AMD Duesseldorf project supports market launch of SANDERS shoes in Germany https://amdnet.de/news/amd-projekt-unterstutzt-markteinstieg-von-sander

In March 2020, the project “product and brand visual storytelling” was launched at the AMD Academy for Fashion & Design in Düsseldorf. This project involved 30 students from different study programmes. They were instructed by lecturers who (in addition to other activities) teach in various fields at the Hochschule Fresenius, department of Design. 

The project took place in cooperation with the traditional english shoe brand SANDERS. The aim of this cooperation was to build up a stronger branding and a successful distribution in Germany/ Europe from the already existing brand image of SANDERS in order to support an effective and successful market entry in Germany. 

All lecturers and professors who initiated the project are an integral part if the teaching staff of the AMD Academy for Fashion & Design #AMD.  Mr. #MarkGrütters, in addition to his work as a lecturer, is the owner of the fashion agency “Fashion Factory” in Düsseldorf. In the future, this agency will also take care of the traditional brand SANDERS, among other brands. This fortunate circumstance brought the participants together, so that the project could take place in cooperation with SANDERS. 

(For more information about the traditional English brand, please visit: https://www.sanders-uk.com) 

Prof. Dr. #BodoKluxen imparted basic knowledge in the subject’s storytelling and marketing to the students. Prof. #UweStoklossa is also working at the AMD and supported the students in visualising the project in the second stage. 

The project started with the presentation of the traditional shoe brand SANDERS by the owner of the fashion agency Mark Grütters. In a second step, after this presentation, the students had the opportunity to get a more detailed impression of the brand in an online interview with SANDERS’ sales manager, Simon Tennant. For this purpose, the students developed a catalogue of questions were asked; the students were particularly interested in how the company and its employees deal with the current Corona situation. 

After this interview the project was divided into two phases.

The first phase was accompanied by Prof. Dr. Kluxen. This consisted of a series of lectures in preparation for the development of a concept. The students dealt with the following question: What could a concept look like, what would secure the SANDERS shoe brand in a position in the German shoe market with a manageable budget. To help them, goals were set, and the students were able to orient themselves on these goals when developing the concept. These priority goals included, on the one hand, increasing brand awareness in Germany and planning possible activities that could cause a “stir” around the SANDERS brand. In addition, a CRM concept was used to consider how best to acquire new customers in the start-up phase with little brand awareness in Germany. 

In order to make such a concept promising, the students were given various approaches from which to choose. These approaches included: the elaboration of the sales concept, guerrilla marketing, social media presence, the design of trade fair presence, as well as the creation of a packaging design and a possible cooperation. The concrete task was to analyse SANDERS’ existing concept and to develop an adapted, new concept. 

In the second phase, the focus was on visualising the concepts. The students formed groups in this phase. The individual groups followed a similar approach and were thus able to benefit from the information previously collected in individual work and from the concept ideas created. During the second phase of the project, there was a lively exchange between the students. Prof. Uwe Stoklossa supported this process. In the beginning, the students created a holistic approach with various overarching themes. By presenting the concept ideas in the first phase, each student could get an overview of which fellow students have a similar topic or are pursuing the same concept approach. These topics were kept very general and were for example: social media or PR appearance. The task of visualisation took place in the form of a creatively created PowerPoint presentation. 

At the end of the project all groups presented their concept. The presentation was attended by all the participating lectures, the dean of studies fashion journalism and communication (B.A.), members of the SANDERS family and the SANDERS sales and marketing manager. The students were very excited about the feedback from the UK. The SANDERS company representatives were really surprised, delighted and amazed at how much the results presented can be put into practice immediately and how much they can certainly generate a big profit for SANDERS and other markets in the future. 

The implementation of this project is a unique experience for the students of the AMD. Thanks to the availability of SANDERS, the students were able to demonstrate their knowledge and creativity in a practical of the course of the studies was a positive aspect for all students and an opportunity to network. 

https://amdnet.de/news/amd-projekt-unterstutzt-markteinstieg-von-sanders-schuhen-in-deutschland/