Brand Culture – Why Do We Need It?

“A company must figure out its core values and understand why, beyond the profit motive, it exists. This means that, essentially, a company must develop (or unearth) an ethos and a worldview that it absolutely believes in, and then perpetually act in accordance with that ethos and worldview. Everything the company does—every product or service it offers; every public statement, advertisement, and website it generates; every internal policy, memo, and business decision it makes—must be congruent with that ethos and worldview.” This is how brand culture is described in the article Give Them Something to Believe In: The Value of Brand Culture.

So why do we need brand cultures? Anthony Giddens talk about self-identity and he determine that in today’s market place consumption is an arena of choices, and although Giddens sees it as a generally positive phenomenon, he emphasizes that consumption may profoundly affect self-identity.

Consumers get confused by all the choices they have to make, for example when they go grocery shopping. By creating a brand culture organizations can help consumers identifying which brands they can identify themselves with and thereby which brands they want to buy. “In a consumer culture people no longer consume for merely functional satisfaction, but consumption becomes meaning-based, and brands are often used as symbolic resources for the construction and maintenance of identity.” –Elliott & Davies. Looking at Victoria’s secret, woman will buy their underwear because they feel that Victoria’s secret’s brand culture fit with their own values. Women will buy Victoria’s secret underwear because they hope to be perceived as someone who cares about sexiness, luxury and good quality. Looking at a brand like Sloggi, it is a completely different type of women who can identify themselves with their brand culture. This type of consumer will care about good value for money, and at some extend, sustainability.
  

Furthermore in the globalized world we live in – where we get bombarded with different brands both at home but especially when we travel the consumers tend to choose the brands they trust – the brands that have a culture, which they can identify themselves with. For example when I have travelled in countries, which are less developed, I tend to look after brands that I know. I will choose Starbucks over a local coffee shop because I know what I get buying a Starbucks coffee and I can identify myself with their brand culture. Looking at Victoria’s secret in this context consumers will choose to buy their underwear from Victoria’s secret because they know that they will get underwear of a standardized quality which will make them feel sexy every time they go shopping at Victoria’s secret. They trust that the brand will provide them the same quality, feeling, price and service no matter when – and no matter where in the world. The same is for women who buys Sloggi whenever and wherever they go, they will expect to get the same product of the same quality and they will choose this product compared to a subsidized product because they know exactly  what they get.

Therefore it is really important for a brand to create a good brand culture in order for them to create value for the brand by differentiating themselves from other companies. And to create a high switching cost for the consumer – make them “addicted” to their brand.

Written by Josephine Kruuse Eriksen

Santa is coming to town!

So, Christmas is coming, and so is SANTA! What are you going to ask him to bring you? Maybe some underwear? What do you think are this year’s must when talking about undies? Does it really make any difference from the rest of the year?

La vie en Rose isn’t a brand like Agent Provocateur, it’s much cheaper. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have nice things, “au contraire mon amie”! They are focused in young women, offering all we want. Lingerie, undies, PJS, dressing gowns, beachwear… everything!

This is a $40 strapless bra, but all of them are in the same price range.  It is similar to Victoria’s Secret, but I’d rather buy one from La vie en Rose though. I find them a bit more conventional. I’m not the kind of girl who would wear a floral one or one with orange and purple stripes, if you know what I mean.

One thing I have really liked about this brand is that it offers a really wide spectrum of things. For example, when opening its web page, you can choose between many things. If you click on bras there are many options: memory foam, push up, lightly lined, demi cup, wireless, full coverage, strapless, front closure, seamless, bustiers, shapewear, post mastectomy, sports and nursing. Meanwhile, in brands like Victoria’s, you get to choose between push up, strapless, demi, sports and full coverage. Quite a difference!

 

Another difference between these two brands is that La vie en Rose, Canadian lingerie multinational, has its own section of Christmas underwear, which they call: Santa’s favourites.  In the other hand, we have Victoria’s Secret with the Holiday Lingerie part.

But the most exciting thing of this post (and hilarious) is what happens when Christmas REALLY comes… Some brands just tend to go for reds and blacks, spicy though, glittery and beautiful. But, in the other hand, we have those kinds of brands, which are far more original than any. They approach the market in a fun way. Those that make you look like a sexy Mrs Claus. I mean, La vie en Rose.

I’m not pretty sure every girl would be brave enough to buy this, but the World is full of options! This is something that we are not, at least not I, accustomed to. I, seriously, find it unbelievably astonishing! Dressing sexily as Santa might be someone’s secret fantasy, that is why they created this kind of outfits. I truly find it more like a sexy Halloween outfit.

What do you think? Are you dressing up as sexy Mrs Claus in New Year’s Eve? Or are you just going for a “normal” sexy red outfit?

MERRY CHRISTMAS! And good luck to get what you asked Santa for!

CRISTINA MEDINA MORATIEL

Victoria’s secret, just another underwear brand?

As you might have noticed, the Victoria’s Secret (VS) fashion show 2013 took place two weeks ago. Unfortunately we could not just follow it online or watch it on tv.

We do apparently wish we could, my friends and I gathered at my place, where abducted by VS for a little while. One of my friends was desperately looking if it was possible to watch a stream of the VS fashion show that was going to take place.. Concluding that the show would be broadcasted by CBS on December 10^th, close to X-mas of course, we discussed the models. ‘Did you know that Doutzen Kroes is Dutch? Look at her kid, it’s sooo cute!! She married a DJ who’s dark and now they have this gorgeous kid.. I follow her on Instagram, she posted pictures of herself while preparing for the show, look at her body!! Well I do think her abs are a little bit too present….’ and so forth! 

So is this really about the underwear or is it the fact that VS manages to get a whole bunch of the most famous top models on earth, the women we wish we where. A strategy that I would say turns into a form of celebrity endorsement, which Romain introduced to you earlier. 

Apparently the models are picked out to be appealing to woman and not necessarily men, we seem to fall for the ‘down to earth, charming’ models like Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks. Nevertheless I am pretty sure men don’t have any problems with the selection VS makes for their Angels. 

However not all men and woman on earth are impressed by the athletic and charming models wearing not much more then angel wings and small pieces of fabrics or even a show piece full of diamonds worth $10 million. The National Organization of Woman even says this “soft-core porn infomercial” should not be on TV at all!
As the Parents Television Council agrees on. 

Enough about the fashion show, what is Victoria’s secret really all about. I know the brand, have been in there stores in New York (flagship store), several in Miami (flagship and some clearly smaller and less impressive stores) and on the airport (in and out in 10 steps). I wasn’t really impressed the first time but went to try on some stuff on my like 4^th visit to one of the shops.. I kept returning to find out what it all was about (and my friend dragged me in). It must be something if everyone is walking around with these pinks bags. My modest boobs where reaching a state they have not been before. It looked surreal and although I was impressed by what was partly my own possession, I didn’t dare to buy them.. I ended up buying a sports-bra from the VSX collection which they introduced in 2007. Most sports bras are more flattening then flattering so this was an outcome! 

VS offers lingerie, that we all know, they also have a line called Pink, which is not really worth being called lingerie, but just girly colorful underwear. Then they offer the sports collection, sleep and home-wear and some beauty products like lip gloss and perfumes. All of it you can order online with a whole bunch of extra’s and promotions. When you order a sports bottom you get free shipping, when ordering a sweater you receive a free scarf and free shipping, and a free panty when you purchase a bra! You would think they need to get rid of their stuff?

While surfing on their website I also discover clothing like denim and footwear, when did this happen? I see leather jackets and wedge boots. And when looking further I even see they offer brands like Hunter and Uggs as well. Which I think is quite interesting.. Do they need extra income from license fees? And why would they start selling clothing and shoes if what they stand for, the sexy underwear, is selling well? The more I research VS the more confusing I get.

It feels like they want to make VS a lifestyle, you can be absorbed by it. 

You can train like an Angel, participate in a runway walk-off competition and download an app to stay informed about everything that concerns VS.

I would love to meet the decision makers of Victoria’s Secret, is this a golden formula or a desperate call to stay profitable? I think it is clear that while I was starting to write this post I had a bit more of a clear idea of what they are.. Well at least there main goal obviously is to sell undies, and that seems to work. I think…

They sure have a unique strategy! 

Amanda van den Hoven

Who do you think you are?

Associations… what can we associate underwear to? What kinds of people do buy underwear? Apart from the obvious answer: everybody; we can assure that we don’t all buy the same kind of underwear. 

Kids, teenagers, grown ups, singles, in a relationship, about to marry, married, spinsters, widows… every step of our life confers us a different way of thinking and buying. Also, if you want to see it in another way, let’s split the market, instead of per age, per need: sporty women can’t wear an amazing bra, they must wear a sports bra. What about pregnant women? And women who just gave birth? Or maybe the ones who just had plastic surgery?   

Just like Carrie Bradshaw ends her day, I do too. With a Marlboro Light (now called Gold), writing “an article” in my Mac and with many thoughts in my head. Actually, Bryan Adams started to play a minute ago, particularly, this song: I wanna be your underwear. I really can’t believe it! That song made me think about men. What do they want to see? And it took me to another thought…

The other day in class, Amanda, Josephine, Romain and I were discussing about Victoria’s Secret underwear, and the object of the conversation shunted to something much more specific: bridal lingerie. We didn’t talk much about it, but it kept me thinking.

I didn’t really know what a bride wears, I mean, I’ve watched films, not that many though, but they are always wearing this kind of archetype. So I decided to research a bit about wedding nights. I got to the conclusion that there are two types of underwear for a bride: the horrible one, which is good under the dress while in Church, and the one to wear after the ceremony, the naughty and attractive one.

The luxury lingerie brands, such as I.D. Sarrieri to Agent Provocateur, going through La Perla and Victoria’s Secret have their little corner for brides.

I.D. Sarrieri has really nice lingerie, some is really transparent, some has too little fabric and some is just amazing, but they all are beautiful. But, in the other hand, we have Agent Provocateur. Their clothes are way too… naughty? But in the bridal section, they will gladly surprise us with really sexy, beautiful and extraordinary pieces.

Purchasing habit for this kind of underwear it’s quite limited (except if you manage to marry every year). Once in your life you are allowed to spend a large quantity in it, such as, if you go to Agent Provocateur or Sarrieri, 500€ easily. E.g. only for this moulded padded half-cup bustier with detachable straps, you pay 479 € (Sarrieri).

If you pay that much, you actually expect it to be very neatly and beautifully packaged. It is. You get a box with a red silk ribbon, instead of the ordinary plastic bag you get in Victoria’s or H&M… who wouldn’t love it?

As it’s the most special night of your lives girls, you have to be sexier than ever. Doesn’t really matter the price, what matters is that it’s sexy, high quality and that it makes you feel like the most amazing person on Earth at the time. For you and for him.

Ribbons, laces and other seductive details are an everyday thing, but they are different in wedding lingerie. A bra with a few scallops of lace along the border creates a sweet appeal, but a full lace bra that allows your skin to show through looks more naughty than nice though. What is always going to be in a wedding’s night, doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or what you feel, is the garter belt. That is, indeed, a not-to-forget-bit.

Copyright. Jaro Palenius

So, you know girls, dress for you, but for him too!

CRISTINA MEDINA MORATIEL

AR WEAR - branding a very delicate matter!!

Have you ever heard about AR WEAR? – I had not heard about it until two days ago where my friend showed me a video, which she had found on a Danish news page.

AR WEAR is short for anti rape wear. It is a line of clothing, which ranges from workout shorts to underwear and has indestructible material around the thighs, waist and crotch. It is, in essence, a modern day chastity belt. But only the woman wearing it has the key. She can lock and unlock it by positioning the hands of a tiny clock on the front of the garment, sort of like a gym code combination. 

AR WEAR has definitely chosen the blue ocean strategy when developing their product. Instead of diving into the red ocean where underwear producers are competing on price, comfort and sexiness they have chosen to differentiate themselves by selecting a niche, which is “rape preventing“ underwear. Choosing to focus on a practical matter instead of the cost, comfort or sexiness could give them a competitive advantage as first movers. Depending on the popularity of this product they could end up retaining this niche by themselves.

Their brand so fare is defined by an add on the crowd funding page Indiegogo.com, where they present their product with written facts, pictures and videos. Their aim was to collect 50.000$ in funds to start the production of their line of clothing and as I’m writing they have raised 51.472$. Therefore also in their branding strategy they are differentiating themselves by being crowd funded and thereby supported by the consumers, which gives them credibility.

Although it seems like a good strategy to differentiate themselves they have gotten criticism for their branding, especially for the videos. Here is an example of the criticism which I have found on the web publication Pandodaily: 

"In the Indiegogo campaign video, attractive Caucasian models pose provocatively in front of mirrors in their anti-rape wear before slinking into sexy black dresses. They head out into the night, dancing and slinging back shots at a dark nightclub. Then, a man shows off the technology of the material, trying repeatedly to cut it with giant scissors or slash it with a knife. He straightens it out to show — tada! — nary a dent was made. To wrap up the accidentally hilarious video the models pose in the tight little shorts, tossing their hair and twisting their hips. Hands creep into the shot and try to pull the shorts off, demonstrating that they remain firmly in place. While watching it you may find yourself wondering, “Is this a joke?” The answer — no."

This is one of many examples of criticism, which shows that their branding is not working for everybody. But criticism or not I will let the 51.472$ of crowd funding speak for it self.

For more information or to watch the promotional video: 

Written by Josephine Kruuse Eriksen

Underwear brands bet on athletes too

You have seen some post on women underwear, but men are concern too by underwear. Let me introduce you to the men underwear industry and one of its strategies, which is to deal with sportsmen.

Sportsmen are famous and have a good image. They can be recognized all over the world by a lot of people. It’s maybe the category of people that is the most followed by the media and this will not stop with all the money invested in the sport, which become bigger and bigger every year, and the development of the social network for five years. They are now the” representatives” of a numerous brands. They are very bankable and brands don’t hesitate to invest in sportsmen, to work with them, to launch product with their name and even to launch brands with their name.

This phenomenon is a reality in a lot of market like the clothes, headset, razors and watches market.

What is interesting is that this strategy is also used by the brands of men underwear. We will see now why this strategy is efficient and why it’s the strategy of most of the brands that succeed in the segment of average price of men underwear (between 20€ and 35€).

First of all, the key success feature that men are looking for in underwear is the comfort. This is mandatory! If we buy an uncomfortable underwear, make sure that we will not wear it a lot and it will be the last time we buy this product, a product from this range or worst a product from this brand. This mandatory rule of comfort is true for all kinds of customers (men who like sport, young or older, wearing suits or jeans etc.). What’s the link between sportsmen and comfort? Simple, what can be more comfortable than an underwear worn by people who jump, run, sweat, slide, in it during one hour and plus? I mean they wear it during these extreme conditions without complaining (did you have ever seen a player disturbed by his underwear during a game? Except Rafael Nadal but for other reasons!). If sportsmen do so it will be a pleasure for us to wear it beneath our pant in a normal day at work or at school. Moreover, will never know but if you have to run to take the train for any other reasons (look a deodorant advertisement), it will be ok and you’re going to feel good in your underwear.

Secondly, by definition the underwear is hidden beneath your clothes (even if it is less true for men than for women and especially for the young generation!) but men also care about the beauty of their underwear. For intimacy, if someone sees it when you bend over or for yourself, if you care about you appearance you will care about your underwear too. There are two aspects that explain the reasons to choose sportsmen in order to have the image of a brand that sell nice and beautiful underwear. You cannot try underwear before you buy it, therefore the only image you have in mind is the one of the model/sportsman who wears it on the packaging, on the TV advertising you saw, in a big panel inside the shop or during a broadcasted match (yes, sportsmen are often topless inside the locker room or at the end of the game).

And to be honest, they wear it well and it fit them well. “A nice underwear on him will be a nice underwear on me, he is not a model just a player who wears affordable underwear”, the brand made it, you buy it, you like it and everyone is happy with this. The second aspect is the notoriety of the sportsmen’s’ associates to the product what gives a notoriety to the product. In fact a men underwear has not to be that nice on the contrary to women one, it just have to be not ugly which makes all the difference. The notoriety of the brand in addition of the notoriety of the sportsman is enough to justify the purchase and legitimate your choice.

To sum up, simple black branded underwear are the perfect mix of good underwear for men. The notoriety is very important in men underwear industry and the sportsmen help brand to get this notoriety.

Some brand and some sportsmen have pushed this strategy to its extreme with the creation of underwear brand name of famous sportsmen. We can talk about David Beckham and its body wear collection by H&M and Cristiano Ronaldo who just launched his own underwear brand in association with the Danish underwear manufacturer JBS Textile Group.

Romain Dive