More Than Basics

American Apparel has held the iconic prowess of an immediately recognizable player in the basics and printwear landscape for nearly two decades. Now they face new and exciting horizons under the guiding hand of Gildan. It’s time to create a powerful new brand voice with a real message - a refreshing brand statement making consumers aware that American Apparel are retaking the marketplace by storm. By using smart content strategy, we repositioned the brand as providing more offerings with new production strategies and worldwide presence.

Defining Distinction in a Congested Category

The blankwear wholesale market has become increasingly congested with the rise of innovative players & established contenders. We examined the attributes of our most established & emerging competitors in the industry in order to assess branding commonalities & differentiators in the market as they compete for the attention of AA’s target audiences. Dimensions with the lowest exposure: Global & Heritage offer the most space for exploration and opportunity in a congested landscape.

The Insight?

Let the Past Go

There is a lot of brand equity that we shouldn’t be ignoring. So let’s say it. American Apparel Wholesale & the retail brand has imprinted in our memories an iconic product - with distinct styles & aesthetics - colors and fabrics - that are not going to go anywhere, anytime soon. We continue to mature our diverse & inclusive messaging that continues on as we scale globally. That’s the thing about brands that go under and return, zombie-like, in an altered state. Companies are mutating all the time, shutting down departments that aren’t financially viable and discontinuing products that don’t sell. But when a brand is bought out of bankruptcy, though, it becomes eminently clear what portions of its business still have value, because that’s all that’s allowed to live on.

Telling the Right Message at the Right Time in the Right Place

We wrapped up our six month long engagement with Gildan & American Apparel with a communications strategy enabled by 360* connections planning of their paid, owned, earned channels. Knowing a big communication goal is generating brand awareness & consideration, telling the same message over and over again won’t do justice. Sequential messaging should help tackle - or raise - the topics the most influential customers care about. Research shows decorators value brands that are trustworthy. Components that influence trust are price, quality, fit, color and stock availability. By leveraging its narrative, AA tells a compelling story about all the things that matter most. This flows over in newer campaigns that focus more on brand consideration.