Case Study – American Apparel

The club segmental their market to juvenility men and women in their ass, and further targeted a niche audience of environmentally conscious consumers. The company catered to this artsy, bohemian audience who resided In hip neighborhoods of large, metropolitan cities that upheld a hip, subversive, and degenerate culture (Wolf, 2006). Until 2008, the company utilise concentrated marketing by positioning themselves as a sweatshop-free maker who pays their employees fair wages and provides them health care benefits.Positioning the sign by attributes and benefits conduct Ameri stomach Apparel to became known for their ethics and sustainability. As to a greater extent and more retailers attempt to be green, Ameri do-nothing Apparel had a harder time standing(a) out as a company trying to be commodity (Hill, 2010). Charley later realized that he was limiting his sales potential by targeting a niche and wanted to go mainstream by expanding to a large market (Walker, 2008). He de cided to reposition the brand to assemblage to a generation and utilise bring up as a way to toy people closer.The new generation, as Charley puts it, is exciting, mobile, and open-minded. These are the people he wants to be in business with (Wolf, 2006). The company incorporated sex into their advertisement schema as a way to position the brand by user. Since 2008, American Apparels promotional strategies have been concentreed on highly knowledgeable images of young people in provocative poses. Their amateur models and lack of photocopying reflects their honesty by showing the models imperfect bodies and blemished skin (Wolf, 2006). Not only do they show real people, they to a fault expose nipples and pubic hair.The use of transgress tactics in their sexual honesty has attracted much attention, and their openness with sex has come part of their brand image, since they have worked hard to create an find out infused with youth and sex (Chuddar, 2008). The brands undifferen tiated marketing reached more people than in the lead and crossed all genres, including high- fashion kids, clubbers, geeks, and gays (Hill, 2010). However, their controversial denote has received squinch and negative responses from the media, labeling the brand as -porn chic (Giving, 2014).The company claims to not be worried, since there seems to be dis consociate between how young people get the picture the ads and how mainstream media reports the ads. By narrowing their brand image, many people argue that American Apparel alienates their original user base, but the company asserts that they can connect many small groups together Into a big audience (Chuddar, 2008). Their nearly recent ad strategy tailors to different demographics, including their use of a 62-year gray-headed model, a plus-sized model, a Bangladesh model, celebrate diversity by targeting consumers of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, and religions.Additionally, the company has gone global, establishing st ores in Asia and representing the American dream (Woo, 2013). The message behind their announce envoys openness and freedom, not reasonable in sexuality but also for people who are normally ignored (Chuddar, 2008). Suggest a rising plan In order for a brand to grow or at least stay competitive, they cant stop presenting fresh, new advertising campaigns to consumers. In American Apparels case, they theres also an ethical issue involved. What direction should they take with their advertising campaign?Recently, founder and CEO Charley has been fired, leaving many people wonder whats next for the companys marketing aesthetic. With Charley gone, many believe that the company should completely re- rand itself (Holland, 2014), however, the company still plans to maintain their sexy and edgy image (Walker, 2014). As fashion has evolved and sex has frame mainstream, shoppers have become desensitizing and started to move on. Activist groups consider American Apparel to be pass, sexist, an d demeaning (Walker, 2014), and according to sales, sex Just isnt sell anymore (That, 2014).Consumer reports found that sexy apparel has limited appeal and consumers have been expressing that they want comfortable clothes that can be fig up or dressed-down (That, 2014). Consumers want it all and sexiness limits their style. American Apparel should focus their advertising campaign on the versatility of their merchandise, thus their promotional objective should be to increase awareness of the multiple functions of their apparel to yield variableness with consumers. unity of the core concepts of marketing is that it is better to maintain existing customers than trying to make water new ones.In this case, American Apparel should target the same consumers, but with a different spin. Sex still appeals to their target market, the young, 20-something men and women in metropolitan areas, but as these consumers age and their style evolves, their taste will too. The advertisements used in the past are becoming increasingly tacky, therefore sexual ads should be more tasteful and appealing to a maturing audience. To emphasize the apparels versatility, the brand should be positioned by product attributes and benefits.The company manufactures basic apparel that can be used in a variety of ways. The clothes can be worn alone, in layers, combined with other brands, etc. unconditioned looks can be created, which can communicate different styles to different types of shoppers. The versatility of these pieces produces more variety ND greater product benefits. American Apparels major selling idea should highlight the duality of people, combining both emotional and thinking(prenominal) advertising appeal. The companys philosophy on being sweat-shop free, Made in ground forces puts them at odds ends with their overly-sexed advertisements.Since people have layers, the brand can appeal to shoppers by helping them embrace their duality. Consumers want a brand that they can emot ionally connect with, brands that reflect their passion and interests (That, rational consumer looking for items with multiple uses, which translates into a good alee for their money. To execute this strategy, their advertisements should demonstrate the ease of versatility with their apparel, since demonstration advertising can be effective in highlighting product benefits.An deterrent example of this approach would be to show a model wearing an member such as a cardigan, suggesting a preppy look. She could be styled with her hair in a bun and wearing glasses. In another image, the model would be shown with her hair down and wearing the same cardigan, maybe unbuttoned, revealing her bra and her sensual side. This good-girl/bad-girl image translates the regularity of apparel to the duality of personality. In this sense, utilisation imagery demonstrates how the product could be used. An indirect headline can be used to provoke interest for shoppers.A headline such as kiss your Dua lity can challenge shoppers to style themselves in different ways. The visual constituent from the preppy/sexy example could convey the same message if stood alone. Yet, a headline attached to the visual portion is more effective for attracting attention. The subhead for the ad would be the brands usual American Apparel Sweatshop free, Made in the States tagging, which also implies the rands duality. The sexual imagery combined with their ethical practice demonstrates the duality in brands as well as in people.