To Who It May Concern,
This is a working project management platform where I, Nicole Brixi, will be submitting real time updates in relation to the development of my Independent Fashion Communication Project. This is more than a reflective diary, it is also a tool to organise my thoughts and ideas and to record developments from A-Z, showcasing clear rationale of try and error attempts. Additionally, I intend to use this channel to include any further research findings that is informing my decision making process leading to my final outcome.
The Project (IFCP)
For my Independent Fashion Communication Project I must consolidate all my learnings from the BA Fashion Communication course into a highly professional piece of academic work that is able to showcase my abilities as an industry professional and can demonstrate my areas of interest and intellectual strength within the creative industry.
I have chosen to pursue further my Fashion Business & Entrepreneurship project outcome into a fully idealised brand strategy. Previously on FBE, I was asked to focus on the entrepreneurial aspects of business development, such as cashflow numbers and mocking-up a business plan, however for this project, I will be focusing exclusively on the branding, marketing and promotional strategies. I have made this decision based on the fact that I wanted to elaborate further my brand idea as I hope it will become a future business venture, at the same time, I want to link the project to my area of most professional interest: marketing.
Fashion Theory Dissertation
An important part about this project is the link to the Fashion Theory Dissertation module. This project MUST show correlation between the themes introduced on my dissertation, and because of that, I have chosen to write about the post-modern cosmetics beauty industry with a specific focus on marketing and sales.
The way I intend to draw tangible links between the two projects is by investigating consumer buying behaviour, key marketing theories, as well as, trends in sales and communication channels. I will use my academic research findings from both secondary and primary research gathered for my essay to further inform my propositions for IFCP. Additionally, I will synthesise my ideas and strategic thinking based on the conclusions derived from my FTD which will serve to validate the project basis.
Supervised Tutorial: Session 1
(8th of July)
Today I had my first project development tutorial with my assigned supervisor, Jessica Punter. Jessica is an industry professional in the fields of both journalism and styling, she currently works writing beauty and grooming articles and has informed past students who, like myself, chose to pursue a related topic for their project.
Initially, I was feeling rather nervous about how I wanted to structure my project outcomes. I felt as if I had too many ideas, and struggled to come up with a clear rational behind how I wished to combine them into creative assets. Thankfully, after communicating with my supervisor, she expressed to me that it was completely subjective to what structure I found more comfortable to work with as long as I was able to execute my project objectives coherently. Furthermore, Jessica rest assured me by saying that if I kept my brief vague and somewhat open for interpretation in regards to the format, I could make this decision further down the line as I found most suited for the final product.
We also discussed what exactly would be my marketing strategies and if I had given much thought into it. I explained that I wanted to focus primarily on digital innovation and communicating with consumers online but attempting to fill in the voids in this environment by attempting to mimic offline means of gratification. I briefly told Jessica about one of my key e-commerce marketing ideas and to my delight, she expressed she found validity to it. However, she emphasised how important it is that I build a strong narrative around my key target consumer and to always relate back to them all of my proposed strategies and what makes them relevant to this market.
To sum up, I had a very positive response to the introduction of my project by my supervisor. She has already provided me with valuable feedback to my ideas and seems keen to help and is fully onboard with the direction of my work. Onwards, I must work towards achieving the following:
1. Synthesising a GANT chart to help me meet individual tasks and organise my time productively.
2. Define target demographic for the proposed brand and start gathering primary research that can help inform my marketing strategies.
3. Look into examples of successfully executed marketing strategies and gather any relevant information.