Brand watching

The strange phenomenon that is branding. Walked past Louis Vuitton on the Champs Elysees on saturday and the masses had gathered, yet again to see, buy, touch the apparel, handbags that are LV. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall - it is alway the same. A perfectly executed and managed brand LV, screams of luxury and conspicuous consumption, suggestive of celebrity and exclusivity. Or is it?
Being one of the most sought-after brands in the world also makes it one of the most copied- I could have easily picked myself a fake LV off the streets of Accra, for 30GHC (13EUR) months ago. In fact every other person you meet in Accra will have a LV bag. Exclusivity? Not quite. In China, you can buy yourself even better fake products, at a third of the price - that is how sought after the brand is. People will still pay exorbitant amounts of money, for a well-copied fake item!

Now, Abercrombie & Fitch. I was in Paris earlier this year before the move here and the store on the Champs was just being launched. I remember watching crowds of people standing outside the looming gates of the store - that itself is a fantastic marketing ploy - you have to go through a winding pathway to get to the doors, so curiosity alone will draw you there. The store had not opened yet, the models were simply posing outside the gates and people had gathered to watch the models watch us, watch them.
Casual Luxury is what the store sells, essentially, casual and sportswear, read sweatshirts, sweatpants, sweaters...think the GAP but with better quality and branding. Target market 18-22 years, and yet there are always the full range of age groups outside A&F stores; I seriously hope these are parents, aunts, uncles, grandfathers  there shopping for their children, nieces...

This saturday, the winding queues were back again, such has become the brand draw of A&F. It has now become the ubiquitous product to watch...A&F results were down last week, according to CNN Moneywatch, but in Paris the queues were up.