Andrew Lipscombe creAtive portfoLio

intro & HistorY

In my career to date I have been fortunate to work with some innovative brands and some highly creative individuals, and my experience has provided me with a strong set of principles regarding brand marketing. I believe that successful brand strategies must always remain respectful to the product, and that marketing communications should aspire to be both engaging and unique in a considered and refined manner. Less is often, if not always more, and I believe distinction comes through quality and not novelty. The following pages showcase a selection of my work that hopefully demonstrates what I stand for; considered and innovative brand strategies and refined and aspirational marketing campaigns that have a consistent and engaging message, a genuine respect for the consumer, and that deliver an effective return on investment.

After graduating from the University of London with a history degree, my first job in the sector was as Marketing Manager at renowned shoe designer Patrick Cox. I moved into this role after a year working in the retail store, and I was able to make good use of this valuable experience when developing seasonal marketing campaigns at a time when the brand was at its peak popularity in the UK. I then moved to BD-Network, an integrated marketing agency, where I was recruited as a Senior Account Manager looking after the Bombay Sapphire brand, and then wider Bacardi-Martini brands promotional activity in the UK and European tax-free domains. This agency experience, involving more technical marketing disciplines, served as a great counter balance to the more intuitive experience gained at Patrick Cox, and helped to provide me

with important client management skills. In 2002 I joined Fabris Lane Ltd. with an ambitious brief to grow their branded eyewear business through a much increased emphasis on marketing. In seven rewarding years at the company the value of the brands and the overall business were increased significantly by establishing considered longterm brand strategies, and then through the implementation of innovative and effective seasonal marketing campaigns. These campaigns increased consumer awareness and reinforced consumer perceptions of the brands, increasing sales lines accordingly.

brAnd strAtegY

The objective at Fabris Lane Ltd. was to become the leading international value fashion eyewear company. The strategies put in place to achieve this goal were; build a complementary and complete portfolio of brands, promote the fashion credentials of the business by being credible value fashion but acting premium fashion; be the industry experts through quality and technical innovation; promoting the creativity of the UK fashion high street. Within this context, developing coherent brand strategies was particularly important as it provided

much-needed consensus for all branded activity, be it product development, marketing or sales. Unique brand identities were established for the collections following rigorous research from focus groups and market analysis, and these gave the brands a natural confidence in what they stood for, so they could flourish, explore, and have opinions in order to be of more interest to the consumer. For Fabris Lane, the task was to raise the profile of the brand as it was perceived as being too modest and too closely associated with key retailers. A unique brand positioning

was developed which primarily celebrated the specialism and Italian heritage of the brand, but also worked creatively to promote the fashion-ability of the collections alongside the technical benefits of the product and expertise of production techniques in a credible way. This brand strategy also successfully positioned Fabris Lane as being more empathetic and engaging with the consumer, and more caring and understanding of their eyewear experience, in contrast to the attitudes of many premium brands that were the competition.

prodUct

Spring Summer 2009 was a very significant season for Fabris Lane, as the brand was successfully repositioned in the market, moving up to a higher mid-market price range. This carefully considered repositioning meant the collections could become more fashionable, as was demanded by the market. Key to the success of the repositioning was providing the consumer with a richer brand and product experience which

more than justified the higher retail price. This was done by providing the product with much more personality. Individual pieces in the collection were given appropriate names that projected the brand heritage, and product details such as inset diamantes for female styles and engraved anchors for the mens pieces added value and interest to the product. These new design elements gave the brand more stature, and

provided the consumers with styles and detailing they could identify with and covet. Much improved packaging, and an enclosed brand card communicating the Heart & Soul concept added to a more rounded brand experience for the consumer, which was considerably more premium than a mid market brand would normally offer.

Advertising & mediA

High profile premium brands obviously provided tough competition for share of voice in the eyewear market due to their status and big media spend. Therefore, in order to stand-out from the competition, advertising creative for Fabris Lane and the other brands in the portfolio was always highly conceptual in its style and more emotional and empathetic in

its tonality. Advertising pages were also then given a dynamic layout designed to project more of the brand lifestyle. Also in order to achieve ambitious objectives against big premium competition, integrated media campaigns for the brands were always highly innovative and included press campaigns, targeted outdoor advertising campaigns, alternative experiential

activities and more mainstream TV and radio media, all of which were tailored to reach the brand target audience and achieve as high coverage and frequency figures as possible. Digital activities were always placed at the heart of the seasonal campaigns, providing the core brand platform around which all other brand activities operated.

digitAL mediA

Each brand at Fabris Lane Ltd. benefitted from its own website which presented the collections in a user friendly way, and also presented seasonal imagery and up to date brand news. The Fabris Lane brand website was more comprehensive with a corporate introduction page and an extensive section on UV protection, and sunglasses safety standards. Each brand site then also regularly featured innovative digital consumer campaigns, inviting people to interact with the brand in order to build customer databases. In 2009 the Fabris Lane site featured the Me and My... competition which invited consumers to submit their favourite sunglasses pictures and stories onto an interactive mood board to win

their preferred sunglasses. This was part of the wider Heart & Soul campaign and succeeded in getting many entries, some from high profile people in the fashion industry. Also in 2009, as part of its sponsorship activity at the Glastonbury Festival, visitors to the M :UK sunglasses vending machine were invited to send a virtual Postcard from Glastonbury to their friends via social media. The best entries from this highly successful campaign were featured on the M :UK website and also in The London Paper, who were the media partners for the campaign. For Summer 2008, as part of its sponsorship of the British Pro Surfing Association tour, the Freerange website ran an interactive tool which invited consumers to design

and order their own bespoke Freerange BPSA Tour t-shirt, using design tools on the website. Each month a winning design was chosen and the entrant received the t-shirt and Freerange sunglasses for free. For Summer 2008, as part of its sponsorship of the British Pro Surfing Association tour, the Freerange website ran an interactive tool which invited consumers to design and order their own bespoke Freerange BPSA Tour t-shirt, using design tools on the website. Each month a winning design was chosen and the entrant received the t-shirt and Freerange sunglasses for free.

april 2009

18 may 2009

june 2009

05 april 2009

GQ September 2009

april 2009

11 may 2009

pr

The high profile early success of the Patrick Cox brand was almost exclusively generated by great PR, which was often focused around the personality of the designer. In the case of Fabris Lane the brief to the PR agency was to generate as much fashion editorial coverage as possible, but in a way which communicated the brand story and projected the brands on a level with their premium brand competition.

Major PR successes included numerous celebrity endorsements, brand features on the launch of Fabris Lane Homme, and a huge amount of editorial coverage each season presenting Fabris Lane and M :UK alongside niche and status premium fashion brands. An advertorial campaign with Grazia helped to promote the Fabris Lane Heart & Soul concept by using vox-pop interviews to ask consumers

about their favourite sunglasses and how they choose their sunglasses, thereby projecting Fabris Lane as an empathetic and understanding brand. An annual PR campaign with The Times, including headline sponsorship of their Vision supplement, positioned the brand as the market leader in stylish protection, highlighting the creativity of the collections and the technical expertise of quality testing and production.

VOGUE October 2009

Bright Alliances
Sammy Farrington, Creative Director, Fabris Lane A changing world is exciting; when things shift they allow space for a different approach. When .Cent started, its approach was to redress the balance between celebrating the creative content of a publication with its financial needs. To acknowledge all its needs, whilst keeping the integrity intact. Not overriding the creative cornerstone of the magazine for commercial sake, getting the balance right. Hence our belief in celebrating creative people, and the creative process, first and foremost. All companies, including us, want to grow and need to be commercially viable but the way you choose to do that, and who you do it with, says so much about who you are and what you stand for. For us, this means working with people and brands with a shared set of values and integrity behind what they do. One brand we have a fantastic on-going working relationship with is eyewear company Fabris Lane. And this is our way of growing, a collaboration; so welcome to our first supplement, an extra chapter of the issue, Guest Edited by Fabris Lane. The content is an extension of the themes explored in the main edition, the greyworld Issue. But, this extra chapter, Illumine, sees Fabris Lane guest editing, rather than a single person Guest Editing, from their imaginative perspective. Dont be fooled by a brand, rather than a person, Guest Editing as it all comes down to a common theme. That is collaboration; of people and shared ideals. A theme central to greyworld, and to .Cent, which we were able to explore with the team at Fabris Lane. Because life ultimately is about interaction with people, shared ideals, opinions, and values, with one end game in this supplement, to communicate together in a dynamic and emotionally engaging way. We explore the world of Fabris Lane and .Cent introduces you further to a brand and the people behind it, in a unique and refreshing way. It is a personal insight that you would not get elsewhere. We first met over two years ago when .Cent had a party and Fabris Lane got involved, and the relationship has grown from there. One of the main things we have in common is a wish to communicate in a creative way, but never patronising. To share our love of what we do with the integrity, care and quality. We both want to offer up the information but never dictate it. Give people a perspective to look at but, ultimately, let people come to their own conclusions. We hope to inspire with images and words, but give people the space to make up their own minds. Dont dictate, open up the debate. We both understand that its important to push boundaries and stand out from the crowd but never at the cost of alienating people; invite people in to share your experience. As mentioned in the main issue, good collaboration has to be built on respect. We met, we discussed, laughed, joked, jostled, to make an extra chapter we all felt proud of. Because after all, a collaboration is that space in between; the space that illuminates a new way forward. Think of it like this, A plus B equals C, and its the C place that is so exciting to go to. Enjoy. Jo Phillips, Creative Director, .Cent Sometimes, some places, some ideas, some people you feel immediately comfortable with. There is less need to explain things in detail. There is less energy spent on searching for some common ground from which to move forward. You can focus on the fun things, getting things done and doing things right. Collaboration has been difficult for us over the years; we have a particular view on how things should be. Collaboration should be about sharing knowledge, each collaborator learning and creating a consensus. When you are so obsessed (as we are) with the detail in life, small things matter and can make a big difference. We do not compromise easily, so finding people with whom we can work happily, enthusiastically, creatively and passionately is always a joy. Working with the .Cent team on this project has been just that; we share a view of the world and how we are involved in that world. Im not sure how or why but it just felt comfortable immediately. We have enjoyed working on this project immensely and are both excited and honoured to be partners with .Cent in this additional chapter to the main issue. When it came to considering the content, we could not resist the opportunity to expose ourselves a little and whilst we are not revealing all (that would be improper) we are, I think, opening up a door to the world of Fabris Lane. Sharing more of who we are and how we think has been quite a cathartic process and in turn we have learnt a little bit more about ourselves. This all feels very appropriate with the theme of the main issue. It is an opportunity for us to throw some light if you like on the space that exists between the brand, Fabris Lane, and you the reader. Hence the title for this chapter Illumine. Illumine; to give light, to illuminate. To enlighten spiritually or intellectually. Well...

.Cent

Fabris Lane
Creative Director Sammy Farrington Head of Marketing Andy Lipscombe Graphic Designer Louise Hardcastle Marketing Manager Assia Lloyd Modus PR Louisa Hopwood

Illumine The Fabris Lane Chapter

Creative Director Jo Phillips Guest Editor Fabris Lane www.fabrislane.co.uk Art Director Imogen Bellotti Deputy Editor Natalie Evans-Harding Assistant Editor Alexander Holmes Creative Editor Louisa Lau Sub Editor Jenny Gadsby Editorial Assistants John Vincent Aranda, Morgane Bernard, Karishma Murli Harjani Fashion Director Jo Phillips Fashion Accessories Editor Michael Temprano Fashion Co-ordinator Glendean Rehvan Creative Associate for Art Christos Tolera Creative Associate for Literature Anne Witchard

Contributors: Museum of Islamic Art / Anne Witchard / Daniel Frost / Derek Henderson / Blinkk / Victor Boullet / Christos Tolera / Pomme Chan / Ben Wolff / Claire Wrigglesworth / Lulu Guinness / Chloe Beeney / John Maidens / David Gaffney / Tom Stubbs / A-Trak / Laura Robins / Michael Herz / Mark Maidment / Susie Lau / Jenny Dyson / Linda Florence / Fredrik Carling / Gregory / Carolina Bueno / Olivier Raffaelli / Guillaume Sibaud / Romulo Fialdini / Jonathan Fisher / Rod Lane / Fiona Lane / Valerie Cuminet Thank yous: Amy Wentz / Lilian De Munno / Danna Hawley / Jeanet Voetman / all at Modus / Fabris Lane Design Team / Scousehaus
This supplement is an advertising feature produced for Fabris Lane by onehundredpercent Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from onehundredpercent Publishing. Whilst every effort has been made to check the information contained in this issue of .Cent magazine, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions. The views expressed by the contributors are not necessarily those of onehundredpercent Publishing. .Cent 2009 onehundredpercent Publishing Limited or its licensers, .Cent and circlical are trademarks of onehundred percent Publishing. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders of images. We apologise in advance for any unintentional omissions and would be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent publication.

Cover Image by Christopher Everard, Head of Research, Interlife

brAnd AssociAtions

Brand Associations were a vital part of the brief for Bombay Sapphire, as the strategy was to align the brand with the design industry. Ongoing sponsorship activities with the Design Museum, D&AD and Designers Block helped to achieve this. At Fabris Lane the mass market brands were often creatively restricted by their mainstream distribution, so interesting brand associations were a powerful tool to help build brand credential. A collaboration with high fashion title Cent magazine raised the profile of Fabris Lane amongst the fashion press, and changed perceptions of the brand with key opinion formers. The collaboration culminated in

a contract publishing project called Illumine and launch party in 2009. The Illumine title was a very conceptual and creative introduction to the brand, using innovative editorial techniques and interesting articles on art and design to project the fashion-ability of Fabris Lane. It became an excellent brand manual for both the Fabris Lane brand and company. The launch party was a successful high profile fashion event held at the Wapping Project in east London. For Autumn / Winter 2008 Fabris Lane produced a limited edition sunglasses collection for highly acclaimed new designer James Long, which was featured in his high profile London Fashion

Week show. The show and sunglasses collection received a vast amount of PR coverage and successfully highlighted the fashion credentials of Fabris Lane to the wider industry. In Spring / Summer 2007 M :UK ran a collaboration with experimental designer Hamish Morrow, creating a modern aviator collection that was available exclusively in Boots and Topshop. This collaboration projected M :UK as an innovative and directional value fashion brand, and also added a more creative and fashion forward angle to the Boots and Topshop distribution .

M :UK is a highly fashionable yet accessible sunglasses collection that reflects all the latest trends for the season.

sponsorsHips

In 2007, as part of its strategy to become a leading youth fashion eyewear brand, M :UK collaborated with Topshop in sponsoring the Vice Live music tour of UK student venues. The nationwide tour added stature and scale to the brands marketing activities, and the association with Topshop helped to enhance the brands credibility and forged closer relationships with a key retailer. The sponsorship was further supported by the Whats Your DJ-name website promotion that invited ticket holders to engage with the brand before the gigs. The M :UK partnership with Vice magazine was

continued in 2008 and 2009 at the Glastonbury Festival where the extremely popular M :UK vending machine was sited in the Vice tent. Free sunglasses vouchers were distributed throughout the festival, and consumers were invited to visit the vending machine to receive their complimentary pairs of sunglasses. Polaroid pictures of the winners were then taken and posted on the website blog board. This was a highly successful PR event introducing many new consumers to the brand in a highly relevant environment, and was further supported in 2009 by the Postcards from Glastonbury

website promotion. Between 2002 and 2009 Freerange Sports Optics was the proud sponsor of the BPSA surf tour, the high profile Boardmasters Skateboard tour and the UKs leading Mountain Biking competitions, as it aligned itself to the burgeoning UK active sports scene. Sponsorship of these events, and also high profile athletes on the tours added much needed credibility to a collection that was only available in high street mass distribution. Furthermore, the high number of events and widespread venues throughout the UK introduced the brand to a high number of new consumers.

cAtALogUes

Each season brand catalogues were made to a very high product specification to present the new collections. These were particularly important items for those brands that did not benefit from wider advertising campaigns as the

catalogues also presented the wider brand lifestyle by showcasing the new seasons fashion photography. The catalogues were obviously vital selling tools as the collections were introduced into new markets, and they also

performed an important marketing function, supporting wider consumer campaigns as they were distributed in key retail stores and other locations such as partner hotel groups and art galleries and stores.

MERGE EXOTIC EVERYDAY NATURE HUMAN MODERN MUTATION PSYCHEDELIC SPORTS FUSION

SHAPE BIG GLAMOUR / PLASTIC AVIATORS / VINTAGE INSPIRED / LARGER SIZED CLASSIC AVIATORS / OVERSIZED SQUARE FRAMES / THIN WRAP SHAPES / THE WAYFARER / ASYMMETRIACAL SHAPED TEMPLES (MICHAEL KORS / FENDI)

BOTTEGA VENETA

trAde mArketing

Trade marketing materials were an essential part of the seasonal marketing programme for Fabris Lane Ltd. as the collections were reliant on a successful early sell-in to high volume mass market retailers. For this reason, trade marketing items were produced to a very high standard so that they exceeded expectations of collateral for mid market brands, following the strategy that Fabris Lane Ltd. was more premium and

The Fabris Lane optical womenswear collection features signature styles that exude real personality. Dorothy is a delicate vintage inspired acetate half-frame with a round lens shape, and is available in crystal pink, dark wine or tortoiseshell. Sylvia is also a vintage inspired frame: a cats-eye oval in cream, crystal purple or streaky brown. Polly completes the vintage theme; a retro square acetate with contrasting frame and temple colours such as burgundy fashionable than its competitors, for both its house brands andand crystal purple or dark tortoiseshell and champagne. More trends real context. A social and cultural trends to give product contemporary and styles licensed brands portfolio.include Martha,ofthe colourwereand plastic combination premium client Sofia,burgundy and pinks, half-frame. Asover all film were A number which is a metal produced items treatments are imaginative yetbutterfly frame,as layered an elegant and introductory brand presentation butterfly black layered with Fabris Lane collections, refined, such seasonally such as company and brandhorn over cream. packs, every style is wearable, always flattering, and always full ofnew collections each defining statements for launching the character. dark orange, and brown introduction Each and

sales presenters and press releases which were all designed to season, and were presented at key early sales appointments in The Fabris Lane Homme optical range takes iconic eyewear shapes and gives them a modern contemporary twist. Woody is a an exacting standard and all items weresquare with keyhole nosebridge and available in black, dark brown or streaky grey horn. Roman and Harry the Fabris Lane showroom. signature style; a vintage also produced in a digital format. Industry partner styles also with a keyhole nosebridge, but with a rectangle lens or larger square lens respectively and available in the same are leading trends reports were functional colour and always founded in broader yet also highly conceptualtreatments. Metal frames also have vintage origins. Bobby and Winston are distinctive rim wire frames in classic square and
round shapes, coloured in matt brown, gunmetal or dark grey. These styles are complemented by more contemporary shapes such as Eddy, a moulded metal half frame and George which is a full frame metal rectangle in matt grey, dark brass or dark brown.

JEE VICE VERSACE POLO RALPH LAUREN BEAUSOLEIL

The Fabris Lane Optical Collection 2009 Launching March 2009 We are truly delighted to announce the arrival of the new Fabris Lane optical collection. This long-awaited and much anticipated collection has been carefully designed and crafted with real love and affection, and we are very proud of the range we have created. Our seasonal sunglasses collections have always been the very epitome of elegance and style, but the launch of this complementary new optical range represents a new era in luxurious yet accessible eyewear. With a new signature styling, refined materials and distinctive designs, 2009 is the year Fabris Lane has truly come of age as an international eyewear brand. Inspiration for all the new collections is drawn from iconic eyewear shapes, classic styling through the decades, and an admiration for quintessential modern English style. This all combines in a contemporary range that exudes fashion-ability, status and heritage.

MARC JACOBS BURBERRY

FABRIS LANE LTD.

Introduction to Brands 2009

DOLCE & GABANNA

pos

Seasonal POS items have been an integral part of seasonal marketing campaigns at every brand I have worked with. Product launches and events have been communicated with mailers, such as the invite to the Patrick Cox Autumn /Winter 1999 catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week, and the launch of the Patrick Cox Pieces modular clothing collection in 1999. The modular function of the Pieces collection was communicated in

a clever way with an innovative lenticular postcard. POS items were an indispensible part of the Bombay Sapphire collateral to ensure the brand was well represented in the ontrade bar environment. Matchboxes, cocktail stirrers and bottle uplighters were some of the key elements which were all focused on light, transparency and the all-important blue bottle. At Fabris Lane showcards, postcards sets and other seasonal

POS items were produced each season for clients such as French Connection, Ben Sherman, Karen Millen, Jigsaw and Nicole Farhi, as well as for the house brands. It was always important to ensure the design and production values were appropriate for these high profile brands, and that the brands all benefitted from an individual and unique treatment.

dispLAY

In-store display briefs were numerous and varied, with a requirement for generic fixtures as well as bespoke fittings for retail partners which were often used as the basis for long term distribution agreements. Important in all briefs were contemporary design and good brand communications but most critical was the clear presentation of product and ease of use and interactivity for the customer. High quality display

solutions were delivered from bespoke window displays, through to product glorifiers and FSDU modular systems of various sizes. A major part of the marketing brief was to deliver bespoke shop fits for high profile retailers such as Boots The Chemist, House of Fraser, World Duty Free, Aer Rianta, El Corte Ingles and Magasin du Nord. Exhibition stands and showrooms were another opportunity for Fabris Lane to act

in a premium way. International exhibitions such as MIDO, Silmo and Vision Expo East were the main focus of the export strategy at Fabris Lane Ltd., so the design and function of the stand at these high profile shows was very important. These selling spaces were designed to communicate the style philosophy and open spirit of the company whilst allowing individual brand values to shine through.

Training Manual

Fabris Lane Ltd.

trAining

It was an important strategy to project Fabris Lane Ltd. as the UK market leader in sunglasses, both to the trade and the consumer, and leading the industry in product and technical training was a good method to achieve this. Therefore, an adaptable training presentation was developed which positioned Fabris Lane Ltd. as the leading European authority on UV protection and sunglasses safety standards and also communicated the technical expertise of the Fabris Lane testing

laboratory. Each season training sessions were then held with all leading sunglasses retailers, both in the UK and globally. Interactivity was key to the success of the training sessions. Trainees were invited to produce and present mood boards representing the brands, and to consider how sunglasses could provide enhanced protection and present new ideas for testing sunglasses. Interactive merchandising sessions were also incorporated so store staff left the presentations well educated

and confident about the product, and how best to represent it. The training sessions were supported by training DVDs and training manuals that were developed seasonally. The Fabris Lane training manual is considered the industry bible for UV protection and technical training for eyewear, and was then adapted to become the official training manual of the European Sunglasses Association, being translated into 8 languages.