A Platform for Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
After the official Ali Hugo Online Merch Store became live two years ago, Ali Hugo has released two projects in that period. “The Home Boy Album” and the project “I Gotcha Covered” . The Ali Hugo Merch store was established to strengthen the Ali Hugo brand by offering fans the opportunity to purchase clothing and accessories. It is operated by Ali Hugo’s record company, Intercept/Virgin Music Group. The store recently had a makeover, and new product lines were introduced. “ When the store initially launched, we believed it was out of style to offer merchandise that matched recorded music artwork — that is, to turn recorded music’s album covers into T-shirts and other accessories. We therefore attempted to create merchandise using a branding strategy that would take off on its own in the hopes that the numbers for the given products, music streaming, the clothes, and the accessories would surpass each other declared Ali Hugo.”
“The problem with that approach is that you have to stay up to date with the constantly evolving fashion industry trends, which makes the store a follower of the industry. Given how quickly fashion trends change these days, along with our intention for aggressive marketing, we have to plan out a marketing campaign and as soon as it begins, the Ali Hugo street team gives us feedback that the trends are changing!” Following trends is therefore unsustainable. A well acquired lesson, Hugo affirmed.”
“Online retailers need to regularly redesign their stores in order to maintain a competitive advantage. A few stores get seasonal makeovers, particularly around the Christmas season. That wasn’t our strategy; instead of introducing a seasonal product line, I chose to concentrate on developing promo codes as a means of promoting seasonal sales. Our seasonal coupon codes might save you up to 25% off of usual prices Hugo said.”
The time to update was now, coinciding with the return of the concept album by artists that have popular merch stores and are consistently producing huge income, after two years of retailing items that Ali Hugo fans were familiar with, Our street team and research on trends have shown merch that complimented the music artwork was no longer unfashionable. instead, our street team and trend researchers revealed that merchandise that complemented the music artwork was no longer outmoded. But there was too big of a risk to make a quick shift in the direction of brand marketing. Hugo replied, “If it had only affected me, I would have done it, but I have to consider the other stakeholders involved.”
“This led us to decide to hang onto our best-selling items, so some well-known merchandise is still available for the time being. Conversely, we unveiled merchandise that accompanies the artwork of tracks from Ali Hugo’s recently released album, “Tea Party At The Pet Shop.” Furthermore, we chose to create trends rather than follow them by creating new merchandise and logos, such as our currently popular product, the Ali Hugo Bandana. This plan would extend the lifespan of our marketing and sales initiatives Hugo acknowledged.”
The new merchandise has an intriguing backstory declares Hugo. “Isa Montalant, the merchandise designer for Intercept and I planned to meet. We had never met before, so Isa and I didn’t really know one another. We ended up talking about our personal experiences during the meeting, and nothing about logo creation, brand building strategies or revamping the store. Before I knew it, the meeting’s time was up!”
“ I was forced to set up follow-up emails. After the meeting, I thought, “That was fun, and Isa is great, but from a business standpoint, it was a complete waste of time!”
Isa sent me an email the next day with three samples of logo designs. At that moment, I realized what had happened during our meeting: Isa was helping me express my worries and my goals for the new merchandise, and taking metal notes. I was shocked! to see that Isa had created three digital designs that exactly matched my vision. By that time, I was convinced that the chosen logo accurately reflected the branding objectives of Ali Hugo.
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