Week 6 EOC: Chapter Questions A&F

1. I do not think that A&F reinvents their brand strategy through their product assortment. I feel that they have very youthful trendy looking clothing that has been popular for several years and seems to continue to be popular. I think that they keep that certain laid back, relaxed, distressed look to their clothing that sticks with them year after year. They are able to market these clothes to their consumers every year by changing the silhouettes and colors slightly from year to year. “A&F attaches traditional outdoor and rugged iconic patches on sweaters, pants, and denim garments, which have allowed the retailer to gain strong brand recognition.” (Brand Story, Joseph Hancock, Pg 92) They have really created a brand for themselves!


2. “Symbols such as collegiate flags, sports mascots, and the letters A&F appear on almost all products. The company has even adopted the logo of a moose that it embroiders on all its polo shirts and oxfords. Almost every garment at A&F is imbued with washing, styling, and distressing that distinguishes it as authentic A&F. The company brands each garment through this finishing process.” (Brand Story, Joseph Hancock, Pg 92) That is one way that they brand themselves. Another way is through the look and feel of their brick and mortar stores. “A&F has created a merchandising concept for its stores that is unique and easily distinguishable from its competition. The dim lighting, smell of fragrance, and booming music exude youth.” They have definitely set themselves apart from their competitors. I think they are very successful!


3. I think retail store atmospherics like music, fragrance, lighting, and stores props can either help the overall brand message or it can hurt it. It can be very helpful when branding a product to have everything within the stores atmospherics to match along with the theme. If you were selling wedding dresses and inside your store you were playing screamo music there would be a disconnect for the customer about the message the brand was trying to convey. Therefore if you are able to match all of your stores atmospherics up with the overall theme and message for your brand it can make your brand a very strong one! A&F has mastered the art of matching the atmospherics to the overall message and concept. Everything from their dim lighting to the loud music reflects the brand integrity to a tee!


4. I love walking into A&F! I enjoy the loud music that they play and I love love love the small of the store! Many people say that the stores obnoxious smell and loud music gives them a headache, but I love it! I think that they are so unique and I enjoy shopping there. I do not think that A&F is trying to intimidate their customers by using extremely attractive models. I think that that is their target market that they are trying to sell their products to.

Week 5 EOC: Excercise

Upon graduation my ultimate dream is to become a stylist. I would love to style for photographers and magazines. I would be picking out outfits and accessories for photo shoots and collaborating with photographers on an overall theme for photo shoots would be something done on a regular basis. I plan on networking with models and photographers to make connections within in the industry. I can build up my portfolio by networking with new models and photographers so that we can do trade work that won’t cost me any money. Once I am an established stylist I plan on starting my own business and charging people for my work. I think that will be hard to brand myself. It is going to take awhile for me to establish a trust worthy business that people can come to for any wardrobe help. I want my clients to be able to trust me and always be able to come to me for help. Another thing that I think will be difficult is setting a price for my services. I want to charge a base fee and then on top of that probably charge the client by the hour as well. Since I plan on having a wide variety of clients I want all types of incomes to be able to afford my services. I think this could be tricky to figure out. To get this company up and running and make it successful I think that it will take about 5 years. Five years doesn’t sound like a that but I am thinking if I was the only one I was employing five years would give be a great amount of time to make small successful business for myself.

Week 5 EOC: Chapter Questions

1. When Vera was growing up her parents wanted her to become a lawyer or have a job in the medical field. Vera did not want to do that! She trained as a young girl to become a professional Olympic skater. “Until the age of 19, Vera trained to be a figure skater. She competed in 1968 U.S figure skating championships and was listed as a featured athlete in the January 8, 1968 issue of Sports Illustrated.” (Brand Story, Joseph Hancock, Pg.75) After she trained for years she did not make the team and she went on to start designing. “Her love of fashion design came from designing her skating costumes.”(Brand Story, Joseph Hancock, Pg.75) She started going to high end fashion shows with her mother and brother and fell in love with fashion design. She started working at Vogue at the age of 21. She became the youngest editor in Vogue history at the age of 21. After working for Vogue for 16 years she resigned. She then began working at Ralph Lauren designing jewelry. It was there that she realized she loved mass making of products. When she was planning her wedding she realized how hard it was to find a wedding dress that she loved. She then began to design wedding dresses. Throughout the years she has branded herself through many different lines. Her career path is ever-changing.


2. Vera Wang owns multiple lines. Not only does she produce her wedding dress line, she also owns a fragrance, home goods, a diffusion line, and a ready-to-wear line. Many of her lines can be bought at multiple locations. Her diffusion line is found at Kohl’s. She also sales her home goods line at Kohl’s. She is continuously expanding her brand and product line.


3. The feeling I get when I think of the Vera Wang brand is classic. She has a way of making all of her pieces timeless and elegant. She owns a very different brand then that of Dolce & Gabbana. Dolce & Gabbana brand tends to push the envelope with their design and their advertisements that exude sex. Vera Wang is more of a timeless brand. She focuses on staple colors and silhouettes that will always be in style. Ralph Lauren’s brand is more modeled around the American life style from Cowboy to polo athlete. Each one of these brands is unique in their own way. They have all managed to brand themselves away from each other successfully by targeting to unique customers.

Midterm Project: Twinkies

Twinkies are ones of America’s most popularized tasty treats. Personally I do not like Twinkies, but I thought that it would be fun to research how these little cream cakes came to be.
In the 1920s and '30s, Continental Bakeries sold baked snacks under the Hostess brand name. Many of the snacks were seasonal, with fruit filling. Hostess Little Shortbread Fingers were made with strawberries, so for several months of the year the equipment used to make them sat idle because strawberries weren't available. The machines to produce these treats were very expensive and they were going to waste just sitting there for multiple months out of the year. www.delish.com


The company vice president, James Dewar, wanted to make a product that could use that equipment and improve efficiency. His idea was a simple sponge cake with a flavored cream filling. On the way to a marketing meeting, he saw a billboard advertising Twinkle-Toe Shoes. And so, the Twinkie was born in 1930. www.neatorama.com

The first Twinkies were quite different from the ones we know now. They were made with banana cream filling, not vanilla. But in World War II, there was a banana shortage, and vanilla became the standard flavor. www.abcnews.com The eggs, milk and butter in early Twinkies gave them a shelf life of only two days. Dewar had his salesman replenish store shelves every other day, but the practice was expensive. So, the need for a longer shelf life led to many changes in the Twinkie recipe.
Today's Twinkie has a much longer shelf life than the ones made in 1930, but not as long as some people think. A variety of myths have sprung up around the Twinkie's longevity, claiming that it stays fresh for decades, would survive a nuclear war and that the company is still selling off the original batch made in 1930, still fresh almost 80 years later. In fact, a Twinkie's shelf life is officially 25. "It's also a misconception that Twinkies are chemically preserved. In fact, the airtight plastic packaging does far more to keep the cakes fresh than any of the actual ingredients do." www.kitchenproject.com

Whether you hate them or love them, Hostess has managed to make a spot for Twinkies on nearly every shelf in every grocery store of America!

Midterm Project: Silly Putty

Silly Putty has been around for 50 years now, and in the past half-century, it's become an American toy classic. From its origins in a scientist's laboratory in 1943 and its introduction to the world in 1950, to its addition to the Smithsonian Institution, the fun and colorful history of Silly Putty is one of my favorites!
Silly Putty, one of the most popular toys of the 20th century, was invented accidentally. One of the most important resources needed for World War II war production was rubber. It was essential for tires and boots. It was also important for gas masks, life rafts, and even bombers. Beginning early in the war, the Japanese attacked many of the rubber-producing countries in Asia, drastically affecting the supply route. To conserve rubber, civilians in the United States were asked to donate old rubber tires, rubber raincoats, rubber boots, and anything else that consisted at least in part of rubber. Rations were placed even on gasoline to hinder people from driving their cars. “Propaganda posters instructed people in the importance of carpooling and showed them how to care for their household rubber products so they would last the duration of the war. “ www.history1900s.com

Even with this home front effort, the rubber shortage threatened war production. The government decided to ask U.S. companies to invent a synthetic rubber that had similar properties but that could be made with non-restricted ingredients. In 1943, engineer James Wright was attempting to discover a synthetic rubber while working in General Electric's laboratory in New Haven, Conn. when he discovered something unusual. In a test tube, Wright had combined boric acid and silicone oil, producing an interesting gob of goo. www.historyof1900s.com

Wright conducted a multitude of tests on the substance and discovered it could bounce when dropped, stretch farther than regular rubber, didn't collect mold, and had a very high melting temperature. Unfortunately, though it was a fascinating substance, it didn't contain the properties needed to replace rubber. Still, Wright assumed there had to be some practical use for the interesting putty. “Unable to come up with an idea himself, Wright sent samples of the putty to scientists around the world. However, none of them found a use for the substance either. “ www.ideafinders.com

Though perhaps not practical, the substance continued to be entertaining. The "nutty putty" began to be passed around to family and friends and even taken to parties to be dropped, stretched, and molded to the delight of many. In 1949, the ball of goo found its way to Ruth Fallgatter, an owner of a toy store who regularly produced a catalog of toys. Advertising consultant Peter Hodgson convinced Fallgatter to place globs of the goo in plastic cases and add it to her catalog. Selling for $2 each, the "bouncing putty" outsold everything else in the catalog except for a set of 50-cent Crayola crayons. After a year of strong sales, Fallgatter decided to drop the bouncing putty from her catalog. www.aboutinventors.com


Already $12,000 in debt, Hodgson borrowed another $147 and bought a large quantity of the putty in 1950. He then had Yale students separate the putty into one-ounce balls and place them inside red plastic eggs. Since "bouncing putty" didn't describe all of the putty's unusual and entertaining attributes, Hodgson thought hard about what to call the substance. After much contemplation and numerous options suggested, he decided to name the goo "Silly Putty" and to sell each egg for $1.
Silly Putty, marked as "The Real Solid Liquid," It was first marketed to adults but became more popular with children. However, by 1955 the market shifted and the toy became a huge success with children.
This company was able to market the product well throughout the years to keep it appealing to every generation of kids!

EOC Week 4 Excercise:

Fashion ads seem to have many innuendos hidden inside them. By picking apart different ads you can begin to realize the real message they are trying to convey. I have decided to research a fashion ad by Dolce and Gabbana to see if I could depict the real message within the ad.
“ Dolce & Gabbana are wowing the fashion world on the catwalks of Milan, but feminists in Spain have condemned their latest advertising campaign as sexist and violent, throwing the flamboyant duo into a hissy fit and prompting withdrawal of the images.” www.independant.com


The ads, which appeared in Spain, show a half-naked man holding a scantily clad woman to the ground by her wrists while four predatory hunks look on. Spain's Women's Institute, a government organization linked to the Labor Ministry, described the scene as offensive to women's dignity and an incitement to sexual violence.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, hailed as the high priests of tart chic, announced they would drop their campaign in Spain and covered their retreat with acid-drenched sneers. "We will withdraw that photo from the Spanish market alone, since they are behind the times. What does an artistic photo have to do with the real world?" If Spanish views held sway, "you'd have to burn museums like the Louvre and all the paintings of Caravaggio", they added. (Dolce and Gabbana)
Another D&G campaign featuring bloodstained models brandishing knives was banned in Britain after the Advertising Standards Authority received scores of complaints that the pictures glorified violence. The ads appeared in newspapers alongside stories about mounting British gun crime.


The Italian pair, displaying the fashionistas' lofty contempt for concerns in the real world, said at the time they wanted to create only the theatrical aesthetic of the Napoleonic period. They similarly seem to have failed to understand the message sent by Spanish critics. "Next year," the designers joked yesterday, "we'll mount a publicity campaign showing a naked woman on top of a man." ( Dolce & Gabbana)
In conlcusion I feel that their ads sometimes are negative, but if people just took the time to research the innuendos they would come to find out what the company is really trying to depict. They aren’t trying to glorify sexual crimes or violence. The company is trying to be creative.

EOC Week 4 Chapter Questions: Dolce & Gabbana

1. Dolce & Gabbana currently has two divisions Dolce and Gabbana and Dolce and Gabbana Jr. They still have the same number since this book was printed, but they have become way more popular. They are known as one of the top luxury brands in the world. Many people know them for their wildly provocative ads and their impeccably crafted clothing.
2. I don’t think that Dolce & Gabbana try to cater to the fashionistas. I think they try to be unique be creating very trendy clothing. They have styled many women that some would consider risqué. I myself do not find these women risqué, but I think that Dolce & Gabbana place these women in their clothing to make bold statements. Dolce & Gabbana prove their love for curvaceous real women by featuring them in their ads. Dolce & Gabbana believe that a woman should be strong, self-confident, and know that others like her, too. In their words: “She is a cosmopolitan woman who has toured the world, but who doesn’t forget her roots. A woman who indifferently wears extremely sexy bras that can be seen under sheer clothes, contrasting them with the very masculine pinstripe complete with tie and white short or a men’s vest. She always wears very high heels which, in any case, give her both an extremely feminine and sexy way of walking and unmistakable posture. She loves that so-masculine cap imported from Sicily and the rosary of the first communion that she wears as a necklace. She can indifferently be a manager, wife, mother, or lover, but she is always-and in whatever case-thoroughly a woman.”(Brand Story, Joseph Hancock,Pg.58)
3. I think gays purchasing patterns are extremely different from that of heterosexuals. Typically the gay and lesbian consumers are more into the fashion world than straight people. Dolce and Gabbana realized this a long time ago and ever since they have been pushing their marketing efforts toward these consumers. I think that this way a genius move on the companies part. They may get a lot of flack about their ads but I think that they are a brilliant company!