Here's a really engaging article about Hollister - and how they've basically 'stolen' the surf industry...from the surf industry. With branding.
Many don't know that Hollister is a product of Abercrombie. And that they're not an age old surf brand from California - but instead a manufactured story from the Abercrombie headquarters in Ohio.
What's weird is that Hollister really gets branding. And they've done a stellar job at creating, building and promoting a lifestyle brand to kids who now believe they're a legit surf brand. So much so, that they're eating sales away from the real surf brands - or the other chain retailers like Zumies and PacSun - who carry gear made by actual surf companies. They've made surf style popular with mainstream youth before the real surf brands could fully capitalize on it.
This is an interesting trend in retail. It used to be that indie brands could start with a fringe audience and grow into mainstream. Plenty of skateboarding, snowboarding and earlier surf brands have built their businesses on this. But now big business is watching - and they're getting adept at identifying a trend, and building a private-label brand to satisfy the need. They're doing this even better than the indie brand could, for a mainstream audience. Which will likely stunt future growth opportunities for independent brands.
If you're in branding, read the whole piece in TransWorld . If you're in the surf industry, get off the beach and start a campaign outing Hollister as "fake." It's a huge anti-brand opportunity waiting to happen. If you're a Hollister kid, don't worry. Keep shopping.
5 comments:
I used to work at a Hollister in college. My boss was 3 years younger than me and a coworker asked me to her high school prom. Lame...
Who knew? Lake Erie Surfer. Roxy and Volcom need to get into Cleveland while they still can.
That's probably what you get for working there...I would never have wanted to do that or Abercrombie, although I have shopped both places -- along with their fake surfing attitude, the people that work there are pretty fake too...
They have definitely mastered the marketing game, because all of the kids who shop there, feel authentic.
Great article, as always Darryl. Totally relevant to the COLABORATORY crew in the final days of their project for Sameunderneath. Thanks for the link.
Great article! As a mom of 2 teenagers living in Santa Cruz, CA it really is fascinating to find out Hollister is from Ohio. There is a town in California named Hollister, and I always assumed that's where they were from, silly me.
Luckily for my wallet neither of my kids want anything to do with Abercrombie or Hollister.
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