Eric Thai, an international marketing major at Baruch and model, had the chance to participate in one of Uniqlo’s marketing campaigns last year. We asked him to discuss his views on the Japanese clothing store’s impact in the United States and how his experience academically and professionally has shaped his views.

As an international marketing major, what do you think of Uniqlo’s U.S. marketing campaign? Do you think it has been successful? If so, why do you think that is?

As an international marketer,I believe Uniqlo has done an extraordinary job with their U.S. Marketing Campaign. Although the campaign that they use is the U.S. doesn’t differ much from elsewhere, it has made the brand unique from others. In New York City, Uniqlo advertises the grand opening of their stores with an overwhelming amount of posters in the subway which becomes a constant reminder to check out the store. Uniqlo doesn’t just market as the everyday comfortable clothing line as many competitors do, but they market their clothes though the way they function such as their Heat Tech and Quick Dry lines. They also branch out into our favorite childhood cartoons and animations through their UT T-shirt collection and they diversify into high fashion with their +J Jil Sander collection. Lastly, they up size their sizes of clothing in order to match the American size difference which shows their understanding of the U.S. market how they have become so successful in such a short time.

Tell us about your experience working as a model for Uniqlo.

In December 2010, I was sent on a casting for Uniqlo’s UT T-shirt campaign. I received a phone call from my booker a day later telling me that I had booked the campaign and he gave me details for the shoot. I was extremely excited because it was going to be my first major campaign. For a model this is a huge accomplishment because not only is booking a campaign rare, many go through their time as a model and never book a single campaign. The campaign was released approximately in March 2011. I had randomly walked into a subway car and saw my face plastered on the wall. The campaign was used in subways, subway stations, newspaper, and in the Soho store. I was constantly reminded of this through picture text messages from my friends and Facebook tags. I was completely surprised that it was used internationally and I only discovered this when a friend visiting Korea texted me a picture of me on a billboard and a friend visiting Hong Kong brought back a pamphlet with my picture on the cover. Overall, my experience was fun and I am happy Uniqlo was my first campaign.

How has your experience as a model, traveling internationally, informed your decision to pursue international marketing? How many years have you been modeling? What are some of the biggest differences in marketing abroad that you’ve encountered?

As a model I have been a part of the advertising of brands internationally but what really influenced my decision to pursue international marketing was on my first trip to Milan, Italy for fashion week. I have been modeling for a little over two years now; I was scouted and then signed to an agency in November 2009. Not knowing anything about the industry or how I was going to do in it, in December 2009 I was told that I was being sent to Milan for fashion week. I thought I was dreaming that I was given this opportunity because I had never traveled outside the country before that. In Milan I attended many castings for runway shows, and in the end I walked my first runway for Giorgio Armani. In my time there, I had a lot of free time to explore the city. A majority of the city was filled with clothing stores which wasn’t a surprise since Milan is one of the fashion capitals in the world. With the time I spent there and some research I discovered that in Milan their shopping behavior is completely different for Americans. Unlike Americans who buy in bulks from sales, Italians tend to buy a piece of clothing such as a suit, and treasure it, repairing it when the time comes, thus buying high end clothing is not uncommon. Learning information like this made me very interesting in the international markets which made me wondered how other countries differ from this, and how one can penetrate these markets to be successful.