A/W15 CAMPAIGN

TABLE OF CONTENT

Audience Brand Story Objectives Concept

Tactics & Platforms Media Plan Rationale

AUDIENCEIdeal Client!Young, raw, natural, effortless, quietly defiant, cool, girly, sweet, grumpy, moody, grungy. M’A’s muse, Sofia Marques (on the picture) perfectly embodies the M’A non-fashion, non-glamourous authentic beauty. “We want to work for a younger customer and a cooler customer”, says Marta Marques for Interview Magazine, rolling a cigarette. !!Actual Buyer!The very young ideal M’A girl cannot necessarily afford to buy into the brand, as it transpires through M’A visuals in their concept shoots staging young girls in naked, unsophisticated settings like working class neighbourhoods, suburban woods or industrial landscapes. But the prices are justified by the uniqueness of the designs and the high quality of the fabrics, allowing M’A to target a niche audience of early adopters and innovators: a “cooler customer”.!!Research of press coverage, analysis of social media followers and a shop staff interview at Start (one of M’A’s stockists in Shoreditch), allowed to identify two main buyers categories:!! a) Young creative fashion students in their twenties who can hardly afford the brand and save up to buy one piece (see picture on the left on the next page)!! b) The cool crowd aged between 30 and 40, young professionals who can afford the brand (see picture on the right on the next page) !!The M’A buyer (from both categories) is a city girl, she is not a fashionista but she cares about looking different in the street: she is a non-conformist and has her very unique sense of personal style. She comes from the creative, arts and culture industry, she has her own vision and wants to express it in her own individual way. She is cool, laid-back, she believes in natural beauty and in M’A’s motto: “Fashion is about attitude, not hemlines” (Helmut Lang). What she loves in M’A is the whole atmosphere around it: a non-fashion, not mainstream but unique and true aesthetic and personality. Even if she is not that young M’A girl, she is inspired (as the designers are) by the whole message she conveys and identifies with her non-fashion, effortless, defiant set of mind. !

BRAND STORY What is M’A?!!

An East London based young, niche and innovative label.!A real, unique, undone aesthetic conveying a strong atmosphere and attitude that build the brand’s identity.!The “Denim revival” (Opening Ceremony): the most basic of Denim as essential ingredient to M’A’s youth code and grunge spirit.!Two designers whose own image and lifestyle create a strong personality behind the brand.!A simple, straightforward, friendly relationship with the clients that allow to keep them close, relate to them and involve them in everything they do in a honest, authentic and effortless way.!PR managed by M’A (no agency) resulting in close relationship with their fans and followers: Marta Marques posts pictures of sweets, friends, the studio, the backstage at the LFW, their interns. Their communication is all about being fun, accessible, simple and honest.!A direct online store appearing on their website’s front page: it sets an accessible and unpretentious mood.!Model casting with cool girls from the real life street for concept shoots.!A home-crafted S/S 2015 campaign with visuals created by M’A’s studio team and an invite to fans/followers to do the same through a competition to win denim key pieces on social media.!Style titles such as Wonderland, Dazed & Confused, i-D, Tank targeting a young, cool, edgy audience. !!

What is not M’A?!!High end fashion.!Mainstream fashion.!Sophisticated, glamorous, fancy, fantasy, exclusive, detached, untouchable.!A fashion trends follower: M’A don’t pay attention at what’s going on in the fashion industry, They design following to their own inspirations, which allow them to have no real direct competitors. A/W 15’s inspirations are a mix of Corinne Day 90’s nostalgia, Juergen Teller's Go-Sees and a Frida Kahlo, Christian Lacroix aesthetic.!Only about denim: AW15 is evolutive for M”A with their trademark denim upgraded with rich metallic leathers and jacquards as well as Swarovski crystals. !Big name fashion models.!Photoshopped, polished high fashion campaigns.!!

What M’A needs?!!Keep focusing on their heavily frayed, raw edged Denim key piece that represents M’A’s youth code and conveys M’A’s concept of realism, giving a “lived-in feeling - like the pieces have been through something” (M’A for Dazed)!Be even closer to the public, offer them more lifestyle, varied, unrelated to fashion storytelling to make them feel the M’A’s vibe.!Organise events to build M’A’s unique identity and share the feeling of the M’A atmosphere with the public.!Share their inspirations and draw more visibility on their muse: Sofia Marques!A website update: bio, collections, look books (A/W14, S/S15 and A/W15 are missing), sustainability information.!

CAMPAIGN CONCEPTMarques Almeida is a young and innovative London-based women’s wear featuring iconic raw edged denim pieces and other high quality fabrics for edgy and cool women aged 20 to 40. M’A is absolutely unique because it has a very singular vision of fashion and allow clients to express a cool and edgy but non-conformist personal style in the street in a casual, effortless way.!!The concept of the campaign will focus on fitting the brand’s identity but also reinforce it. The main conceptual image the campaign will convey is M’A’s inspirational essence: the effortless, raw, non-fashion related beauty embodied by M’A’s muse Sofia Marques. It is this natural, authentic spirit and attitude clients must be able to grasp, feel and identify with. Even if, as A/W15 demonstrates, the brand is evolving and growing in its designs and fabrics, it is essential to remind that the spirit behind M’A has not changed and is still defining the brand. This will be done in different ways from starring key iconic Denim pieces that convey’s M’A’s raw, grungy youth code to sticking to an honest, authentic, straightforward communication and get even closer to the public, involving them and relating to them.!!To reinforce M’A’s identity, it is essential to give customers the opportunity to experience M’A’s atmosphere in a real way. If M’A is all about authenticity and being real it actually has to be for the public. Thorough the campaign, emphasis will be put on physical encounters between the brand and its customers. The campaign will aim at creating sensory experiences of the brand and create a world around the collection. A/W15 collection is a mix of Corinne Day 90’s nostalgia, Juergen Teller's Go-Sees and Frida Kahlo, Christian Lacroix aesthetics. It is a mix between M’A’s essence of raw, grungy spirit and new inspirations that build the brand’s evolution. The duality old spirit/new aesthetics that characterise the collection will dominate the space and will allow to convey the campaign’s key message in a consistent

OBJECTIVESTo secure 4 stories in style titles like Dazed, i-D, Wonderland, Tank & 2 blog articles on fashion blogs like Man Repeller and Garance Doré. !

!Targeting M’A’s specific consumer base (edgy and cool) and keeping the brand niche to stay in line with MA’s uniqueness and singular vision.!!

To create more visibility for the brand on social media by using new tools and collaborating with fan/followers and influent bloggers.!

!Creating more shareable content that could spread on social media to increase awareness of the collection and to allow customers to feel involved in the M’A’s experience.! !

To establ ish 3 ways of making M’A’s atmosphere thicker, more palpable and making contact with the pubic.!

!Playing with M’A’s biggest strength : M’A is not just a fashion label but a whole concept that the client need to understand and feel part of.!M’A designing rule: “Fashion designers must give a social reflection of the things going on. Fashion is a kind of communication. It’s language without words. Fashion is about attitude, not hemlines” (Helmut Lang)!

TACTICS & PLATFORMS!Tactic 1: The Show Revisited!

Sofia Marques and M’A’s interns/studio team walk the catwalk at the Fashion Week!Collaboration with fashion bloggers and social media fans!i-D and Dazed are invited backstage!Backstage Vines & Snapchats!

!Tactic 2: The Marques Almeida Digital Magazine!

Every little M’A vibe!!

Tactic 3: The Under M’A A/W15 Event!Shoreditch Warehouse!A/W15 concept video starring Sofia projected on the walls!Collaboration with graffiti artists!M’A Pop-up Store!MAC Stand!Warpaint Concert!

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TACTIC 1: The Show Revisited!

Sofia Marques, her group of friends (on the picture) and M’A’s interns/studio team walk the runway at the Fashion Week!!

The girls carry cameras on the runway and photograph the public. Most of the show-goers wear Marques Almeida pieces from past seasons (Tank). The pictures are modified and turned into digital polaroids with vintage look to fit M’A’s nostalgic aesthetic. The pictures are posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram after the show. This tactic allow to create shareable content and increase the visibility of the brand on social media. Getting M’A’s muse to walk at the show allow to reaffirm the brand’s essence, its message and to share M’A’s secretive muse with the public. Sofia will also be wearing iconic Denim pieces and will appear at the end of the show as a symbol of the real identity behind the brand. !!

Collaboration with 5 fashion bloggers and 5 Instagramers !!5 fashion bloggers (see list below) and 5 of the most active M’A followers on Instagram are invited to the show and offered a key Denim M’A piece that they can wear at the show. This tactic allows to create more shareable content on influent fashion blog, increasing the awareness for the show and the new collection. The pictures taken by the models of the fashion bloggers and Instagramers (all dressed in M’A) while watching the show will also create content they will share on their platforms. The tactic also allows to get closer to the M’A public by inviting some of them to the show, showing the clients they are important to the brand and taken into consideration. !!List of the 5 fashion bloggers invited:!- Man Repeller / American, 831K followers on Instagram, very influent, already posted about M’A!- Garance Doré / French, 309K followers on Instagram, very influent, already posted about M’A!- Fashion Obscura /London, young blogger (19) and fashion student at St Martins, alternative fashion photography and personal style. Fits M’A young and cool message.!- She Wears Fashion / UK, 72K followers on Instagram, influent vintage fashion and lifestyle blog.!- Anne Catherine Frey / French, 17,1K followers on Instagram, young fashion designer (20), all about effortless beauty. !! !

Gift bags offered to every show-goers (not only first row), placed on all seats!!Limited edition all Denim tote designed by M’A (originally exclusively for Opening Ceremony, sold with the S/S15 look book inside) filled with M’A team’s favourite sweets (they post many pictures of chocolates bars, cupcakes, etc. on their social platforms, see p.11) Again, a way to treat the public, make them feel special (all of them because M’A is accessible and simple) and keep them close. The Denim bag is a symbol of M’A’s true identity and the sweets set an unpretentious mood and add a bit of fun. !!

i-D and Dazed are invited backstage!!Target style titles i-D and Dazed get access to the backstage of the show, take pictures and publish consistent articles after the show. It allows to increase the chance to reach M’A’s edgy and cool target audience. !!

Backstage Vines & Snapchats!!M’A already opened a Snapchat account a month ago but still don’t have a Vine platform. Snapchats (100 millions users, 70% of which are women, Digital Marketing Ramblings 2015 Statistics) and Vine (40 millions users) are rising in the digital world and offer a way to share backstage privileged moments (through pictures and videos), in live, with the public who is not present at the show, making them feel part of it anyway.!!

TACTIC 2: The Marques’Almeida Digital Magazine

!M’A’s identity as a brand relies strongly on the designer’s personality behind the label. For M’A, fashion is about attitude not hemlines and it is that M’A attitude, a whole made of many little things, that translates in the magazine, through varied non-fashion related content and lifestyle storytelling. Sharing this content with the reader makes them feel included in the M’A atmosphere, that they can grasp, understand and identify with. Content contains random pictures M’A loves, their inspirations, pictures of the studio and of their place, storytelling about what they do during their free time, where they travel, what they discover, what food they cook, what restaurants they like, what events/concerts/exhibitions they go to, what movies and documentaries they watch, what book they read, etc. !!!The magazine is monthly and contains vertical links to the online store (“Where to buy this look”, “Discover the M’A piece that this documentary inspired”), which make it easier for the client to buy and drive sales. However, at least one person from the M’A team must be dedicated to writing the magazine and monitoring reactions to gather feedback. The “mass ive inc rease in sa les tha t has seen the Marques'Almeida workforce triple” (Fashion Telegraph, 2015) in 2014 should allow it. If it works online, the duo can consider have it printed as well. !!!

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TACTIC 3: The Under M’A A/W15 EventM’A for Vogue about their last event in 2013, a pop-up store in Hackney:!!“We absolutely love selling directly to our clients and the group of friends we created because of that. We're obsessed with 'the girl' rather than the product actually, so to see and get to know who all these girls are that relate to the Marques' Almeida aesthetic and have responded to it as strongly as we have is one of the best surprises of having our own label. That's why we decided to do the pop-up store, because we want to give more girls the opportunity to own a piece and the opportunity to contact with the brand a bit more directly.” (Vogue, 2013)!!The event is essential to respond to our objective to make contact with the public and make them feel M’A’s unique atmosphere.!!

Venue: warehouse in Shoreditch, The Village Underground, urban, raw, old, lived-in spirit. The place is decorated to match the Frida Kahlo/Christian Lacroix aesthetic that dominates the A/W15 collection, which creates a mix between old/raw/lived-in and new/precious/intricate aesthetics to connate the A/W15 collection (see pictures on the next page). One of the key piece, the brocade jacket, is a good example of this conceptual duality: a classic jeans jacket shape made with intricate brocade fabric, which mix allow to keep that denim raw vibe.!!Collaboration with graffiti artists, Graffiti Life London artists are painting in live a mural graffiti representing M’A”s A/W15 collection based on its old/new duality. The graffiti is a mixed of M’A inspirations for their collection: Corinne Day (attitude, postures, shapes) and Frida Kahlo (colours, fabrics). The painting will represent M’A’s muse Sofia Marques in a posture inspired by Corrine Day’s shoot, “England’s Dreaming” with model Rosemary Ferguson, lying on a sofa (see picture p.15). That’s for the “old” vibe. As for the new, Sofia will be wearing M’A’s colourful intricate key pieces from A/W15 and the wall paper as well as the sofa will have the Frida Kahlo looks and prints from her cover picture in Vogue (see picture p. 15).!!A/W15 concept video starring Sofia projected on the walls. The video is inspired by an existing video showing Sofia meandering in an old empty house that is very empowering and conveys a real atmosphere (watch the video p.16). However, the video was not well promoted and was not used (it was only posted on Facebook). The video will then be released and watchable on M’A’s social platforms and (updated) website. !!

M’A Pop-up Store with pieces from the A/W15 collections and past collections. The warehouse is big and can welcome the pop-up store in a quiet room. The store allow to drive sales and direct contact with buyers.!!MAC Stand offering to make people up in the M’A style. M’A often collaborates with MAC (Terry Barber) for their shows and a collaboration can lighten the costs of the event. !!1H Warpaint concert. Warpaint is an American indie rock band formed in 2004, on tour in the UK in 2015. The band is composed of 4 young girls with grungy 90’s nostalgic style in their looks and music. The band is popular among the targeted audience. The girls will be wearing one M’A A/W15 piece that they will style and mix with their grungy clothes. They will be paid and offered the clothes. The rest of the time a DJ will play a list of M’A (mostly 90’s) favourite songs. Here is the list ( by Clash Music Magazine, 2012).!!The M’A duo are present to greet and get to know old and new fans of the brand.!! M’A’s photographers duo Masha Mel are present, dressed in M’A as brand ambassadors and taking pictures that will be posted on M’A’s social media after the event. !!Invitations to the event are post cards featuring the A/W15 collection’s inspirations: Corinne day, Juergen Teller’s photographs, Frida Kahlo pictures, etc. Targeted style titles Dazed, i-D, Wonderland and Tank are invited to cover the event. !

Link to video

MEDIA PLAN!Tactic 1: The Show Revisited!

Send invitations to guests list - send press release to targeted media (Dazed, i-D, Tank, Wonderland + Vogue, Elle) - send invitations and key Denim pieces to the 5 fashion bloggers and the 5 Instagramers. !Announce the presence of fashion bloggers and Instagramers at the show via social media a few days before the show (Facebook, Twitter).!Create a #M’ALuckyfew where bloggers and Instagramers can post their own pictures and videos of the show in live.!Create a Facebook album grouping the pictures of the public taken by the models and tag known faces - Posts some of the best pictures on Twitter and Instagram as well.!i-D and Dazed are invited backstage: i-D gets an inclusive interview with Sofia, Dazed follows Terry Barber and Duffy in the make-up and hair styling processes.!Monitor press coverage and reactions after the show on traditional and digital media.!!

Tactic 2: The Marques Almeida Digital Magazine!Announce the launch of the digital magazine on every social platforms with direct links leading to it. !Promote it on Marques’Almeida website.!Send press releases to targeted media about the magazine & the Under M’A A/W15 Event. !Monitor visits and reactions to the launch on social media. !!

Tactic 3: The Under M’A A/W15 Event!Send invitations to guest lists and to the targeted press.!Tank gets an interview with Warpaint and Wonderland gets a story about the graffiti and Marta Marques explaining its symbolic.!Announce the event on every social media at least one month in advance and write follow-up posts after that. !Create a Facebook event (allow to estimate the number of people coming) - create a hashtag #UnderMaEvent.!Create a Facebook album with pictures of the event.!Monitor reactions on social media and press coverage after the event.!!

RATIONALEThe tactics of the campaign respond to and fulfil our objectives as following:!!

Objective 1: To secure 4 stories in style titles like Dazed, i-D, Wonderland, Tank & 2 blog articles on fashion blogs like Man Repeller and Garance Doré. !!

All three tactics (the show, the digital magazine launch and the M’A event) are likely to be covered by the targeted fashion magazines as all tactics offer different story angles that correspond to each publication. Dazed gets a “behind the scenes” backstage story at the show and is likely to cover the M’A underground event with the Warpaint concert and the graffitis. i-D gets an exclusive interview with M’A’s muse Sofia Marques at the show and exclusive pictures of the models backstage. Wonderland gets on “arty story” of Marques’Almeida with an interview with the graffiti artists at the event and an interview of Marta Marques to explain their vision behind this initiative. Tank is interested in contemporary music and gets an interview with Warpaint. Plus, Tank will be drawn by the singularity of M’A’s event in itself. The Man Repeller and Garance Doré are very influent blogs where M’A can secure a post by having them at the show, dressed in M’A pieces and photographed by M’A models. Wonderland (2015): Right now, the only thing anybody wants to be photographed in is Marques’Almeida.! !

Objective 2: To create more visibility for the brand on social media by using new tools and collaborating with fan/followers and influent bloggers.!!

The tactics allow to create shareable content that will spread on social media and increase the brand and collection’s visibility. Having the models taking pictures of the show-goers during the show, having influent bloggers (Man Repeller and Garance Doré) to share them on their social platforms, having M’A instagramer fans posting pictures and videos of the show live through #LuckyFew, creating new and popular backstage content through Snapchat and Vine, launching a digital magazine promoted on M’A’s social platforms and grouping pictures from the M’A event in a Facebook album and via #UnderM’AEvent. The tactic of having M’A interns walking the runway at the show will also create content on social media as pictures of M’A interns dressed in M’A on their social media gets more than average amount of likes and comments. !!

Objective 3: To establish 3 ways of making M’A’s atmosphere thicker, more palpable and making contact with the pubic.!!

1. Sofia, her friends and M’A interns walking the runway at the show. Sofia wearing iconic Denim pieces of the A/W15 collection embodies the importance of what Marta describes as “something that feels attainable and reachable and kind of day-to-day”, which defines M’A’s real identity. Having this symbol at the show creates the atmosphere that defines M’A A/W 15: a mix of the old (Sofia, raw, effortless, unrelated to fashion, Denim) and the new (colourful brocades and Swarovski crystals).!

2. Marques’Almeida Digital Magazine. Sharing the secrets of the M’A attitude with the public allows to make contact and allow them to identify with the brand in a non-fashion way (thanks to lifestyle varied content).!

3. Under A/W15 M’A Event. No event have been organised by M’A in the past except for a pop-up store in Hackney in 2013. M’A’s uniqueness and singularity is what allowed M’A to stand out and its essential to give the opportunity to the buyers to feel that uniqueness as well as the real and raw feeling around the label. The event is not a partnership with one of M’A’s retail partners because M’A needs its own unique place and universe.!!

The concept of the campaign, a mix between M’A’s essence of raw, grungy spirit and new inspirations that build the brand’s evolution is present all along and is materialised in the campaign’ s concepts, symbols and aesthetics. The duality old spirit/new aesthetics that characterise the collection dominates the space and allows to convey the campaign’s key message in a consistent way: M’A is evolving in terms of fabrics, designs and inspirations but all of it will always been wrapped into the rawness, realism and lived-in spirit of M’A’s DNA. The old/new spirit and aesthetic of A/W15 can be felt through :!!

the show with Sofia dressed in Denim walking the runway in contrast with the inspiration and fabrics characterising the rest of the clothing.!the bloggers invited: three of them are young, underground fashion bloggers or fashion students from St Martins in contrast with the other two (Man Repeller, Garance Doré) who are influent and “fashionable”.!the venue of the event: an old, underground warehouse in contrast with a colourful, precious decoration matching the new fabrics and colours of the A/W15 collection. !the graffiti-in-live in contrast with a MAC makeup stand.!the mural graffiti in itself representing a mix of old and new M’A inspirations.!the Warpaint concert being a contemporary, young group but conveying a 90’s nostalgia in style, attitude and music. !