While researching for my semester-long project covering
Bloomingdales’ Brand Success, I came across a very interesting and eye-opening
journal article titled, “The Impact of Social Media on the Fashion Industry,”
written by Iris Mohr. Mohr discussed this social media impact, stating, “social
media is now viewed as an opportunity to improve customer relationships and to
ultimately capture a larger audience” (Mohr 3). After researching Bloomingdales
use of social media, I have come to the conclusion that the company does, in
fact, do this to improve customer relationships and capture a larger audience.
Bloomingdales Twitter
Through focus groups, my thesis of Bloomingdales’ brand
success was reassured. This is that Bloomingdales successfully connects with
its customers through social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram),
therefore expanding their audience and strengthening their brand as a whole.
With 305K followers on Twitter, Bloomingdales is able to connect with their
audience in a matter of seconds. Mohr states that, “when WOM (word-of-mouth)
travels on the Internet, it can be viral and most powerful, regardless of
whether the information is good or bad” (Mohr 4). This is definitely true for Bloomindales,
and luckily for them, it is always great information! Just in Bloomingdales’
past few tweets, as shown in the image to the right, they are immediately
connecting with customers in San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Additionally,
their Instagram page, with 281K followers, connects with audience in a
light-hearted way – the way friends would connect, commenting, “Let the Netflix
binge begin!” Bloomingdales is clearly on the path to success.
Bloomingdales Instagram Picture
Mohr, Iris. 2013. "The Impact of Social Media on the Fashion Industry." The Journal of Applied Business and Economics
After reading through Chapter Three of our text, Practices of Looking, I found the male
gaze theory very interesting. In almost every film and advertisement, a woman
is at the center of attention. This is purely because sex sells: “female gender
stereotypes are often based on ideas about sexual [behavior]” (Finzsch 1).
In the film, Bad
Teacher, staring Cameron Diaz, men view her solely as a sex symbol. Though
this is a comedy, and thus takes this idea of ‘the
male gaze’ to the extreme, it still shows how attractive women are
viewed in the workforce. In this clip, Diaz shows up to the school car wash and
immediately receives everyone’s attention. The men in the clip are shown with
their jaws dropped as the film then zooms in on aspects of Diaz’s body that is
viewed as “sexual.” Though this clip is clearly not supposed to be taken
seriously, it still shows a woman as the center of a scene. Rarely are there ever any scenes where a woman is not seen as the sex symbol and object of the male gaze, with the exception of the film, Magic Mike. In this regard,
women seem to always be the ones “washing the car” as men are simply gazing.
Finzsch,
Norbert. 2008. "Male Gaze and Racism.” Gender Forum 1 (23): 51.
http://www.genderforum.org
After reading our assigned text, “Women Read the Romance,”
by Janice A. Radway, I thought of the hit novel series and upcoming film, Fifty Shades of Grey.Fifty Shades of Grey has become
something similar a world phenomenon for women. Everywhere you go, someone is
reading one of the books, talking about a ‘steamy new trailer,’ or buying pre-purchased
tickets to the Valentine’s Day viewing. Now, I’m not saying that anything is
wrong with this; in fact, I’m sure I’ll be going to see it when the film is
released.
Rather, I think it’s extremely fascinating how women become
obsessed with these romance driven novels. Stated in a book review of, The Romance Revolution: Erotic Novels for
Women and the Quest for a New Sexual Identity, “…the female of [a] romance
fiction is satisfying the same needs as the male viewer of Sunday football
games…” (Roller 317). It is clear that women use these novels to escape and
relax in the same way that men do as they watch sports television. However, I
find it interesting that the women’s outlet (sex driven novels) for relaxation
and sense of escapement from reality is much more R-rated than the men’s outlet
(Sunday night football). With this being said, the answer could simply be that
women are much more open about reading these types of novels, while men may
feel embarrassed to be reading something has “women obsessed.” With this being
said, I’m sure boyfriends and husbands won’t complain about ‘being dragged’ to
see the film on Valentine’s Day weekend.
Roller, Judi. 1988. "The Romance Revolution: Erotic Novels for Women and the Quest for a New Sexual Identity." American Literature Vol. 60 No. 2: 317-318 http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/stable/2927233 seq=1#page_thumbnails_tab_contents.
After reading Chapter 1 of our textbook, Practices of Looking, I was especially
interested in the section titled, “How We Negotiate the Meaning of Images.” It
discussed how a person ‘interprets images and creates a certain meaning with
them’ sometimes even without noticing that he or she is doing so. Though the text
only discussed this idea of interpreting an image in many different ways based
on the background information and context, I thought this idea could also be applied
to videos: specifically a clip from the recent Golden Globe Awards.
George Clooney Honored at Golden Globes
[Skip to 1:55 seconds]
At this year’s Golden Globes, George Clooney was honored
with a Lifetime Achievement Award. As two actors opened for Clooney’s award,
the camera shows Amal Clooney, George’s wife, apparently chatting during his
tribute. Though I am a huge fan of Amal and personally did not see any big
deal, she was subject to much criticism. This criticism was due to how people
interpret the video of her looking the other way and chatting, while George is
sincerely watching as he was honored. Some viewed her action as rude and disrespectful,
while others thought she was just saying a few words about George to someone
sitting near them. Either way, “media semiotics focus exactly on the message
understood as sign transmitted through different media, their meanings and how
they are decoded by the public” (Serban). Though we will never truly know what
Amal was signifying as the camera flashed on her during her husbands tribute,
it is very interesting to see how such a simple image can be interpreted in so
many ways, both negative and positive.
Serban, Silviu. 2012. "The Conative Function of Language and Media Semiotics." Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 4 (2): 838-847. http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/
Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit organization that grants wishes to children whom are suffering life-threatening medical conditions. Because this organization is non-profit, Make-A-Wish relies on donations from the public to grant wishes to these deserving children, on average, every 38 minutes. In a recent video campaign titled “The Arc of the Journey,”Make-A-Wish shows the struggles and hardships that thousands of children and parents face everyday, because of life-threatening medical conditions.
This video campaign uses many unique, yet
subtle strategies to appeal to the public in hope for their donations and support. The entire video incorporates different stories families face while
dealing with the hardships and fear of the unknown, due to the life-threatening
medical condition of a child. Not only does it show the negative aspects of
these awful conditions, but also it emphasizes the incredible positive impact a
wish can make. As you hear the voices and stories from different people, the
video flashes important words on the screen to truly convey the difference that
Make-A-Wish has on these children.
The words go from, ‘Treatment, Life Support and Devastating,’ to ‘A Wish,
Opportunity and Alive.’ The uplifting background music also stresses the importance
of “a wish.” Towards the end of the video, the voice-overs say, “We are the
best we’ve ever been health wise,” and “Here’s this little boy – so
determined.” It is truly an uplifting experience and game-changer for thousands
of children. The “life-span” line shown at the end of the video exemplifies the
significance of one wish. One wish gives a child determination to keep fighting
for survival.
In comparison to an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) video campaign, both of these non-profit organizations have
similar goals. Slight differences in the video are that the ASPCA actually shows the horrible
conditions that the animals are living in, rather than just voice-overs with
descriptive words highlighted throughout the video. I think that this type of
approach is needed for this organization, simply because humans prioritize
humans lives as more important than animals. However, when this video campaign
is showed, the public truly sees that these animals need their help just as
much as humans do.
ASPCA and Make-A-Wish Video Campaigns
Though they are very different to the naked eye, both video campaigns
share common strategies and, in fact, the exact same goals. They must convey to
the public that these children and animals need our help – through support and
donations. Without public support, these organizations would deteriorate and
fail. Video is extremely necessary for
both of these non-profit organizations, simply because it is the most effective
way to gain support from the public. From a personal perspective, I would not
know anything about either of these organizations without their video
campaigns. Through ethos, pathos and logos, both campaigns are able to get
people involved. The credibility of the organizations is shown through the
celebrity support in many of their other video campaigns as well. If the public sees their favorite celebrities helping this organization, then they want to do the same. These videos
appeal to our emotions through the heart wrenching stories and pictures;
meaning that we feel as though it is our responsibility to help others, through
whatever donation we are able to give. Lastly, is extremely logical for us to
help by donating. If 1 dollar a day can change the life of a human or animal,
why wouldn’t we want to help?
Make-A-Wish Quote from Child
Looking back at the Make-A-Wish
video campaign, it is extremely evident that video is effective to promote
their organization. With video being their largest outlet for public relations,
Make-A-Wish relies on these campaigns
to fund their organization; and it does – granting a wish every 38 seconds. Because
these life-threatening medical conditions are many of times incurable, Make-A-Wish allows to us to help these
children the only way we’re able to. Every donation, no matter how small or large, is put toward helping a child fight for their life.
It’s 2013, which means that if you don’t have a Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram, you are completely irrelevant. This being said,
companies have utilized this social networking as a way to advertise their
products and connect with their demographics. C. Wonder, a clothing,
accessories and home décor company, is one of these companies that have had
success in doing so. Because C. Wonder relates primarily to the young, yet
professional women demographic, having “hip and classy” social media is a
necessity. Through their Facebook and Twitter, C. Wonder is able to keep their
customers up-to-date on new products and sales without becoming “annoying” or
“unimportant” on the news feed.
C. Wonder Facebook photo updates
When first looking at C. Wonder’s Facebook, it is evident
that their strategy to sell and promote their products is based on
communicating to their demographic on a personal level and in a fun “fashionista”
way. Their cover photo, along with many other photos, shows customers how to
wear C. Wonder items. This is also a way for C. Wonder to make sure that everyone
knows how to wear or use their items in a flattering way – making C. Wonder
look good in return. With every single status update, C. Wonder also uploads a
picture with the status. Having a picture with every update is important,
because our minds naturally go to pictures rather than words. As we scroll through
our news feeds, we are much more likely to look at something if it has an appealing
picture to go along with it. For example, C. Wonder added cute shoes, a pillow
and two shirts to one of their updates. This immediately catches the attention
of someone who would normally just scroll by it. This update also pertains to
another strategy their PR team uses: personal communication. By using words
such as, “Just for you!” and “Thanks to YOU!” they effectively promote sales to
their customers. This makes customers feel important and relevant to C. Wonder.
They also use contests, such as the Sorority House Makeover, to relate to their
young yet professional demographic. By personally asking in a status update,
“Have you entered the Sorority House Makeover???” along with an appealing
photo, C. Wonder is able to relate to their demographic in a fun and effective
way. What girl wouldn’t want to win this makeover!
C. Wonder Tweets
C. Wonder’s Twitter is very similar to their Facebook;
however, it is unique by incorporating both the strategies used on Facebook and
also new strategies that pertain solely to Twitter. Similar strategies are
those such as relating to their customers by directly replying and re-tweeting.
This, once again, allows customers to feel important. By tweeting every few
hours and hash-tagging certain words, C. Wonder is able to stay relevant by
appearing all over Twitter. Because Twitter is so face-paced, sending out
advertisements all the time would get very annoying to customers – ultimately ending
in people un-following C. Wonder. With this being said, C. Wonder uses the
strategy of humor and light-heartedness in the majority of their tweets. For
example, C. Wonder sends tweets out on a regular basis that have nothing to do
with the brand. I believe that this is a very effective way to relate to their
demographics without constantly advertising product. In fact, this is
camouflaged advertising, because C. Wonder is still able to connect with their
customers in a laid back and fun way.
C. Wonder Facebook photo update
Overall, I believe that C. Wonder uses both Facebook and
Twitter in an effective manner to advertise and connect with their customers.
By using strategies such as personal communication, rewards and sales, and
non-advertising relatable updates, C. Wonder is able to successfully promote
their brand. Because both of C. Wonder’s social networks are fun and appealing,
no one gets annoyed of their updates. Rather, customers can’t wait for the next
update. It could be anything: From a cute dog wearing C. Wonder glasses to a
30% off sale – Now that’s what I call fun!
