EOC week 3: Review Questions

1.. Is Ralph Lauren a designer? Why or why not? “Ralph Lauren is not a traditional designer; he is a merchandiser.” (Brand/Story, p. 35) He has ‘creative license’ to do whatever he wants with his brand, including positioning it, designing it, marketing it, and branding it how he sees fit.

2. Where did Ralph Lauren work prior to working for himself? Why do you think this experience was beneficial to his career? “In the mid-1960’s, Ralph Lauren took a position with a Boston-based tie manufacturer, Rivetz. He utilized self-promotion as a way to stand above his peers and get attention from clients. Lauren’s unique style allowed him to gain sales and a reputation. Ralph Lauren became skilled at networking in the New York garment industry. He learned early that building relationships was essential to creating his own brand.” (Brand/Story, p. 37)

3. Currently, how many divisions does Ralph Lauren operate under his name? Can you identify the target market of each division? Are they homogenous or diverse? His first line was Polo, which just included ties and later added women’s shirts. It was made for an upper class market that could afford to spend more on their personal style. He also operates a home goods division which includes paint. He launched the Polo Sport line in 1993 and expanded his ethnic market with the use of Tyson Beckford as his underwear model. The RRL line was introduced in 1993, focused on a higher price point of romanticized Western wear. The Lauren Purple Label offers men’s tailored clothing and Polo Sport Women offered casual wear. Polo Jeans Co. was introduced for a younger market and Lauren by Ralph Lauren focused a moderately priced women’s collection that is traditionally tailored at major department stores. He also has a restaurant in Chicago and a Blue Label line of children’s wear. Rugby was launched in 2004, focused at college age markets and competes with Abercrombie and Fitch.

4. What is your favorite division of Ralph Lauren? How does that division emulate your personal lifestyle? I’m not really a fan of Ralph Lauren. It’s very traditional so if I had to pick I’d probably say Rugby is my favorite division. I like the youth found in the line. I also love the bed linens in the home goods collection. They are well made and stay looking new even after many washings.

5. How has Ralph Lauren built on his original brand to create an empire and an almost unparalleled career in fashion? Can you think of someone else who compares to him? He has built his brand completely around the things that inspire him. Each line is congruent in some way and reflects his branding process. No one else really compares to how complete his collection of brands are.

EOC week 3: Beech Nut Apple Juice Scandal

“Beech-Nut sought to market its line as the natural baby food, but would ultimately cave to pressures to reduce costs. In an effort to save money the Beech-Nut Corporation switched to a new juice concentrate supplier, who provided a less expensive apple juice concentrate. The new supplier would eventually become known as Universal Juice. The disproportion between Beech-Nut’s 1977 manufacturing budget of over $50 million a year and the meager $250,000 saved per year due to the decision to switch suppliers may seem extreme, but the repercussions that followed this executive decision would serve as a major turning point in the world of white-collar crime.” (http://socyberty.com/crime/the-beech-nut-apple-juice-scandal/#ixzz1TFBxJ4cD) In 1982 an investigation revealed that some companies were omitting apples from their apple juice concentrate all together. Employees were suspicious of the concentrate that Beech-Nut had started using. “ That suspicion grew when company inspectors touring Universal Juice were denied access to the apple-processing area. By 1981, Beech-Nut’s Director of Research, Jerome LiCari, was so worried the apple juice might be unsafe that he quit when his bosses ignored his concerns. The controversy only got worse when the federal government’s Food and Drug Administration got involved. According to the FDA, tests in 1982 revealed that Beech-Nut’s “100 per cent apple juice” actually contained “beet sugar, malic acid, apple flavor, carmel color, corn syrup and sugar cane — but no apple juice.” Essentially, the mixture was sugar water and a blend of chemicals designed to look and taste like apple juice. Beech-Nut executives first claimed they didn’t know their supplier’s juice was not genuine. But instead of recalling the product, they stalled the FDA and scrambled to move as much “apple juice” as possible to the Caribbean where they sold it off, fast. By the time the government forced a recall, Beech-Nut only had to destroy 20,000was no big deal if the apple juice wasn’t apple juice, ‘Who were we hurting?’ he asked.” (http://www.clarksons.org/CrossCurrent/cc3206%20Pure%20Lies.htm) “The company itself had pleaded guilty the previous fall to 215 counts of violating Federal food and drug laws, and had agreed to pay a $2 million fine, by far the largest ever imposed in the 50-year history of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Beech-Nut had confessed in a press release that it had broken a ‘sacred trust.’” (http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/24/magazine/into-the-mouths-of-babes.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm) The scandal made consumers distrust the company that they had been using to feed their children and they stopped buying the product. The profits fell and it has taken the company years to recover consumer loyalty and to regain their trust. The brand was never looked at in the same light and has taken years to repair the damage they did to their name.

BOC week 3: Rolling Stone Magazine

Rolling Stone Magazine was founded in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason in San Francisco. They started the magazine with only $7500 that they got from friends and family and in two years became the most respected rock and roll publication that had ever existed. Rolling Stone magazine’s editorial history includes a long line of now famous and successful photographers, writers and artists. Before Rolling Stone magazine there was no such thing as rock music photography. Barron Woman served as the first Rolling Stone staff photographer; Linda Eastman (later Linda McCartney) was the first woman photographer to shoot a Rolling Stone magazine cover; Annie Leibovitz served as the second staff photographer and Robert Kingsbury was the magazine’s first full-time art director. Rolling Stone magazine was the starting place for many famous writers including Hunter S. Thompson, Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus and many more. (http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/A-Brief-History-of-Rolling-Stone-Magazine/189320) By 1990, the magazine was a glossy, mass-produced entertainment package and Wenner was worth an estimated $250 million. (http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/portfolio/books/book256.html ) Rolling Stone is not remotely the same magazine today, but some of the influence of its glory days remains: The line from Hunter Thompson's quintessentially '60s stories (the infamous Fear and Loathing series) to the hip contemporary reportage of, say, Maureen Dowd in The New York Times is a fairly straight one. (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,317558,00.html) Rolling Stone’s audience and target market has always been music-lovers of all ages and those that just want to be in the know when it comes to the music industry. The magazine has created a sense of community with it’s readers with its extensive web site offering even more insight into all things music and blogs from its famous writers. They have also created many products around the Rolling Stone brand, including the most popular line of T-shirts that were available at Macy’s and then at Wal-Mart for a small period of time. With each shirt purchased, the customer would receive a free one-year subscription to the magazine. The magazine is still a highly respected publication, maybe not as much so as it once was, but certainly attracts more popularity than it’s New Yorker, Billboard, and Nylon magazine competitors when it comes to music, celebrities, and fashion. Wenner used his magazine to reward his friends and pan his enemies, and there was always an element of censorship: The magazine trod very softly around the music industry, where its advertising revenues lay. Wenner was shameless about using the magazine's growing clout as his entree to the rich and famous. Even Wenner's original insight — that rock & roll deserved to be taken seriously — eventually became stale. Thus perhaps the real mystery about Rolling Stone is not that it didn't fulfill its potential but just the opposite: that for five years, it was so breathtaking. For whatever reason — and it is the one thing that Draper can never really explain — Wenner chose, as a conscious business strategy, to allow the magazine to reach its potential for a brief, shining moment. Instead of longing and regret, maybe we should simply be happy that we got that much. It's more than most magazines can say. (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,317558,00.html)

Week 2 EOC: Exercise

Trace the history of the fashion brand Burberry. Examine its ads today and those from past campaigns. What are the differences? Has the target market changed? Did this fashion company follow its target market clients as they aged? Back up your research with clear examples.

These ads represent some of the history of the Burberry brand, from the 1908 Gabardine invention advertisement to the look of today with the Harry Potter actress, Emma Watson. This brand has endured 2 World Wars and stayed true to it's tradition. Judging by the ads, the company always pushed their Burberry trench coat. This one item can be seen in several forms in almost every advertisement they have ever released. The market for this has always been a high class shopper that values well made goods and don't mind paying for them. The company does seem to target a younger market today than they once did by featuring younger models in the 20th and 21st centuries. The difference in the 1991 and the 2010 advertisements to the 1908 and 1955 ads are significant. The earlier ads go so far as to point out the distinguishing marks and selling points of the product. The newest ad doesn't even say the name of the company, leaving the audience to recognize the brand by its signature pattern.

Week 2 EOC: Questions

1. How has fashion advertising changed since the mid-twentieth century? What are some of the differences between ads that appeared before the 1950’s and those from the 1950’s, 1960’s, and today?

“During what is known as the modern period (c. 1890-1945) function and use value were emphasized in fashion. Consumers were influenced by practicality, style, fabrication, and availability of products that were new to them. “ (Brand/Story, p. 14) Thus this is what advertisements demonstrated before the 1950’s. After that advertisements started to portray a lifestyle that the company wanted to make the consumer believed they could attain by purchasing the product. Fashion started to take on a language of its own.

2. What are some of the theories related to fashion branding (i.e., Barthes and Baudillard)? What do they say about fashion branding as a means of communicating with consumers? How do the contemporary ideas of Hamilton, DeBord, Agins, Gobe, and McCracken relate to those of Barthes and Baurdrillard?

“According to French philosopher Roland Barthes, clothing garments are created and stylized in the design process to suit current fashion. Barthes believed that a garment is actually present in the fashion system at three distinct levels: the real garment or actual garment itself; the terminological garment, which signifies the word used to describe the object; and the rhetorical written garment, which includes how the clothing is described through words and photographed images. “ (Brand/ Story, pl 17) Jean Baudrillard theorized that this is a time of simulation in which the boundaries of what is real and what is perceived to be real have been blurred and are not as distinguishable by consumers. He said that those with a social standing create this distortion. “According to Baudrillard, ‘those of social standing have repackaged consumer products in hyperreal scenarios in order to generate continuous consumption.’” (Brand/ Story , p. 20) Hamilton continued with this philosophy by studing how culture and fashion arbiters influence consumer interpretations of ideas. DeBord, Agins, and Gobe all agree with Baudrillard in the fact that branding is the most important thing for a product to be successful.

3. What types of meanings does Grant McCracken associate with fashion products? Do you agree or disagree? If you disagree, what would you add or delete from his list? Give an example of one of the meanings?

Grant McCracken’s research “emphasizes that studying clothing is essential to understanding the cultural evolution of society. According to McCracken, meaning moves from the ‘culturally constituted world’ to the gatekeepers of consumer goods to the individual consumer, all three add meaning to a brand as it passes through their domains. McCracken’s theoretical models suggest that through social interaction, individuals assign status to fashion-branded garments as well as types of consumer goods. He identifies 9 different types of meanings that are usually targeted by companies: gender, lifestyle, decade, age, class and status, occupation, time and place, value, and fad, fashion, and trend meanings.” (Brand/ Story, p. 30) I agree with this assessment because these are generally the reasons that people purchase what they choose to buy. We look for certain brand names because we associate one of these things to that brand and it, in turn, is what we want to represent about our personalities to the world. Someone that buys Dolce and Gabana wants to be perceived as rich, successful, and on the cutting edge of fashion.

BOC Week 2: Voice

Fashion is a means of self-expression and a way that people communicate their personalities to others without the need for words. This is one of the reasons I decided to pursue a career in the fashion industry. A culmination of passions for style and knowledge has led me to fashion writing and marketing. From experience I know that looking one’s best is the only way to achieve success, whether that be professionally or socially. The total look is not only important in personal appearance but also in the quality of work I put my name on. Examining the marketplace for the newest trends and staying current with up and coming designers keeps my work fresh and relevant. Understanding the pace of the fashion industry and the standards that have been set with publications like Women's Wear Daily keeps me ahead of the curve. In an age where everyone is an authority on fashion and can make their voice heard in numerous fashion blogs, I eventually hope that my writing will inspire and inform my audience of the importance of fashion in today’s society and how to utilize all the tools and style options that are available today.

Amazing New Commercial

This makes drinking water look way cooler than any alcohol.

EOC Week 1: Exercise

Question: Find a fashion advertisement. Identify any historical, social, or cultural icons in the ad and share the story the ad is trying to tell the viewers. How does this ad make the consumer want to purchase the product?

These are the photos of Helena Bonham Carter that were taken for the new Marc Jacobs ad campaign for his fall collection. The polka dot theme is a trend in fashion for the Fall collections and Carter displays the funky approach to the pattern that Jacobs is known for. She represents the odd spirit of Marc Jacobs that his customers have come to expect in his retro-inspired collections. Everyone knows Carter as being pretty out there when it comes to her style choices. These ads demonstrate her own style, as she would wear the clothes, as well as the Marc Jacobs label. These ads are going to make people curious about the clothes because she makes them look so uniquely funky and cool. I already want the stockings from the first picture and the gloves from the last.