Business Monitor Logomania is back!
Hooray, hooray, logomania is back! Two plus decades ago consumers wanted to wear their brands of choice loud and proud, big and bloody. Then it all went a bit quiet. Women in particular suddenly didn’t want to flash the brands – it’s all a bit too football supporter now, darling. Paul Clapham, marketing expert, reports.
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his was very much true. Terrace scum had copied the ladies who lunch and the latter decided that they definitely didnʼt want to look like Millwall fans. Pubs banned people wearing Burberry checks for that very reason. But what goes round, comes round and in-your face logos are definitely back. Hereʼs a short list of big name high fashion brands who are busy selling their logos loud and large: Gucci, Balenciaga, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Christian Dior. Note that Balenciaga used to be one of the most discrete names in fashion. Then there are some of the more hip UK retailers – Zara, Mango and Topshop to the fore – who are right on trend.
Brands to mix with
I would say the above list of brands is one youʼd like to mix with so I recommend building a portfolio of their big logo offerings and walking them round your retail contacts. Ideally, they ought to be asking for your input, right now, but ho hum, people in cutting edge industries can be incredibly slow off the mark. What about the more classic commercial customer of a printwear business? Surely this is all too much of a tartʼs blouse for them? I truly donʼt think so. What MD doesnʼt fancy seeing his corporate image in 48 point rather than 12 point all over his staff and customersʼ chests? If you are selling printwear as a marketing tool – as you should be – big and bold has much to recommend it.
I would not assume that you just have to sell this to the MD. The staff have to wear it (every day, remember) so they have to be comfortable with it. Ideally someone within the company (who also has to wear it) will have done the design or as a minimum briefed it to an agency and in the process got the staff onside.
The cause of this return to conspicuous branding is supposedly Instagram. Since the social media platform gets blamed for most negative changes in society, itʼs only fair that they should be credited with something beneficial – beneficial to garment decorators and their clients, at least.
Human billboards Quite simply itʼs down to the numbers. Anyone who has built an impressive list of followers is more valuable as a human
| 60 | November 2018
billboard than those sites on the Cromwell Road in West London. The fact that I personally and quite possibly you too have never heard of these people with 10 million (or 100 million) followers does not matter one iota – theyʼve got the fanbase and thatʼs what counts.
It is of course unlikely that you or your clients have access to someone with such a following – unlikely but not impossible. Not so long ago, nobody had any followers on social media, so building a following is very doable if time-consuming. It may also be entirely unnecessary. The current resurgence of extreme branding is, it is claimed, not about ʻlook at meʼ show- offery. No, no. Heaven forfend! Whereas in the nineties big logos said publicly that you had the big bucks to afford them, this time around (or so I have read) it is about your sharp sense of irony.
Personally I think that is total manure or that the writer doesnʼt know the meaning of ʻironyʼ, probably both. It is still undoubtedly a way to state ʻlook how much money Iʼve got, you sad poor peopleʼ. However, that irony thing is there.
Vetements of Paris (but, as far as I can discover, not London and New York) have
a best-selling T shirt featuring the DHL logo and said logo is hardly an example of creative genius, nor is the brand a sample of cutting edge consumer wants. That doesnʼt stop them charging 300 euros for it, mind.
The right size bag This definitely isnʼt just about shirts or even just clothing. ʻBags of enquiriesʼ should be part of your business plan. Most designer brands include bags as part of their offering. Thatʼs no surprise – how many women leave the house without a bag? Plus man-bags are growing in popularity by the day, albeit not with me. I would say that some serious design work is required here, otherwise you risk creating a Tesco carrier bag look-alike with somebody elseʼs logo. But a bag offers the right size of canvas for a design of quality. You may not be aware of the benefits of all the materials available. Caution is indicated, plus perhaps some trial and error testing before you start selling. One proviso I would apply: a big logo on a bag that implies ʻloadsa moneyʼ would be insecure and likely to attract the wrong sort of attention.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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