Please erase from your memory the Abercrombie & Fitch of yesteryear. Gone are the hunky, shirtless male models and their scantily clad female counterparts. Now that A&F is not trying to sell sex, well, they’re ready to sell clothes again.
The brand has realized that they must change the public’s opinion on them and the best way to do that, it seems, is to address the elephant in the room. “This new brand position is the product of an 18-month effort to create a brand identity that communicates our focus on our customers’ needs and aspirations,” said Fran Horowitz, President and Chief Merchandising Officer of the brand. According to her, Abercrombie & Fitch is moving away from “clothes that symbolize membership in an exclusive group,” instead turning focus on the “confident and independence of spirit.”
In order to communicate this massive overhaul, A&F is revealing a marketing renovation. Timed to launch during the holiday season, this means a totally new website and the biggest ad campaign in the brand’s history. They will plaster their images on nearly every corner of the web, from social media sites, music platforms and video streaming sites. A simple look at the A&F campaign, shot by Josh Olins and Matt Jones, show that the brand is trying to shift their reputation to that of good, clean, American fun. So clean, in fact, that the brand has wiped their social media accounts of the old brand.
Now, the 125-year old heritage brand is putting a focus on quality and diversity, as seen in these ad images. They’re also embracing their past, as one of the messages in the campaign will read: “People have a lot to say about us. They think they’ve got us figured out.” It looks like the shapeshifting A&F brand isn’t yet done with its transformation and only time will tell what the final product really looks like.
