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Creating brand appeal for C&A in China
With the launch of the first of four eagerly awaited C&A stores in China, the local retail market now has a true champion of international high street fashion retail.
FutureBrand provided a full assessment, strategic direction and brand expression system for the C&A masterbrand and lifestyle sub-brands, creating a fresh, dynamic and contemporary appeal relevant for China.
With over 1,200 stores in Europe and over 200 stores in Latin America, C&A is one of the world’s leading fashion retailers and clearly ready to introduce itself to China. Starting in March 2006 with an assignment that would last over 12 months, FutureBrand China, along with retail experts from FutureBrand London, worked closely with the C&A China team on an all-encompassing project ranging from masterbrand and sub-brand attributes, positioning (including taglines), architecture, identities and visual applications to full store design (complete with full technical specification).
“We started with a full store audit of C&A Mexico’s white box store concept in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses on which to build—the aim being to take C&A China stores to another level and one that reflected the specific needs of the Chinese consumer,” said Mark Staton, Creative Director, FutureBrand, London.
During the four month brand strategy development phase FutureBrand re-defined the C&A masterbrand and sub brand strategy in order to create a compelling proposition for the Chinese consumers. FutureBrand looked for ways to add further relevance and appeal to a brand which would have to stand strong in an increasingly competitive market.
“Choice and quality alone are not enough these days,” says Po Cheung, Managing Director of FutureBrand China. “Today’s savvy customers want catwalk fashion at high street prices. There is no doubt that C&A has always been able to provide quality and a varied assortment, but in order to compete with the other established fashion retailers in China, they had to provide a focused point of difference. We helped to create the ‘Fashion You Choose’ positioning in order to convey young, affordable fashion, wide range of choice, all tailored to the consumers needs. FutureBrand believes that the fundamentals of brand positioning are relevance, credibility, differentiation and sustainability. ‘Fashion You Choose’ encapsulates all of these elements and will play a key role in driving growth.”
Giving credibility and support to the masterbrand proposition are five distinct lifestyle sub-brands. Analysis of local market drivers, key competitors and audience needs impacted the development of different personalities to appeal to very different customer segments. FutureBrand further aligned the core visual elements of the sub-brands to their personalities encompassing typography, photography and colour palette.
The sub-brands heavily contributed to the store concept and layout as the lifestyle personalities became key focus points for different locations within the store. The brand worlds became visual navigation tools for the customer, creating the ability to drive greater and smoother customer traffic through the store.
Within this store concept, FutureBrand created a new and more sensitive signage system for C&A China which enforced the distinct differentiation between the lifestyle worlds. The simple, clean branding speaks volumes of the character and attitude of the worlds. Bespoke lifestyle photography was carefully executed to capture the spirit and personality of each individual brand.
“The finished result truly captures the spirit of the C&A brand. ‘Fashion You Choose’ is all about choices for the consumer, something we can boast wholeheartedly, whether that be choice of distinctive and appealing fashion styles, quality, price or store location. Our new innovative store concept allows customers to easily navigate and find their personal world whilst offering a spacious, contemporary shopping environment. We are well positioned to meet the upcoming needs of China’s urban middle classes,” commented Sandra Dembeck, Business Development Director, C&A China.
This month, C&A China will launch stores in Super Brand Mall, Pudong on 20 April, Daning, Zhabei District on 24 April and Wanda Shopping Mall, Wujiaochang Area on 30 April.
FutureBrand (www.futurebrand.com), part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG), is a leading brand consultancy within IPG that commands a global presence spanning 20 offices in 16 countries. Partnering with the world’s leading companies, FutureBrand helps its clients to develop profitable brands both today and into the future. Offering a full range of services from consumer branding and corporate identity, to brand identity, packaging design and beyond, FutureBrand works with clients to measure and increase brand value, define breakthrough brand strategies and create powerful brand experiences. Clients include Cadbury Schweppes, Arcelor Mittal, P&G, Microsoft, InBev, Intel, Nokia, Nestle, MasterCard, UPS and Unilever.
Contact: FutureBrand, Po Cheung, +852 2501 7977, pcheung@futurebrand.com
