Uniqlo

Within the course of this semester, we had to analyze an article and a potential problem it was facing, create a mock creative brief, and then do a mock creative pitch for a completely different product.

Boy, was it fun and super easy.

That's outrageously sarcastic though, I can't tell you how many times my group met, and kept starting over from square one. We'd finally make some progress, and go see our professor.. who would thoroughly squash our (brilliant) ideas and plans with some witty comparison or metaphor showing just how badly it sucked.

Just kidding, she was always very nice about her idea-squashing, and overall has been a magnificent professor. But let me tell you what we ended up coming up with for our brand over a few blog posts:

We had Uniqlo. Clothing for all, wanting to be the new Gap, yes? I did an article critique on them a while back, it was wonderful (in my humble opinion) and sassy towards them snarking at Gap. I really like Gap, therefore I defended them.

So Uniqlo's big issue that we identified was this: They needed to breach the American market. But they were starting in all the weirdest places. Trying to be what Gap used to be? Hint: Gap USED to be that for a reason. Trying to be the Macintosh of fashion?

I don't even know what that's supposed to mean. Seriously.

So we changed their target market from a very narrow and specific 'everyone' and made it actually make sense. We targeted interesting people, college to young professionals, who were tired of being forced into a group because of what they wore or how they dressed. Tired of only being able to get the PERFECT sweater in one color.

Let's be real, guys find one thing they like and buy it in twelve colors. So do girls. (You NEVER know when you'll need a VIOLET sweater as opposed to a PURPLE sweater. Seriously.)

Dat Purple.

So Uniqlo wasn't doing anything to make the American consumer want them except opening these MASSIVE stores that you couldn't help but notice. Fashion blogs have commented (I don't have links, but if I find any, I'll post them!) that it's sub-par quality, but at least it's cheap. Most of them left without buying anything.

So, we didn't want to focus on their price. We wanted people to want Uniqlo, to want to buy it, and the low price just be a huge benefit. We wanted people who regularly shop at Ross and people who regularly shop at Macy's (or, heck, let's go all the way and say Louis Vuitton) to meet in a store that shared both their values.

So Uniqlo needs to advertise in a way to reach these people who want more colors, good quality, affordable, able to mix and match. People who pave their own way needed to see this advertisement. That's what Uniqlo needs to do. Pick a target market and go with it.

So what did we come up with? I'll tell you in my next post on Uniqlo! Which will be soon. :)


Until next time!
-MG