Fashion essay

What has been the impact of the web and social networking on marketing strategy and techniques?

This essay will look into the impact web 2.0 and social networking has had on the fashion brands marketing strategy and techniques. It will look into both the Lacoste brand and The Adidas brand to see what affect the web and social networking has had on both of them.

Web and social networking has had an effect on every business over the globe, fashion super brands are no exception. If anything they have embraced web 2.0 as it’s opened up a whole new platform for marketing for everyone. It’s a platform that can be exploited and is only going to become better over the years. The reason for this is because the web and social networking have expanded from stationary computers to hand held devices and mobile phone, so people will be able to see it anywhere they are in the world.

Businesses have been able to gain their own web space by creating their own web pages in which they can sell their products from and have them delivered directly to the consumer’s door. This has become a massive hit as it means people don’t have to be looking around the shops down the town, they can just log online and search for a product from anywhere in the world and have it on their doorstep in a matter of days.

Social networking has become a massive platform for businesses to advertise their products and their brand. They all have their own Facebook pages where they can show their latest range and it will appear straight on their fan’s home page. A lot of them also hold competitions or events and get the word out via Facebook. Twitter also does this. Fashion brands will use twitter to keep people updated on everything they are doing, or tag celebrities and important people in tweets to gain more reputation. They will also announce new ranges and events using twitter.

Fashion brands have had to change their whole marketing strategy and techniques because of the introduction of the web and social networking.

Lacoste are a well-known high quality tennis and golf wear brand. They cater mainly for tennis and golf players, with their trademark polo shirts. These came around because the founder of Lacoste, Rene Lacoste, designed his own polo shirts for his tennis matches. He put his trademark crocodile logo on them and from there on the Lacoste brand was born. It has since become a lifestyle brand, selling a large range of products, from clothes for all genders and for children to accessories, perfume and home textiles. Although their brand was built up from tennis clothes, the brand has created products for casual wear, but a lot of these still resemble their original brand values. They have recently released a new line of clothes called ‘Lacoste Live’ which is designed to attract a younger audience into the brand. The range isn’t as expensive as their other products; they’re designed to fit in with the style of clothes 16-25’s are wearing now.

Lacoste have managed to adapt to this change as they have their own website, Facebook and Twitter pages. By creating their own website they have managed to make themselves become more exclusive and can control their stock prices better. This would be because they don’t have to have as much of their stock in other stores that they don’t own. Although they have become more global by changing their marketing strategy to include web 2.0 they have still managed to be more exclusive. This is because by creating their own store online they can recall their products from various shops and keep them within their outlet stores and online.  

Alongside having their own website Lacoste have also created their own, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. By being on all 3 of these social networks they can get their products known by their fans instantly. By using Facebook they have been able to put up pictures of their products being modelled straight away as soon as that line has been put on sale. They have also been able to use the site to make announcements about new product lines and new events. Twitter has also been used in a similar way, although releasing images of their new ranges is a bit more difficult. To over come this they just link their followers to their Facebook page or their website.

Twitter has been used by Lacoste for promoting single products they sell, re-tweeting and promoting celebrities that are involved with Lacoste and holding competitions with their followers.  Using both Twitter and Facebook, Lacoste also post a lot of thing to do with tennis and golf, mainly because the whole Lacoste brand was built around these sports, but it will also get the attention of tennis and golfing fans/players. By getting these people to track them on these social networking sites, they can introduce them to their clothing range.

Lacoste are ultimately marketing themselves subliminally to their consumers by just posting casual messages via these networks.

Lacoste also have a YouTube channel. This is where they can upload their own videos of new adverts, and videos of their new product ranges. They also upload videos of interviews with certain people and some behind the scenes videos of their fashion shows and adverts.

Although they will attract YouTube users into subscribing to them, they can also promote these videos via their other 2 social networking sites.

Although Lacoste are primarily aimed at people around the ages of 19-30, with introduction of social networking and web marketing they have had to reconsider at their target audience. This is because the main age range for the social networks and website designs is becoming younger and younger. Lacoste have recently released their new Lacoste Live clothes range, which is aimed at a younger audience of about 16-25. They also have a range for children, but they might have to think about increasing their range and marketing strategy to incorporate their new online audience.

All of these techniques used by Lacoste help to lure people into the brand. They help to gain the trust of the consumer by giving out competitions and involving them within the brand, without making them purchase anything.

Adidas, founded in 1924, is mainly a sports brand. It started off with 2 brothers creating a company called the ‘Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory’. They later split during World War II and became Adidas and Puma. Adidas went onto have a long rivalry with Puma that saw them both getting involved in sports teams . They would pay the teams to get them to wear their shoes. In recent years Adidas has bought the company Reebok. They have also created more than just shoes, they’ve gone onto expand their range into many other items of clothing. They have also involved themselves with over 12 different sporting events and have become on of the biggest sports clothing distributers. 

Adidas, like Lacoste, also have their own website and have left their mark on all 3 of the major social networking sites. Again, they have a website which they sell all of their products from and they also have their own blog, which there is a link too on their website store. The blog is to keep the consumer updated on what happens at Adidas and things they may be involved in. This creates a trust between Adidas and the consumer because they believe that they are getting an insight into the company and what it does, which they do. It helps to lure them into buying into the brand.

Their Facebook page allows Adidas to show off their new high range products to their fans/customers without the need of TV or poster advertising, as well as helping them to announce new products or ranges they are about to release. As Adidas are involved with a lot of sports activities, they will post about a lot of major games going on around the world. This will help them to attract a lot of sporting fan and players, who will most probably end up buying into their brand.

Adidas are also on Twitter, which allows them to do the same as Lacoste do. Adidas use Twitter to announce new ranges, host competitions and link their followers to new products or event they may be involved in. they will also re-tweet celebrities who are endorsing their products, if their tweet is about the company.

Again, like Lacoste, Adidas also have a YouTube account. From here they can upload ne adverts they have released for TV, videos about events they are involved in. they also upload videos of interviews with sports people and behind the scenes videos of adverts they have made.  These videos will then become promoted via their other 2 social networking sites. They will also feature on the YouTube home page if Adidas pay them for the advertising spot.

Both Lacoste and Adidas have the same style marketing strategy for web and social networking. They both use them in similar ways, both attracting customers with information about what they’re doing, events they are hosting and new product lines they are releasing. They have both managed to market themselves to consumers just by posting casual messages via the social networking sites. This is because in our current era people are more interested in what’s going on behind the scenes with companies and celebrities. All these brands have to do is to post something that their target audience will be interested in, in this case sports. Lacoste and Adidas both post about supporting teams and big sporting events, in an attempt to market themselves to their desired audience. If its something that the consumer likes, they will continue to read these posts and will more than likely end up buying into the brand because they feel they have created a bond between themselves and the brand.

Has the introduction of social networks and websites changed the marketing strategy and the techniques used? Yes.

By introducing these new marketing platforms fashion brands have had to adapt to be able to successfully market themselves to the consumer. By creating profiles on these pages they have made a more personal bond with their customers. When people follow, subscribe or become a fan of these brands they have the ability to post their comments and opinions on whatever topic the brands may have posted about. It also gives the customer the chance to get to know the brand better, rather than just seeing their TV or billboard advert and going into their store. They get to know a lot of what the brand is up to and what they are doing when they aren’t designing new product ranges.

By using social networks the customer is able to see what new products the brand has just released without having to go in-store or waiting for new adverts. By making that more personal bond with the customers they’ve gained more of their trust for the brand and also in their products. If a consumer follows a fashion brand they like, for example Lacoste and they wanted sports equipment, they are more likely to buy it from the brand they like rather than a different brand selling the same item for the same price. It all comes down to the brand loyalty, which by keeping up with the new trends and marketing platforms, fashion brand will gain more easily.

By creating these social networking pages, brands have been able to market themselves just by posting information about events they are involved in. they haven’t had to attempt to sell them a product of their own. People are more interested in what companies are doing and involving themselves in. They’ve managed to tap into the part of people’s brain that makes them curious, that makes the want to know more about a certain thing, be it a celebrity or a company. Just by doing this they’ve managed to gain the customers trust and interest.

The Internet is something that will always be present; it’s never going to be turned off, only improved. Fashion brands will need to mimic this and make themselves always present and always improving. They are going to have to keep coming up with new innovative ways to market themselves using web 2.0. They have already become more interactive by allowing the customer to give their opinions and ideas directly to the company, instantly. Social networking sites give the consumer the ability to ‘like’, ‘Re-tweet’, ‘Subscribe’ and comment their thoughts on the pages. By doing this the public are able to determine for themselves if the brand is something they want to be a part of or not. If something has a lot of ‘likes’, ‘Re-Tweets’ and positive comments in generally means it something that people are interested in. this makes the brand look good to new customers. It gives them an edge over competitors. To be able to keep this edge the brands must continue to market themselves in a similar fashion by looking over what people have said and what people have ‘liked’ and ‘Re-Tweeted’ to know what they are doing right.

The audience have been given a voice with the introduction of web 2.0. Brands can also use the information that consumers provide as market research. This works in the same style as a focus group, but on a global scale. Because people can talk anonymously over the Internet a lot of constructive criticism can be given without being tracked. People are more forward when they comment on something via the Internet. If someone doesn’t like something, they will most likely comment saying they don’t like it. People will also discuss things via commenting. Brands can use these discussions as market research as they can take the opinions from both sides and get both points of views, that way they can try and incorporate the things that would please both sides of the discussion

With the introduction of new web based platforms they’ve almost made TV adverts and Print publications redundant, although they are still needed. This is because the Internet is always on and available at your fingertips via mobile devices and Internet hotspots. People now watch a lot of their TV via the Internet where TV adverts aren’t often shown.

These new platforms are also not something that’s just going to disappear, the Internet is only going to keep expanding and become bigger and better. It’s already expanded onto handheld devices, meaning the Internet can by used practically anywhere in the world. Fashion brands will also need to keep expanding along with technology if they wish to keep up their profits and their large customer bases.