The School of Fashion and Textiles offers a whole host of opportunities for students to collaborate with some of the biggest brands around. For the second year running, Fashion Branding and Communication students are partnering with Birmingham company, Lounge Underwear for an exciting live brief aiming to empower women and support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The client
Lounge Underwear was established in 2015 by co-founders and couple, Dan and Mel Marsden, with a ‘comfort made sexy’ ethos. Beginning as a team of two with Mel leading on design and Dan developing the brand identity, the company has become a global brand, recording sales of £13.8 million in 2020 and being named fifth fastest growing company in the UK. Having branched out from their original product line, Lounge now sells a wide range of underwear, swimwear, pyjamas and loungewear.
Previous briefs
In 2021 students were briefed to create a campaign to mark International Women’s day which would empower and embrace the brand’s ‘Female Family’ across the world.
As 2021 International Women's Day fell within a national lockdown, Lounge were keen to respond to the disruption by delivering a campaign that encompassed all of their usual values, whilst elevating their followers and encouraging them to feel connected as a wider community.
Students worked in teams of up to five, each with an allocated job role: Brand Manager, Creative Director, Content Editor and PR Manager. They were asked to create a multi-platform campaign, focussing primarily on the brand’s social media channels, which included visual creative direction, brand content and a social media plan. Each team presented their campaign in a virtual ten minute pitch to the Lounge’s Chief Brand Officer, Melanie Marsden, and Head of People, Georgia Perry.
The winning team were each presented with a £100 voucher to spend with the brand, giving them the chance to experience Lounge’s customer journey and the brand’s customer retention communications.
The brief for 2022
This year Lounge are using their campaign, #feelyourbreast, to spread awareness of breast cancer among their female family. The brief for students, which aims to empower as well as educate, will run alongside Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.
Lounge are looking for BCU students to engage their audience in a multi-platform approach that will touch upon the sensitive issues addressed by the national campaign, empowering women to regularly perform breast checks and raising money for breast cancer charity, Coppafeel. Students will need to pitch the campaign (including visual creative direction, brand content and a social media plan) to tutors, after which selected groups will pitch to the Lounge Underwear Chief Brand Officer and Head of People at the end of the brief in November.
The prize for the winning team will be a day at Lounge Underwear HQ, where they will get the opportunity to experience a day in the life of Lounge.
The benefits of live projects
Collaborations like these give students an insight into the day-to-day running of a large online retailer and a chance to explore the job roles at the organisation. Not only that, but the partnership has sparked new relationships between the university, it’s talent pool, and potential links for placement and graduate jobs.
