Brand_Audit_Vogue

TABLE OF CONTENTS From Social Gazette to a Superbrand 1 The Beginning 1 Milestones on Vogue’s path to success 2 People in Vogue 3 7 Women Vs. A Century 3 Artists 6 Photographers 6 External evaluation 7 STEEL ANALYSIS 7 Legal - US 7 Economic 7 Social 8 Technological 8 Environmental 8 MAIN COMPETITOR-ELLE 9 Internal evaluation 14 Target consumers 14 Positioning 16 The brand of Vogue 17 Brand awareness 17 Brand Image 18 Kapferer’s model 19 Product and pricing Strategy 22 Distribution Strategy 23 Advertising Strategy 24 Social Media 24 PR, Events 25 7th on Sale 25 Unforgettable: Fashion of the Oscars 26 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund 26 Metropolitan Museum of Art’s New York Gala 27 Fashion’s Night Out 27 Teen Vogue FashionU 27 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards 27 British Fashion Awards 27 British vogue designer fund 27 Placement 28 International Strategy 29 Status quo 30 Recommendations 32 Sources 34 APPENDIXES Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III From Social Gazette to a Superbrand The Beginning Vogue was established in December 1892 by Arthur Baldwin Turnure. His aim was to represent interests and lifestyles of the privileged class: “…its (Vogue’s) readers are gentlemen and gentlewomen and that to the requirement’s of this class its energies and resources shall conform.” (In Vogue 2006) On 17th of December 1892 first issue of Vogue was released, including articles for women and men, reviews of books, drama, music, and art, and on top of that also lessons on etiquette and social manners. Vogue after that was a weekly social gazette with average number of pages around 30. In 1909 Conde Montrose Nast bought Vogue with an ambitious goal: to turn it into a fabulous magazine of style and fashion culture anywhere, ever. (In Vogue 2006) The environment in the early 1900s created a new type of woman: female consumer, which would soon become the target of everyone. In 1910, Conde Nast changed Vogue into a bimonthly magazine, increased the price from 10 to 15 cents and added more color to the covers. Most important for the development into the Vogue we all know today, were the additional advertising pages and more articles on society and fashion, but foremost it was the change from a social gazette into a women’s publication. Vogue went from a weekly publication of 30 pages, to a rich bimonthly magazine of an average of 100 pages per issue. Conde Nast also strongly believed in keeping the magazine upscale thus there was no fiction and no mainstream found in Vogue. Success of Conde Nast’s strategy was clear – Vogue was competing with The Big Six magazines, which together reached hundreds of thousands readers, and even though Vogue’s circulation was only 30,000/month, it had the highest revenues of all – a result of more advertising pages and high ad rates. Milestones on Vogue’s path to success September 1916 – British Vogue aka Brogue June 15 1920 – French Vogue aka Frogue/Frog April 1928 – German Vogue – only 1 year July 1932 – 1st magazine to print images over double spreads; 1st magazine with a color photo cover 1935 – Prix de Paris for young US writers 1951 – Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (Jackie O) wins the Prix de Paris 1962 – Monroe’s fashion spread published just after her suicide 1966 – Samuel I. Newhouse takes over publishing of Vogue December 1972 – Vogue becomes a monthly magazine 1988 – Anna WIntour becomes the new Editor-In-Chief 2002 – Teen Vogue in created 2005 – Men’s Vogue is created 2007 – September Issue Ad record: 725 pages of ads 2010 – iPad application 2011 – Ad Age’s magazine of the year People in Vogue 7 Women Vs. A Century All Editors-In-Chief in Vogue’s history were women and they all contributed greatly not only to evolution of Vogue but also to the world of fashion and art. Josephine Redding – 1892 – 1900 Marie Harrisson – 1901 – 1914 Edna Woolman Chase – 1914 – 1951 The Vogue period of Chase was the time of splendor, growth, international expansions, hiring of noteworthy staff and beginning of the editorial philosophy. Her period is marked by both World Wars and Edna managed to keep Vogue going despite of world events. During the WW1, on November 1st 1914, she created the first Fashion Show Benefit for women and children affected by the war with American designers and new style trends. The biggest milestones of this event were the 3-days of fashion shows and the Ritz-Carlton in New York and introduction of modeling. Under Chase, in 1932, Vogue also became the first magazine to print images over double pages and the pioneer of a color photo on the cover on July the 1st (In Vogue 2006). Jessica Daves – 1952 – 1962 The 10 years of “rule” of Daves were marked as revolutionary, especially in the aspects of women’s independence. She introduced sportswear and comfortable apparel to the magazine and as a symbol of feminine independence combined cars and clothes for women. She also enlarged the portion of the magazine intended to art articles and she improved the overall standards of writing in Vogue. The biggest contribution of hers if definitely the Vogue shopping guides which were a part of the Must List section (In Vogue 2006). Diana Vreeland – 1963 – 1971 Diana Vreeland took Vogue to the next level – from reporting the fashion to creating it. She also brought bikinis and mini skirts back to Vogue. Her budgets on production of fashion spreads were enormous, because she was the first editor to perform shooting at exotic locations like Turkey, India and Japan. Last but not least, she started the trend, which is now called Cover Girls, with bringing in young models like Leslie Hornby (aka Twiggy) and Penelope Tree and printing their names together with their pictures. She also reused the same models shot by different photographers for the covers and ended up creating a career for Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy, Veruschka and the absolute cover winner (26 covers) Lauren Hutton. Due to changes in the society, Vreeland’s high-end approach was not relatable to the new woman anymore, thus in 1971 sales dropped and Vreeland was fired. Grace Mirabella – 1971 – 1988 Mirabella is known for its motto: Real fashion for Real women. It was a complete change from Vreeland, but her approach definitely worked. In the first 8 years circulation increased from 400,000 copies to 1 million copies and profits rose from $9.1 million to $26.9 million (In Vogue 2006). She introduced more beauty and health articles in the magazine and targeted it towards the intelligent, working new real woman. She was also the first to put a black woman on the cover of a magazine. She was a realist and designed the image of Vogue around her personal beliefs. Soon this became a problem, because Vogue was lacking the aspirational aspects that built the brand. Also Elle became a huge success in the USA in 1986 and Vogue needed a reform. Anna Wintour – 1988 – present Anna Wintour or as they call her Nuclear Wintour is probably the symbol of Vogue now and forever. When she landed the Editor-In-Chief position she went back to the roots of what Vogue was: social magazine. She liberated the cover style and rooted the cover girls and created the supermodel celebrity status for many of the models. Her strategy was to introduce fashion of different prices and mix and match high-end items with mass fashion. She was also the first to start using celebrities on covers of Vogue and to use fundraising events not only as charity but a big opportunity for promotion. She once said: “…if there is a subject or a person that will matter in fashion, we find it first, and report it, from our own angle.” Indeed, Wintour changed Vogue into a fashion bible and pushed it from being a witness of fashion to a participant of fashion. She made Vogue an aspirational magazine: everybody wanted to be in it and everybody wanted to read it. Artists Matisse, Picasso, Miro, Chagall, Dali, Lautrec, Klimt – they all created illustrations for the covers of Vogue, which for them was a matter of promotion and acquiring followers. Photographers De Meyer, William Klein, Steichen, Hoyningen, Beaton, Horst, Frisell, Rawlings and nowadays Annie Leibovitz, Elgort, Demarchelier, Newton, Penn, Klein, Ritts and Mario Testino - they all contributed a lot to Vogue and by doing so also to their careers. External evaluation STEEL ANALYSIS Legal - US 1. American Society of Magazine Editors fights for first amendment support to its members. 2. MPA with collaboration of Federal Trade Commission is trying to avoid government regulation of subscription telemarketing practices for publishers. 3. Trademark and Copyright infringement Most common problems in publishing are issues connected with trademarks and copyrights. They all have to be properly registered and placed. Copyrights apply to any original work, be it written, photographed, drawn, illustrated or even spoken. 4. Privacy Invasion Four basic types of privacy invasion (Legal Dictionary) that publishers must avert are: * Public disclosure of private or embarrassing facts * Publicity that places individual in a false light * Intrusion into seclusion * Misappropriation of a person’s name or likeness for commercial advantage. 5. Intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress can be a big issue when non respecting individuals’ rights. 6. Breach of confidentiality must be respected when in the publishing business. 7. Trespass, assault, battery – most common in news world, not so much for magazines. Economic 1. Per capita disposable income has increased during 2011 2. Advertising expenditures – accounts for 50% of revenues in magazine industry in US 3. Corporate profits will inflate higher advertising spendings 4. Global price of wood pulp is on the rise 5. Cheap substitutes available 6. Largely a fixed-cost business few options to cut costs 7. Labor-intensive industry Social 1. Globalization and intercultural environment create a need for niche magazines (targeting different races and age group) 2. Magazines are the most influential media for all audiences (MPA Factbook) 3. Consumer magazines appeal most to younger audience aged 18-35 (MPA Factbook) 4. Adapting to local audience Magazines sold predominantly in the country of editing/printing Technological 1. Growth of online magazines 2. Growth of free media online 3. Growth of mobile content 4. Printing is decreasing due to digitalization Environmental 1. Recycled paper has become almost a requirement with the eco-conscious 2. E-magazines are better for the environment than print 3. 324 liters of water is used for 1 kg of paper 4. Paper manufacturing is the 3rd largest user of fossil fuels 5. Every year in the US 350 million magazines are published 1/3 recycled paper, 1/3 whole trees and other plants, 1/3 wood chips and scraps from sawmills MAIN COMPETITOR-ELLE Elle is an international magazine, which focuses on fashion, beauty, health and entertainment. It is published in 43 countries and has 21 million readers (Elle Media Kit). Its total circulation in second half of 2010 was 1,124,569 copies of that 73.7% from subscriptions and 26.3 from single copy sales. It was founded in 1945 by Pierre Lazareff and his wife in France. Its famous slogan was: Si elle lit, elle lit Elle (If she reads, she reads Elle). Now Elle trademark is owned by Lagerdele Group and published by several famous publishing houses all around the world (Hearst Magazines in the US, Transcontinental Media in Canada, Editora Abril in Brazil, Hubert Burda Media in Germany, etc.). Roberta Myers, editor-in-chief, describes Elle’s reader as: “…is curious, smart, loves fashion, and uses fashion as a way to transmit to the world who she is and who she wants to be. She’s the first person to try something and she brings all her friends along on her fantastic journey.”(Elle Media Kit). They also describe their readers as stylish and influential, and consider them being decisive and devoted shoppers. Actual data by MRI (Elle Media Kit) shows that 89% of Elle’s audience are women, with a median age of 33.9 and median HHI of $76,596. Also 64% of their readers are single and the remaining 36% are married. Elle product range is rather vast. To its business consumers they offer advertising space, which differs in prices based on the size of the ad and the frequency. Possible sizes are full page, 2/3 of a page, ½ of a page and 1/3 of a page and frequencies range from 1x, 3x to 72x. They also offer 12 different sizes for online ads in 4 different digital options – bleed, trim size, non-bleed and live (Elle Media Kit). To addition to this, they conduct research with their own Elle Inner Circle and Elle Inner Circle Elite, mostly testing ad campaigns and products and conducting surveys on trends and brand awareness with their reader panels. Basic Inner Circle consists of 18,000+ members and the Elite Circle consists of 1,000 members (Elle Media Kit). To its final consumers Elle offers much more than just the magazine. They have an ELLE.com website with 28 national sites and 20 million unique visitors per month. In February 2010 (Elle Media Kit) they launched the iPad application. Elle also sells its Elle Shopping Guide and Elle Astrology iPhone applications. They have published many books so far, including The ELLEments of Personal Style (Amazon.com) and also DVDs, including Elle Make Better Series with exercising techniques. They are also present on TV with the series All on the line, created by Elle’s creative director Joe Zee. Elle also expanded its brand with Elle Décor magazine, covering aspects of design and living, Elle a la table covering cooking and Elle Girl for teenagers (FIPP 2007). A big part of Elle’s expansion has also been the licensing. They have launched a limited edition of Elle cars in several European countries (build by Renault and Peugeot) and they have their own Licensing Department working on different lines of products such as clothes, bags, shoes and glasses. One of the most popular licensed products if the Elle Glam Phone made by Alcatel and its design is updated every year. But the biggest and most recent licensing development is most definitely the Elle Spa at Eden Rock Renaissance Miami Beach Hotel. Prices B2B From $183,585 for fourth cover, $141,210 for full page ad to $76,270 for 1/3 page ad. Discounts range from 3% for frequency of 3 to 30% for frequency of 30 (Elle Media Kit). Consumer $3.99 per copy $10 per one year subscription with Elle US, $41 for Canada, $87 International (Elle, Nov. 2011) $2.99 per iPad app monthly access (free for magazine subscribers) $18.99 per iPad app yearly access Elle iPhone apps - free Elle’s promotion is mostly based on sponsored PR events and billboard advertising of the monthly issues. The events include Elle Style Awards, Elle Women in Hollywood Awards (Elle November 2011) and Elle Decoration International Design Awards (FIPP 2007). Consumer Trends A magazine for everyone. Number of magazines in the US increased by 17% from 2001 to 2010 (17,694 20,707) Total 18+ audience of magazines increased by 13,3% from 2001 to 2010 (168,595,000 191,086,000). Everyone loves magazines 93% of adults read magazines 96% of under 35 read magazines 97% of under 24 read magazines Younger readers are driving heavy usage of magazines Millennials (born 1977 – 94), GenXers (born 1965 – 76), Boomers (born 1946 – 64) | Boomers | GenXers | Millennials | Magazines | 21% | 22% | 25% | Internet | 20% | 26% | 32% | Television | 15% | 10% | 9% | Radio | 21% | 21% | 19% | Magazines appeal to young adults Adults 18 – 34 are more likely to be in the top quintile of magazine readership – heaviest readers overall. Magazines rank #1 in driving purchase intent. 4.8 People impacted per $1 spent on advertising in magazines. Comparing to 0.8 and 0.3 people in television and internet ads. The tablet market is projected to grow rapidly worldwide. Sales of tablets will grow by 400% from 2010 to 2012 – reaching 81.3 million units in 2012. Magazines look good when it comes to influencing consumers in Fashion and Beauty industry. Super Influential Consumers (people who have great experience in this topic and whose advice is trusted by friends and family) for Fashion/Beauty purchases are heavy users of magazines. Affluent buyers and influencers read magazines. Heavy users of magazines are more likely to be affluent luxury goods and services buyers. Super Influential Consumers of luxury goods purchases are heavy users of magazines. See Apendix I for more trends. Internal evaluation First we have to be aware of both completely different markets Vogue caters to: Consumer Business Target consumers Segmentation processes are different and the target customers are defined by different variables in each market. Consumer Market Segmentation (Solomon, 2007) Demographics Gender: women Age: 25 – 54 (Media Kit Vogue AUS) Income: High Disposable Income Psychographic Personality: passionate about fashion, early adopter of new trends (Media Kit Vogue AUS) Lifestyle: Explorers and Aspirers (Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation – 4c’s) See Appendix II for the whole chart on 4Cs. Social Class: A and B – Upper and Upper Middle Class Behaviorists Benefits: Readers searching for new trends and quality; benefit of being the first to know User-status: Frequent Users Loyalty: loyal customers because of Vogue’s brand equity A typical day in the life of Vogue reader She is a 35 year old woman. She wakes up in the early morning to go to work. Before that she washes her hair, blow-dries them and puts her hair up in a bun. She makes herself a smoothie for a quick healthy breakfast, puts on a Chanel skirt and Prada shirt and does her make-up with Dior’s new line. She puts on black stilettos by Louboutin, takes her Hermes bag and rushes to work. During her lunch break, she goes for a light salad with her girl-friends and buys the new issue of Vogue in the closest newsstand on the way. While eating lunch she indulges herself in flipping through colorful pages and discussing new trends and products with her friends and this puts her mind off work. After her lunch break she returns to work and finishes in early evening hours. On her way home she stops at the manicure parlor to get her nails done and during this time she starts reading her new issue of Vogue again. When she gets home she has to get ready for a dinner date with a successful guy she met a week ago at a charity benefit. She has time to run herself a bath, put evening make-up on, loosen her hair and skip into her new Diane von Furstenberg dress and Jimmy Choo shoes. She is ready for a Friday night on the town. Business Market Segmentation (b2binternational.com) Convenience Geography: international companies Firmographics Size of company: big multinationals Products made: luxury products in fashion, accessories, perfumes & cosmetics, automobile and leisure industries Needs: building brand and product awareness Target customer of Vogue’s business customers overlapses with Vogue’s, which is ideal for businesses advertising in Vogue Positioning The brand of Vogue Brand awareness To determine how aware audiences are of Vogue I conducted a simple research, which included people from 26 different countries, 50% representing Slovenia, country that does not have its own national edition of Vogue. When asked to name 5 international magazines, 60% mentioned Vogue from the top of their head and 31% mentioned Vogue as top-of-mind when thinking of international magazines. When asked to name 3 international fashion magazines, 83% mentioned Vogue from the top of their head and 60% mentioned Vogue as top-of-mind when thinking of international fashion magazines. When asked specifically if they have heard of Vogue, 98% answered they have. From this we can conclude, that Vogue has high brand awareness in the magazine world, which is not at all surprising since it is one of the Trusted Mega Brands. As Genower (2006) puts it: ”Ask anyone to name the unrivalled iconic fashion title on planet Earth and they won't look further than Vogue. Its brand values have been built and maintained on uncompromising quality - of paper, print, models, photographic shoots - just about everything. ” Brand Image In the same survey mentioned above I asked the participants to use 5 adjectives to describe Vogue. The most used were the following: fashionable (46%), stylish (29%), expensive (26%), trendy (22%) and glamorous (21%). (App the whole table) When asked to choose 3 words from the list of: style, fashion, art, glamour, lifestyle, upscale, prestige, high-society, hip, fun, advertisement, 77% of people chose fashion, 51% chose glamour, 50% chose style and 31% chose prestige. Only 2% chose hip or fun. When asked to associate Vogue with a colour, 34% chose red, 26% chose black and 18% chose white. Color perception can be hugely associated with brand identity and based on Chang and Lin (2010) red is associated with passion, excitement and boldness, black is associated with fashion, mystery and nobility and white is associated with pureness and honor. The same authors also connected brand personality traits to colors where red represents DARING, black represents RELIABLE and white represents DOWN-TO-EARTH and HONEST. From this we can conclude that Vogue is seen as fashionable, stylish, trendy, glamorous brand, which is passionate, exciting, bold, daring, reliable, down-to-earth and honest. Another research was done in 1995 by Stephen Quin (publishing director of Vogue) which along many other aspects, defined the image of Vogue brand. They used the “wheel of influence” technique to determine aspects of the brand image. Each aspect starts in the centre of the circle and continues along its line towards the ending 100%, which means 100% of participants in the survey attributed the characteristic to the brand in question (Marks, 1998). Source: Marks, 1998 Kapferer’s model To go even deeper into Vogue’s brand it is necessary to understand all aspects of the brand. Kapferer’s prism dissects Vogue into 6 aspects: physical evidence, personality, culture, self-image, reflection and relationship. Physical Evidence: Vogue is most known for its covers which have become a symbol over the more than 100-year long history of the magazine. Many of them have become collector’s items. Second most evident part is the glossy paper and then the Vogue’s famour editorials and fashion spreads which have defined the fashion world over decades. We cannot forget the amount of glossy ads and high quality photography, which have also represented Vogue over the years. Personality: Previous chapter on Brand Image Culture: The most obvious answer of the culture is definitely Fashion! In all decades of Vogue’s existence, fashion has shaped the structure of the magazine and its organization. Vogue also represents a lifestyle, as it was originally developed as a class publication, meaning it follows the lifestyle of its readers. Art has always been a tremendous part of Vogue and has shaped it over the years and last but not least, feminism, in its most positive form, because Vogue has since the beginnings represented an independent intelligent woman, no matter what age or nationality. Self-Image: Readers of Vogue definitely consider themselves as fashion connaisseurs – they see it in Vogue, they know it. The also consider themselves as trend-setters, since Vogue shapes trends before anyone, thus its readers are the first to try them out. Most importantly, Vogue readers see themselves as fashionable, because they care about what is in fashion and act accordingly. On top of all they also see themselves as stylish, because they like experimenting new styles they see in Vogue. Reflection: Vogue readers are without a doubt seen as having a high interest in fashion. A lot of people might think a reader of Vogue is a fashionista, which nowadays has lost the negative connotation. Some might think the reader of Vogue is pretentious, because they care about fashion and brands a lot, and some might see them as posh for the same reasons and because they think they overspend. Relationship: The relationship Vogue readers have with the magazine is definitely loyal and passionate, because Vogue delivers every time and its contents are written for their readers. On the other hand it is also very educative and informative, since it is a publication, which informs readers of new trends and products and on the other hand educates them on art, health, politics and fashion. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE RELATIONSHIP CULTURE SELF IMAGE REFLECTION PERSONALITY Stylish Daring Upscale Glamorous Fashion-forward Cover Editorials Photography Glossy paper Fashion spreads Advertisement Interested in fashion Fashionista Pretentious Posh Fashion connaisseur Trend-setter Fashionable Stylish Fashion Lifestyle Art Feminism Informative Passionate Loyal Educative Product and pricing Strategy Consumers Vogue Magazine * $4 per issue (US) * $15 per yearly subscription * $28 per 2 year subscription * $40 per 3 year subscription Teen Vogue Men’s Vogue iPhone apps * Vogue Stylist – free * First app to allow online shopping straight from Vogue’s pages when clicking on ads displayed * Vogue Wishlist - free iPad apps * Vogue magazine – $3.99 * Vogue Cover Exclusive - $0.99 B2B 1, 2/3, ½, 1/3 – page ads 2nd, 3rd, 4th cover ads Vogue Studio service * It helps advertizers develop a matching communication strategy to fit in with Vogue Vogue Archive * A new service, offering access to everything ever published in Vogue * $1575 for yearly access * also offered to design universities * may become an uber luxury product for individuals Brand Extension * Vogue Photographs in Conde Nast store by art.com * Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People book * The Teen Vogue Handbook * Vogue Café, Moscow – licensed to Arkady Novikov * Vogue Café, Kiev – partnership with Otrada Luxury Group – ANNOUNCED Distribution Strategy Single Copy: Newsstands owned by different distribution companies. Subscription: Home delivery. New channel: Conde Nast Worldwide News Store in London (Vogue HQ) Advertising Strategy There was an actual outdoor digital advertising campaign by Vogue UK launched in 2010 to promote the December Issue and the launch of the iPad app using transvision screens. They showed a 1 minute and 20 seconds long video throughout one day at major London train/subway stations. For the whole week they showed a 20 seconds long add. They repeated this in 2011 with only the 20 seconds animated add. Billboard for all Black Issue of Italian Vogue in 2008. Outdoor media campaign for Vogue India in July 2010. They used hoarders, unipoles and billboards in 3 cities – New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Campaign lasted 10 days and they repeated it again later in October. Social Media Vogue’s Facebook page Original Vogue Company page has 1,793,240 (4.12.2011) likes and daily updates on its profile. It also offers a direct link to subscribe to the magazine (US edition). Vogue’s Twitter page On Twitter Vogue has 885,251 followers and is current, meaning it is updated more than once a day. Influencer Network A panel of around 1,000 women, who are suppose to have an influence on others over social networks. They were selected based on their activity on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Polyvore. They are asked to provide feedback and encouraged to talk about products and Vogue on their social profiles in order to raise awareness – all of it for free. Most of the influencers are young bloggers. Vogue TV www.vogue.tv is a Youtube channel which features runway shows, interviews, fashion reviews, behind the scenes videos and much more. Vogue.com As digitalization is becoming more and more important Vogue’s webpage has been modernized and updated. It offers news from the fashion world to its consumers and tempting ad space to its business customers. Since 2011 they enable visitors to shop straight from Vogue’s webpage by clicking on the ads and being connected to an online store, where they can buy the exact same item featured in the ad. PR, Events 7th on Sale Created in the fall 1990 with cooperation of Vogue and CFDA. It was a one of a kind designer sample sale event raising money for the New York City AIDS Fund. 7th on Sale was a mini-speciality store for four days, where members of CFDA donated their merchandise. The event was attended by over 15,000 people and ended up raising 4.2 million dollars. It was reproduced in San Francisco in 1992. In 1995 Vogue and CFDA created 7th on Sale/The Return to New York. Again over 17,000 tickets were sold and they raised over 5 million dollars. In 2005 they marked a return of the event after 10 years on an even bigger scale. Thousands of designers pieces, including limited editions, one-of-a-kind, and celebrity worn items, were available to a worldwide audience (CFDA.com). It was also the first time the sale was available online and was made possible with the support of Dolce & Gabbana, Kenneth Cole Productions, Polo Ralph Lauren and partnership with eBay. Until today, 7th on Sale raised more than 17 million dollars for HIV/AIDS organizations. Unforgettable: Fashion of the Oscars On March 18th in 1999 a charity auction was held at Christie’s New York to raise money for AIDS. Anna WIntour said: “It was an obvious event for Vogue to support…” (NY Times 1999). They auctioned dresses that celebrities wore at the Oscars. Gowns of Uma Thurman, Sharon Stone, Kate Winslet and even Elizabeth Taylor were auctioned to raise money. CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund This fund was created to support up and coming designers. Its stated purpose is to generate sufficient income each year to fund significant financial awards to one or more designers and provide business mentoring (CFDA.com). Every year they select three emerging fashion designers, who receive business mentoring and $300,000 (1st prize) or $100,000 (2nd and 3rd prize). In the movie September Issue (2009) 2006 runner-up Thakoon Panichgul is featured being helped personally by Anna Wintour. Metropolitan Museum of Art’s New York Gala Vogue is the main benefactor of Met’s Costume Institute, which is the most famous for its yearly Gala event, which is one of the most prominent events in New York. For the 2011 Gala honoring Alexander McQueen Vogue launched a special edition iPad application. Fashion’s Night Out Also in cooperation with CFDA, Vogue sponsors this fashion charity event, which began in 2009 in New York. Its purpose was to encourage consumers to shop and support the fashion industry during the difficult economic circumstances. Being a huge success, in 2010 it spread worldwide to Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. It was run by 15 different national editions of Vogue.In 2010 they also added the possibility to participate in the event online with cooperation of e-tailers, calling it Fashion’s Night In (InPublishing.co.uk 2010). Teen Vogue FashionU Teen Vogue in cooperation with Vogue developed a Fashion University event, which consists of 3 days weekend of shopping parties, seminars and lectures. It was created in 2009 to give young Americans the opportunity to get to know different areas of the fashion industry. VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards Held between 1995 and 2002 in the US. British Fashion Awards Held from 1984 to today. Sponsored by Vogue UK. British vogue designer fund Placement There have also been quite some examples of placements in the history of Vogue. The most recent and noticeable being: SERIES SEX AND THE CITY Sex and the city has definitely been a great venue for Vogue, since the target audience is more or less the same and the characters in the series represent the Vogue women. Season 1(1998) Carrie: When I first moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I would buy Vogue instead of dinner. I felt it fed me more. Season 4/Episode 17: A “Vogue” Idea An entire episode evolving around Vogue, when the main character Carrie becomes a writer for Vogue. Shot in Vogue NY Headquarters and also features the Vogue closet. After this, Vogue has been a constantly present in SATC. Sex and the City the Movie (2008) Vogue photo-shoot with actual Vogue team (IMDB) including photographer Patrick Demarchelier and editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley. America’s next top model Cycles 15 - 17 were transformed to high-fashion cycles with corresponding prizes: Vogue Italia spread. Andre Leon Talley from US Vogue has been a judge in all these cycles. All episodes for the last seasons have also featured Franca Sozzani as Herself and as guest judge (IMDB). Gossip Girl Season 4 (2010) Featured an entire episode dedicated to the Vogue event Fashion Night Out. MOVIES September Issue (2009) A documentary made about the making of the September Issue 2007, which was the biggest and boldest of all in the history of Vogue. International Strategy As mentioned in the History of Vogue (Chapter 1), Vogue has had an international strategy all along. So after the British and French Vogue were created in London and Paris in the 1900s there has been a further expansion to no 16 countries: Italy, Australia, Russia, China (2005), Germany, India (2007), Taiwan, Portugal, Turkey (2010), Spain, Mexico, Japan, Brazil and South Korea. Australia has a Vogue Living magazine as well. Italian Vogue also carries Vogue Casa and Bambini Vogue. Men’s Vogue was published in 2005, but was folded in the US. In Italy the first male version of Vogue was launched in September 1967. In 1983 the published the French male version: Vogue Hommes International, which is a bi-annual magazine. Vogue Man was also launched in 2008 in India, China and Japan. Status quo Strengths 1. Name “Vogue” 2. Strong brand awareness 3. Iconic history 4. Great influence in the fashion world 5. First to get the stories from fashion world 6. Global presence 7. Highly distinguished team (models, photographers, writers, designers) Weaknesses 1. Brand portfolio not as strong as original Vogue brand 2. More and more advertising is damaging to the content 3. Badly communicated mission and brand universe 4. Low pricing doesn’t fit the superior status among competition Oportunities 1. Advertising expenditures are rebounding after the crisis 2. Consumer magazines appeal most to younger audience (18 – 35) 3. Magazines rank #1 in driving purchase intent 4. Growth of mobile content usage 5. Tablet market is projected to grow rapidly worldwide 6. Licensing and Brand extension are big trends in fashion Threats 1. Glossy magazine industry is the opposite of ecological trends (324 l of water/1 kg of paper; paper manufacturing is the 3rd largest user of fossil fuels) 2. Growth of free media online 3. Printing is decreasing due to digitalization 4. Global price of wood pulp is on the rise 5. Niche magazines are on the rise Recommendations Vogue could make an actual online magazine, being the same as the print issue, which one can flick through, but instead of some spreads watch an actual movie of the shoot or as they call them “motion editorials”, and instead of ads in print magazine, use video advertisement in the online magazine. Because it would be special, they could charge people for access and take use of the online magazine fans but still keep the print customers. It could be called Vogue: The Eco Issue, because it wouldn’t use paper, but keep the same shape. It would draw more of the digital and young magazine readers to Vogue. Vogue could create a real Vogue Universe flagship store in NY and later also in London. It would be different than fashion brand’s flagships, because it would be a mixture of museum and a fashion store. They could display photographs that were featured in Vogue during its history by famous photographers, art that was created by illustrators like Dali and Picasso for Vogue’s covers in the 1900s, it could sell old issues of the magazine, sell selected items from each issue, sell monthly international editions of Vogue and much more. They could have guest speakers from the fashion world for special events monthly, promote Vogue’s events and all-in-all create a Vogue experience altogether. This would help spread brand awareness and create a firmer base of loyal customers, while also acquiring an additional venue for advertisers to use and thus help Vogue increase its revenues. Another similar project would be Vogue Café. Vogue Russia has already made a step towards co-branding with it. Vogue should definitely open one in New York, London and Paris, where café culture is big, there are many potential clients and a lot of possible events to organize in the Café itself. Also it would be a great way to promote its monthly issues with displaying some of the cover stories and previous issues on digital screens and on the coffee tables. Vogue could create a special issue once a year, which would be the opposite of the September Issue, which is always packed with advertisements. They could make a limited ad issue, which would feature more articles and only 50 pages of ads. This could be a strategic decision, because people would be buying the issue, because it would be easier to read and more things to read about without the never-ending ad pages, but the ad pages that would be included, would get more attention and thus Vogue could charge much more for those ads and maybe make an auction among brands interested for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cover ads. Also, the limited edition would make a big buzz, increasing Vogue’s brand awareness and popularity. Sources 1. AdWeek Online http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/vogue-casts-1000-influencers-network-133299 2. B2B International Online http://www.b2binternational.com/publications/white-papers/b2b-segmentation-research/ 3. Blakes Marketing Practice: Magazines as brands, May 1998, PPA 4. Brandlabuk http://www.brandlabuk.com/Branding%20for%20Tomorrow's%20Publisher.pdf 5. Brand Republic Online http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1102408/Vogue-launches-video-ad-campaign-December-issue/'DCMP=ILC-SEARCH http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1094319/CondE-Nast-open-GQ-Vogue-restaurants-Turkey-Ukraine/'DCMP=ILC-SEARCH 6. Chang and Lin: The impact of color traits on corporate branding, September 2010 http://www.academicjournals.org/ajbm/pdf/pdf2010/4Nov/Chang%20and%20Lin.pdf 7. Council of Fashion Designers of America Online http://www.cfda.com/cfdavogue-fashion-fund/ http://www.cfda.com/cfda-vogue-initiative-7th-on-sale/ 8. Conde Nast Store at www.condenaststore.com 9. Cross Cultural Consumer Characterization Webpage http://www.4cs.yr.com/public/ 10. Daily Telegraph Online http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8811407/US-Vogue-is-magazine-of-the-year.html 11. Elle Media Kit http://www.ellemediakit.com/r5/home.asp 12. Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/paper/faqs.htm#sources 13. European Institute for Brand Management: Model: Brand Identity Prism http://www.eurib.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Documenten/PDF/Identiteit_en_Imago_ENGELS/Kapferer-_Brand-Identity_Prism_model-EN.pdf 14. Evans, Cynthia: Measuring the Qualitative Value of Magazines; Worlwide Readership Research Symposium 2001 15. FLIPP Online http://www.fipp.com/News.aspx'PageIndex=2002&ItemId=13864 16. Huffington Post Online http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/fashions-night-out-2011-t_n_846192.html 17. IBISWorld: Magazine Publishing in the US, Industry Report 2011 18. InPublishing Online http://www.inpublishing.co.uk/news/articles/vogue_launches_fashions_night_in.aspx http://www.inpublishing.co.uk/news/articles/voguecom_launches_the_stylist_with_looklet.aspx http://www.inpublishing.co.uk/kb/articles/building_brands.aspx 19. INSEAD http://faculty.insead.edu/chandon/personal_page/documents/case-note_brand%20audit-inspection%20copy.pdf 20. International Movie Database http://www.imdb.com 21. In Vogue, 2006 22. Legal DIctionary http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Publishing+Law 23. Marks, Richard: The value of researching your readership (Case: Vogue) http://www.warc.com/fulltext/admap/5581.htm 24. Media Week Online http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1102408/ 25. MPA Factbook 2011 retrieved from http://www.magazine.org/advertising/magazine-media-factbook/ 26. New York Times Online http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/14/style/gowns-seen-round-the-world-on-sale.html'pagewanted=all&src=pm http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/technology/14conde.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/business/media/magazines-begin-to-sell-the-fashion-they-review.html'_r=1&scp=25&sq=Vogue&st=cse 27. Printing Digital Research Forum http://www.printanddigitalresearchforum.com/papers/647.pdf 28. Russian Vogue Media Kit http://condenast.ru/en/portfolio/magazines/vogue/circulation/ 29. September Issue (2009) – the movie 30. Solomon, J. Robert: The physician manager’s handbook; 2007 http://books.google.com/books'id=z5onUO50r6oC&pg=PA288&lpg=PA288&dq=vogue+demographic+segment&source=bl&ots=wvDeye5WAP&sig=8ENC8SvK-CBDKdQIgjknFfpifK4&hl=sl&ei=BjXRTqa6CZDmtQahnaiABQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=pscycographic&f=false 31. Vogue Australia MediaKit http://www.newsspace.com.au/repository/Media%20Kit%20Summer%202011%20Apr11.pdf 32. Vogue Media Kit http://www.condenastmediakit.com/vog/ 33. Vogue Webpage http://www.vogue.com 34. Urban Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com Appendix I Consumer Trends Source : MPA Factbook Ad revenues grew by 24% from 2001 to 2010 ($16,213,541,737 $20,083,795,458). Younger readers are driving heavy usage of magazines Millennials (born 1977 – 94), GenXers (born 1965 – 76), Boomers (born 1946 – 64) | Boomers | GenXers | Millennials | Magazines | 21% | 22% | 25% | Internet | 20% | 26% | 32% | Television | 15% | 10% | 9% | radio | 21% | 21% | 19% | Magazines are the medium of engagement. Magazines continue to score significantly higher than television and the internet in key engagement attributes: * Ad receptivity * Trustworthy * Life enhancing * Social interaction * Inspirational Consumers welcome advertising in magazines. Advertising recall has grown 11% in the last 5 years and 53% of those recalling ads took action as a result of the specific ad. Consumers enjoy and trust magazine advertising. 64% of readers enjoy reading magazine ads and 46% read magazines for information about new brands, products and companies. Magazine advertising gets readers to act. 77% of respondents purchased a product after seeing or reading something in a magazine. Magazines drive consumers to go online. 57% of respondents visit company’s website after seeing an ad in a magazine. 59% visit the company’s website after reading an article. Magazines excel in driving web search. 36% of readers start a search online after being triggered by a magazine (TV – 35%, face-to-face – 35%, newspaper – 31%). Consumers are accessing magazines on their connected devices. 51% of consumers between 18 – 34 are reading magazines electronically. Magazine readers readily adapt to e-readers and tablets. 91% of e-reader owners are magazine readers. Magazine readers want to experience content in print and digital versions. 87% of those interested in reading magazines on a digital device STILL want a printed copy. The credibility of digital magazine ads provides advertising opportunities. 54% of Americans would love to be able to purchase things they see in magazine ads directly from the magazine company. Advertising in digital magazines gets consumers to act. 60% of digital consumers magazine readers go to an advertiser’s website. The number of magazine websites has increased by 30% from 2006 to 2011. The e-reading market is projected to grow rapidly. 54% of US consumers expect to purchase an e-reader or tablet within the next three years. Appendix II Source: 4Cs webpage (http://www.4cs.yr.com/public/) Cross Cultural Consumer Characterization Chart 4Cs is a values segmentation designed to explore Priorities in Brand Choice as they operate in an individual person. There are seven groups, each based on a single priority. Priority for... SURVIVAL | Resigned. Rigid, strict, authoritarian and chauvinist values, oriented to the past and to Resigned roles. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. (Older) | ESCAPE | Struggler. Alienated, Struggler, disorganised - with few resources apart from physical/mechanical skills (eg car repair). Heavy consumers of alcohol, junk food and lotteries, also trainers. Brand choice involves impact and sensation. | SECURITY | Mainstream. Domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental, passive, habitual. Part of the mass, favouring big and well-known value for money ‘family’ brands. Almost invariably the largest 4Cs group. (Average demos) | STATUS | Aspirer. Materialistic, acquisitive, affiliative, oriented to extrinsics ... image, appearance, charisma, persona and fashion. Attractive pack more important than quality of contents. (Younger, clerical/sales type occupation) | CONTROL | Succeeder. Strong goal orientation, confidence, work ethic, organisation ... support status quo, stability. Brand choice based on reward, prestige - the very best . Also attracted to ‘caring’ and protective brands ... stress relief. (Top management) | DISCOVERY | Explorer. Energy - autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference, sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect - the first to try new brands. (Younger - student) | ENLIGHTENMENT | Reformer. Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time, independent judgement, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad taste. Curious and enquiring, support growth of new product categories. Select brands for intrinsic quality, favouring natural simplicity, small is beautiful.(High education) | Appendix III Survey on brand awareness and Vogue identity Source: produced by myself by using Google Spreadsheets Method used: Online Questionaire Channel used: Internet Promotion of questionnaire: Facebook and email Analysis of the questionnaire Performed by: Google Spreadsheets for numerical data and by myself for written data. Country of origin: Austria | 1 | Brazil | 3 | Canada | 2 | Columbia | 1 | Denmark | 1 | England | 1 | Finland | 1 | France | 5 | Germany | 1 | Hungary | 1 | India | 1 | Italy | 1 | Latvia | 1 | Madagascar | 1 | Mexico | 1 | Netherlands | 1 | Nigeria | 2 | Poland | 5 | Romania | 3 | Russia | 1 | Slovenia | 46 | South Korea | 1 | Spain | 4 | Sweden | 1 | Turkey | 1 | USA | 2 | TOTAL | 88 | Name 5 international magazines that come to your mind first (results a statistic of people who mentioned Vogue): TOP OF MIND | 28 | 32% | 2nd place | 9 | 10% | 3rd place | 8 | 9% | 4th place | 4 | 5% | 5th place | 4 | 5% | Not mentioned | 35 | 40% | total | 88 | | Name 3 international magazines (results a statistic of people who mentioned Vogue): 1st | 53 | 60% | 2nd | 12 | 14% | 3rd | 7 | 8% | none | 15 | 17% | | 88 | | If you had to describe Vogue with 5 adjectives, what would you use' fashionable | 41 | 47% | stylish | 25 | 28% | expensive | 23 | 26% | trendy | 19 | 22% | glamourous | 18 | 21% | interesting | 9 | 10% | beautiful | 6 | 7% | chic | 5 | 6% | sophisticated | 5 | 6% | posh | 5 | 6% | luxurious | 4 | 5% | prestigious | 4 | 5% | colorful | 4 | 5% | modern | 3 | 3% | upscale | 3 | 3% | elegant | 3 | 3% | international | 3 | 3% | fun | 4 | 5% | voluminour | 3 | 3% | elite | 2 | 2% | sexy | 2 | 2% | exclusive | 2 | 2% | best | 2 | 2% | classic | 2 | 2% | beautiful | 1 | 1% | edgy | 1 | 1% | urban | 1 | 1% | forward | 1 | 1% | phony | 1 | 1% | classy | 1 | 1% | elegant | 1 | 1% | vulgar | 1 | 1% | professional | 1 | 1% | popular | 1 | 1% | inspiring | 1 | 1% | unique | 1 | 1% | vogue | 1 | 1% | reliable | 1 | 1% | art | 1 | 1% | -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Delineator, McCall's, Ladies' Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, Pictorial Review and later joined Harper's Bazar [ 2 ]. 44% more ads than Ladies' Home Journal, 78% more ads than Woman's Home Companion, 38% more ads than Delineator (In Vogue 2006) [ 3 ]. $10/1000 readers for full page versus $2 or $3 of competitors [ 4 ]. Modeling wasn't a profession yet, so the picked out girls from dressmakers' shops and trained them to walk the runway. Vogue also covered the models over 11 pages in its December Issue. [ 5 ]. Beverly Johnson in the August Issue of 1974 [ 6 ]. Lina Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer [ 7 ]. Household Income [ 8 ]. Main source for all trends being the MPA Factbook [ 9 ]. First to try out new ideas ; respond to brands that offer new sensation and indulgence ; they seek difference and their core need in life is: discovery. [ 10 ]. They are materialistic, acquisitive, driven by others perceptions of them; they respond to image, charisma and fashion; core need in life: status. [ 11 ]. See Appendix III for the entire questionnaire, results and analysis of the survey. [ 12 ]. Aided brand awareness [ 13 ]. A term used to define a woman with a penchant for shopping and a natural flair for combining both current and vintage fashionable trends (Urbandictionary.com) [ 14 ]. Special distribution channel offering all editions of Conde Nast magazines, including international editions of Vogue. [ 15 ]. Social Network where people create outfits and share them with other members [ 16 ]. Council of Fashion Designers of America [ 17 ]. Italian Editor of Vogue