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THE MONTH'S MOST REMARKABLE COLLABORATIONS,
BRAND EXTENSIONS AND SPECIAL EDITIONS:


RELUCTANT COLLABORATORS
EMPOWERMENT
FASHION + FURNISHINGS
INGENIOUS INGREDIENTS

 

With summer holidays in full swing last month, it was to be expected that many brands might take their foot off the innovation accelerator. And while activity was down slightly, campaigns constructed on questionable premises appeared to reach a peak. Quality was still to be found, but August was a weird month.
 
At the height of weirdness was Supreme and the New York Post, and not only for managing to sell out a morning newspaper before breakfast. They also created a blue-dress/white-dress moment that split society into two camps: one that could only see a bland, wraparound advertisement; and another that saw an epic collaboration of high cultural (and commercial) value. Meanwhile, Birkenstock CEO Oliver Reichert gave a widely publicised interview in which he likened collaborations with high-concept brands like Supreme and Vetements to “prostitution”.
 
Back at Crescendo Brands HQ, way too much time was spent on spreadsheets – as I picked apart more than 1,500 collaborations in search of the special sauce that gives campaigns that extra zing. I’ll be presenting a summary of key findings on 9 October in London at the Brand Licensing Europe show. I look forward to seeing some of you there!

THEME: RELUCTANT COLLABORATORS

Flällräven x Acne Studios

There are brands whose lack of innovation regularly succeeds in amazing and frustrating me in equal measure. One of those is the Swedish outdoor brand, Fjällräven, whose iconic Kånken bag turns forty this year. Much like Birkenstock sandals, the Kånken is one of the all-time great crossover products, with a constant fashion presence that seems effortless. Also like Birkenstock, Fjällräven’s resistance to experimentation has somehow only served to strengthen its flagship product’s standalone identity. The apparent anti-innovation of the Kånken projects a rare confidence that many new consumers instinctively pick up on without needing to know its backstory.
 
While Fjällräven has pursued a few external relationships in the past, nothing compares to its new, beautifully efficient collaboration with the avant-garde label, Acne Studios. Both brands have long stood out as flag-bearers for a special kind of Swedish eccentricity, but never would I have supposed a linear connection between them in the way that this special capsule of Kånken bags, Expedition jackets and other gear makes obvious. Its success in exposing a much broader audience to the Fjällräven story is guaranteed.

Michael Jackson x Hugo Boss

Another brand whose innovation footprint seems small relative to its appeal is Hugo Boss. One of Europe’s first great lifestyle brands, Boss’s size and popularity across different demographics is perhaps what makes it difficult for the company to reach internal consensus about any activity that might rock its neatly presented boat. Brand impressions earned through line extensions and sponsorships tend to dominate its public identity.
 
It is perhaps the brand’s slightly untouchable stance that makes it seem a little clumsy and out of sync on the few occasions that it does attempt to bring something more engaging to market. An example of this came last month by way of a very small licensed collection to commemorate what would have been Michael Jackson’s sixtieth birthday. For a brand that cannot afford to be serious or ironic about the 1980s, it seemed odd to suddenly find three printed t-shirts and a replica Thriller suit in the Boss repertoire. Limiting the suit to only one hundred pieces made it look as if the label itself wasn’t fully convinced of the idea either.
 
The editorial coverage generated by the release no doubt delivered enough brand impressions to keep everyone happy, but in contrast to Fjällräven, this type of ad hoc innovation only really provides questions rather than answers about the brand’s purpose in 2018.

THEME: EMPOWERMENT

Sanrio x megology

Last month’s newsletter highlighted the tendency for large licensing properties to bring merchandise in-house. August provided a great example of a licensor using its direct-to-consumer profile to amplify its own brand, when the Japanese powerhouse Sanrio invited a collaboration with the Down Syndrome TV personality and artist, Megan Bomgaars.

The result was a collection of affordable, life-positive pieces made under Bomgaars’ megology label, and featuring Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty and Badtz-Maru. For a brand devoted to the concept of ‘small gift, big smile’, there is much to admire about an innovation that broadens its product offering and reinforces social values in one, elegant motion.

Left-handed Oreos

A sure-fire way for brands to get people to talk about them is to come up with a solution for a community that feels excluded. FMCG giant Oreo did just that with a neat gimmick for International Left-Handers Day on August 13.

In an age where people rally around hashtags, paths to high engagement can be lucrative and simple to execute. In this case, Nabisco’s investment involved little more than flipping its carton, while taking yet another opportunity to remind its constituency of its twist-lick-dunk eating ritual. As a left-hander, I just hope this campaign doesn’t tip anyone off that opening bottles is rigged in our favour...

THEME: FASHION + FURNISHINGS

CB2 x goop

It used to take a long time to earn a marketable expertise and reputation for good taste: the years of practice needed to become a famous designer or establish a brand aesthetic. But as the internet continues to give us insight into the minutiae of other lifestyles, reassurance of good taste is something that consumers are prepared to accept from an increasingly diverse range of sources. In an environment where curation can be valued as highly as creation, perceptions of expertise become more fluid.
 
Last month, Cabana magazine introduced a stunning collection of homewares through the moda operandi fashion platform, while Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop empire provided the taste, name and headlines for a 53-piece range of furniture and décor for the millennial-facing homegoods chain, CB2.
 
With a few notable exceptions, fashion and interiors have rarely mixed well in the past. The proliferation and popularity of niche lifestyle portals and boutiques in the digital era points to the possibility that brands and names with reputations as containers – rather than creators – of ideas will be increasingly valuable to the positioning, style and communication needs of décor brands and retailers.

Radley London x Sanderson

Just as consumers are more likely to gravitate towards products curated by renowned arbiters of taste, there is a growing appetite for product decoration to also come from a house of repute. Prints and patterns that used to be reproduced anonymously with a purely stylistic purpose are increasingly playing a part in the branding mix of those that use them.
 
Among the style library names that resonate in the broader market, it’s interesting to note that interior textile brands are much more compelling and aspirational than their fashion textile counterparts. Last month saw Laura Ashley’s patterns make it into the girls collection at Urban Outfitters and onto VQ’s high-tech radios, while the esteemed soft furnishings archive Sanderson celebrated its second collaboration with Uniqlo and saw its Roslyn print cover a range of women’s bags by Radley London.
 
British and Japanese consumers have become accustomed to seeing textile brands in unfamiliar contexts – particularly over the last five years – but the constituency for branded offerings from libraries like Sanderson, House of Hackney and the V&A continues to widen and spread.

THEME: INGENIOUS INGREDIENTS

Leica x Globe-Trotter

Using collaborations to enhance product packaging can generate mixed results. In many cases, such campaigns succeed in attracting the eye, but the lack of a deeper connection between protagonist and product leaves a hollow value proposition. Consumers’ conditioning to truly remarkable products may be dampening their ability to value only superficially enhanced ones.

Resonance is far greater when packaging becomes integral to the product experience. Globe-Trotter’s bespoke case for a new limited edition Leica Q camera is a perfect example of this. It’s obvious that an expensive accessory should add value to an expensive object, but it’s the emotional appeal of Globe-Trotter as a travel brand – and not only its style and craftsmanship – that adds context and purpose to the Leica Q.
 
Collaborations of this type are reasonably common in the luxury sector: alongside Globe-Trotter, brands like Rimowa and Lalique often create products for the sole purpose of housing other products. But similar bundling behaviour can be found in many other areas of the market. Names like Porter and Manhattan Portage frequently use bespoke bags to lend military and urban authenticity to products made by their contemporaries. As resistance to single-use packaging grows in step with increased consumer exposure to specialty accessory brands, expect to see many more examples that focus on delivering a remarkable product experience long after unboxing.

Beams Couture x Ziploc

Close on the heels of June’s great fashion illusion that saw Virgil Abloh turn a Rimowa case into a €1,000 vitrine on wheels, last month saw Japanese retailer Beams take transparency a step further. Just in time for back-to-school season, Beams’ own Couture label released an accessories collection made from – or inspired by – world-famous Ziploc lunch bags. With items bearing Ziploc’s unmistakable blue and magenta zip seals and priced between €10-120, the nine-piece capsule gives new meaning to the term ‘fresh fashion’.

Commoditisation continues to be a popular way for fashion and lifestyle brands to signal irony and artistic flair. My Fashion Loves Food Pinterest gallery continues to track examples of the strange relationship between style and the supermarket aisle.
THANKS FOR READING AND SHARING!
 
RECENT EDITIONS:
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018

 

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