INSPIRATION'S - STUDENT SHOP

OMH
Jan 16, 2020
7 min read

Updated: Apr 2, 2020

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“We need to show what it means to be a 'student'".

“ Natural beauty as well as harsh automation - Just like student life”

Alexander McQueens Spring 1999 show is obviously a very iconic piece of creative vision. McQueen was always known for being able to create beauty from dark places in time or through the materials and garments he created. In this performance of an actress in a beautiful white summer dress being sprayed painted by a machine, he and the actress creates emotions of confusion as if you watch it the lady in the dress is looking alarmed and confused about what is happening, like its not planned and she has to go along with the environment of which she has found herself in. I think this is a good analogy for a student as when you are a student you do get thrown into the deep end of living by yourself, dealing with large portions of finance as well as studying at a high level. Furthermore it portrays, well, 'Savage Beauty' which also shows the life of a student, coming into university fresh and innocent then slowly but surely being toughened up by the reality of living on budgets and juggling a million deadlines all while you need to eat and sleep. Think of the actress in the white dress the student and University living the paint spraying machine.

"Raw. Natural. Real.".

Nike decided to home into what a 'Londoner' is and what they go through to play sport and the mindset behind it. Going from Football to Ice Hockey, Male to Female and age. It showcases the diversity and emotional process of what it is like to live in London and to love the sport you play.

"The video had an EmotionAll score of 8 out of 10 and performed

79% better than the thousands of videos we have tested to date."

The use of real emotional engagement hit home to the viewers and proved to be very popular compared to many other Nike campaigns. Showing that something far more in touch to real life delivers a stronger message to the audience even when it is international and even it If it is 'Londoner's' being focused on, everyone loves a story that is powerful and true.

I think the importance of a strong story is key to any marketing campaigns success, so bringing this to the shop, we need to find a story behind it... Why should a passer by buy into it? Why should they step into the door? What makes us different? Referring back to 'What is a student', the story and reality of student life can be very up and down, just like London, it is full of obstacles making it harder to achieve your goals, but this struggle allows for people to relate to it and then hopefully feel engaged.

"Simple and effective. A story that is based on trust".

Lloyds TSB have had their fair share of scrutiny as a bank. Banks relying on huge amounts of trust, Lloyds found themselves in trouble with their customer base due to their part in the financial crisis. Having no trust in the banking industry is a recipe for disaster so they had to step back and realise what will click with their audience and what could build back the trust between them. Bringing back the black horse for their advertisement proved to be a very good move. This is because it is part of their heritage, people recognise it as Lloyds, even if they aren't if they don't bank with them. This advertising campaign 'The running of the horses' showed a story of a young girl being woken up in the middle of the night and urged to the beach, she then told the entire town and they went and what they found was the black horses running across the sand. This is a story about trust, no sugar coated, no buy this buy that, no discount or deals. This is where it is important for us moving forward with the shop, studies show that people's behaviour to shopping is drastically changing, people don't go to high streets to buy things anymore - Footfall has and will keep falling as long as online shopping grows. A drastic change in shopping habits shows that no one is going to high streets unless it is based on experiences like a coffee shop, barbers etc. For normal products they will go where it is cheaper which is either online or bigger shops which are based outside of town due to cheaper rent that then helps the company lower the price. Shops are trying too hard to beat the large companies on price, they need to take a step back and realise they need to get individuals to want to come to the high street for other reasons, experiences and general pleasure. This advert is a great example of a campaign stepping back from the 'BUY INTO THIS BUY INTO THAT' or 'Discount galore come and join us' and focusing on the enjoyment the customer gets from simply watching, listening and experiencing. High Street shops need to do the exact

same.

"Collaboration is key."

Ralph Lauren X Palace was a huge collaboration in many forms. Ralph Lauren, one of the biggest clothing brands in history is known by just about everyone and is extremely popular as they their brand spreads to every social group in the world. Wealthy upper class individuals love Ralph Lauren because of its heritage - Polo has and will always be a higher class sport so wearing something that indicates they play it makes them feel happy and justifies buying into the brand and their hefty price points. The garments being made to a high quality also helps casual clothes buyers, especially the older audience, feel comfortable in purchasing the clothing - And because of humans nature, they will go back again and again.

Palace on the other hand started off as a small London streetwear brand which was popular with skateboarders and other streetwear enthusiasts. Completely the opposite to Ralph Lauren in the fact that Palace targeted the underground culture of Skating and certain types of music as well as the street culture of London at the time. Palace's clothing is nice but their clothing descriptions could be even better:

As you can see, very light hearted, street smart humour that caught on hugely with their audience. Still completely the opposite to Ralph. But what is important from this is how they came together and created some incredible pieces that appealed to the majority, not the few. Some people say that Palace has become 'washed' and is a 'sell out' but who wouldn't collaborate with Ralph Lauren right?

Collaboration is so important in business. The joining of two or more cultures and tastes birth an entirely new thing which normally leads to huge success.

The shop needs to be open to collaborating with entirely new and different cultures, whatever the shop identity is, fusion of more will help it grow naturally and become more than just a shop but a hub of social activity.

"Shops need a completely new feel, they need to hold on to their roots

but bring in a new animator, new music and completely new story."

The Bear and The Hare Christmas advert with Lily Allen singing a cover of 'Keane - Somewhere only we know' is another perfect example of joining up different generations, styles and ideas to create something new but something that is so known and relatable at the same time. The is a story created by John Lewis about friendship and hope of the bear seeing its first Christmas and sharing it with the Hare. The story is important but in this instance the important thing is the synergy of using the old school animation, a song that is popular but only to a certain audience and then bringing Lily Allen in to cover the song.

This mix has created THE most popular John Lewis Christmas advert EVER and what we need to take from this is again, collaboration but collaboration that benefits all and creates something completely new at the end of it - Collaboration with another student shop could grow our shop due to having another audience, but collaborating with another business such as a music or animation studio will grow the shop to a completely different level.

"Create an identity that pushes the business further"

ColorStudios is a platform in which they showcase new up and coming artists where they will perform a song of their choice in a studio that allows for very vibrant colour changes - Matching the aesthetic of the artist and the song. Performance of a song with just a microphone and beat is obviously not new, it has been done many times on many different platforms on all different levels. What Colors has done is create a strong identity for themselves, they have taken the raw performance and created something pleasing to the ear and eyes which is extremely important as it is catching the viewers attention far more than if they were playing it in the background. They also touch on fashion and styling as every artist that comes on has their own identity and that is portrayed through their clothing and the colour's used.

We need to take note and make sure our store branding has an identity that people can associate the shop/space with. This will help in students and locals taking notice of it and not just visiting but thinking 'Oh wow that's a really nice businesses' and 'Yeah I recognise that branding'.

"A platform for artists who need the platform to not just make music but

to change their life"

Blackbox cypher is a music channel in which young rapper come and freestyle over trap, drill or afro beats. This platform has seen huge success in bringing new talent to light such as Dave where he rapped verses that blew everyone away, touching on subjects such as peer pressure, death, corruption and many other things that have made him who he is. Coming from this he is now one of the biggest rappers in the UK if not the world, performing at the highest level on the biggest stages, he has come a long way. Due to this Blackbox is now very respected and many other great artists have come through this platform.

This is of interest for the shop as, if we want it to be more than just a shop but a space for creatives to work and even possibilities of a platform, we need to take pages out of their book and believe in our students and community alike. Investment in the equipment needed to make this happen can be seen as a short term financial issue but the possible success coming from this is huge, it will turn our space into far more than that. Pirate Studios is also another platform in which it invests heavily in the short term but reeks all the benefits from it in the long term.