Digital Communication Assignment 1 - part 2&3

Part 2 - Opinions

I think that the article is really interesting and helpful for us as future communication professionals. Nowadays, social media become an important tool for companies as well as for normal people. In my opinion the research was well done. As it was written, the research was focused more on qualitative answers than on quantitative, therefore the fact that they interview only 25 people is not that surprising. On the other hand, bigger number of respondents would help to raise the credibility of the article and it may convince me more. Moreover, I was a bit surprised by the fact that the second most recurring theme was "Information Seeking". Personally, in these days I have an impression that this theme is shifting deeper to those which are less popular as the "Entertainment" and "Relaxation" become more important and more popular across the society. However, overall I must agree with the article.




Part 3 - Three examples - Stüssy

First example:

I chose this post as an example of entertainment and time passing gratification as it shows a photo of little boy who is about to fall from his skateboard. 

Second example: 

The second post that I chose shows information about releasing new product of collaboration Stüssy with Nike, so it represents an information gratification. 

Third example: 

The third post inform Stüssy fans about new collection (as it is written bellow) and also shows the "international Stüssy community in Jamaica", therefore I decided to use it as en example of information and also a bit of a social interaction gratification.

Social media posts

Influencer post

Facebook post

 Enjoy your Stussy outfit as Chris Brown does.

 #stussy #stussyfamily 

Interactive post

Instagram post

It's getting warmer outside. Have you already jumped into

neighbor's pool and enjoyed the ride?

#stussy #stussyfamily #stussyskateboarding

Influencers

In these days many companies use influencers. The purpose of using influencers is simple - to promote or expose company's or brand's product. We can meet these influencers on the street, in cafe, on a concert or we can see their photos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or videos on YouTube. Nevertheless, their main characteristic is that they have a lot of followers and this gives them the power and advantage over others.

Nowadays, Stüssy relies mainly on skaters, rappers or other music artists. As an example, I used two pictures of Hip Hop/Rap important characters. On the first picture, you can see Snoop Dogg with DāM-FunK, whereas on the second there is A$AP Rocky. All of them wearing Stüssy clothes and all of them are well-known artists. The reason why Stüssy uses Hip Hop and Rap celebrities as their influencers is that this music culture is a part of their roots and as a streetwear brand focused on creating a large community they simply backs up their core values.Moreover, they have millions of fans on Facebook. 

Not only rappers and hip hopers are Stüssy's favourite influencers but also skaters are. The other example of Stüssy using influencer for their brand is a post from Instragram. They posted a photo with Lance Mountain, a professional skateboarder and artist who was one of the prominent skateboarders throughout the 1980s. Lance has more than 131,000 followers on an Instagram which approves that he is an important influencer. 

Passion, Themes

Understand the dynamics of the network effect

Our passion

The core passion that drives and pushes Stüssy forward is simply creating an international community around the brand, which is made up mainly by surfers, skaters, musicians, DJs and artists with similar tastes. With Stüssy’s success came the opportunity to spread the Stüssy vibes all around the world. London, Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo – these were the cities considered to be the style capitals of the contemporary world. It swept the path for the idea of building a community around the brand in every big city which helped to shape the brand into an international streetwear label.

Themes

When I was looking at various websites, articles and videos which talked about Stüssy and its history, and when I went through Stüssy’s social media and website, I came across several themes that are part of the brand.

1. Surfing
2. Skateboarding
3. Art
4. Music
5. Fashion

Surfing

Stüssy has its roots in Laguna Beach, California where Shawn Stussy, the founder of the brand, was a local cult surfboard shaper. Everything has started when he decided to scrawl his surname on his surfboard with a broad tipped marker. He began using it as a logo on T-shirts, shorts and caps which he started selling around the beach. In these days, Stüssy as a surfwear brand was born.

Skateboarding

As the community of surfers is closely linked together with skaters, the brand was easily integrated into skaters’ lives. Stüssy has remained to be a well respected clothes brand around skaters’ communities.

Art

Stüssy has a lot to do with art. Graphic designers, graffiti artists, clothing designers and comic book artists have also participated on creating of that greatly respected brand. Other important names in the art culture works on advertising campaigns and new designs for their collections.

Music

Stüssy is largely influenced by punk, hip hop and rap music. In 70’s punk broke creative and aesthetic barriers, in 80’s rap did not only push social boundaries but as well explore the idea of remixing and sampling. These new ideas and territories created a new modern platform for fashion and cultural expression.

Fashion

Stüssy worked up from surfwear to high fashionable brand. Nowadays, they collaborate with No.1 streetwear brands, such as Patta, HUF, Carhartt, Nike and many others. Each of new collections are photographed by acclaimed photographers, for example new collection for 2002 was made by Terry Richardson.

Paid, Owned, Earned

Example of paid ad: 

This is an example of a paid ad which was used in 1987 - 1989. This ad was made by Shawn Stussy who combine his remarkable graphic ability with his unique taste in humor. Even though Stüssy has incredible ad campaigns, you can rarely see them. You can find them only in few magazines and hardy ever on the street. More frequent ads could help the brand spread the awareness about itself and entice more people. 

Example of owned: 

As an example of owned ad you can see a layout of the Stüssy website. They are really well-organized, easy to follow and simple. The website is combined with their e-shop; however, there is missing part which explain the history and the brand as whole. In part "chapters" they only inform customers about their official stores all around the world, and in the part "features" they post articles about the latest project and collections. 

Example of earned: 

This is a screenshot of an official Facebook page of Stüssy. People are sharing and exchanging their experiences with the brand, posting their private post where they tagged or commented the brand or they are reacting to the brand's posts. There is obvious connection between the brand and their fans or customers. Nevertheless, the brand could create a better engagement with their Facebook fans and involve them more into the content of the page, so it would become a better dialogue between Stüssy and their fans. 

 

Stüssy

For my Digital Writing Skills assignments, I decided to choose American clothing brand Stüssy. With my online activities, I would like to focus on making the branding of Stüssy more visible. My target audience are young girls and boys aged approximately 15-35 all around the world.

Stüssy originally started as a brand with surfwear in the early 1980s by Shawn Stussy in Orange County, California. The early success of the brand has been supported by skater, surfer and hip hop scenes. In few years, Stüssy also became a part of Punks and other street subcultures. Nowadays, the brand still doesn’t name its style and they are doing so on purpose as the owner Shawn Stüssy said: "Everybody calls it surf wear, or urban street wear, or surf street... I don't name it, and I don't name it on purpose."

According to the article from Complex .com “The 50 Greatest Streetwear Brands”, Stüssy is no. 1 brand in streetwear. They survived three waves of streetwear and still, they are winners of the competition. Moreover, the brand is available in more than 75 company branded stores and other retailers in Europe, Asia, the United States, Canada and Australia.

In these days, their main competitors could be brands like HUF, Supreme or Palace, however, this is really abstract imagery because streetwear brands work mainly in collaboration and support each other rather than compete. 

When it comes to online activities of this brand, Stüssy has their own websites for North America, Europe and Taiwan. Furthermore, they operate richly on Facebook where they have settled their official Facebook page and their pages for different capital and other important cities, for example Stüssy Milano. In addition, Stüssy has accounts on other social sites, such as Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Vimeo and YouTube.

They have: 731,337 people who like their official page on Facebook

                     1,2 million followers on Instagram

                     195,000 followers on Twitter