How Acne Studios Builds Brand Equity?

How Acne Studios Builds Brand Equity?

Ambition to Create Novel Expression—Acne Studios

Yinting Li (1155081729)

Building a successful brand requires using creative marketing and branding strategies to create strong brand equity. Nowadays, brands try so hard to connect with consumers and effectively communicate its unique qualities in a way in which they create a positive impression in the minds of consumers. However, Acne Studios does not generate brand equity by using traditional advertising to develop creative efforts. 

Brand Overview

Acne Studios is a cutting-edge fashion brand, founded in 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden. Acne here stands for “Ambition to Create Novel Expressions.” Acne originally started as part of the creative collective that focused on graphic design, film, production and advertising. When I first started with this short essay I already knew Acne Studios. I had heard of it and was following its collection style. I like its name and design even though I never bought anything from Acne J. I never thought about how much work its founder Jonny Johansson (Creative Director) and his team put into this brand. Jonny has created such a special brand that doesn’t do everything like everyone else does. From Jonny’s perspective, fashion is more than just fashion; it is also art, music, culture, and lifestyle.

Communication Strategies

Acne Studios is different to other brands because Jonny and his team make principled aesthetic decisions and never tried to play marketing tricks. Acne is not promoted in the same commercial way as other brands, and it has a very interesting tactic of communication. Acne Studios intentionally refrain from advertising. Despite the use of non-traditional advertising methods, Acne still became such a well-known brand

In 1997, Acne Studios presented itself as a very independent, different brand, who does things differently. The points of differentiation make a brand unique. Jonny started off with sending out 100 pairs of jeans and gave them to “the creative kids” in Stockholm instead of organizing a big launch to introduce the brand. Soon, editorials from Wallpaper and French Vogue turned up. Acne Studios did not do advertising externally, relying mostly on word of mouth. This was Jonny’s first step of building Acne equity, which was to introduce a quality product into the right marketplace – This may seem obvious but it is extremely important to deliver a product that attracts a positive reaction from the right target consumers.

“We never paid anyone and we don’t want to,” this statement made by Jonny is the basis of Acne Studios. Jonny thinks that paying for celebrities to wear their clothing is a cold and short-lived strategy. However, nowadays, there are so many celebrities, fashion bloggers, and trendies who love to wear Acne’s clothing and share it through E-WOM.

Communication is almost not existent for Acne Studios. Although Acne Studios has different social media channels, it doesn’t use any social media platform to get branded content to their customers or advertise their brand. Acne only posted pictures of events they did, behind the scenes and shared a better insight to the brand. Unlike other brands, Acne Studios doesn’t chat with their customers. What they do is to provide the best possible quality products that you can buy from. I think this maybe one the tactic to build equity because Acne Studios is too mysterious and make the consumers want to know more about it.

In terms of advertising, the only tool they have is their bi-annual magazine, Acne Paper  which collaborates with other artists and designers to create collections. Acne Studios consciously decides to promotes the brand through Acne Paper. By creating a “branded” magazine that is not traditionally branded, Acne separates its design work from its communication with their customers. There are no advertisements in Acne Paper and even though editorials feature Acne pieces, they also do for its competitors.

http://www.acnepaper.com/ 

The Packaging

Packaging is one of the important elements when building brand equity. All the shopping bags and merchandising is covered in Acne Studios’ pink bags. Acne likes nothing better than being different. To be honest, Acne has done a good job in making their packaging memorable. When people see the pink packaging, they will recognize it is Acne immediately. Because of the materials and the color, Acne makes it packaging very aesthetically appealing.

Conclusion

In order to have a strong brand, a company needs to create that customer have a specific, positive thoughts, feelings, beliefs opinions and perceptions about your brand. I think Acne Studios is a strong brand which can adapt to changes in the marketplace to stay relevant. It also builds a consistent brand image and brand messaging. However, Acne Studios is weak at capturing customer feedbacks through social media since it’s the most effective way to promote the product and shape how customer think and feel about your product.

Reference:

Acne Studios (n.d.) History. Retrieved, September 12, 2013, from: http://shop.acnestudios.com/about/history

Cochreane, L. (2013) Acne: 10 things you should knwo about the hot fashion brand. Retrieved, September 3, 2013, from:http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/jun/25/acne-10-things-fashion-brand

Reinhard, C. Brand Analysis – Acne. September 23, 2014,

Retrieved from https://issuu.com/carlareinhard/docs/research_journal 

The Independent (2008) Acne : A clear winner. Retrieved, September 12, 2013, from: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/acne-a-clear-winner-783462.html.