Sweaty Betty, You Wear It Best

Figure 1: Sweaty Betty You Wear It Best, 2019

"Introducing OUR CUSTOMERS. After a social media search, we found six women aged from 24-73 who love to move" (Sweaty Betty, Facebook, 2019). Sweaty Betty’s You Wear It Best promotional video, engaged the audience by using their customers to feature in the video. Directed by Leonn Ward, known for her ability to “capture a vibrant intimacy that puts individual style and character at the heart of fashion imagery”, the campaign captures the "rebellious spirit" of the brand (Sweaty Betty, 2019). The purpose was to create an empowering campaign, that juxtaposes athleisure stereotypes and reinforces their brand image. This is analysed using Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism (Kapferer, 1989).

Figure 2: Sweaty Betty Logo

Physique

Sweaty Betty has an iconic, distinct and versatile physique, that is marked by the negative space between the letters of S and B. This captures the hearts and minds of the Sweaty Betty community. Throughout the video, these visuals are presented through the minimalist mise-en-scene, punctuated by the pop of pink and black colour of the garments, that help to give an authentic feel.

Personality

The brand describes itself like "Cocktails and Green Juice" (Sweaty Betty, 2019), implying a balanced lifestyle. This fun, lifestyle driven brand, reflects this personality through the disco music, Keep on Dancing and sassy choreography. The use of ordinary, confident women creates a humble personality, that women want to shop with.

Figure 3: Introducing Our Customers

Figure 4: Introducing Our Customers

Culture

The company’s culture is built on “empowering women through fitness and beyond”. The 2019 Manifesto stated, “Be proud to be female” “Find strength in sisterhood” (Sweaty Betty, 2019). These values are carried out through the body language of the women in the campaign. This culture appeals to women who want to feel part of a supportive community, but one that appeals to their high aspirations. Alongside this, Sweaty Betty hold free in-store fitness classes and online workout videos, which help to encompass this inclusive culture as part of a broader communications strategy.

Relationship

Sweaty Betty has established a personal relationship with their customer, through incorporating their positive experiences of the brand into the video. This helps to achieve word-of-mouth marketing, which is a subtle way to guide the target market, over formal communication processes. This has been facilitated by the internet, to develop viral marketing (Palmer, 2000, p.432). The brand focuses a lot of its attention on retaining loyal relationships with customers, by sending out personal post-cards handwritten by employees, as a local marketing strategy. Furthermore, the boutique style stores have responded to changing shopper behaviour, to allow for these close customer relationships to flourish (Amed et al, 2019).

Figure 5: Introducing Our Customers

Figure 6: Introducing Our Customers

Reflection and Self-Image

The reflection of their typical customer is deliberately contradicted in the video. As opposed to a thirty-something professional woman, who shops at Whole Foods, the video has used diverse models that are a more accurate representation of modern society. This widens their target market and portrays an ethical reflection of the brand. Following the viewing of this promotional video, the customer will have a confident, motivated and ambitious self-image. This will successfully tap into consumer’s aspirations and relate these feelings to the brand.

This campaign differs from competitor brands, like Gymshark, that use conventional fitness influencers to endorse their products. This appeals to brand switchers, that may not relate to the image of competitor brands. It is also appropriate to Sweaty Betty’s target demographic of older millennials and Generation X women.

Figure 7: Introducing Our Customers

Figure 8: Introducing Our Customers

The brand succeeds in creating an inspiring and fun campaign, that eliminates notions of conventional fitness models. The six facets work to together to render an iconic, lifestyle brand image.

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References

Online:

Amed et al, 2019. McKinsey & Company. [Online]. Available from: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/the-state-of-fashion-2020-navigating-uncertainty[accessed 15/12/2019]

Baldwim, C. 2019. Essential Retail/. [Online]. Available from: https://www.essentialretail.com/interviews/interview-sweaty-betty-athleisure/[accessed 30/10/2019]

Benjamin, K. 2017. Campaign. Brand Slam: Sweaty Betty vs Lululemon. [Online]. Available from: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/brand-slam-sweaty-betty-vs-lululemon/1421008[accessed 30/10/2019]

BlueLeaf. 2016. Brand Experience: focus on Sweaty Betty. [Online]. Available from: https://www.blue-leaf.co.uk/blog-content/1-brand-experience-focus-on-sweaty-betty[accessed 29/10/2019]

Kapferer, J.N., 1989. Strategic Brand Management [online]. Available from: http://rbvrrwomenscollege.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Brand-Identity-Prism-PPT.pdf[accessed 15/12/2019]

Sweaty Betty Women Rule 2019 [online]. Available from: https://www.sweatybetty.com/women-rule[accessed 15/12/2019]

Sweaty Betty Facebook, Facebook 2019 [online]. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SweatyBetty/photos/[accessed 15/12/2019]

Books:

Palmer, A. 2000. Introduction to marketing: theory and practice.

List of Figures

Figure 1: Sweaty Betty You Wear It Best, 2019. Available from: https://www.sweatybetty.com/women-rule[accessed 15/12/2019]

Figure 2: Sweaty Betty logo, Wikipedia, 2019. Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sweaty_Betty_logo.svg[accessed 15/12/2019]

Figures 3-8: Introducing our customers, Sweaty Betty Facebook 2019. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SweatyBetty/photos/[accessed 15/12/2019