Blog 3 – Messaging Fashion Outcome: PATTA
At the bidding stage of this unit, I entered Messaging Fashion as a first choice because it was a topic I had very little to no knowledge about. I’d always had admired people who have the skills on the business side of the industry. In my mind, workers in public relationships are the backbone of the industry and are crucial to have in your contacts. So having an understanding of what they do felt essential.
As part of our project, we had to create a PR campaign for the streetwear brand from Amsterdam, Patta, in partnership with the Patta Foundation. It was a given, with the foundation they initiate projects in aim to inspire youth to entrepreneurship, to be the role models of the next generation.
I must admit that I was rather dubious, at first, whilst brainstorming with the other two group members, I felt the brand was too clean, overall superficial. Despite their values being love and hobby, the idea of sneaker raffles didn’t sit right in my mind. I decided to have a chat with them in person at their London store in Soho. It met two staff members who immediately altered my judgment, they almost made it feel like it was a family business. They had kept the mindset they had from the very first instances of the brand, it was about preserving what the founders Edson Sabajo and Guillaume Schmidt started back in 2004.
In these unsettling times, we decided that our cause was going to be a fundraiser enabling us to give back to the NHS. In response to the theme of loneliness in the face of COVID – 19, we made an event based on both YouTube and Instagram – the idea was to organise a mini-festival. Something that could bring people together on a large scale yet in the safety of our homes.
Choosing a diverse and inclusive lineup was very important to us, from alternative rock to folk, so as to attract all types of audience members. I think it’s important to note that we took the risk to display to an audience that was most likely to have never have heard of our brand. We kept in mind the power that music could have in these times of distress.
We also held one to one Instagram live conversations between the musicians and a few lucky followers so they could share their passions and take advice to their future/ongoing careers.
During our presentation, we received a comment saying that she and her family were big fans of one the bands we listed, that if it were to collaborate with Patta they’ed be interested into getting to know the brand better. It was an immense relief to us, as the final project we presented was far from what we first intended to do due to time zone and the language barrier.