Brand Me Book

J.A.I 1

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BRAND ME AD6605 Brand Concept Development & Development Olivia Buckley 1901813 Level 6 3

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CONTENTS: 7

Introduction

44-45

Chanel & Dior

8-13

Childhood

46-47

Molly Goddard

14-15

Personality

48-49

Viktor & Rolf

16-17

Strengths & Weaknesses

50-51

Tim Walker

18-19

Communication

52-53

Luxury Market

20-23

Stage 1 Conclusion

54-55

Consumer

24-41

Pt 1 20 x 20

56-73

Pt 2 20x20

42-43

Personal Influences

74-75

Personal Branding

76-77

Conclusion

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INTRODUCTION The Brand Me project that I have undertaken has allowed me to discover who I am as a person, my branding, my fit and market level. After researching into myself, my strengths and weaknesses as well as my tastes, I have found that overall, my brand can be described as something of an oxymoron. After completing my summer homework and questioning my personality, thought processes and taste I have learnt a lot about myself. In this report, I will reflect on my summer outcome, how this has informed the basis of my brand, and how further research and development has determined my market level and consumer.

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CHILDHOOD Over the course of the summer, we were asked to discover who we are as a person by answering various questions and researching in depth our likes and dislikes to find out what makes us who we are. I struggled hugely with this project, as I am very good at dodging the types of questions that make me feel vulnerable. However, in finally being honest in my approach towards this project and myself, my self-reflection has allowed me to realise a lot about my personality and has helped me start to decipher what my future brand may look like.

To begin my research, I reflected upon my childhood. I have learnt that my past has had a huge influence on who I am today.

I grew up in a small family consisting of just my Mum, Nana and Sister on the small peninsula of the Wirral. My Mum and Dad split when I was 6 and are subsequently divorced, this without a doubt affected my childhood and who I am today greatly. As a consequence, I don’t have much of a relationship with my Dad, and instead I have huge admiration for my mum as a single parent. Despite this rough patch I had a lovely childhood, and I am always grateful of this, I have always had everything I needed, and to have a family who have always supported me. I am lucky to have had a very active and fulfilling childhood, with many family days out and holidays, I was never bored. I was very creative and hands on child, encouraged by my family buying me paints, sewing machines and things to craft. Alongside being creative I also enjoyed playing football which I did for many years, I was captain of my team and I loved the responsibility, community and friendships I developed. These distractions became my escape, something I could channel my energy and focus in to forget my worries.

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On deeper reflection, I honestly don’t think that I would be who I’m today without my childhood experiences.

Through my reflection I have identified traits that have formed part of my personality that have evolved from my upbringing. I am very untrusting as an individual and am very sensitive, defensive, and closed off with my emotions (something I have realised in struggling to open up during this project) Moreover, I am also a bit of a control freak, I haven’t been able to control a lot in my life concerning my family splitting, as a result I am quite sensitive to things needing to be quite structured, organised and controlled. However, I have developed some positive traits from living in an all -female, single parent household. I have had resilience and strength instilled in me, being rasied by strong women who work hard for what they have, to make sure that I have always had what I needed has inspired me hugely. I am a very determined individual due to this as well as being mature, responsible, and independent.

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A second question we were asked over the

WHO DO YOU SURROUND YOURSELF WITH?

summer was, ‘who do you surround yourself with?’ I surround myself with positive, happy and supportive people who I trust and I know will be there for me. I suspect the traits I look for in my friends come from the fact I was bullied at school and so I associate myself with trustworthy and encouraging people. As a very sensitive young girl with ginger hair, I was bullied in both primary and secondary school. Being known as ‘Ginge’ for nearly the whole of my school experience made me quite insecure about my image ruining my self-confidence and trust.

I have since started to rebuild this confidence; I am now perceived to be a very confident woman, but I think that some of my poise is a slight façade to hide my insecurities. Despite the impact being bullied had on me, I believe it to have made me an all-round stronger person. I have learnt not to be ashamed of my image especially my hair, and value my friends as a community that I feel safe and happy around.

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To inform my brand personality further, I asked my friends and family to fill in a questionnaire of how they would describe me. From this, I discovered that they view me as a thoughtful, trustworthy, kind person who

I enjoyed reading their responses as it isn’t often, I ask what they truly think of me. I did find a difference between my family’s responses and my friends. My friends view me as a loud, life of the party person whereas my family view me as sensitive showing the two sides of my personality that I express to different people in my life depending on how close they are to me.

Following this I completed a Myers Briggs personality test to compare my friends/family’s responses to. My result was ESTP (Extraverted, Observant, Thinking and Prospecting) The Entrepreneur. The Entrepreneur is full of passion and energy, they are natural leaders and are outgoing and dramatic. Moreover, they are rational and practical, perceptive, and sociable, their weaknesses include impatience and defiance. Overall, I could identify all these traits in my personality, furthermore, these attributes aligned with the responses from the people who know me best.

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E.S.T.P

(occasionally!)

The Entrepreneur

is loud and talkative and a little bit of a drama queen

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STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES Leading on from my personality traits

a weakness in that I am very self-criti-

I identified some of my strengths and

cal. Furthermore, I am a very stubborn

weaknesses. My strengths include being

person, I think it has something to do

hard-working, a good leader and listener,

with being a red head and a Leo star sign!

my creativity, enthusiasm, determina-

My stubbornness means I have a ‘fight’

tion, and my organisation. Whereas my

personality, I am very determined to suc-

weaknesses include the fact that I am an

ceed and do not give up easily, however,

over-thinker, low self-confidence, impa-

my stubbornness is also a downfall as I

tience, and I am a stubborn perfectionist.

find it difficult sometimes to be told I am

As a result of this reflection, I have found

wrong…even if it helps me improve long

some of my strengths and weaknesses

term. Finally, I am an over-thinker and

contradict each other hugely.

quite self-conscious, yet I am a very loud

I am a perfectionist which itself is a con-

person and a good leader. My loud nature

tradiction. Although perfectionism may

hides my confidence issues, but again is a

be seen as a strength, I try my upmost to

contradiction.

make everything just right but it is also

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HOW SAFE ARE YOU AS A COMMUNICATOR?

Marketing or Communcation?

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Furthering my reflection on my strengths, I reviewed my creative strengths and weaknesses to inform who I am as a creative and subsequently the direction my brand will take.

Over the course of my degree so far, I have developed and expanded my skills in Photoshop and InDesign I have learnt that my work often improves when I push myself on these platforms. My second year project allowed me to undertake many different creative roles from stylist to photographer to film editor. I found my work progressed when I took risks and digitally expanded/edited my imagery to express my narrative, suggesting my strengths lie in digital storytelling.

I realised I was very torn in my work between the more academic, structured, safe and written marketing side of the course/industry and the creative storytelling, risk-taking, communicative side. I believe this is because the more traditional marketing is my comfort zone, however, I have learnt from my 2nd year work that digital content creation is where my enjoyment lies and where my risks pay off. This was the realisation for me that my brand should follow my strengths so my brand will mostly reflect a storytelling and creative outcome.

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AN OXYM 20

MORON? 21

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STAGE ONE CONCLUSION From this stage one research I have found that my family and childhood have the greatest influence over my personality and who I am as an individual. I have learnt that I have two sides to my personality and this is reflected in everything including whether I am a marketer or a communicator. The internal fight against these two sides also what made this project, so problematic for me.

When my tutor first called me an oxymoron, I admit I thought it as something of an insult. An oxymoron is a figure of speech as opposed to a way to describe someone. Nevertheless, its definition of two opposite ideas that are joined to create an effect, suggests that it is a self-contradiction that fits neither one concept or the other. Despite the fact I resented the term at first, the more I reflected on all I had found about myself, my strengths and weaknesses, the two sides of my personality and my conflict between marketing and communication the realisation hit that the term actually fitted me perfectly.

I don’t necessarily fit into one side or the other, this might have been an easier road to take, but I wouldn’t have been truthful to myself or my brand. Despite this being a difficult revelation, it was necessary to come to terms with to progress my personal branding, and it is in fact a positive. I have a varied and wide view of the world and industry, my range of emotions and strengths allow my brand to be far reaching in its values and community, therefore my brand will be uncompromising in its personality.

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1 . 20 X 20 . PT 1. 20 X 20 . PT 1. 20 X 20 . P

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PERFECTIONIST

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KIND 28

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SENSITIVE 31

STUBBORN 32

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PROTECTIVE 35

CREATIVE 36

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LOUD 39

SARCASTIC 40

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PERSONAL INFLUENCES

The second phase in identifying my personal brand was to research and explore what influences myself and my work. Leading on from what I had learnt about myself personally I needed to find out what I enjoyed visually to pinpoint how my brand may be communicated. I therefore created a moodboard of images that I loved. Reflecting on this imagery I realised a correlation between the images I was drawn to. The images were all of an editorial nature, had a fantasy and escapist look and a storytelling feel about them as well as being very feminine and glamourous.

I believe the fact I am drawn to fantastical looking imagery comes from fashion as an escapism for me and how I view imagery that tells a story as more interesting and engaging. Being from a small place like the Wirral, I have always looked for an escapism whether that was looking up to the glamour of fashion in Liverpool or huge dresses on the front of magazines like Vogue, I have always viewed fashion as the ultimate fantasy. The femininity and glamour in the images could be inspired by the fact I grew up in a female led household and I am drawn to strong women, but I am also a very ‘girly’ girl. Despite playing football and being sporty I have always loved dressing up. I have been brought up on the premise that my mum taught me…to always look my best.

After finding the correlation in my imagery, I researched into brands that inspired me. I am inspired by a range of designers and

42 storytellers from Chanel and Dior to Molly Goddard and Tim Walker.

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CHANEL & DIOR If I was a brand I would be Chanel or Dior. These fash-

ship surrounding them, keeping them for years and

ion brands are fairly similar in their values but have each

passing them down the generations.

made and upheld their name and status for themselves

Dior on the other hand was created in 1946 by Chris-

respectively. I have always admired these brands and the

tian Dior, redefining women’s dress in the ‘New Look’

way they maintain their heritage and values throughout

he revolutionized conventions surrounding elegance,

their collections.

femininity, and structure throughout his designs.

Chanel was created by Coco Chanel in 1910, inspired by

Similar to Chanel consumers buy Dior for the craftman-

sophistication, elegance and simplicity, Chanel liberated

ship and quality known to create the products. “There

women and defined a generation enforcing a lasting leg-

is something utilitarian about Dior, and a little bit ro-

acy. Chanel has maintained its place at the top of luxury

mantic I guess.” (Jones, 2019) It is the mix of structure

due to the appreciation consumers have for the craft-

and elegance that draws me to Dior and i feel represents

manship and quality within the products. Former Crea-

my own personality i have previously outlined. I find

tive Director Karl Lagerfeld is the iconic face of Chanel

myself drawn to the ‘newer’ Dior, with Maria Grazia

who ‘[changed] the fashion world by making something

Chiuri bringing the brands traditional value of femi-

old new again,’ when he came into possession of the

ninity into the modern day promoting a new feminism.

house (Borrelli-Persson, 2020) His modern twists on the

Her designs have made the brand more relatable and

traditional values of the house alongside his love of

open to younger generations, whilst maintaining the

storytelling brought the brand to the modern day with-

legacy of the brand. I consider myself aligned with fem-

out compromising the brands heritage. Aesthetically, I

inism in that I believe in equality and women’s rights,

love the timelessness of Chanel’s looks and the owner-

another value I will look to include in my brand.

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Another inspiration is London based designer, Molly Goddard. I first fell in love with her designs after watching Liverpool actress Jodie Comer playing assassin Villanelle in the TV show, Killing Eve. In one scene she wore a pink tulle dress by Molly Goddard. Goddard is most well-known for her voluminous dresses that are bold and playful yet delicate in their nature. The ‘Killing Eve dress’ was paired with heavy Balenciaga boots, giving a contrast between child-like femininity and adult themes of power. The contrast also reminds me of Liverpool fashion, mixing over the top glamorous apparel with streetwear… something not typically described as elegant, creating an irony and sarcasm unique to the city and traits I have found in myself too.

Goddard plays on themes of feminism throughout her work, using typically ‘young and girly’ materials and styles to dress the women of today, suggesting that you don’t need a suit to feel powerful or bold. It is this that makes her relevant to today’s consumer. ‘Her work is fun, romantic, sexy and edgy all rolled into one, which is why her collection appeals to everyone.’ (McAlpine, 2018) I love the sheer over the top nature of her clothing, they appeal to the child in me but also shows how childhood can influence design something my brand will look to utilise. .

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MOLLY GODDARD

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VIKTOR & ROLF Despite being quite a structured and

almost defaced with bold text state-

controlled person I also don’t take

ments/slogans that relate to a

myself too seriously and am very loud

modern consumer keeps them in line

and have a good sense of humour. One

with an ever-growing social media ob-

brand that reflects these traits is Viktor

sessed generation.

& Rolf. Viktor & Rolf is the avant-

It is said their inspiration for their sur-

garde luxury fashion house founded in

realist looks stems from growing up

1993 by fashion artists Viktor Horst-

in small suburban towns and looking

ing and Rolf Snoeren. Viktor & Rolf

to escape the boredom in these areas,

is known for its conceptual glamour,

“We had nothing to relate to, never saw

unexpected elegance and provocative

glamour except for fashion magazines,

Haute Couture that often results in

and longed to escape to those dream

an unconventional take on fashion.

worlds,” (Chang, 2021)I relate to this,

The surrealist approach to their looks

growing up in a small place, only ever

alongside hints of sarcasm and

seeing fashion on the front of maga-

irony are what I resonate with and

zines or on days out to cities such as

enjoy about the brand. The juxtaposi-

Liverpool or Manchester, the escapism

tion between classic craftmanship of

fashion offered appealed to me.

romantic luxurious tulle dresses

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Tim Walker is a leading fashion photographer.

He is most well-known for his storytelling. His ability to tell multiple stories and transport viewers to surreal worlds within his ‘dreams-

TIM WALKER

capes’ is what makes him inspiring. His imagery is almost Alice in Wonderland like, falling into a new sphere of viewing imagery, for example his collaboration with Louis Vuitton in 2020 named ‘Heaven on Earth’ showed the models floating freely through surreal clouds. The escapism and interpretations offered from his work are end-

Figure 1

less.

After attending his V&A exhibition ‘Wonderful Things,’ I found a new appreciation for his imagery. There is much to gaze over within his photography, every detail has a meaning and a place. Moreover, his childlike eye is somewhat relatable, his play with proportion, colour and inanimate objects may seem out of place, but comes together perfectly. Known for his work with fashion magazines such as Vogue and Love I like that he promotes escapism within his work giving viewers a new take on ‘traditional’ fashion.

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Figure 2

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LUXURY MARKET From this research, I have concluded that my brand will sit in the luxury market level.

Luxury fashion is defined as an image in the minds of consumers comprising of exclusiveness, quality, superiority, and price. (IGIGlobal, 2016). It is these values I have personally always looked up to, the ideology surrounding having something more expensive with more meaning that will last forever is something I want to explore further within my brand. Moreover, my own values and personality traits of loyalty, honesty and authenticity align with those of the luxury market.

The luxury market has been through dramatic change recently, however as it progresses it will be forced to adapt further to new consumers (Gen Z) and new innovations in technology changing the luxury landscape as we know it.

Luxury has always been consumer based when it comes to providing experiences and formulating relationships based on authenticity with consumers. However, the traditional outlook of luxury is changing. Luxury, at its heart, still revolves around the traditional values above, but it has had to become more forward thinking and multi-faceted in how it is communicated due to the pandemic. Luxury brands have been forced to adapt to new ways of reaching a changing, technological and value-based consumer. ‘Where once it was all about status, logos and exclusivity, luxury brands are now actors in social conversations, driven by a sense of purpose and responsibility.’ (D’Arpizio, 2021) This is an interesting notion and suggests that the future of luxury will step away from product focus, instead re-evaluating what their values mean to a new consumer creating a new luxury based on formulating long-lasting relations with Gen Z following their guidance as opposed to consumers following brands. It is this shift in consumer that is redefining luxury, and something my brand will assess further to be relevant in this market.

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Z N O I T A R E GEN

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CONSUMER From this research into the luxury market, I turned my focus to the luxury consumer. The luxury consumer is currently shifting from Millennials to Generation Z (consumers aged 10-25 approx) who are said account for 40% of the global personal luxury goods market by 2035. (BOF, 2021) Therefore, my target consumer will be Generation Z. This consumer has many new views and ways of shopping. As value driven consumers this cohort is enforcing huge change upon the industry wanting authenticity, honesty, transparency, and escapism from brands. Despite some of these values already being prevalent in the luxury market, they will take on new meaning with this consumer who look to formulate new relations and understandings with the brands they purchase.

Furthermore, this generation are ‘digital natives,’ heavily reliant on technology in their everyday lives. Due to this, they are a well informed generation especially concerning social, political and environmental issues, locally and globally. As a conscious consumer, sustainability is highly important to Gen Z and cannot be an after-thought or simple a tick box for brands. “Gen Z is such a huge and influential generation, and they’ll continue to drive cultural change on so many fronts — including consumption behaviour.” (Business, 2021) This suggests that Gen Z will force brands to re-evaluate their behaviours to maintain their relevance with an evolving consumer. Brands must have more meaningful connection with Gen Z as they take hold as primary consumers.

As Gen Z myself, my brand will reflect on this tresearch as well as my own values to find new ways of connecting the luxury market and this consumer creating a new community and connection.

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OXYMORON 58

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LUXURY

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FEMININE 62

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HERITAGE

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AUTHENTIC 66

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FANTASY

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GLAMOUR 70

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HONEST 73

To summarise all my research I have created my brand visually.

Traditionally ‘Luxury’ Logo

I want my brand, JAI, denoted from my unique middle name, to represent all the key elements I have found from my research.

Jai itself is an uncompromising brand influenced by my values and strengths of creativity, honesty, authenticity, sensitivity and femininity. As an oxymoron, my branding will encompass all my values and influences derived from my research in perfect harmony. This in turn will provide my brand with a holistic outlook placing importance on the understanding of new consumer val-

Name decisions

ues that match my own whilst not losing sight of the market level my brand is placed in.

As my brand will be placed in the luxury market it is important that it fits into this market visually. When looking into luxury brands, I noticed a correlation that their branding is simplistically organised and structured with their logos mainly being black and

Mixing Text and Image

white. Therefore, my brand colours are neutral colours denoting power, strength, elegance and purity, supporting the values I have identified in myself over this project. Therefore, when creating my logo, I also wanted my logo to show the ‘oxymoron’ that my brand is. I wanted to encapsulate the mix of marketing and communication expressing structure and creativity. Using imagery from my second year work alongside simple bold fonts I embraced Jai in my logo.

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Simplistic logo

BRANDING & MESSAGE

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CONCLUSION The conclusion to my brand me was a difficult one. With so many opposing characteristics formulating my personality and tastes within fashion it was difficult to pull all the strings together to formulate a solid answer to my brand. What I have learnt is that I shouldn’t have to compromise on any of the values that make up me or my brand. Most of my branding stems from my childhood and upbringing as this is what has made me who I am. Today, I am determined and strong, loud, energetic and sarcastic. Yet I have also grown to be caring, protective and sensitive. My curiosity has informed my tastes to extend from glamour to heritage and from fantasy to editorial. All of these values seem like they shouldn’t belong together yet somehow compliment each other. My brand is an oxymoron, but this is in fact positive allowing my brand to be far reaching and connect to consumers on numerous levels.

This research has therefore informed my brand, Jai. When choosing what I want my brand to represent I chose the most important factors to me as well as my strengths. My brand is independent, strong and feminine, taken from being brought up by the women in my family. It embraces heritage yet is determined to move forward, not dwelling on the past unnecessarily.

My brand is a collaged extension of all my values brought together based in the luxury market. Bringing the bold and loud nature of traditional luxury and mixing it with a sensitive and honest nature of the new consumer to provide something new for the future.

Moving forward, I will develop my 360 campaign which will use what I have learnt here and transform it into a concept to fulfil the future of luxury and the gen z consumer bringing traditional brands in line with an untraditional consumer… solving an oxymoron within the industry.

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REFERENCES: BOF. (2021). How Gen-Z Buys Luxury. Retrieved from Business of Fashion: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/ news-analysis/how-gen-z-buys-luxury/ Borrelli-Persson, L. (2020). How Karl Lagerfeld Reinvented Chanel—and the Role of the Creative Director on Today’s In Vogue: The 1990s Episode . Retrieved from Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/article/in-vogue-the-1990s-podcast-episode-4-karl-lagerfeldthe-creative-director Business, V. (2021). Gen Z shopping trends uncovered. Retrieved from Vogue Business: https://www.voguebusiness.com/consumers/gen-z-shopping-trends-uncovered-pay-pal Cabigiosu, A. (2020, May). An Overview of the Luxury Fashion Industry. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7355146/ Chang, A. (2021). Viktor & Rolf. Retrieved from Love to Know: https://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/fashion-clothing-industry/fashion-designers/viktor-rolf D’Arpizio, C. (2021). The Future of Luxury: 7 Trends To Stay Ahead in 2022. Retrieved from Luxe Digital: https://luxe.digital/ business/digital-luxury-trends/luxury-future-trends/ Davis, D. (2020). Gen Zers have a spending power of over $140 billion, and it’s driving the frenzy of retailers and brands trying to win their dollars. Retrieved from Business Insider : https://www.businessinsider.com/retail-courts-gen-z-spending-power-over140-billion-2020-1?r=US&IR=T Hypebeast. (2021). Acne Studios. Retrieved from Hypebeast: https://hypebeast.com/tags/acne-studios IGIGlobal. (2016). The Blending of Luxury Fashion Brands and Contemporary Art: A Global Strategy for Value Creation.

Retrieved from IGI Global: https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/the-blending-of-luxury-fashion-brands-and-contemporary-art/54404#:~:text=1.,intangible%20features%20and%20symbolic%20meanings.

Jones, K. (2019). Kim Jones Dior Streetwear Interview. Retrieved from Highs Nobiety: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kimjones-dior-streetwear-interview-hs17/ McAlpine, S. (2018, June). The Making Of Molly Goddard. Retrieved from Elle: https://www.elle.com/uk/fashion/a20485367/themaking-of-molly-goddard/

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IMAGE REFERENCES Figure 1 - Tim Walker, Wonderful Things Exhibition, (2020) Retreieved from - https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/ tim-walker Figure 2 -Tim Walker, Wonderful Things Exhibition, (2020) Retrieved from - https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/11943/the-v-and-a-archives-inspired-tim-walker-exhibition-wonderful-things-shona-heath

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Olivia Buckley Brand Me 2021