Brand Identity & Personality

In order to effectively analyse existing Femvertising campaigns accurately and objectively there is an importance to understand what brand identity entails including how the selected brands use Femvertising to shape their brands in specific ways. Everything that relates to a brand represents a brand identity. A brand is reminiscent of the relationship between an organisation and audience due to the audience being a key factor in the company success. A brand identity is made in order to shape and sway customer perceptions. The process of building a brand identity is important must consider the following questions, who are we and what do we stand for? Visual representations of a brand such as logos colour schemes and fonts are all important and necessary to engage their audience. A brand identity is also inclusive of a tone of voice utilising internal and external communication, the quality and reputation of their products or service. Brand advertising, whether it be through the format of print television or social media, has a significant role in shaping consumer perceptions and brand messages greatly depend on the consumer’s exposer to brand advertising. (Sheinin, 1998)

The advertising industry once bent on selling us sex is now selling us its disgust with sexism. Experts in the field might point to Virginia Slims, the godmother of allegedly feminist brands, selling female empowerment as far back as 1968. (Iqbal, 2015)

"All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarise that society. We can brutalise it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level." 
- Bill Bernbach. (Imseng, 2016)  "The supernova of advertising was the campaign for Volkswagen Beetle, created by Doyle Dane Bernbach in the 1960s. From that moment on, advertising became a different game. All of a sudden, creativity in marketing and communications could not only seduce people in an intelligent way, but also move them and have an impact on society, art, music design and everything else." - Amir Kassaei  (Imseng, 2016)

Some brands are actively trying to sell selling empowerment to women and promote a more feminist image. Examples can include, Selfridges — a major UK department store — announced a genderless pop-up store this year, at which there was no marked difference between the male or female clothing. Then Moncler Gamme Rouge came out with an androgynous Fall/Winter campaign, where models wore a medley of the same clothes with no real distinction between which was meant to be male or female. By creating this kind of ambiguity, we begin to deconstruct our traditional ideas of what's feminine and what's masculine. 

Designer houses like Gucci are trying to balance the differences between genders by erasing the line of what is feminine. By outfitting the men's 2015 fall collection in a parade of pussy bows, sheer blouses, lace overlays, and feminine cuts, Gucci addressed the fluidity of gender. Women can adopt suits, sure. But men and masculine individuals can also adopt dresses.

Whilst in September, H&M released a video entitled "Close the Loop" to shed light on its recycling efforts, but it also proved to be a giant leap for feminism and inclusivity in fashion. Sharing a series of previously thought fashion faux pas, the campaign urged viewers to break any sartorial rules that'll help them express and love themselves. Some novel ideas were to wear a short, flirty skirt after age 40, to dress "masculine" if you want to, to feel A-OK about panty lines, to not hide behind "slimming" colours if you're plus size, and to not give a damn if you love your armpit hair and want to flaunt it. (Komar, 2015)

Brand identity is also inclusive of characteristics such as gender. (Grohmann, 2009) Research suggests consumers want their own brand concept reflected in their brand choices. Therefore, they attribute gender characteristics to brands in order to reflect their own masculinity and femininity. (Grohmann, 2009) However, some brands are crafted to target a specific gender, for example Olay, also a Procter & Gamble brand, creates products for women. It is associated with being gentle, beautiful, soft - even a colour association of pink maps Olay as a feminine brand. Though mapping self-characteristics onto brand representations is a natural process, Grohmann does not extend her findings to consider the implications of gendered advertising and how it perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes.