STACY 2: brands in the marketplace

What sets active lifestyle brands apart from even the most successful brands is their ability to give customers an identity. This identity is delivered through the self-expressive benefits of the brand, which include the highly coveted identities and personality traits linked to the lifestyles of specific active sports (e.g., the young surfer who lives by his own rules, the daredevil skateboarder, and the athletic, confident, and empowered female

snowboarder). Teens and young adults purchase active lifestyle brands in part to link the personality traits of the brand to their own identity.

By delivering both self-expressive and emotional benefits, active lifestyle brands make their common apparel goods more meaningful and valuable. If you're a parent of a teenager, you've almost certainly witnessed first-hand active lifestyle brands' ability to command a premium price for apparel that private label department store brands sell at half the price. These premium prices extend to an assortment of non-apparel goods that active lifestyle

brands have successfully attached their names to over the past decade. The products include jewelry, sunglasses, watches, and other "second-skin" goods—items that when branded, affect one's image and help one express a certain identity. The growth opportunities even extend to second-skin items such as cell phones and other personal consumer electronics. For example, the junior girls surf-inspired brand Roxy recently attached its name to a Boost Mobile Nextel phone. With the exception of the large Roxy tattoo logo, the phone has no unique design characteristics apart from other Nextel handsets. However, the Roxy co-branded phone has been a tremendous success because it's perceived not as another tech gadget, but rather as a symbol of freedom, fun, individual expression, and other values inherent in the Roxy brand. But maybe the most compelling evidence in favor of active lifestyle brands' significance and weight in the marketplace came recently in 2002, when Nike acquired the surf and skate-focused active lifestyle brand Hurley for over an estimated $100 million. Yes, even Nike, the ultimate "emotion brand," wants a piece of this lucrative active lifestyle brand industry. And they believe that the powerful Hurley brand will help them continue to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of teens and young adults throughout the world

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Research an  industry-  SURF, SKATE OR SNOW.
1. What are the dominant brands?
Investigate the known brands.

2. What are the alternative, less known or more obscure brands? 
Collect logos and promotional images and save in a folder in your documents.
Collect info and save in a another folder in your documents.

3. What visual identity do the above brands use?  

4. How does their logo reflect their personality and product? 

5. Who is their target market? are they successful?

6. What are your favourite brands? Why?

7. What are your least favourite brands? Why?

8. What are your favourite examples of branding and why?
9. What are your favourite examples of branding and why?