It's no more FCUK You

Shop windows in south Mumbai for fashion label French Connection seem to suggest changing times for the 25-year-old British-born high street brand. The brand's reliance on the (slightly dyslexic) acronym FCUK "" an advertising campaign hook that became its doppelganger "" is being replaced by prominent positioning of the mother brand 'French Connection'. Amid plummeting profits, French Connection is on a campaign to reconstruct relevance with consumers across 25 markets.

Ten years ago, the provocative FCUK advertising campaign defined the personality for the fashion brand, French Connection. The company made a fortune from t-shirts sporting statements that played mischievously with the acronym (FCUK You, FCUK Fashion and so on). At present, the idea has run its course.

Part of that tall task is re-establishing the brand as an edgy design-led product. "While the whole FCUK phase was wonderful for branding, our core design-led product went a bit weak amid over-exposure," admits Neil Williams, COO, French Connection. French Connection is taking to the ramp this week at Mumbai's Lakme Fashion Week to an apparently sold-out audience. Williams agrees it is a great way to create the right aspiration levels in a new market that has little brand precedent.

Williams hopes that by refocusing on the design quality of the business and reinvigorating its marketing strategy, French Connection will successfully bridge the gap between top-end high street and luxury retail.

With a local pricing between Rs 1,000-6,000, the brand will be positioned well above high-street standards, similar to other international high street brands such as Mango and Morgan.

In the year ending January 31, the label reported a 67 per cent decline in gross profits to £4 million "" the second successive year of a double digit decline after a 53 per cent dip in the previous year.

Williams indicates that the last six months have offered a glimmer of hope and adds that the company is starting to see good growth in the UK retail market. The brand's recent launches in China and India, both markets heralded by fashion retailers as the "next Japan" is also expected to help in the future. Williams indicates that Australasia could contribute to as much 30 per cent of the company's topline by 2010. The Murjani group, exclusive licensee for the brand in India, plan to open three stores in Mumbai and one in New Delhi between April and June. The Murjani's brand portfolio includes others such as Tommy Hilfiger, Gucci, and Calvin Klein. Vijay Murjani, managing director, indicates that while luxury brands such as Gucci build image, it's premium brands such as French Connection that will "drive both volumes and value for the initial years".

While local consumers will still be able to purchase an FCUK t-shirt or two, new advertising campaigns will have to do without FCUK. Once known for its penchant for creating marketing buzz with controversial advertising, courtesy influential adman and TBWA's former chairman Trevor Beattie, the company has now conservatively brought its advertising back in-house. A telling indication that the brand wants to reconsolidate before launching a whole new chapter.