Brand makeover - Case Study Example

Eklavya Pujari 10 March Brand Makeover Brand Makeover for 'Urban Outfitters' Dale Miller and Bill Merrilees (2008) mentioned thatrebranding is ubiquitous in branding practice with many facets like brand renewal, refreshment, makeover, reinvention, renaming and repositioning which is necessary to dominate and maintain the dominancy in the market. Urban Outfitters Inc. is clothing and Accessories Company that works through two retail divisions, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, and wholesale division under the Free People brand (Jack W.

Plunkett, 2005) and has extended its line of accessories with two more brands namely Leifsdottir and Terrain after being founded in the year 1970. (Urbanoutfitters Inc.) The brand Urban Outfitters targets mainly young adults between the age group of 18 to 30 years and has established a good rapport with youngsters. However the company Urban Outfitter Inc. faces some risk in it business segment which is sensitive to economic conditions, consumer spending, shifts in fashion industry, increasing competition, etc.

It is necessary to rebrand the products in order to retain the existing customer and also to attract new customers by increasing the line of apparels and accessories for other age groups also. Amanda Comunale states that the company's identity is expressed through the brand image which can be discovered by specifying the meaning, intention, aspirations and mission of the retail brand. The most effective approach to uphold the brand image is through internal branding i.e. employees. Urban Outfitters should have makeover in terms of variant fashion and accessories by including clothes which are the hottest trend in market for all ages.

Brand makeover as it creates a sense of ripeness among the customers and tempts the customer to know what's new in the brand. Therefore it is an important tool to market and increase the sale. (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/)Majority of Urban Outfitters products are targeted towards young people which markets online making it one of the largest 500 internet retailer in the United States. Urban Outfitters has established itself as a retailer of choice for the young and stylish. The main problem in marketing could be its leadership in e-retailing and the brand will have to formulate strategies in regard to physical or offline marketing. (www.entreprenuer.com) The products after a makeover should be promoted among the targeted customers to create awareness about the brand which is possible only through effective marketing tools.

As of now, Urban Outfitter Inc. is comfortable with its existing marketing strategy through web and catalogue distribution, but commercial advertisement will reach to maximum number of audiences. Web promotion is existent but other forms of web marketing should be utilized like commencing forums to discuss with the customers regarding the brands, get feedback; blogging, social networking, video blogging, etc. The traditional form of catalogue distribution at select universities and other places should also be continued as it has been successful in the past.

(http://phx.corporate-ir.net/) In order to achieve the company's objective of expansion and adding more brands its list, it is necessary to undergo complete brand makeover so as to maintain its dominance and leadership in the market. Works CitedDale Miller and Bill Merrilees. 2008. Principles of Corporate Branding. European Journal of Marketing. Volume 42, Non 5/6 Emerald Publishing Group Limited.Jack W. Plunkett. 2005. Plunkett's Retail Industry Almanac 2006: The Only Complete Reference To The Retail Industry Plunkett Research Ltd.

United StatesPHX-Corporate-IR. (2009) Financial Year 2009 Annual Review. Form 10K. [http://phx.corporate-ir.net] Accessed on 10 March 2010Urban Outfitters Inc. Urban Outfitters. 2009. [http://www.urbn.com/profile/urban.html] Accessed on 11 March 2010Amanda Communale. n.d. You are Who you wear: A Conceptual Study of the fashion branding practices of H&M, Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters. [http://www.library.drexel.edu/publications/dsmr/Communale.pdf] Accessed on 13 March 2010Entrepreneur. 2009. Top 500 e-Retailer selects webmetrics monitoring service, 1 April 2009 [http://www.

entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/196036648.html] Accessed on 13 March 2010