Design a concept and campaign for the first ever Whistles scent
Background
Whistles is a leading British contemporary fashion brand that encapsulates an intelligent sense of design with timeless and luxurious pieces. Our collections are modern and laid back with an attention to detail and quality. Since its relaunch in 2008, and under the guidance of inspiring CEO, Jane Shepherdson, Whistles has become a wardrobe staple for fashion editors and industry leaders, characterised by its contemporary and effortless style.
In September 2014, Whistles launched its hotly anticipated debut men’s collection. The Whistles menswear collection is a capsule of modern classics with a sporty and effortless slant. Everyday pieces are made special by luxurious fabrication and contemporary detail. As Adrian Clark, the Style Director at Shortlist said, “Whistles is the womenswear go-to destination for basics that bridge the high street and designer divide. And the ethos of well-edited wardrobe staples remains with its menswear debut.”
The Whistles Woman:
Intelligent, independent, discerning.
She wants clothes that cater to all parts of her purposeful life. She values design and service – she wants to feel elegant and relaxed in her clothes.
The Whistles Man:
Aware, selective, confident.
He values contemporary design with modern utility. He wants to shop from an edited collection that feels considered and versatile, combining understated looks with refined styling; produced to be relevant for work and leisure in the knowledge that what separates those worlds is becoming less defined.
Our PR & Marketing Strategy
We create bespoke seasonal in-house marketing and press strategies. These generate international brand awareness and drive footfall.
We partner with internationally renowned photographers, stylists and art directors to create our campaigns and capture our brand season on season.
Our Retail Strategy
Our stores are relaxed, contemporary spaces that focus on exceptional service. Friendly and knowledgeable teams create personal relationships with customers establishing a growing and loyal database. We have 53 stores and 74 concessions in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, US, Russia and China. Our website presence mirrors our stores: clean, effortless, relevant.
Regular arrivals of stock and editorial content enrich the evolving ecommerce experience, driving footfall and increasing engagement. Content for menswear and womenswear is mixed on our homepage, Inspiration page, Journal and on our social media channels.
Packaging and presentation plays an integral role in the Whistles experience. All packaging for Whistles is considered, beautiful and luxurious.
The Creative Challenge
Design a concept and campaign for the first ever Whistles scent.
The concept should take into consideration our brand positioning, mission and strategies. It should target the female and male Whistles customer as well as attract a new customer to the brand.
There are many product opportunities and innovations in the scent industry, and we are very open-minded to the approach here. It could be focussed on one product area or a collection of products in this category.
This is a totally new category for Whistles. We don’t currently offer any scented products but we want you to help us change that. We’re looking for ideas of what the scent should be, how it would be packaged and how we would bring the product to market via PR and marketing campaigns. You are free to demonstrate how you would communicate your concept in one or more campaign channels.
You are free to consider potential brand partners that we could work with to develop the scent and also how your concepts would be displayed in-store and online
Who is doing it right?
Some of the brands we look up to are:
Byredo
Le Labo
Comme des Garçons
Further opportunities
There is an opportunity for Commended entrants to be invited to do an internship at the Whistles London Head Office. The winning design could be used to define the Whistles scent.
Research :
I started off researching into the brands which were mentioned in the brief. I felt that it was important to get an idea and feel of the type of design they would be interested in. I noticed that the designs in which they preferred were quite plain and simple, in monochrome colours. I also looked in to other designs that fitted the description but also gathered inspiration from looking at other styles of design for perfume too.
Whistles as a company:
Admittedly I had never heard of whistles before completing this brief so I needed to find some more information in to the types of products they produce. I believe that the majority of the clothing is quite basic, in my opinion its not flashy or in your face it gives me the impression that the products are everyday clothing just at a more expensive price. There products tend to be all one colour or quite pattern-less with little colour.
Initial Designs and development.
This was the drawing I drew that inspired the background. I then scanned it on to the computer and vectorised the image as well as rotated and repeated to create a pattern.
Above you can see how I experimented with stroke, colour and the different background colours affected the design. I also wanted to see how it would look taking small parts of the same design and repeated it. I didn't want to use a completely different design because I wanted it to appear that it was for the same collection with men and women.
I felt like I was getting somewhere with the above design. Making the image just a line drawing and incorporating signature colours.
Above I decided to see how the development images would look on bottles.
As well as how the perfume box would look with he designs on.
Incorporating the different colours
Final Designs:
I felt like there was something missing and although adding colours to certain areas i felt that It needed another aspect to it. So I decided to go back to some of my research. I then decided to incorporate geometric patterns to it, to contrast with the feminine design in the back ground.
Packaging design:
Poster and Flier designs:
Final Collection:
I wanted to experiment with the use of different bottles, I wouldn't intend for the perfume to be on this type of bottle however it demonstrates that the design is quite versatile with other shapes and designs.
Promotional Material:
Submission ! :
Submission Boards for YCN:
