Home > Our Work > Case Studies > Vala Dancewear Brand Identity

Case Study: Vala Brand Identity

Industry: Apparel Manufacturer, E-Commerce, Lifestyle
Time with Thrive: Since December 2007

Summary

Thrive Marketing helped Vala Dancewear create a brand identity for their new dancewear manufacturing company, which wholesales to dance retail stores across the US. The inspiration for the brand identity and accompanying marketing collateral is 1940’s Hollywood glamour. This is not only a big trend in the fashion world today, but also conveys the classic elegance that appeals to their high-end audience.

Objectives

The objective was to create materials with a limited design and printing budget, but convey a high-end product.  Several collateral materials needed to be created including a logo, catalog, direct mail campaign, website, promotional products, and a tradeshow booth.

The brand was to debut at a tradeshow so the marketing materials needed to have the feel of a cohesive campaign while effectively introducing the product to the marketplace in a memorable way.  The brand also had to be strong enough to compete with large companies with a proven track record of 10 years or more. 

Strategies

From the beginning, we wanted the brand to be classic and elegant to reflect the high-end fabrics and attention-to-detail used in the apparel line.  The inspiration for the campaign is 1940’s era Hollywood glamour.  Because the line is mostly made up of leotards, the models were styled like 1940’s pin-up girls, and posed like dancers rather than burlesque.

Tactics

To start, we created a one-color logo reminiscent of fashion magazines that would stand the test of time.  We didn’t want it to be overly elaborate so as to take away from the products and supplementary imagery.  This logo set the tone for the rest of the materials.

Next, each product was photographed separately using two different models. The models were cast specifically for their dark hair, timeless beauty, and dancing skills. The photographer was chosen specifically because she is a world-renowned photographer with a dancing background and possesses the impeccable timing needed to capture quick dance jumps, kicks, and other dance movements.

Photographs were chosen from thousands of choices and selected for the marketing materials. The photographs were enhanced and colored in a computer program to be monochromatic with touches of ruby red on lips and fingernails. 

The catalog included front and back images of each product as well as line drawings to demonstrate the details of products.  The content was written using alluring adjectives to describe the products with a tone just as fun and playful as the photography.

The fonts were also chosen with care.  The masculine lettering from the “Vala” part of the logo was chosen for the title of each product while the soft lettering from the “dancewear” part of the logo was chosen for the description text.  A 1940’s feminine script was used to highlight one to two adjectives from the description and overlaid onto the photographs to enhance the feel of the page.

The website, direct mail postcard, and tradeshow booth all used strong images and reflected the styling used in the catalog as previously discussed.

Results

The new brand identity resulted in thousands of dollars of initial orders prior to manufacturing deadlines and even captured the attention of an international retailer who subsequently placed an order for several hundred pieces for their retail stores around the globe.  The endorsement of such a well-known company exceeded the client’s expectations.

The reaction in the dance world has been amazing.  Editors of large industry publications are emailing the client monthly for permission to use imagery in their magazines as well as products to use in their own photo shoots. 

The objective to create a memorable and powerful high-end brand was definitely met and can be measured by the abundance of orders from national and international retailers as well as requests for magazine editors to use the client’s photography and products in their publications.

See more Case Studies.

 

Model: Lindsi Dec and Laura Gilbreath of Pacific Northwest Ballet. © Angela Sterling, Photographer.