BRANDING / PRINT DESIGN / SOCIAL MEDIA / OUTDOOR ADVERTISING
IVY CITIZENS
Ivy Citizens is a startup business seeking to break into the highly competitive women’s athletic wear industry. The brand is exclusively designed by the prolific South African designer, Amanda Laird Cherry, and competes directly with other larger athletic brands.
The Process
Problem
Located in South Park Mall, Ivy Citizens was in direct competition with more established brands like Athleta, Lulu Lemon, and Fabletics. Because Ivy Citizens’ retail front was located in the mall’s luxury wing, they experienced far less foot traffic than desired. As a result of attempting to compensate for the lack of traffic to their store, the brand also faced an identity crisis, specifically in their target market, product, and corporate goals.
Objective
Determine a precise target market, focus the product offerings, and develop a poster that captured the iconic prints that the store offered to drive more foot traffic to their retail location.
Define
Consumers Aged 30 – 45 // Annual Income: $70,000 – $90,000 // Mothers of Multiple Children
Strategy
We created a detailed competitor analysis of similar retailers in the South Park area to better understand the inherent advantages Ivy Citizens holds. Our team also created a partly print, partly social ad campaign that encapsulated the heavy South African influences for which Amanda Laird Cherry, the brands designer.
Analysis
Ivy Citizens offered a unique luxury experience and accommodated the fit of an older target market that has been largely ignored by other women’s athletic brands. As a local brand, the owner and designer could build connections on the floor with customers directly, creating an experience that their franchised competitors simply could not achieve. Having a single famous designer allowed for a more focused sense of style, and the ability to offer a larger variety in sizing rather than style. By contrast, competitors in the women’s athletic space all targeted younger, slimmer women. Ivy Citizens’ retail space was also meticulously designed by Amanda Laird Cherry, and featured a coffee / tap / wine bar to build an experience over a simple retail purchase.
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Print Design – Posters
The juxtaposition between the dark blue background and the white foreground created an easy-to-read design, and the piece as a whole offers significant depth. The flowered background is the brand’s best-selling print and is a comprised of flowers native to South Africa.
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Banner Ad Design
After months in the mall, Ivy Citizens decided to pivot to an eCommerce-based transnational system. Converting the existing ad style to a banner ad sizing while keeping the overall blank space to convey a sense of elegance was a challenge that our team embraced wholeheartedly.
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Social Media Ad Design
We adapted the banner ad design to create a social media campaign with more energy to grab the viewer’s attention, yet still convey a sense of elegance. Using what we knew about the brand’s target audience and key differentiators, we were able to successfully target key shoppers in the area to increase eCommerce activity even further.
