OUGD601 - Context of Practice 3 Introduction

Introduction

It would be ignorant to believe that we go shopping in Ralph Lauren shirts, Levi jeans and Nike trainers with our iPhone’s in hand to buy clothes that we just ‘liked the look of’ on ASOS as we were browsing on our MacBook. Companies invest millions so that the consumers invest in them by buying their products and promote the brand just by using or wearing their products.

‘The brand is controlled by us – the customers. When a brand is really successful it can take off in way and at a pace, which bewilders those who purport to be in charge of it; and when a brand gets into trouble the opposite can happen. Look at Gap, which lost touch with its market place and tried to sell things people didn’t like anymore.’ (Marketing, 2014)

The assertion ‘Do We Wear The Brand or Does The Brand Wear Us?’ has become an increasingly important question as the amount of disposable income the average consumer has increased along with the amount of brands competing for their custom. Brands cannot simply rely upon their products selling because the customer likes the look of the item now that there are so many different options available at the touch of a button or in a large shopping center. A brand needs to stand out from the rest, promote their unnecessary products as necessary to ensure their products are desired and bought time and time again, no matter the price tag.

This essay will explore the components that make up a brand, to assess whether the success of these elements promote the assertion ‘We Wear The Brand’ or ‘The Brand Wears Us’. Firstly, I shall break down the aspects that build up a brands identity and explore each factors importance in establishing brand awareness. Brand awareness is fundamental in ensuring that the customers select a certain brand over its many competitors. Secondly, I will review brand equity and the impact a brands image has on the sale of its products. To do this I shall review brands, including Abercrombie and Fitch and Apple, whom have opposite consumer perception’s to assess as to whether a brands image impacts the sales of their products and the hold they maintain on their customers. Establishing the components that create a successful brand, that repeatedly sells products to the masses, is essential in reviewing as to whether the customers are choosing to wear the brand or whether the brand has ensured that they are being worn. Finally, I will explore

the psychology around brand selection to explore whether the customers select the products they purchase via free will or whether this is influenced by external factors manipulated by brands

marketing techniques. Reviewing all of these aspects will allow me to understand whether the customers purchases the products they do because they chose to, or a brand manipulates all of its fundamental components to ensure their products are desired so much so that customers subconsciously will always chose their products.

To obtain an in depth understanding of the assertions and theories I read in a range of books and internet sites, I interviewed a range of Supreme customers as they queued to purchase the brands merchandise to gain some firsthand opinions. By asking these customers, whom had been queuing since early that morning in an attempt to purchase some Limited Edition clothing, a range of questions surrounding their reasoning for purchasing Supreme clothing provided a firsthand account as to whether they felt that they were wearing Supreme or if Supreme was in fact wearing them. Sections of these interviews will be included throughout this essay but the full interviews, and photographs taken of the Supreme customers, can be found in the 56 pages magazine I created as the practical aspect of this dissertation.