Fashion Branding Design: Lip Service Brand Update
Work Overview
Objective: Update branding and establish social media identity for a mid-sized legacy alternative fashion label
Client: Lip Service
Duration: Approx. 6 years
Work Details: Produce social media and email campaigns, catalogs, promotional assets and ads, as well as design website front-end improvements, customer outreach, and celebrity cross promotion
Primary Challenge: Design and implement visual branding and social media strategies to appeal to a new, trendy audience without alienating the existing, loyal customer base rooted in iconoclastic punk, rock, goth, and underground sensibilities
The Work
Lip Service, a mid-sized legacy clothing company specializing in alternative styles, wanted to engage the trendy new fashion-driven customers discovering their brand. But their loyal base was primarily centered in punk, rock, goth, and underground communities, and would reject any mainstream commercialization.
The company — whose main slogan since its founding in 1985 was “More crap for the masses” — needed someone who could strike a balance between both camps. So I frequented their Downtown L.A. headquarters and immersed in their online fan communities to revamp their brand identity and marketing strategy without losing any of their old-school cred.
Highlights
- Designed website upgrades that dramatically improved UX
- Initiated and implemented presale system that alleviated customer stress and increased high-margin sales
- Raised retail email opening rate percentage from 30s to 50s, with an increase in average click-through percentage from low single digits to teens
Leveraging the Lip Service Dagger
The iconic dagger had been synonymous with Lip Service since founder Drew Bernstein emblazoned it on leggings to sell out of his trunk, so it was the perfect bridge to connect the old with the new. Especially in the early days of the brand transition, I incorporated the dagger into designs whenever possible, shifting the context and use to suit each of the company’s diverse styles.
Website Overhaul
When I started working with Lip Service, a web overhaul was in the planning stages, since their site hadn’t been updated for years. Endless dropdown menus of countless stylegroups made it frustrating to navigate. And, though much of the navigation was tied to their playfully named stylegroups, there were no images or guides to know where on the fashion spectrum or in which division of the overall collection they fell.
In my role as a design consultant on the project, I collaborated with the developers, regular customers, and the company’s designers to create a more streamlined look for the site and functionality grounded in good UX. I also added some features to the site to boost customer engagement, broaden marketing reach, and increase sales.
Improving UX
With five divisions separated into widely diverse stylegroups that spanned a host of genres, the Lip Service collection made it challenging to design a shopping interface that didn’t look like an Escher nightmare. So, instead of trying to design one menu, we essentially created three with convenient accordions, and let the customer decide whether they preferred to shop by genre, garment, or collection stylegroups and divisions.
To improve the experience for new customers unfamiliar with the line, I built in a preview. On the home page — as well as division, genre and category pages — I added a large window which displayed a graphic of relevant samples when the user rolled over a menu selection.
Splash Page
To build excitement for each season’s new collection, I designed a unique splash page that acted as a preview look book with an animation highlighting the hottest upcoming styles.
Preorders
As a niche brand with a large collection, Lip Service ordered relatively small productions of each style. This created frantic sellout runs on retail inventory and frustration for customers. So I started a preorder system that allowed customers to commit early before production had started and guarantee themselves the pieces they wanted — which also increased sales at higher retail margins,
New User Features
To leverage Liip Service’s existing loyal base to increase their brand’s reach, I added audience-driven new features. First, I worked with the developers to create a link on each style page that allowed users to email it to a friend. The Lip Service Soundtrack was even more user-driven.
To start the process, we put out a call to bands — a strong customer base — to submit a song for consideration. Then I and key members of the Lip Service sales and design team narrowed the selections for an audience vote. The winners got their music and websites promoted through that season, the customers got a kickass soundtrack to shop by, and Lip Service got a ton of good will, PR, and cross-promotion.
The Lip Service Web Magazine
Inspired by old-school ‘zines from the punk era, the webzine was a platform of, by, and for self-proclaimed “Lippy addicts,” with features on music, fashion, style, art, and anything else that interested our target audience. It also served as the platform for cross-promotions and contests, celebrity content and tour diaries, and promoting sponsored events.
My role was as manager of the webzine, as well as editor/wrangler of the rotating team of writers and designer of the site and its graphics. I also worked alongside the Lip Service sales team to recruit bands, creators, and events for cross-promotions.
Cross Promotion
With a customer base that spanned across generations, nations, and styles, Lip Service had countless avenues to leverage the mic and reach of influencers in every possible constituency. And we rarely missed an opportunity — instead, just scaled the cost and labor to the potential gains. For popular niche bands and musicians on big-ticket tours, I’d broaden the reach and increase the volume and intensity of the social media campaign.
Contests
The lowest buy-in and easiest cross-promotion for solid ROI was contests. So I ran regular contests tied to bands, creators, and events — always involving web store gift certificates for a future purchase.
Other contests included customer photo submissions with prizes as budget-friendly as an inclusion in the next Lip Service catalog or conversion into a branded wallpaper graphic.
Celebrity Content & Events
The best celebrity and event cross-promotions involved band members or organizers producing their own content for the webzine. From tour diaries and backstage access to travel/event galleries and in-depth artist profiles, I edited whatever content our celebrity and creator fans wanted to share with our audience. And, once the Lip Service swag I’d arranged arrived, I’d also get photos for additional rounds of promotion.
Email Campaigns
Each week, I designed, produced, and sent two emails to both the retail and wholesale lists, as well as special promotions. I selected groups and items for the retail email based on sales and inventory trends. For wholesale, I collaborated with the sales team to determine groups and styles to promote.
Before my tenure with Lip Service, they sent a standard grid template email and had anemic engagement. My first change was to switch to custom hero-section style graphics drawn from the stylegroups’ catalog and social media promotions, which allowed me to dramatically upgrade the caliber of design with no increase in labor cost. Then I used first access to contests, popular product reveals, and discounts to drive higher subscription rates by the most dedicated fan bases. My strategies raised opening rate percentage from 30s to 50s, with an increase in average click-through percentage from low single digits to teens.
See more email campaigns
Catalogs
The Lip Service design team wanted to do something different with the catalog and the sales team wanted a tool that wouldn’t be relegated to the bottom of a drawer. So I drafted a calendar with poster-style graphics — plus holidays for every nation where Lip Service was sold — that would keep the catalog out and visible all year long. It was also sold and offered as a premium for volume orders on the retail website, which ensured the format upgrade would pay for itself. To this day, there’s an active collectors’ market for Lip Service catalogs.
As the designer, I consulted with the sales and design teams to get their approval of visual themes, did the photo selections and retouching, and proofed all item SKUs and details.
See more catalog designs
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Social Media & Promotions
Of all the areas where I was updating Lip Service’s brand identity, the potentially thorniest was social media. For over two decades, the company had spoken in a singular and unmistakably irreverent voice. The company took its clothes and style seriously, but never polite convention — or even itself. So, when I could, I designed promotional graphics and campaigns with tongue firmly planted in cheek and freak flag flying.