Uniqlo: Getting the basics right

Uniqlo continue to just get it right with their latest digital campaign ‘UTweet.’  On a specially created minisite, users are invited to submit their twitter name and some keywords. The site then aggregates your tweets into a ‘Tweet Show,’ complete with Uniqlo models wearing “UT” t-shirts (get it?) and music. It’s simple, relevant, easy and fun. Twitter is an apposite platform – simple in theory, much more complex in experience.

In sum, these words echo the entire appeal of the Japanese brand. Uniqlo do basic things well. They do most things well. Many people will have witnessed their own manifestation of the brands success when leaving the house to discover they are dressed head to toe in Uniqlo garments.

Getting the basics right is a feat not to be undervalued when brands either increasingly attempt to offer more complex modes of engagement, or simply manage to overcomplicate a basic proposition.

Uniqlo have succeeded by offering a compelling offer of mass-staple but on-trend clothing. They manage to leave people with the impression of uniqueness and personalisation – namely through a constantly shifting product range, in particular the UT t-shirt range, which over the last few years has included collaborations with Modular Records, Domino Records, Star-Wars and a constant slew of Manga comic / pop culture icons shirts such as Metal Gear Solid.

In China, they have triumphed where others have failed. In Shanghai for example, Uniqlo await to open a flagship store on Nanjing Lu, following other stores open around the city in malls and prime shopping locations. On the other hand, American Apparel are just about to slowly move onto Huaihai Lu, their other store is is located in the 1933 building – a location that despite being a beautiful location with all the potential as a destination, and the signifiers of urban cool (converted abattoir, Apple reseller, design and ad agencies) – is currently too far out of town for many to make the trip.

Beyond the simple task of retail presence in a market where that counts for a lot, American Apparel’s other mistake in China was to betray simplicity: this is a brand who literally (and figuratively) embody stripped down: staff as models, Helvetica font, image on white visual identity, bare stores, pure ethical manufacturing, and so on…

Their offer is somewhat complicated when they charge exorbitant amounts for plain cotton t-shirts, jumpers and hoodies in a market where those kind of goods are ubiquitous and cheap, and there kudos not established enough to warrant the cost.

In terms of communications, we love the new UTweet site and in the past we’ve also fallen in love with the Uniqlo collection website (no longer live), as well as the fantastic Harajuku flagship store designed by Klein and Dytham architects, the wonderful people who set up Pecha Kucha at Superdeluxe in Tokyo. There’s a lot more to be said about Uniqlo, but we’ll stick to the basics for now.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 1:30 am. It is filed under Advertising, China, Fashion, Internet, Retail and tagged with featured, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.