Arketype Helps Chic D.C. Apparel Retailer With Fashion-Foward Brand Makeover

GREEN BAY, WI, October 27, 2006 — For more than 28 years, Forecast, a Washington, D.C., retailer has dressed its female customers in the finest contemporary and classic fashions. While Forecast patrons always looked their fashionable best, the shop's brand was practically bare. Forecast owner Debbie Danielson recognized that her store's identity needed some serious dressing up.

"After almost three decades, we were ready for a new look," Danielson explains. "It was also time to launch a Website, despite my mostly Luddite personality," laughs Danielson.

Arketype, an award-winning advertising and design firm in Green Bay, Wis., was given the challenge of creating Forecast's extensive brand makeover. According to Jim Rivett, the firm's Creative Director, Forecast is a typical example of how successful retailers can concentrate so much of their attention on product, inventory, and the business at hand, that they may neglect their brand image.

"There was little continuity or cohesive brand message going out to Forecast's customers," says Rivett. "The brand needed a higher level of sophistication and style, particularly since Forecast assists women in doing the same."

The group set out to give Forecast a new set of marketing essentials. "We wanted to give them an image that was updated but not trendy; more of a timeless sophistication," explains Rivett.

Arketype outfitted the retailer with a new, fashion-forward logo and a boutique full of distinctive collateral, "designed to elevate the retail environment and enhance the overall shopping experience," says Rivett. Euro-style bags, labels, gift certificates, and gift tags were created to work together in fashionable unison.

Gone is the shop's navy and gold identity color scheme. In its place, a stylish new palette of colors — deep mocha, iced-teal, platinum, and chartreuse — all reflected throughout Forecast's new line of collateral.

Additional in-store accessories complement the new designer look and include hangtags and customizable table tents that Danielson can print to promote various promotions and announcements throughout the year.

Note cards, business cards, and direct mail provide more marketing flair, while a new Website further shows off Forecast's sophisticated style.

"We're thrilled with our new look and the comprehensiveness of the entire brand message," says Danielson. "This process forced us to focus on our brand and how it communicates to our customers, and to keep working at making the right identity decisions. We had never put so much time and energy into our brand before.

"Retailers that invest in their brands discover that they can build a competitive advantage for themselves," says Rivett. "It's what helps set them apart in the marketplace and emotionally bonds them with their customers."

Forecast is designed for busy women who want to dress well, make an attractive home, and select the perfect gifts. Located at 218 7th Street SE in Washington, D.C., Forecast made its Capitol Hill debut on March 1, 1978. Originally just 500 square feet, today Forecast has grown to become a 3,500 square-foot showcase offering classical and modern fashions, home accents, and gifts that reflect the finer things in life.

Arketype, Inc., delivers strategic marketing advantages to leaders of consumer and business-to-business brands, creating impossible-to-ignore design and advertising solutions. The company provides clients with diverse capabilities - from annual report design and integrated ad campaigns, to Website development, multimedia production, and original textile design. Arketype is led by principals Paul Meinke and Jim Rivett. The national award-winning firm was established in 1992 and is based in Green Bay, Wis. To learn more and see all of Forecast's new brand elements, visit www.arketypeinc.com.

Arketype, Inc., delivers strategic marketing advantages to leaders of consumer and business-to-business brands, creating impossible-to-ignore design and advertising solutions. The national award-winning firm, established in 1992 and based in Green Bay, provides clients with diverse capabilities, from annual report design and integrated ad campaigns, to Website development, multimedia production, and original textile design. Arketype is led by principals Paul Meinke and Jim Rivett.

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