Marks and Spencer's have created sub-brands under their own "Your M&S" umbrella. These sub-brands have been launched in the past 10 years, enabling the company to target a range of audiences, ages and styles within one store.
All of these logos are mainly type focused. The Per Una logo is the only one that uses an actual image: the three hand-styled hearts. You get a sense of style from each logo which helps to create a feeling within each brand. Here I have highlighted the ranges aimed at women; 6 ranges in total, which doesn't include underwear or swimwear.
The mens clothing is also split up into sub-brands:
The styles of the logos denote the style of the clothing it sells, and enables the shopper to navigate toward the type of clothing they are looking for. This sort of device helps to create division within the stores, and also opens it up to a wider range of clientele who could be looking to buy a suit and a variety of clothing that can all be found in one store.
Ladies high-street retailer Oasis use a sub-brand for their underwear range. Sub-branding underwear is quite popular because it allows a different style or feeling to be created. Odille is the name of Oasis' underwear brand, possibly derived from the french Odile meaning rich or wealthy. The hand-styled type is pretty and feminine, appropriate for an underwear brand, and the name denotes something exotic and different.
New Look stock the sun-brand Idol. Again the logo is type based and very expressive. The name denotes popular fashion that is appealing to a range of audiences, but probably only suitable for those looking for quirky slightly edgy clothing.
This logo is from New Look, but a lot of other retailers brand their seasonal lines. Creating a sub-brand within the store for some seasonal specialities helps to draw people toward those areas. The type here has been made from felt and wool, which gives it a warm and snugly feeling. This creation of emotion and style helps people connect with the range before they even see it.
What I have learnt from this research:
1. A descriptive name for the sub-brand helps to create it's identity
2. Creating type based logos is popular for clothing ranges
3. Texture and style are good ways of showing the style of the sub-brand
4. Sub-branding helps to create variety within one store, the sub-brands should be different and stand out from one another
Hello!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post, stumbled upon it looking for M&S logos for their own sub brands. It came as a highlight to me that a lot of them are applying the same principle (Debenhams with its designers in every department) but looking into M&S's corporate website they say that 'people have trouble distinguishing from collections'.
Perhaps that's useful - and says something about the way the stores are laid out :)