Lecture: Fashion Marketing Strategies, Research and Framework

Fashion Marketing Strategies, Research and Framework

Connecting with the consumer:

- Brands are out of touch with the consumer needs

- Brands not in touch with current generational perspectives; example: trans, curvy girls, cultural 

- Slow adoption of sustainable issues (Topshop)

- Brands who have historically done well with innovative advertising and marketing have recently dropped the ball (Abercrombie and Fitch) 

- Old school attitudes towards luxury for high end brands (Dolce and Gabanna) struggling to connect with new generations

How do consumers consume and connect with brands?:

- Advertising strategies 

- Understanding their demographics

- Understanding emerging demographics

- Keeping and increasing footfall

- Understanding changing and emerging trends in consumption

- For example: diversity, ethics, social responsibility

Physical and digital branding advertising strategies:

- Fast fashion online retailers: digital advertising resource via online, digital bill boarding, taxis and so on.

- Brands that rely on word of  mouth as well as all of the above; for example Patagonia and People Tree.

- There are also brands that historically have not advertised heavily (e.g. The Body Shop)

Much has to do with visual communication:

- The forums that demographics now link with

- What draws a consumer in and why

- What are the connectors? - e.g. price / quality

- Connection to visual information (for example short films / teaser campaigns)

More abstract methods of advertising:

- Celebrities

- Guerrilla

- YouTube campaigns

- Subliminal advertising

Celebrity collaborations:

- Rihanna and River Island - gets people to buy cheaper clothes because popular icons are wearing them.

How branding and marketing drive the fashion industry:

- Connects to the consumer

- Drives price

- Drives and captures specific demographics (whilst trying to pick up new customers)

- Marketing incentives drive consumers; for example: e-vouchers, buy one get one free, driving price down for a limited period of time, (countdowns on social media until offer on product purchase expires)

- Pushes consumption by selling product through a specific window of time.

- Historically brand identity wad king

- Brand attachment locked the consumer in via aspiration

- This is changing now with generational shifts - consumes no longer consume because a brand tells them who to be.

Meeting the consumer needs:

> To meet consumer needs, you need to understand:

- Who they are

- How to reach them (physical/digital)

- Where they live (some times north/south divide in consumer taste)

- Their age

- What they are prepared to pay

- Their likes and dislikes

- Their expectations

- If the production is desirable

- Brands need to research and gather data on their consumers to understand them.

That is why research is critical:

> Through primary and secondary:

> Primary can be in the form of:

- Questionnaires

- Surveys

- Emails

- Telephone calls

- Focus groups

- Photography

> Secondary can be in the form of:

- Mintel reports

- Reliable sources of online information; media, newspapers, journals and books

Effective research strategies:

- Keeping on top of what you are doing

- Keeping records of hard copy sources

- Organising digital files

Examining demographics and target markets:

- Age > geographic location > sub-cultures (who is wearing what and why) > earning / spending power: reflection of target price points

What can struggling brands change or improve to re-establish themselves?:

- Connecting to the consumer; do they need to consider their;

- Advertising strategies

- Their reputation

- How they connect to the consumer (do they need to rethink their ethos and how they, 'appear' to the consumer)

- Their history; are they sitting back on past glories and still expect the consumer to consume because of who the brand perceive themselves to be?

- Brand currency; brands developing a better understanding of generational/cultural shifts, how society is changing