The story of M.Nii began in the 1950’s when a local tailor right off the beach in Makaha, Hawaii designed and built the very first boardshorts to withstand surfing the powerful waves. Wearing a pair back on the beaches of California meant you had tackled Hawaii’s monstrous waves and met with M.Nii. The theme behind this campaign builds on the legendary historical significance of the original M.Nii brand and evokes positive feelings of fun tropical vacations.

MNii’s target audience is 25-45 year old people of middle to upper income who live the surfer lifestyle. They are easygoing, open minded, creative, productive, generous professionals who work in a field or trade that they love. They love the arts, have eclectic taste in music, and are creative and well educated. They are family oriented, socially and environmentally conscious. They value peace, integrity, kindness, spirituality, history and equality. They love to travel to exotic places where there is water. They are active, healthy, athletic and fit. And they have a lot of fun.

Competition in the surf apparel market is gnarly with popular brands such as Quicksilver, OP, Vans, Oakley, Volcon, Hurley, Billabong, Rip Curl, and RVCA to name a few. “The world surf apparel industry is expected to exceed $126 billion by 2015, according to Global Industry Analysts. The market is driven by a trend toward healthier, more active lifestyles, with older demographics and women becoming more active” (Reports Linker 2014). And the trend is international. John Felenthal of the New York Times states, “Surf culture in Japan has gained enough popularity as of 2013 that even non-surfers are adopting surf-inspired clothing style and aesthetics” (Felenthal 2013).

A current trend in men’s clothing is a more tailored swim short than the boardshorts that have been popular in recent years. M.Nii shorts are tailored to fit the body, a detail that should be promoted, to ride the trend. As design guru Marty Neumeier says, “When focus and differentiation are powered by a trend, the result is a charismatic brand that customers wouldn’t trade for love nor money. It’s the difference between paddling a surfboard and riding a wave” (Neumeier 2013).

To compete in this market, MNii needs to build brand awareness and establish their differentiation. A focused rebranding of the revived surf apparel brand builds on MNii’s established legendary subcultural credibility, while fine tuning and sharpening their image, making it more relevant to today’s target audience. The main differences between MNii and the competitors are their classic style, attention to detail, and quality of construction. These features define the soul of the MNii brand. The same hands-on approach and attention to detail as the tailor did sixty years ago.

The brand design reflects the dualities in the theme of the campaign: The old and the new, charged and relaxed. The subjects in the photos are active, hip looking people having fun, but the treatment of the images give the piece a warm, laid back, vintage feel.

The font used in the new logo is Serge. While maintaining the vintage appeal, the font gives it a clean, retro hip, sophisticated feel. The subhead font is Joy…, which has a fun, casual, easy feel. The body copy is the clear modern font Avenir Next, which is easy to read and complements the beautiful imagery.

This rebranding will differentiate M.Nii from its competitors by establishing it as a historically significant brand that has fresh new life making it relevant to today’s target audience. Creation of a cohesively integrated identity with exposure spread across multiple media platforms will build brand awareness. A fun, engaging, robust interactive website, tablet and mobile app that provides a positive experience for the user will build strong web and social media presence and promote online shopping. Print ads and outdoor advertising formats are an integral part of the campaign and will bring it all together into a cohesive brand image. M.Nii is giving new life to an exciting and important part of our shared cultural history. This proposal is designed to help share the message, tell the story, and spread aloha.

References:

Felsenthal, J. (2013). Making Waves in Japan. New York Times Magazine, 38. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/ehost/

Neumeier, M. (2013). ZAG: The #1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands. Pearson Learning Solutions. VitalBook file.