4. brand introduction
Ekkos apparel was founded by UGA student, Rachel
Ehlinger, when she was just twenty-one years old. After
traveling to Kasoa, Ghana and working at an orphanage,
Rachel drew inspiration from her journey and started Ekkos
in the summer of 2015.
Today, the nonprofit clothing company creates eclectic
designs and produces high quality clothing centered in
the Athens, Georgia region. Products include handcrafted
shorts, shirts, headbands, etc. for both men and women
with every product being uniquely its own.
At the age of fourteen, orphans in Africa are sent into the
world with only an elementary education to provide space
forneworphans,andwhilesomechildrenareabletoprovide
for themselves, the vast majority face homelessness and
extreme poverty. Using the profits from Ekkos, Rachel has
provided free, secondary education to children in Africa
where education is a luxury and is often too expensive for
families.
EkkosforEducationinvitesyoutojoinourmissioninproviding
free education around the globe and encouraging success
for children in Africa and other third world countries.
5. • LOW BRAND AWARENESS
• POPULAR COMPETITORS
PAIRED WITH OTHER CHARITIES
• NO PHYSICAL STORE TO TRY
ON CLOTHES BEFORE BUYING
strengths
• LARGE FOLLOWING
• UNIQUE ITEMS
• GREAT CAUSE
weaknesses
• LACK OF COHESIVE BRANDING
• LOW BRAND AWARENESS ON
CAMPUS
• NO BRICK AND MORTAR STORE
• POOR WEBSITE DESIGN
opportunities
• PARTNERSHIPS WITH LOCAL
ATHENS VENDORS AND EVENTS
• BRAND AMBASSADOR OUT OF
STATE
• INTERNATIONAL SALES
threats
SWOT analysis
6. KEY FACT:
Ekkos is a non-profit online store selling vibrant, hand-
stitched clothing made from African wax print fabric.
Because each item is hand- stitched, each item
is uniquely different. All profits from sales provide
secondary education for orphans in Africa.
PROBLEM:
Because it is a relatively new non-profit, there is a
low brand awareness. It does not have a stationary
location so customers must rely just on the images of
the products online when choosing the right one for
them since they can’t try them on first.
OBJECTIVES:
Increase SEO
Create a unified brand image
Increase brand awareness
TARGET AUDIENCE:
The target market for the online store is college
students aged 18-24.
INSIGHTS:
“As a new student at UGA seeking to find unique brands
with a story, I constantly find myself eager to learn
more about and support people and businesses that
resonate not only with student life but also with life
outside of the college bubble. I feel connected with my
community when I hear about inspiring ideas created
by students like myself in different involvements on
campus, which ultimately motivates me to get involved
with these causes. While it is easy to get solely caught
up in the swirl of college life, I, along with most students
seek to maintain that sense of doing something for the
greater good and supporting causes outside just UGA. ”
PROMISE:
Toempowerchildrenwiththegiftofeducationbyhaving
every single purchase make a difference.
SUPPORT:
Every 200 US dollars provides secondary school
education for an African child for one year.
TONE AND MANNER:
Earthy, rustic, lively, colorful, active, adventurous
MANDATORIES:
Logo, website, social media
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION VEHICLES:
Instagram, Facebook,Twitter, Website/blog ,Guerilla
LINKS:
Website: http://ekkos.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ekkosforafrica/
Instagram: EKKOSAPPAREL Twitter: @ekkosapparel
creative brief
7. EKKOS FACES TWO PRIMARY CHALLENGES:
• low brand awareness
• lack of a brick and mortar store.
OwnerRachelEhlingerwantstoraisebrandawarenessinordertoincrease
sales.Although Ekkos has garnered a large group of followers on Instagram we
need to boost its presence on the other popular social media outlets such as
Facebook and Twitter. What little brand awareness that it already has is widely
dispersed, and it does not have a strong support system in the founder’s town
of Athens, GA, largely due to its lack of a physical store.
Theabsenceofastorefrontalsoimpactssalesduetothefactthatpeople
cannot try items on before purchasing. Overall, increasing brand awareness
and minimizing the need for a physical store are the top challenges for Ekkos.
challenge
8. We planned to brainstorm and execute multiple creative
ideas to help create a cohesive brand image for Ekkos and
present them to the client as we came up with them. Our cre-
ative suggestions would help counter Ekkos’ weaknesses
and threats while emphasizing strengths and expanding upon
their opportunities.
What we intended to do, our original goals, metric goals,
creating a cohesive brand image, redesigning the website,
pretty much bs, create blog content to increase SEO.
strategy and approach
9. PUBLICATIONS
In order to boost brand awareness in Athens, we reached out to several Athens
publications. We knew that the Ekkos mission of furthering education was something
our local community would support. After our communications, The Red and Black
published an article featuring Ekkos.
PARTNERSHIPS AND GIVEAWAYS
To engage Ekkos’ Instagram followers, we suggested that Ekkos partner with similar
companies and host giveaways and promotions. Rachel had already began several
partnerships, so we further encouraged her with this idea. Recently, Ekkos has
partnered on Instagram to host giveaways with Luno Wear and Madee By Lexi. She
is also partnering with a couple, Mehedi Hattum and Erin Azouz, as they bike 10,000
milesthroughLatinAmerica.Thehashtag#letsgocarinoisusedtotracktheirjourney
and they will be sharing Ekkos products along the way.
creative executions
tactics and
14. future recommendations
To continue to raise brand awareness in the future and simultaneously decrease the
challenge of lacking a brick and mortar store, we recommend that EKKOS advertises for the pop
up shops through the idea of a “Giving Tree.” Throughout UGA Campus and downtown Athens, we
recommend putting promotional flyers on trees that give the details of the EKKOS pop up shop
event. Attached to the flyers would be strips of the EKKOS fabric that were coupons on one side
and a story of a child that the money from the purchase was going towards.
Another recommendation to increase the brand awareness is to have a Snapchat filter with
the colorful EKKOS fabrics spelling out “Athens,” or a filter that placed an EKKOS apparel item,
such as a headband, on the user.
We recommend that certain updates should be made on the website. Some of the
recommended updates include a format that more accurately aligns with the brand image, adding
and editing the blog content, updating the “About” page content to better align with the more
developed brand image and include the background story in an inspiring form, ordering the donation
amount options on the donations page, and expanding the apparel images throughout the website.
We recommend having a photo-shoot where pictures will be taken of people doing
adventurous activities while wearing EKKOS apparel around Athens. These pictures would be
uploaded to different social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and the
website, to make the clothing relevant to Athens consumers and give a background of where the
clothing is made and the EKKOS idea began. To spread brand awareness, we also recommend
having EKKOS branded items and apparel.
