UNI-FORM

TitleUNI-FORM
BrandVOGUE
Product / ServiceFASHION
CategoryD03. Launch / Re-launch
EntrantOGILVY TAIWAN Taipei City, TAIWAN
Idea Creation OGILVY TAIWAN Taipei City, TAIWAN
Idea Creation 2 OGILVY HONG KONG, HONG KONG
PR OGILVY TAIWAN Taipei City, TAIWAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Reed Collins Ogilvy Hong Kong Regional Chief Creative Officer
Giant Kung Ogilvy Taiwan Chief Creative Officer
Stratos Efstathiou Ogilvy Hong Kong Associate Creative Director
Soenar Santoso Ogilvy Hong Kong Senior Art Director
Dora Tsao Ogilvy Taiwan Creative Group Head
Harper Chuang Ogilvy Taiwan Copywriter
Ria Chien Ogilvy Taiwan Copywriter
Grace Chien Ogilvy Taiwan Copywriter
Zelda Chuang Ogilvy Taiwan Copywriter
Tung Wang Ogilvy Taiwan Copywriter
Alice Lin Ogilvy Taiwan Art Director
Shao Shao Ogilvy Taiwan Art Director
Shaoan Wang Ogilvy Taiwan Art Director
Casper Ho Ogilvy Taiwan Designer
Tony Yang Ogilvy Taiwan Designer
Boga Hong Ogilvy Taiwan Designer
Jeffrey Wu Ogilvy Taiwan Interactive Creative Director
Dorthan Pan Ogilvy Taiwan Interactive Creative Director
Cyan Weng Ogilvy Taiwan Content Director
RingeCH Chen Ogilvy Taiwan Engineering Manager
Zoe Chuang Ogilvy Taiwan General Manager
Sylvia Chang Ogilvy Taiwan Account Director
Sharney Chiang Ogilvy Taiwan Account Manager
Liping Shih Ogilvy Taiwan Account Manager
Irene Chao Ogilvy Taiwan Account Executive
Hilary You Ogilvy Taiwan Account Executive
Freya Chen Ogilvy Taiwan Account Executive
Jen Jen Ogilvy Taiwan Account Executive
Fupei Wang Ogilvy Taiwan Managing Director
Milly Lin Ogilvy Taiwan Account Director
Candy Wang Ogilvy Taiwan Office Communication Director
Cathy Peng Ogilvy Taiwan Account Manager
Tina Lien Ogilvy Taiwan Senior Account Executive
Jen Hong Ogilvy Taiwan Associate Account Executive
Angus Chiang ANGUS CHIANG Product Designer
Lin Zhong zhonglin_ Director Of Photography

Why is this work relevant for PR?

With the world's first line of gender-neutral uniforms, a powerful public relations campaign sparked discussion of an important issue. Launching our campaign at Taiwan’s largest fashion event, Taipei Fashion Week, we marshalled the support of numerous online influencers, who wore our gender-free uniforms on social media. Internet celebrities live-streamed wearing UNI-FORMs, and one of the most popular bands in Taiwan took to the stage at a music festival with UNI-FORMs on. The campaign even gained the attention of the Ministry of Education and the president. With zero media spend, we generated more than 14 million engagements.

Background

Have you ever stopped to consider: Aren’t uniforms that distinguish between boys and girls a form of gender restriction? At school, girls are required to wear skirts, and boys are required to wear pants. But in 2019 Banqiao Senior High School dared to challenge this rule, speaking out on behalf of students with different gender expressions. At the school’s anniversary celebration, they invited the school’s boys to wear skirts, all on the same occasion. What followed was an uproar across Taiwan. Conservatives held a protest at the Ministry of Education, and a city councilman called in the school principal for questioning. Voices respecting diversity should not be silenced. So Vogue Magazine joined forces with acclaimed fashion designer Angus Chiang, to transform the concept from a one-off event into a genuine campus fashion.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The First-ever Gender-neutral Uniform Project UNI-FORM Garments are not intrinsically gender-specific. Who says boys can’t wear skirts? In Project UNI-FORM, we asked fashion designer Angus Chiang to design a line of uniforms for girls and boys alike, with design choices that students can freely mix and reshape however they want. Combining shirts and skirts, jackets and one-piece dresses, they’re equally fashionable and practical. Regardless of gender, body type or habits, everyone can reshape the uniforms with zippers and drawstrings, however they feel most comfortable: If you like, pull a zipper and turn your shirt into a dress. If you’re confident of your figure, pull a drawstring, so the waist and arms hug your body... We designed a line of uniforms that everyone feels at ease wearing, in the hope that everyone respects everyone else’s choices and appearance.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

We offered not only students but the public a new way of seeing “gender identity”, expressed in a collection of school uniforms designed by a rising-star designer, to let the society think, re-think about gender and involved in the conversation. Perhaps men wearing skirts is far from unheard-of in the fashion world, but male students wearing uniforms with skirts could stir a great amount of attention. With its influence as part of the global mass media group, Vogue Taiwan opened the door for this gender difference topic from campus to the “mainstream” Taipei Fashion Week. We break the norm that fashion venue is only for high-end designer brands, utilizing the fashion week as our platform and starting point to spread the concept to the word. Following by the actual production of UNI-FORMs, we sparked discussion throughout society on the issue of gender equity in schools and on the Internet.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The campaign unfolded from a press preview to series of events online/offline starting from October. During Taipei Fashion Week, the key event of Taiwan’s fashion world, we launched Project UNI-FORM with a catwalk show; it quickly became the most hotly discussed topic in the fashion community. We also produced and distributed an exclusive lookbook, which included a paper doll that people could dress up in whatever combination and style suited them best. On UNI-FORM’s official website, we introduced UNI-FORM designs tailored for specific schools across Taiwan. In Vogue’s online shop, supporters can buy a real UNI-FORM of your own, and the surplus will go to charity. As each student put on an actual UNI-FORM, they could feel its liberating design for themselves. The entire journey and all the garment details were brought together on Instagram, keeping up an ongoing conversation with students in sync with their lives.

List the results (30% of vote)

• Tier 1: With zero media spend, we generated more than 14 million engagements, including coverage in major media across continents, Europe, Australia, South America…, such as AFP, LINE TODAY, and South China Morning Post. • Tier 2: We received extremely positive feedback from students: “I’d love for our school to change to this UNI-FORM.” “Regardless of gender, we can all be comfortable in the UNI-FORM.” And we inspired students from other places around the world to transcend their own restrictions. • Tier 3: A single line of uniforms made all of Taiwanese society ponder some basic but important questions: Why do clothes distinguish between males and females? Can we allow every person to decide for themselves what they will look like? Internet influencers livestreamed wearing UNI-FORMs, and one of Taiwan’s biggest bands took to the stage with UNI-FORMs on. The campaign even gained the attention of the Ministry of Education and the president, and was featured in school textbooks. From the catwalk to Main Street, from school campuses to the world. In the past, uniforms were seen as important tools for “managing students,” getting them to obey by imposing regulations. But in the future, uniforms should represent a student’s highest state of self-confidence. No matter who you are, you have the right to live at ease with yourself. From now on, the “UNI” in “uniform” stands for “Unisex” and “Unique.” We didn’t just change how uniforms look. We changed what they mean.

Links

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