A Lesson From Ivy Park: Timing & Execution

I am a Beyoncé Fan.

Destiny’s Child – with all 4 and then 3 members – Survivor, Baby Boy, single, Crazy In Love, a mother.. as far as I’m concerned, Beyoncé has been Queen B for a while and when her collaboration with Topshop was announced in 2014, it was exciting but it took too long.

18 months isn’t long when it comes to announcing and creating a line of product but it is very long in the timeline of trends, which is why I’ve found Ivy Park disappointing, not only as a product in terms of design and release but as an authentic concept. Ivy Park has taught us an important lesson in regards to timing, execution and strategy, elements that prove to be exceptions to no rules, even those belonging to Queen B.

A collaboration between the (now) global fashion brand Topshop and Beyoncé should have been adidas and Kanye. Exciting, built up, escalated by partners and fashion properties and in high demand. Ivy Park’s global release on 14th April was far from this for a few very simple reasons.

Firstly, the trend of sportswear in fashion has already trickled down to the most affordable levels of the high street and when trends get to that level of consumption, the trend is coming to an end and the heat is gone. Once the boohoo, Primarks and New Looks of this world who serve the masses at an affordable price point incorporate the trend, often seasons and seasons after the catwalks have showcased them, the trend is no longer cutting edge. In terms of its timeline, Ivy Park should have come out 18 months ago to have made an impact, high-end sportswear is very, very much a thing in fashion culture with retailers such as ASOS, Net-a-Porter, Matches & Missguided already offering the trend as a stand-alone category. Sportswear is expected to surpass the £6 billion mark this year, showing that it’s by no means a new offering and as soon as publications like The Telegraph are printing stories like‘5 Reasons The Uk Is Going Crazy For Sportswear’ if we’re bringing out another collection, it needs be well designed, well executed and authentic.

Secondly, the product itself is less than inspiring. In fact I’d go as far as saying it was below a lot of the sportswear that high street retailers have already done. And that’s not to say that the limited amount of stock they’ve made hasn’t flown in some parts of the world but we need to be critical of the information we’re given – can you still see the product in your local Topshop? Do you know any one that has bought it? Wants it? Wears it? Me neither..

H&M launched their sportswear range in 2013, Stella McCartney has been designing her capsule collection with adidas, StellaSport, since 2004 and high-end high street store Whistles collaborated with fitness studio, Frame, late last year to create their range (respectively below). There are many offerings in this category, both standing, capsule and influencer led which makes a music partnership in luxury sportswear a tricky offering unless it’s done well.

Last but definitely by no means least, the authenticity of the collection is questionable. Beyoncé has always been in astounding shape and her live performance showcases this. However Beyoncé isn’t a gym rat, she’s not a yoga bunny and she isn’t doing dance classes in her spare time. Unlike popstars like Ellie Goulding who is literally working out allof the time, P!nk who was an Olympic gymnast in her teens and Drake who lives and breathes basketball, Beyoncé bringing out a sportswear line doesn’t make sense because she doesn’t love sports or fitness. Pepsi did well with her as their $50 million brand ambassador in 2012 and appreciate that this is a 50/50 business venture with Topshop and not an ambassadorship, but even more so there should have been more time put into the collection, more thought in the execution and more authenticity in the delivery. The Ivy Park lead content, Where’s Your Park? is a little lazy and forced and part of the reason why Kanye and adidas work so well together is you believe Ye when talks about how much time he’s spent working on his collection. You believe Ellie as a Nike ambassador, you trust Drake when he’s talking about Jumpman. This is the level we’re operating at and Beyoncé, Topshop and Ivy Park fall short. Nothing moves people more than Music and Sport so if you’re bringing them together there needs to be real foresight for people to buy into it.

The lesson we should take from Ivy Park is that a celebrity endorsement won’t fix a flawed strategy. Similar to Alicia Keys & Blackberry and Lady Gaga & Polaroid, the popstar is the spark, not the whole offering, without the offering being solid a celebrity endorsement won’t fix the campaign. Timing is everything and bad timing is as damaging as bad product and in this space unless there’s authenticity at the core of the product, consumers won’t be moved.

I’d be very interested to see the sales from the last collection (split by territory) and what’s in store for the next collection. At this point however, I’d go as far to say that Ivy Park has been damaging.