Title | Subliminal Advertising Experiment |
Agency |
TBWA\London
|
Campaign |
Spring/Summer 1999 - FCUK
|
Advertiser |
French Connection
|
Brand |
FCUK
|
Posted | December 2001 |
Product |
Fashion Clothing
|
Business Sector | Apparel, Fashion & Footwear
|
Tagline | subliminal advertising experiment |
Story | Poster & DPS press ad, oceans of white space, cropped fashion shot, with large headline: 'subliminal advertising experiment'. The words are stacked above each other so that the word 'sex' is spelt vertically downwards. FCUK logo appears in the bottom right hand corner. |
Philosophy | This campaign built on the cheeky, 'in your face' attitude established for FC by exploiting the myth of subliminal advertising. By hiding 'sex' in the headline we were playing games with our audience, challenging them to decode our message. This involvement of the consumer has been key to the success of the campaign. Media also contributed to the 'subliminal' approach: ambient media such as bus tickets and 5" TV blipverts were used, so that the brand was seen to be ambushing the consumer by popping up in unexpected places. |
Problem | Having created a differentiating brand positioning for FC (focussing on the brand, rather than the clothes themselves), the agency was faced with the task of maintaining this distinctive brand attitude, and of keeping French Connection at the forefront of our consumer's mind. A limited media budget needed to be maximised in terms of impact/media attention, as with previous campaigns. |
Media Type |
Print
|
Market | United States, United Kingdom |
Creative Director |
Trevor Beattie
|
Copywriter |
Trevor Beattie
|
Art Director |
Bill Bungay
|