CONSUMER PROFILE CHANGES

This week I have been working hard on my A3 brand boards. I have really enjoyed the process of making them so far and it has allowed me to think deeper into my consumer profiles for the Fortitude brand to make sure I get them right. After all, it’s all about the consumer.

In my previous blog post I mentioned how I discussed consumer profiles and target audiences with Evie (the designer). We conclusively said that the first and foremost consumer will be extroverted, unique and enjoy wearing statement clothes, and that a second consumer would be more so concerned about the environment and the deeper meanings and messages behind the brand. After doing some more thinking and research, as well as seeing examples, I realised that there could maybe be another/tertiary consumer profile group. Fortitude is designed to be perceived as very much high-end and luxury, and so it would make sense that at least one consumer group has luxury/affluent consumer qualities. This is why I decided to create another consumer profile that encapsulates this.

It is still a work in progress so my ideas/names may change slightly, but for now I have decided on three consumer profile groups that fit perfectly with the Fortitude brand.

Primary consumer: The Rebel

Fortitude’s designs are going to be incredibly statement and out-there, not to be worn for every day use. This is why the primary consumer is confident and extroverted enough to wear these types of garments, and truly not care what people think.

Secondary consumer 1: The Eco

This consumer profile group has not changed massively since I first outlined them. As mentioned before, they are the ones that are more concerned about the message behind the brand and resonate with the brand’s values in that change needs to be made before our oceans become damaged forever.

Secondary consumer 2: The Affluent

This newly considered consumer will be the one that has a lot of disposable income to invest in luxury garments such that Fortitude will sell. They desire the concept of exclusivity and are not afraid to flaunt their wealth and ability to invest in garments like Fortitude's.

TOUCHING BASE WITH EVIE

Admittedly, mine and Evie’s communication has lacked over the past week or two. We have both been getting back into the swing of university life since Easter break, as well as spending time working on our own modules. Our call yesterday was very much needed and was successful.

This was a great point in both of our project journeys to touch base with each other. I had just received valuable feedback from my presentation which I wanted to keep Evie in the loop with. As well, Evie has been able to get back into the workshops to experiment physically with materials and really work on her own ideas. Therefore, at this stage, we had a fair bit to run past each other which was exciting.

The first and foremost thing that I wanted to clarify from Evie was the sustainability focus of her project. This was a key point of feedback from my presentation; that the sustainability focus and what Evie’s USP regarding sustainability got a little bit lost. I also wanted to discuss primary and secondary consumer groups with her and see what her views were regarding that. I outlined that the primary consumer would be called ‘The Egocentric’ and their focus is mainly being confident and wearing whatever they want, and that the secondary consumer would be called ‘The Ecocentric’ who has more concern and an emotional connection to the deeper message and the sustainable side of things. My presentation feedback was to maybe consider switching my primary and secondary consumer groups around. It was therefore important that I cleared these things up to be extra confident with my brand development work going forward.

Regarding the sustainability focus, Evie has made her vision more clear. She said she does not envision using sustainability or functionality as a differentiator or as a USP from her brand perspective. Her view is at the end of the day, every brand is trying to be as sustainable as possible. It is almost just expected from brands and is more of a background thing. Sustainability is of course still important for the Fortitude brand because Evie claims that she designs for a lifestyle, but she feels that there does not need to be as much of an emphasis on the matter. Evie has been experimenting with fusing plastic bags and using them as a statement material within her designs. In this way, this is the brand’s environmentally conscious attitude coming into play and it is this spin on sustainability that will allow the brand to stand out. The notion of recycling and using materials such as plastic bags is Fortitude’s environmentally conscious and sustainable stance. Evie is utilising the plastic bags in a way that not only creates an impactful message surrounding plastic ocean, but also using them in an alternative way that means marine life and the oceans will not get damaged as a result of them being used in fashion instead. Subsequently, Fortitude’s main/focal idea behind the brand is ultimately the message that we are trying to portray, over anything else.

Regarding my consumer profiles and the potential confusion behind them, Evie actually really liked my initial thought process. She confidently confirmed that her designs are going to be very statement and out-there, and therefore will be worn by very confident and ‘show-off’ people. She went into further detail regarding her designs and explained that some of her garments are going to be incredibly revealing. It goes back to our first meeting where she envisioned creating underlay garments that explore femininity and then creating other garments to go over the top. It defines that the garment on top is important, but it’s more about what is underneath, which reflects the whole brand’s concept. Consequently, she thought that my primary consumer being the more out going one, and the secondary consumer being more concerned for the environment, made absolute sense and can for sure be justified.

COLLAB PLATFORM IMPROVEMENTS

This week has been a good week for our FMBe Creative Instagram platform. This week we have been posting engaging content about what has got us each motivated through COVID/lockdowns.

Last week communication and team work skills appeared to be lacking, and it was somewhat disappointing how our scheduling didn’t quite go to plan. We spoke in the group chat about this and came up with what we were going to post next and thankfully came up with a solid plan with details about scheduling so we could keep on track.

Nataria and I had a discussion about what we could post that maybe doesn’t focus too much on our brand developments in order to keep our followers engages and interested. We came up with everyone posting an image with a relevant caption that discusses what has been getting us through the pandemic. It was really nice because everyone has posted about completely different things from working out to gaming! I decided to focus my post on how coffee has been a motivation for me (no shame)!

Here is my post:

As well as the post, Nataria and I thought we should utilise Instagram stories/highlights; again to keep followers engaged and excited by our content. I uploaded my post onto stories and added a poll asking followers if they like coffee or not. I hope our followers are enjoying our content. Going forward, we need to ensure we are switching up our content and utilising our platform to its maximum potential.

Here is my Instagram highlight: