H&M - Possible brand extension

H&M is famously known for their direction towards a new idea of high street fashion, however they have recently extended their brand towards H&M home.

 H&M home is a brand extension where they sell home items such as lamps, pillows, bed sheets, towels etc. but all products still match the essence of the company which is being fashion forward even in terms of their home products, all products are modern, although low priced they are still of good quality and one would probably not be able to spot the difference between it and a luxurious modern pillow.

However, if faced with a suggestion of further extending the brand into a new direction I would have to consider the brands DNA. It would have to be a brand extension that fits perfectly with their creative and innovative thinking

It could do a brand extension into toiletries, such as shampoo, soap and other bathroom essentials. Their brand logo of H&M would be written clearly on it and just like they are fashionably driven and meet all seasons they can perhaps produce a scent for every season or edible shampoo as they always find a way to amaze their customers. It would still help meet their brand DNA and at the same time it would a good way to expand their customers, it could be sold in boots, super drug as well as their own shop.

Interim assessment blog feedback

Below are the grades i received for the mid semester evaluation on the blog as well as the teachers comments:

Student response:

I believe that I've put through a lot of effort on this blog and as i have a passion for the subject of branding i tend to expand and relate to many of the topics. I would like to see myself adding a bit more effort into participating in class and to engage with the topics that are mentioned in class, it is rather good to have my voice heard than to keep all my ideas to myself as this will help me gain more marks. I also think i should do some research and add any of the websites or articles that i read that might have a relation to the topics taught in class.

Organising brand work

To build a successful organisation and brand all areas of the organisation have to work together towards that unified goal. A strong company culture and goal motivates staff as it gives them a sense of belonging and ownership. It ensures that staff are giving their best effort and therefore reaching the brands ultimate goal.


In order to ensure that the workforce is focused and are working towards a unified goal a brand should focus itself around a mantra that all employees understand and work towards. Some examples of brand mantras are:


 Ritz-Carlton: Ladies & Gentlemen Serving Ladies & Gentlemen
it is simple but universally applicable that this is what the Ritz Carlton does as a service brand.
Betty Crocker: Homemade Made Easy

Quality, family and rewarding baking experience.
BMW: Ultimate Driving Machine
Combines both luxury and performance. It reveals the power of branding strategy. 


What steps must be taken in selecting the right agency for your branding project?

• Based on a budget
• Create a brief
• Credibility
• relationship
• outside of the box
• tender document
• company that has done similar work before
• cultural considerations
• legal aspect

Preparations as a company:

• brainstorm 
• research + plan
• get to know the brand
• own research
• market research
• experience brand 

H&M - Who are they and what do they do?

H&M stands for Hennes & Mauritz AB which is a Swedish retail-clothing company known for its fast fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children. It was established in 1947 in England. At the time it only sold women's clothing and was called Hennes, Swedish for "hers". At low prices, H&M offers clothes for a variety of customers but mainly those are seeking to hit the seasons latest trend. They say the term 'extending your dollar' and in H&M they actually try to portray that through having a high quality as well as something that looks attractive. 
Today, the majority of the clothing is manufactures in Asia, including Bangladesh, Chine, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Turkey. 

"Fashion and quality at the best price." 

This is H&M's slogan and moto that they follow, it clearly defines them as a company and as a corporate culture. They use the slogan in their advertisements not necessarily by writing it but by showing the high quality of fashionable clothes that the models wear and then the price would be placed in a big font in white to be visible.


Their yearly aim is to  intensify the sales in the existing stores, as well as to increase the number of new stores by a net ten percent to fifteen percent per year. And clearly from these statistics as it says :"It has over 2,300 stores in 41 counties as of 2011 employed around 87,000." that it is achieving its yearly goal. 

H&M - Luxurious brand collaborations

H&M being a well known high street brand has been driven into doing something outside of the box that we wouldn't usually see other brands such as topshop do, they take a route of collaboration with high end designers from well established brands. Both brands collaborate together and exchange ideas where the end result would be for the invite brand to design a few pieces/items with the ideas of H&M to be sold at many H&M stores at reasonable prices having the label of both brands as a collaboration. 

Brand collaborations are done as they help reduce cost as well as widening the customer base for both brands. It ensures to enhance quality, accelerate speed and create business agility. 

In the past they have done many collaboration that have been known to be high successful, people were known to wait outside the stores for three days in order to get their hands on an item. They have collaborated with Jimmy Choo, Lanvin, Sonia Rykiel and Viktor & Ralf. 

The latest collaboration has been between H&M and Versace which will be in stores on the 17th of November, as Donatella Versace says: "So we did a best of Versace for H&M, a greatest hits, from the beginning until now." The collaboration is said to have excited many fashion gurus out there as the prices are highly reasonable for such an amazing collaboration. 

H&M - Advertisement- Below the line, Above the line & Wesbite.

Below the line:

It is used to characterise promotional methods such as catalogue and direct marketing. In terms of H&M, they focus mainly on catalogue marketing, where they would send a catalogue once or twice a month, and in the catalogue they would have images of the items they are selling and the prices, sizes and different colour they are available in. They make the buying process easier as many cannot find the time to visit the store but may have a few minutes to look through this catalogue. As a loyal customer of H&M the catalogue reminds me also to give the store a visit, some other fashion store send excessive catalogues which makes it annoying!

A catalogue at my doorstep

Inside of the catalogue:

Direct E-mail:

Looking through my emails i see that H&M send me weekly emails and updates about any promotions or discounts or a upcoming season that is coming out soon. Their emails are clear and are similar to their website and as soon as you click an link it will direct you to the right page. They also make an effort to send you constant feedback and updates about any enquiry you may have

Website: 

http://www.hm.com/gb/ 

Below are different screen shots of the website that they have. As a loyal customer to H&M i visit their website weekly and find the structure of their website to be worked out perfectly in a way to make it easy for the customer to guide his way through. They have more than just online shopping which many other websites limit themselves too.

This image clearly shows how structured and sectioned their website is and everything is clearly labelled to make it easier to surf their website. Seeing from the image they put the price and if you want any more details you can simply click on the photo. The more organised the website is the more people would want to visit it.

As we can see from the image below they have an H&M life section where they constantly update the page on the latest news in fashion and the latest trends in the coming seasons. They also take their time to discuss and inform of any new collections that will be released or any collaborations with other brands. This part of the website helps the consumer get a one on one touch with the website as they get a chance to understand the view point of the designers, and get ideas on how some of the items can be worn and how to mix and match.

Above the line: 

Above the line advertisement is one that needs to be paid for, and H&M are big when it comes to advertisements. you would find their ads on billboard, buses, underground stations, bus stops and many more. They display images of women or men modelling their clothes with the price clearly in white and the price would usually be low for an item that is very well designed which helps attract more people towards buying it. 

H&M - Seminar brief pre-research answers

In your opinion, what is the essence of this brand?

A high street fashion store that caters for both women, men, girls and boys of all ages at reasonable price with a taste of fashion meeting current trends.

What is the store like if it has one?

Structured stores - usually several floors, each sections is for a specific customer (i.e. men/women)

What is their website like?

News section, new arrival, trend setter

What do you know about the history of the brand?

Not much

How does this brand communicate and at what levels? Above the line and below the line?

They use all forms of communication.
Above the line- buses, billboards, tube ads
Below the line- Catalogue sent home, weekly emails.

Who buys this brand?
Middle class people
Men, women, girls, boys and infants
Fashion forward buyers

Can you suggest possible brand extensions to this brand?
H&M home at the moment. Need to conduct more research to find out if a brand extension is suitable.