Quick fix clothing! Quick fix marketing?
Twenty five years ago fashion was dictated by the catwalks. Couture designers and Super models were the pillars of what was ‘fashionable’ and high street stores came second to the fashion designer brands such as Gucci or Calvin Klein.
Being fashionable was measured by the designer you chose. Brands developed high street kudos and were more accessible to the general public. With the recent growing interest in celebrities and what they’re wearing, getting the look has become more important then where the look is from. Where boutique stores were the main fashion outlet, you can now pick up your outfit from Asda and confidently brag about it to your peers. Wearing second hand ‘vintage’ clothes is cooler than to be hung up on designer gear which can be considered ‘chav’.
Marketers have a task ahead of them. They have to simultaneously build their brand, talk about the new ranges and direct people to all the shopping outlets including online. So what are fashion retailers doing to market themselves to a consumer whose finding where they shop or how much they spend less important?
Magazines are the primary medium with advertising spend increasing over the last three years. This is not a surprise. Magazines have their own brand loyalty and women’s trust, and thus are an opinion forming medium. PR is increasingly important and often relied upon. The magazine and retailer relationship is key. Celebrity names such as Kate Moss, Lilly Allen and Madonna are all designing high street fashion and so the celeb weeklies have become the fashion retailer’s best friend. Brands cannot be built upon a media landscape that moves with the latest fad and celebrity.
Brands should be as important as ever. This is what allows high end high street companies and mass market stores in the same wardrobe. It is also what drives people back into store, builds trust and advocacy.
It takes confidence to look longer term at building the brand personality and holding your audience by becoming synonymous with other key areas of retailers lives through sponsorships and integration. Growing credibility and consumer relevance can be a slow burner but this will move the brand towards the key objective to be top of mind, regardless of economic pressures or latest fads. It could also be deemed visionary to have this foresight and look to a replace the packshot with edgy creative and get a lead on the market.
The consumer is also starting to question the source of the cheaper clothes and this will only get louder, by looking to create more value to the retail brand and by (seemingly) becoming more transparent this could cushion the blow of a potential consumer backlash.
Retailers need to look at new innovative marketing strategies with longer term goals in order to differentiate themselves. If you can offer a better, more rounded brand experience time and again then the short term cheaper sales opportunities are, just that.