Consistency over hype: Inside Frame's winning marketing strategy
Hi, and welcome to Glossy’s Weekly Recap, where Glossy editor-in-chief Jill Manoff breaks down a big industry conversation and highlights five of the latest must-read Glossy stories. Sign up here to get Glossy’s daily, in-depth coverage on the businesses of beauty and fashion in your inbox every weekday morning.
Establishing a signature look and feel is a big feat for a brand, but one that pays off long-term.
This week, Glossy published a feature titled “Storytellers,” honoring the creatives behind fashion’s and beauty’s most compelling narratives told over the last 12 months. One honoree, Erik Torstensson, co-founder and creative director of the 12-year-old fashion brand Frame, has been shaping the brand’s aesthetic since its debut. But this year, he narrowed the focus seemingly to push the brand into “icon” territory.
“If you do the same thing consistently and [across channels], it becomes iconic in people’s minds,” he said.
For the brand’s spring and summer campaigns and a campaign that has yet to debut, he stuck to a recipe that fits the brand and, from his POV, resonates: “A beautiful woman in a bed with denim kind of has a thing,” he said. “It’s all about consistency.”
Gisele Bündchen was featured in the spring campaign, followed by Amelia Gray for summer.
“I pretty much do what I do because of what Bruce Weber did for Calvin [Klein] and Richard Avalon did for Calvin,” he said. “People often go, 'You did that already.' And I say, 'Yeah, exactly. And I will do it again and again and again.'”
The current Frame aesthetic is far from a 180-degree departure for the brand, which has no outside investors and has experienced consistent, profitable growth. “It's always been fairly consistent,” Torstensson said. “When we've done things [that have proven] less good, it’s always been because we [veered] away from who we are because of trend. Things come and go, but the nice thing about Frame is a core aesthetic: It's slightly ‘70s through an American sportswear filter. It's never fully in fashion or out of fashion.”
He added, “Many brands get a lot of attention because they have a moment where they get hype. My goal is not for Frame to have the biggest hype, because from hype we must come down.”
Catch up on the week’s 5 most-read beauty and fashion stories below.
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To mark the launch of its foray into personal and intimate care, L'Oréal-owned Kiehl's tapped actor-comedian and "Broad City" star Ilana Glazer for a 360-degree campaign dubbed "Pubic Service Announcement." The campaign promotes the launch of two products under its new Kiehl's Personals collection: Ingrown Hair & Tone Corrective Intimate Drops and Over & Under Cream Powder Deodorant.
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