Category Archives: Visual Communication 2

I want my brand to be a visualization of my brand philosophy of Refined Ease. Right now I’m brainstorming branding ideas of my own name, since I talked about my brand style to be a reflection of who I am as a person from two different environments- California and New York.

I’m currently thinking about changing my brand name to something completely different than my name. Annie Kim just doesn’t sound like a brand name to me. I don’t think my name has enough charisma as say, Marc Jacobs or Alexander McQueen. I’ll have to change my name or something..or come up with something completely different.

As for slogans and mascots, I have no idea yet.

I fell in love with Madewell when I first stepped foot in their store in Costa Mesa, California in 2010. It was something in the bright atmosphere and the down to earth-ness of the workers there. The perfect Madewell girl is a woman who’s artistic; she loves fashion but doesn’t live for fashion; she wears it in a sort of personal way. She’s fun-loving, eccentric, quirky, and casual. A lot of commonly used words in their campaigns are CASUAL, COOL, COMFORT, and CHIC. After repeatedly seeing and hearing these lingos, the effect is that I feel this way when wearing their clothes. It’s pretty efficient, if you ask me.

A lot of Madewell’s advertising is from a very personal point of view, creating a very welcome and comfortable environment for the customer. I believe that is an effective way to market and promote a brand because generally customers feel as if businesses and companies are on the opposite side of the counter, only after their money. Us against them sort of deal. But this method of using words such as “we” and “us,” as well as quirky informal diction, makes the us customers feel like Madewell is one of us. As if they understand us and know us so well. It’s also very casual comfort wear, so it speaks to the everyday girl. I think in many instances in couture and high fashion, it becomes more difficult to speak and relate to the customer simply because of the type of things they are trying to promote. Extremely luxury merchandise and lifestyles aren’t for everyone. But Madewell, staying in a fairly attainable price range, is able to relate to a much wider audience without compromising quality of materials.

I think it’s also important for brands to have one target item that they’re known for. Victoria’s Secret is for their bras, Michael Kors is for his handbags, and Starbucks is for their coffee. In Madewell’s case, its for their premium jeans. It’s a classically timeless piece, best friend, and reliably versatile. Madewell is always raving about their jeans, promising high quality materials and putting perfect effort into every single pair. Mary, their lead denim designer, explains that “every single season, my team looks through hundreds of fabrics. Understanding the nuances of denim requires decades of experience, so we work with mills that have been the best in the world  for a very, very long time.” They go on to explain the “artful” approach they have on creating the perfect wash, perfect fit, and perfect durability. Lead designer Somsack finishes the statement by saying, “Denim transcends all generations and cultures, and women all want the pair they’ll pull on day after day after day. I have yet to see an uncool picture of parents in denim flares- mine included.” All this fanfare and love for their jeans make me want to believe and buy a pair for myself. That’s powerful advertising right there-when a company believes in their product so much, that it becomes contagious.