely effectively and gave it it’s royal/luxury perception from day 1. Since then LV have continued to publicly link with high end, rich, well liked and classy celebrities to maintain its status. Luis Vutton have kept up with trends and have a stong social media following today. They have an instagram with 9.9 million followers, which allows them to promote items with pictures of new products and pictures of well know, high end, A list celebrities repping the LV sign! 

Future Plans 

Bernart Arnold stated that LV would slow down the production rates and focus more on quality and exclusively to help maintain the valuable perception the brand has. LV have recently taken on Jaden Smith - the singer/song writer/ actor/ son of the famous Will Smith, as the face of the brand as they feel his passion for fashion and public following is big enough to benefit the brand. I guess time will tell us weather or not this will work out for them…