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Beneath the Ink
An In-Depth Analysis of Ed
Hardy’s Social Media Ecosystem

Ed Hardy: The Brand
 Ed Hardy is a clothing brand started in 2002 by Don
Ed Hardy, a well-known tattoo artist.
 The brand has grown to earn $20 million dollars in
revenue.
 In 2004, fashion icon, Christian Audigier licensed
the rights and helped market directly to celebrities
and opened stores in well-known fashion areas.
 Today, the brand has evolved to include more than
just clothing, offering styling tools, school supplies,
lighters and branded wine and beer.

Facebook
 1.7 million fans with 16,288 people talking about this (as of 11/5)
 However, this means only 0.9% of users are actually engaged.
 Between July-September of this year, Ed Hardy acquired an
averaged of 12,694 new “likes” and 48,810 people talking about
the brand.
 Content featured on the pages includes photos, links, call-to-
action statuses, and promotion for other social media.
 Each post receive hundreds to thousands of likes.
 Seven different community pages have been created by users for
Ed Hardy and Ed Hardy products. Some of the pages are regionally
specific (i.e. Australia, India). The pages range from 900 to 60,000
likes.
 The Ed Hardy Facebook app has 30 monthly users.

Twitter
 8,737 followers
 Tweets are almost identical to Facebook posts, with
some even posted from Facebook directly.
 Tweets include quotes, retweets of popular lifestyle
brands, and call-to-action tweets.
 The call to action tweets did not receive as many results on
Twitter as they did on Facebook.
 Average of one to two favorites, one to four
retweets, and zero to replies for each tweet.
 Other Twitter accounts have been created for
various stores and types of product (shoes,
watches, etc). These accounts range from 100
followers to 5,000 followers.

Instagram
 The Ed Hardy Instagram is the newest social
media account for the brand, with only 342
followers after launching in June 2012.
 The photos include shots of merchandise and
sales, Instagram-themed polls, and tattoos.

YouTube
 Despite having three separate channels associated with Ed Hardy,
the brand’s presence on YouTube is very weak.
 EdHardyTV
 60 subscribers for six videos. However, this channel hasn’t been
updated in four years.
 Ed Hardy Brasil Shop
 37 subscribers for 29 videos. This is the most dressed up
account, featuring an appropriate logo avatar and Ed Hardy-
themed background.
 Ed Hardy Tattoo Movie
 80 subscribers for seven videos. Account for the movie
associated with Ed Hardy and the brand. The movie came out in
2010, and the channel has not be updated since. However, it’s
worth noting that this channel still boasts the most subscribers.

Pinterest
 26 followers, one board, zero pins
 Eight pins total under the tag “Ed Hardy”
 Featuring female products: bikinis, shoes, and
fragrance
 50 boards featuring the tag “Ed Hardy”
 25 boards specifically titled “Ed Hardy”
 The others highlighting various themes, including
tattoos and fashion.

Ed Hardy Tattoo Artist App
 Created in 2011, the app has had one update since
then and is available for both iPhone and iPad.
 The app allows users to make their own Ed Hardy
tattoo designs, as well as have access to popular
designs from their mobile devices.
 The app retails for $2.99, and out of 32 reviews, is
rated 3/5 stars.
 Users praised the ability to make your own design
and the “awesome wallpapers.”

Other Social Media
 Minimal presence across the remaining popular
social media sites: Tumblr, Foursquare, and Yelp.
 Tumblr search results for both “Ed Hardy” and “EdHardy”
result in various related and non-related posts from users
on Ed Hardy.
 Foursquare and Yelp were connected to various Ed Hardy
stores, as well as clubs with similar names and restaurants
serving Ed Hardy-brand alcohol.

SWOTs of Ed Hardy
 Strengths
 Strong community and fan base
 Unique image and consistent voice
 Creating a bridge between old and new (vintage photos, etc.)
 Maintaining relevancy with pop culture posts (ex: women in binders)
 Weaknesses
 Lack of a concrete celebrity endorser
 Actual audience is not inline with brand’s ideal demo
 Brand believes they are more fashion savvy than is actually portrayed
 Failed attempts at polls and call-to-action posts on social media
 Opportunities
 Utilize and grow on Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr
 Add video producers to create new and engaging content for YouTube
 Continue to be one of the most popular brands associated with the tattoo culture
 Partnerships with new cultural icons, i.e. Sons of Anarchy
 Threats
 Previous connotations of the brand continue to dominate the image today (douchebag, Jon
Gosselin, Jersey Shore)
 Lack of relevancy today, associated more with the early 2000s
 Dependent on the fad culture of tattoos
 Brand has failed to grow and evolve from it’s earlier image

Biggest Competition
 Affliction, TapouT, and True Religion are the biggest competitors of Ed Hardy.
 Affliction, centered on sports and music, is the closest in image to Ed Hardy
 TapouT is revolves around sports
 True Religion is focused on denim and clothing for men, women, and children
 How they stand out
 All three have stronger Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest presences than Ed Hardy.
 The various social media accounts have some overlap, but mostly diversified
content on each platform.
 Solid branding with MMA, UFC, and other prominent endorsers.
 True Religion is the only brand of the three to have a Tumblr page
 Affliction and TapouT both have blogs that are linked on the main website
 How they fall behind
 Despite solid Facebook likes for all three brands, they still fail to match the
volume that Ed Hardy has accrued.
 No ties with other brands mean they have more flexibility.

Conclusions
 The theme across all of the mediums was consistent. They focused
on the brand merchandise, tattoos, and pop culture.
 Posts featured links to discounts on various items, old and new
photos of tattoos, and music videos, photos, and other media
related to pop culture.
 On the other hand, the individual platforms are so similar that
updating the other accounts becomes redundant.
 Facebook, having the biggest audience, stands out the most.
However, a user who likes them on Facebook gains nothing new
from following them on Twitter.
 They have a surprisingly small following on social media for how
popular and big the brand is. They attract the kind of fan base that
thrives within the social stratosphere, however, are not leveraging
them for their full potential.

Recommendations
 Diversify the different accounts.
 Different content needs to be created for each platform. The brand has yet to
create a reason for fans to follow them across the different social media accounts.
Making the various platforms different will help attract more users, and more
engaging users.
 Utilize the accounts
 Pinterest and YouTube are currently wasting space for Ed Hardy. Adding boards
on Pinterest and generating new, original videos would help the accounts grow
and evolve.
 Give a backstage pass
 Ed Hardy is currently missing the behind-the-scenes angle in their social media. A
regular blog or tumblr account would give fans a glimpse at the world of Ed Hardy
while also diversifying the content they are providing.
 Promote the accounts on the main site
 Outside of Facebook and Twitter, all other social media accounts for Ed Hardy
are not linked to the main Ed Hardy site. A simple link with the proper image for
Pinterest and YouTube would add several hundreds of users instantly.

Links
 Facebook
 Official Page http://www.facebook.com/edhardy
 http://www.facebook.com/search/results.php?q=ed
%20hardy&init=quick&tas=0.7293323688209057
 Twitter
 https://twitter.com/EdHardyOnline
 https://twitter.com/search/users/ed%20hardy
 Instagram
 http://web.stagram.com/n/officialedhardy/
 YouTube
 EdHardyTV http://www.youtube.com/user/EdHardyTV
 Ed Hardy Brasil Shop http://www.youtube.com/user/EdHardyBrasilShop
 Ed Hardy Tattoo Movie http://www.youtube.com/user/edhardytattoomovie
 Pinterest
 http://pinterest.com/edhardyofficial/
 http://pinterest.com/search/boards/?q=ed+hardy
 http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=ed+hardy
 App
 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ed-hardy-tattoo-artist/id408945425?mt=8

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Beneath the Ink: An In-Depth Analysis of Ed Hardy's Social Media Ecosystem

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