Esprit hooks up new brand mascot, a fun-loving dolphin

Clothing brand Esprit has introduced a fresh face to its brand, "Joy the Dolphin", as an embodiment of Esprit's heritage, values, and essence in celebrating life, love and togetherness. Serving as a bridge that brings the Esprit community together through unique brand experiences, products, and customer engagement-focused activations, the brand seeks to reach out and engage with audience from around the world through its new mascot. 

According to Esprit, dolphins are playful, charming, and intuitive, and are often associated with values such as love, friendship and kindness. In addition, they cherish teamwork and have the innate ability to display a strong sense of empathy, which are all values that Esprit claims it represents. As such, Esprit hopes to personify its essence in celebrating life, love, and togetherness with Joy the Dolphin. 

In addition, the introduction of a new dolphin mascot seeks to represent hope, just like the resurgence of pink dolphins in recent years after a long absence. Esprit explained that the return of dolphins to communities symbolises Esprit's commitment to eco-friendliness, and signifies its return to key markets to form closer connections with global consumers. The mascot's shimmering iridescent pink tone is also a reminder of Esprit's love for the people and the planet, signifying an optimistic future and the next chapter of the brand's legacy. 

To promote and spread greater awareness of Joy the Dolphin, Esprit rolled out two capsules teasing and spotlighting its new mascot. The first capsule, titled "Colour Dolphin", teased the new mascot with dolphin badges that comes in cheerful hues. According to the brand, this capsule alludes to the playful nature of dolphins. 

Meanwhile, "Dolphin Tennis Club", a campaign video, also features Joy the Dolphin to accentuate the contemporary, comfort-centric designs of the brand's clothes. In the 30 second spot, the models all don and show off Esprit apparel with the logo of Joy the Dolphin. 

William Pak, chief executive officer at Esprit said: “We hope Joy the Dolphin inspires everyone to harness the power of collective potential in society. Life is better lived together, and we can make the world a more beautiful, harmonious place by being there for each other."

Meanwhile, on the marketing front, Esprit launched a new collection with Korea fashion brand fleamadonna and eCommerce sites for customers in South Korea and Hong Kong in May, as part of its plan to return to Asia. The eCommerce websites offers integrated shopping experiences with products comprising the brand’s main labels and collaborative capsule ranges throughout the year.

To go with the launch of the websites and kick off a long-term partnership consisting of three unique capsule ranges, the brand also collaborated with Fleamadonna to launch the series "Esprit X REST & RECREATION" which reinvents Esprit's archived designs. According to the brand then, the series brought together Esprit's retro-chic sensibility with designer Kim Ji-eun’s modern fashion aesthetic. 

"We have so much respect for local creativity and the ingenuity of up-and-coming brands like Rest & Recreation that are well-matched with the spirit of our brand. We love this collaboration which is young and vibrant. A great start to our story, this is just the beginning with so many more great things coming soon," said Esprit’s chief product officer, Sang Langill then. 

To bolster its international expansion strategy, Esprit has made several key appointments for digital marketing and brand strategy in April. The company appointed Ivy Au as vice president, head of digital marketing. In her position, she is tasked with bridging brand marketing and eCommerce to drive channel deployment efficiency, and amplify the use of data to locate and reach the audience with messages that drive sales conversion. Au arrives with over 17 years of experience across APAC, where she led integrated marketing strategy for Chanel, L’Oréal, IKEA, Unilever and KFC. 

Joining Au is Maximilian Wang as head of marketing and communications. He is currently overseeing branding, corporate communications, brand and loyalty marketing, and visual merchandising to cement Esprit’s impression and relevance to new and existing customers worldwide in his new role. Prior to this appointment, he was group director and head of brand and marketing consulting at Ruder Finn Interactive Asia. 

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