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PLATFORM-ASSISTED EXTENSION
Small brands with high appeal are collaborating with large retail platforms to ramp up excitement and bring remarkable new visions to fruition. It's a win-win formula.
One of the paradoxes of the information age is that the internet permits brands based on very narrow ideas to grow at similarly spectacular rates to brands built around very big ones.
On the one hand, there are the gigantic, news-making shopping platforms: generalists like Amazon and Alibaba, and category specialists like Zara and Zalando – servicing consumers’ hunger for convenience and low prices. The relentless growth of these behemoths – in spite of their already formidable size – often makes one wonder how long it will take before everyone else is squeezed out of the market. And yet, while all this is going on, the internet is also making room for unprecedented numbers of niche brands to establish footholds for their novel, compelling ideas and build global communities around them.
Until recently, these opposing paradigms of convenience/value and discovery/exclusivity have been mutually exclusive, even if many consumers shop at both ends of the spectrum. But new business models suggest there may be ways for these contradictory worlds to work in harmony without threatening the integrity of either.
Cult Gaia and Pinrose are two women’s accessories brands that have grown rapidly over the last five years by following their own course – cultivating passion for distinctive products that push back against category norms.
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Founded in 2012, Cult Gaia has built a powerful reputation by giving new fashion meaning and value to bamboo, principally through its iconic Ark bag. Since 2014, Pinrose has used its independence and a unique focus on graphic design to carve out a niche for its premium fragrances. Both have become darlings of Instagram and the fashion/cosmetics media by remaining consistently true to their founding idea and their most devoted fans.
During May, both brands entered into special arrangements with large-scale retail platforms to leverage their high appeal and expand into new categories. A five-piece collection of Cult Gaia shoes at Net-A-Porter and a wildly imaginative limited edition range of Pinrose colour cosmetics at Sephora gave each brand disproportionately high exposure within a large brand portfolio, while mitigating the risks of testing acceptance for new products.
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For the shopping platforms involved, partnerships with small brands like these offer more scope to showcase their own innovative drive, and to use truly exclusive, special batch products to portray themselves as feeding the groundswell of interest in potentially major future brands.
The brand equity payoff in examples like these seems to be higher than in more traditional “high-low” collaborations. Recent examples like Off-White’s eyewear range for Sunglass Hut, Stampd’s widely-publicised home accessories collection at IKEA, and the lifestyle products made under the Hunter label for Target’s recent feature collaboration leave a lower residual value.
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In the latter examples, the key difference is that the brands involved have no long-term ambition to serve the sales platform’s customer base.
For fast-growing brands, the lesson is that it is better to use relationships with large retailers to broaden product range than price range. Dilution is a safer bet than confusion.
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THE BEST OF MAY
Last month provided a rare example of a licensing story dominating the global business news, thanks to Nestle’s eye-watering $7 billion purchase of the rights to develop Starbucks' global packaged consumer products business.
On a smaller scale, but no less strategically interesting, here is a selection of the themes and stories that caught my attention throughout May… |
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Amidst the news that Richemont deliberately destroyed nearly €500 million worth of watches over the last two years, the luxury group took the extraordinary step last month of announcing the launch of a new brand for a new time. Created from scratch, Baume appears to have been conceived from a boardroom shopping list of the principles used by 21st century dynamic brands – including remarkable design (note the position of the crown), customisation, eCommerce, sustainability, premium pricing and collaboration. This could be a tacit admission that the luxury industry is out of step with the modern market, or simply a case of a branding agency being taken way too seriously. No doubt the true answer exists somewhere in between...time will tell.
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In 1930, Louis Vuitton created a travelling writing desk for the classical conductor, Leopold Stokowski. With Macbooks and Protools replacing batons and quills as the modern composer’s tools of the trade, Stokowski’s kit has now been updated in the form of the DJ Trunk, realised in grey and black monogram canvas with ruthenium fittings. Paired with a DJ bag that holds twenty 12” records and custom Gold Phantom speakers by French wireless speaker geniuses, Devialet, it promises to be the ultimate plug-and-play party machine for private castles, super yachts and practically any hip hop star. Available only from Vuitton’s Special Order department.
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THEME: INFLUENCER COLLABORATIONS
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Away Perspective Collection
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The brand known as the Warby Parker of luggage made a earnest attempt to splash into the European market last month with its launch of The Perspective Collection. Using one-day pop up stores in five European cities, and featuring limited edition travel collaborations created by locally recruited style influencers, Away's push makes clear that it sees a shortage of credible brands in the world’s biggest tourism market – and an opportunity to target women buyers. It’s unusual to see a brand launch simultaneously across Europe while trying to be sensitive to differences between markets. Though the campaign appeared somewhat forced, Away’s good intentions are a useful template for European brands intending to sell into different North American regions.
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While the jury is still out on the true ability of influencers to contribute to brand growth, there is increasing consensus that when it comes to meaningful design, independently verified talent is worth much more than statistical popularity. The celebrity stylist Karla Welch is no household name but – like other contractors to the stardom industry – her skills need to meet the expectations of the most demanding clientele. She doesn’t influence fans, she influences stars. The fast sell-through of Levi’s annual 501 Day capsule reflected both Welch’s informed styling and her credibility as someone able to elevate product by placing it on the bodies of other verifiably talented people.
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With the launch of a special edition of its classic 849 ballpoint pen, Caran d’Ache joined the roster of companies involved in repurposing recovered coffee capsules under Nespresso’s Second Life programme. Previous participants have been Zena (peelers) and Victorinox, which issued the third edition of its Pioneer pocket knife – also realised in the colour of the coffee brand’s Dhakan blend. While there may be a distorted logic to processing aluminium twice to enjoy guilt-free coffee, Nestle has a high environmental ranking and there is so much to like about the design and brand communication value of this product series.
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National Geographic: Planet or Plastic?
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The campaign launched last month by National Geographic to fight plastic pollution may have arrived later than might be expected from a leading environmental voice, but its significance should not be underestimated. The 130 year-old publication’s influence over consumers, educators and industry on a global scale is unmatched, and could be critical in helping current efforts arrive at a tipping point. Its May issue cover has all the makings of an iconic image, and was accompanied by a multi-year commitment to eliminate plastic from its own supply chain by the end of 2019, as well as sustainable campaign merchandise by The North Face and S’well.
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Finally it happened. Finally someone managed to connect the street-level fever for sportswear to the world’s biggest game. When Nike premiered its World Cup team portfolio at the beginning of February, reactions to its designs for the Nigerian national team lit a fuse. That finally culminated in an explosion last weekend, when the global stocks of its eagle-inspired “Naija” collection were snapped up within hours of release.
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Umbro x Christopher Raeburn
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Ever since Umbro stopped trying to be a top-tier football brand and focused instead on becoming everyone’s favourite football heritage brand, its global standing has gone from strength to strength. Never has this been clearer than with its fresh new collaboration with English designer, Christopher Raeburn. Raeburn’s trademark Remade approach reinterprets and repurposes the old and turns it into something new and slightly subversive. Applying his cut-up approach to kits from the final years of Umbro’s England team supply, the seven-piece capsule will have even Nike out of their seats, and be sure to please World Cup followers and fashion fans in equal measure.
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REISSUES: RELICS OR BRAND TROPHIES?
Over the last twenty years, global sneaker brands have set an example of how to engender brand love – and create new sales – by reviving and worshipping classic models from their back-catalogue. Stan Smith, Superstar, All-Star, Air Force One, Old Skool, Clyde and Suede (pictured above), are just some of the names that have become hallowed references in the lexicon of style.
But the world of personal style operates on its own rules, and more sober brands that depend on moving forward to stay relevant have been hesitant to adopt a stance of looking back in the manner of adidas, Puma, Vans and Nike. Until now...
The rapturous reception for the reissue of Nokia’s 3110 phone at the beginning of last year showed many forward-facing brands how effective revived creations from the past can be at giving shoppers, retailers, media and other brands an avenue to recognise and express brand affinity.
By re-establishing models from the past, brands can earn high margins on less sophisticated products, and generate substantial intangible capital. As the sneaker brands have shown, reissue products provide extraordinarily robust platforms for continuous experimentation in ways that leading-edge flagship products do not. Collaborations and selective licensing become much more viable storytelling devices when brands don't need to fret about deviating from their central message. Prior to the rehabilitation of Nokia, Volkswagen, MINI, FIAT and Vespa had long been trailblazers in this area, and it’s surprising that brands in the zone between €60 sneakers and €10,000 cars did not find the confidence sooner to be more bullish about pushing their own legends.
Several brands showed revivalist spirit during May, including Nintendo – who found time to sell 2.3 million mini-replicas of its 1983 NES console on limited reissue last year. That success has led the company to schedule the permanent reissue of the NES Classic for later this month, and Sony is strongly rumoured to be planning a similar move for its original 1994 PlayStation.
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Also in May, Peugeot launched a tribute to its 130-year cycling history with its new Legend Collection, and the Rollei camera brand launched an effort via Kickstarter to revive and update its beloved Rolleiflex TLR camera. It exceeded its funding target by 1,000%.
Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been important platforms for bringing to life products previously thought impossible, as have enthusiast platforms like MassDrop and Hodinkee, who last month edited and reissued a rare Tag Heuer Autavia – snapped up on pre-order in spite of its $6,000 price tag.
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To enter into the reissue game, brands don’t even need to revisit their own back-catalogue, provided they can build a compelling story around their discovery and interpretation of an idea from the past.
The March issue of this newsletter reported on Levi’s buyback of Albert Einstein’s Menlo leather jacket at auction and subsequent recreation. Abercrombie and Fitch did something similar in April – purchasing a pair of 1960s chino pants owned by John F. Kennedy at auction and using them as the reference for a whole collection.
Budweiser leaned out even further, citing a handwritten beer recipe found in a 1757 notebook belonging to George Washington, which they proceeded to brew and label as Freedom Reserve Red Lager. Don’t be surprised if a brand like Field Notes follows up soon with a replica of the actual notebook.
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THANKS FOR READING AND SHARING!
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