Gucci's Innovative Meme-Based Advertisement Essay For Its New Watch Range. (70 Characters)

In this unit, the fashion marketing landscape will be broken down into 7 pieces, namely the 7Ps of the Marketing Mix. Each P is thus like a Puzzle Piece of this larger landscape. Textiles and design, brands and retail, production and questions of sustainability, promotion and influencers, culture and history, iconic people and places, trends and future forecasts, make up this vivid landscape and are covered in the ‘Intro To’ lectures and seminars.

You should choose your Fashion Puzzle Piece (of the past or present) to research. It will directly relate to one of the 7Ps and examine a topic of your choice which has been covered in the unit. You should negotiate the exact topic with your tutor and write an academic essay demonstrating why your fashion Puzzle Piece is relevant, which P it represents, and how its influence manifests in fashion marketing. Finally, you should also briefly demonstrate how your Puzzle Piece links to another one, thus showing how two Ps of the Marketing Mix connect.

You should undertake research as outlined below:
a) From the literature (academic and fashion sources) about your chosen fashion Puzzle Piece history/identity/fashion marketing relevance and influence.
b) From the literature (academic and fashion business sources) about fashion marketing principles and practices: notably regarding specific fashion marketing activities. Your essay should show the application of one of the fashion marketing principles (7Ps) and finally explain in up to 300 words how your chosen area connects to one other P which you learned about in the lectures and seminars.
c) Primary research- from visits (field research, store visits and exhibitions) to collect additional research. You should take your own photographs and use a selection of these in your essay to illustrate your discussion and support your arguments. 
Your essay should include an evaluation (analysis) of all your research and you should consider:
• The aims of your essay
• The reason or your choice of Fashion Puzzle Piece
• An introduction to your selected fashion Puzzle Piece, illustrated with fashion images
• Evidence of your understanding of fashion marketing principles with regard to your Puzzle Piece
• Analysis of how your fashion Puzzle Piece connects to another one Your illustrated essay should be written in an academic style using Harvard Referencing for in-text citations and references as per the Intro To resources.

Utilizing memes as a promotional tool

Gucci, one of the largest fashion brands of the world is an Italian luxury brand of fashion and leather goods was established in the year 1920. A recent advertisement campaign undertaken by the brand is probably the most innovative and trendy ad campaign that the world has ever experienced (Keller 2017). The following essay is an illustrative discussion on the advertisement campaign that has been undertaken by this well-known fashion house of the world. Probably, Gucci one of the fashion giants in the world has taken a major revolutionary step to bring innovation in their advertisement techniques.

It has used one of the popular tools to develop its advertisement campaign. The use of “Meme”- the fashion brand has taken a creative initiative to enhance its sales. The word “meme” coined by the British ecologist Richard Dawkins in the year 1976 initially implied imitation of things. However, in the recent decades, the internet has changed the meaning of the word and as a result a new idea of meme has come up with the present generation (Tait 2012).

Currently, memes, be it in the form of images or GIFs, has become a public coinage of social media and are constantly exchanged from user to user for million times in a day. The main discussion that will be focused in the essay will encircle the advertisement campaign of the company that is mainly related with the fashionable wrist watches. The essay will analyze this innovative marketing approach of the company and will highlight its influence on the customers of the company along with critical study on the 2ps of the marketing mix of the company- Promotion and People.

The essay will conclude by highlighting how this advertisement campaign has influenced the promotion of the brand and increased the sales of the company and will evaluate the results of such similar campaigns that might have been undertaken by some other brands. It will also suggest some recommendations, that the company might incorporate in its later campaigns, to develop its business further.

The latest ad campaign that is based on the theme “#TFW Gucci” or “That Feeling When Gucci” has incorporated a number of memes for Instagram to promote its fresh range of timepieces. This approach of the brand has left many of its followers in confusion as they could not comprehend the underneath meaning of the meme. This ad campaign is primarily planned mockingly to demonstrate the desire of Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele who once expressed his desire “to engage with a wider creative community than that which traditionally locates around the world of fashion” (Kim and Sung 2013). At present, memes, be it in the form of images or GIFs, has become a public coinage of social media and are constantly exchanged from user to user for million times in a day.  

Gucci, in order to launch their new range Le` Marche` des Merveilles watches, appointed some global artistes curated by Alessandro Michele to create some quirky images. This was followed by infusing some viral effects into the images by the popular twitter and Instagram artistes so that the images appear much more lively (Radon 2012). This provided the images a totally new look that became appealing to the new generations. These memes were then captioned in the form of art to support the online observers.

Impact on the promotion and sales of the brand

This theme of memes taken from a recognized class of memes is about some sentiments. The main message that they wanted to portray through the memes is “when Gucci is about the moment of placing on one of the watches and the world all of a sudden, becomes disparate and time slows down a little bit” (Kim and Ko 2012). Moreover, the transcripts on the memes contributed life to the memes as digital works of art. Hence, the directors of the brand are of the opinion that the memes of Gucci will influence new generations and it will find new purpose as these memes are spreading rapidly across the Internet. One of the most popularized post is found featuring the Arthur meme that says “me vs the guy she says I shouldn’t worry about” (Shukla 2011).

The marketing mix is a concept of the marketing analytics. The marketing mix is all about combining the exact product or an arrangement of products so as to place the right products with the accurate price and at the right time. Hence, marketing mix is a set of marketing equipment and technics that is utilized by a firm to follow its marketing goals in the target. The marketing mix thus can be divided broadly into 4 strata of marketing theory which are product, price, promotion and people (Kapferer and Bastien 2012).

Gucci, while dealing with marketing mix in this campaign, mainly emphasized on their promotional activity and the people. The promotional approach that Gucci has undertaken is mainly through the online media platforms. This is the reason why Gucci’s snapchat and Instagram accounts are ornamented with the social-centric features and comments from the followers of the brand (Atwal and Williams 2017). Since Gucci has undertaken an innovative approach to attract the new generation customers, their promotion campaign utilizes the social media sites that are now a sizzling platform for all kinds of branding and promotional activities.

Before this, the company had used print and online media but there were no such pro-active responses from the followers and the customers. This is why the company has applied meme- one of the popular tools to attract the youngsters. However, this approach of the brand also faced some criticisms from some of the old customers of the company. Hence, it can be highlighted that the company has deliberately taken a promotional attempt that can affect the reputation of the company in both the ways- positive and negative. Apart from this new advertising approaches, the company in order to compete with other fashion brands has invested a high amount in the advertising sector.

On the other hand, the another P of the marketing mix, “People” plays another significant role. People in the marketing mix are implied as human actors who participate in the business services of the company. Gucci’s new ad campaign is intended at the young generation of the society so that they become acquainted with the hip of the brand. The brand itself said that their aim is to reach to the new kid of the town. The main stress that the brand highlighted in this theory is the distinctiveness of their products by successfully portraying the vibrant images of the through its arrangements of various fashion shows that highlight the unique culture that the company represents (Godey et al. 2016). In many of its former promotional activities, it had endorsed some popular contemporary celebrities to increase the popularity of the brand.

Evaluation of similar campaigns by other brands

Gucci being one of the most popular fashion brands, has an extensive list of affluent personalities and clients who also influence the promotion of the company (Mohr 2013). Some of the well-known clients of the brand comprise Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly. Gucci, which has always been a favorite of the sophisticated class of a society has started experimental marketing to attract the newer generation customers. As a result, many a times there are instances when the company encountered criticisms for its use of controversial strategies of advertisements (De Mooij 2013).

For instance, the company came into the spot light when in one of its ad for perfume Opium, the company post a naked image of the model Sophie Dahl. This scandalous ad helped the company in achieving the limelight of the media across the world and led to the awareness of the brand and its products. The recent association of American model and actor Blake Lively, models Kate Moss and Charlotte Casiraghi as the brand ambassadors of the company has attracted a lot of customers in the stores. Besides, when the company launched handbags named “Jackie O” under its promotional activities, it turned out to be a success as the bags were sold like hot cakes. Therefore, the company focused its products and promotion to some high-class people with a good sense of humor as the memes were embedded with valuable messages within it.

Fashion marketing principles influence the products as well as the consumer behavior. Every minute details of the products are essential for influencing the consumer behavior. Fashion marketing is not only about the branding and shaping of a product but also it is about portraying a person to a different level so that the it creates a long lasting effect on the customer. Gucci, that has taken its promotion campaign to a new level of innovation has utilized this approach effectively to fascinate the new customers (Kasriel-Alexander 2016).

The meme ad campaign is perhaps the most modernized advertisement that the fashion world has ever experienced. The memes which are generally hilarious for all ages are made even more comical with the definitions that are provided for the people who are not yet accustomed with the use of meme (Godey et al. 2016). This is evident from a reaction meme that had been posted by a follower of the brand who wrote on Instagram that Gucci should delete their account. There were also some positive responses that the brand received as many of its followers wrote “Gucci is killing the game with their memes rn”.

Besides, Gucci there are few brands that has implemented this meme ad campaign in their promotional marketing. Barkbox, a service center that subscribes for the treats and toys of dogs utilizes this process by creating the majority of its Instagram content with memes that are animal related. Another name that can be made is the Seamless. Seamless, an online food delivery service based in the US created a complete set of memes on the back of what is always a popular topic on social media that are broadcasted across its digital channels. For instance, it created a number of spoof film posters one of which was “Waffle of Wall Street” (Godey et al. 2016).

Recommendations for Gucci to develop its business further

Before I undertook this assignment I came across an advertisement of this brand Gucci on the social media that really fascinated me to work on the following topic. I have been a follower of this brand for quite a long period of time. What really fascinated me about the advertisement, is the concept that it used to demonstrate its products. The products that mainly consisted of timepieces were not as attractive as the memes that were made on the images. The memes that were inscribed with the products not only enhanced the quality of the products but also spread a strong message underneath it.

Hence, from the above discussion it can be concluded that technological advancement not only increases the production rate of a company but at the same time, it brings out the creativity of the company. The advertisement campaign that has been discussed here focuses how the presentation of a product can influence the choice of the buyers. The advertisement campaign has mainly involved approaches that could simply attract customers of all ages and hence it can positively influence the growth of the company.

Gucci has taken an approach that is convenient only for a handful amount of customers. It is recommended that the brand must bring in some innovative traditional approaches that will also be convenient for loyal customers of the brand but are not accustomed with the social technologies. Otherwise, the company might lose its loyal customers who also contributes largely for the popularization of the brand. This will also enhance the profit of the company as it will appeal to both the new generation as well as the loyal customers of the brand.

References

Atwal, G. and Williams, A., 2017. Luxury brand marketing–the experience is everything! In Advances in Luxury Brand Management (pp. 43-57). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

De Mooij, M., 2013. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage Publications.

Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R. and Singh, R., 2016. Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), pp.5833-5841.

Kapferer, J.N. and Bastien, V., 2012. The luxury strategy: break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands. Kogan page publishers.

Kasriel-Alexander, D., 2016. Top 10 global consumer trends for 2016 (pp. 18-21). Euromonitor International.

Keller, K.L., 2017. Managing the growth tradeoff: Challenges and opportunities in luxury branding. In Advances in Luxury Brand Management (pp. 179-198). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Kim, A.J. and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), pp.1480-1486.

Kim, D.H. and Sung, Y., 2013. Gucci versus Old Navy: Interplay of brand personality and regulatory focus in advertising persuasion. Psychology & Marketing, 30(12), pp.1076-1087.

Mohr, I., 2013. The impact of social media on the fashion industry. The Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 15(2), p.17.

Radon, A., 2012. Luxury brand exclusivity strategies–An illustration of a cultural collaboration. Journal of Business Administration Research, 1(1), p.106.

Shukla, P., 2011. Impact of interpersonal influences, brand origin and brand image on luxury purchase intentions: Measuring interfunctional interactions and a cross-national comparison. Journal of world business, 46(2), pp.242-252.

Tait, B., 2012. The Mythic Status Brand Model: Blending brain science and mythology to create a new brand strategy tool. Journal of Brand Strategy, 1(4), pp.377-388.