Mar
2010
2
great balls of wool
Hell-raiser Courtney Love, non-conformist Tilda Swinton, oddball artist David Shrigley and... erm, Janet Jackson...? It sounds like someone's warped idea of a celebrity dinner party. Now add to the mix the guest host who happens to be a 195-year old Scottish knitwear luminary and the bizarre becomes intriguing.
This is the picture that Pringle of Scotland has been painting to help launch its 2010 collections. From Courtney and Janet front row at the LFW shows to Tilda fronting the overall campaign and Shrigley's animation that has ruffled some wool among the fashion set; they've all pulled out the stops to support Scotland's oldest knitwear brand.
A lesser known fact is that LEWIS and Pringle worked together for 25 years over the 70s and 80s which included battling through a major recession and living the Nick Faldo ‘glory days'. We decided to give LEWIS's founder, Ray Lewis, a call to get his opinion on the current hype surrounding Pringle and what it was like to work with the brand way back when...
Pringle is currently receiving a lot of press attention at the moment, why do you think that is?
Opinions will vary and experts will dissect strategies to prove why any one brand is flavour of the month. Sure, throw money at the press and they will bite but it has to have substance. I feel that it may be this depression which has created a consumer need for security and reliability. In a world where banks are the bad guys and high street names are disappearing, maybe the thought of a brand that has survived previous depressions is worth backing. If it also has a new name designer and a product which is fit for purpose in today`s high street then, why not Pringle?
How did we strike up a relationship with Pringle in the beginning?
This isn't as exciting as it could have been. No big research project or major presentation of ideas. I worked for the marketing department of the group which owned Pringle, Dawson International. Working closely with their sales team, I formatted marketing support material and liaised with their London advertising agency. This was short-lived because of a major recession which hit the knitwear industry in Scotland; the group's marketing department was scrapped and all the staff made redundant. Fortunately for me, I kept good relations with Pringle. Knowing that they had no one to look after their marketing and advertising, I offered my services and this gave birth to LEWIS the agency.
When LEWIS worked with Pringle, what was their vision for the future?
Over the years that we worked with them, it was apparent that they believed ‘Pringle the Brand' could sell anything and, to that end, the company ventured into branding non-core products - everything from watches to Faldo aftershave. The glory years for Pringle were during that Nick Faldo endorsement period which elevated Pringle's status to brand leader of golf apparel but it still had, as it has now, a belief that it could also be a fashion brand. Over the years we worked on numerous corporate imaging campaigns which tried to create a distinction between its fashion range and its golf image. In the 25-year relationship, LEWIS saw numerous CEOs and Marketing Directors lead Pringle down many paths. Now here we are, looking at a Pringle that is promoting its heritage and telling its market that ‘knitwear can be fashionable'. Very ‘déjà vu'.
25 years is a long working relationship by any means, we must've been doing something right...right?
Often when a client company changes marketing direction, everything that went before becomes old hat and the new broom needs to be seen to take the lead in vision. This happened countless times over the years while we were involved with Pringle. Why did they keep using us? The answer now seems simple - reliability, product knowledge, unrivalled service, continuous creativity, market awareness, innovative production, exceptional technical knowledge and unrivalled account management. Every director and manager knew that if they had a problem with anything relating to marketing, design, advertising or print, I would be there to solve it for them. Many times we were told that a new advertising agency or hotshot design studio had been appointed. They came and went but we stayed.
Are there any particular projects that spring to mind that were truly innovative or special?
Without a doubt, the most innovative and of measurable client benefit was our development of a unique printed colour-correct swatch system. This system meant that material sales swatches and garments didn't need to be produced. As you can imagine, this saved the client thousands of pounds and at the time LEWIS was the only company that had this technology. We sweated tears and had many sleepless nights trying to perfect the system but it held good and eventually we sold it to other knitwear and associated manufacturers. The swatch system paid off for LEWIS with Burberry and we eventually stationed a member of staff at their London knitwear design office.
In your opinion, what do you think lies ahead for the brand?
Today, Pringle needs to show the world markets that wool is cool and that it can attract the most innovative designers to create fashionable garments that boast the Scottishness of their manufacture. We are coming through the barrier of cheap clothing. Sure, there will always be a market for it but brands like Pringle must remove themselves from that position and put out a clarion call to the middle market which is ready to embrace real quality. Aspiration is also the name of the game as it was in the past when to wear a Pringle said that you understood the value of quality and the craftsmanship that was inherent in its product. Scotland is not a developing nation with slave labour and sweat shops, it is a nation of tradition and of proud people who in the past built wonderful ships, gave the world whisky and, of course, gave women the twin-set.
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