Jeremy Dunbar Dr.

Mukherjee MKTG 437 12 March 2012 UnMe Jeans Case The most important lesson to learn about using social media effectively is to choose the correct platform most relevant to the objective and target market; having a brand presence everywhere or even limited to the most popular sites is unnecessary and costly. It is important to intercept consumers to increase sales when they are in the buying mindset, and intercept them to build relationships when they are in the social mindset. Although sales and profit maximization are the ultimate goals of any company, UnME Jeans does not seem like a widely known brand, so consumers must be made aware before they will make a purchase. UnME jeans has defined itself as a player in the junior denim market that celebrates individuality of teenage girls, but the media plan has defined the target market as women 12 to 24. I think this target needs to broken down into two segments: 13 to 19 year olds that will wear the product and parents that will be making the purchase for their teen child. Among all women who had a baby in 2006, the average age is 27, up from 26 in 1990, according to Pew Research Center (Taylor, 2010, pg. 4). This means that these mothers would be ages 40 to 46 when their children are 13 to 19. 1. Foley should pursue the Zwinktopia media plan for the teenage girls because Zwinktopias main target is girls 13 to 24 and focuses specifically on fashion and music. It already has virtual clothing stores and in-world currency, so teens are in a simulated buying mentality. Because Zwinkies, the Zwinktopia avatars, can be created and then exported to Facebook and MySpace, Foley should also pursue and integrate the Facebook media plan,

especially for building relationships and establishing a positive brand image to the parents, who will be purchasing the jeans for their teen daughters. The targeting for Facebook advertising should be changed from 12 to 24 to the two segments I created: 13 to 19 and 40 to 46. The fashion interest filter seems general and should also include the popular programs for teenage girls listed in the case (Gossip Girl, American Idol, One Tree Hill, and teen magazines). Because the Facebook media plan is more about building relationships and awareness, a cost per impressions pricing model should be used rather than cost per click. The YouTube media plan should not be used because of the offensive comments made by the type of users on the site; the following paragraph will discuss more about benefits and risks of each media plan and the social media platform associated with it. 2. Some benefits of using Zwinktopia to promote UnME is that it would allow the brand to directly interact with the target consumer not only in a social and fun setting but one where simulation of real life, including shopping, is sought out. This provides a relevant platform for building awareness and relationships and also moving the consumer along the buying process. It is targeted toward girls 13 to 24, so I would imagine that it is more controlled and has censorship against adult-themed entertainment or vandalizing found on Second Life. UnMEs brand strives to promote unique identities, appreciation for differences of opinions and tastes, and nonconformity to peer pressure. Zwinktopia provides the best social media platform to support this positioning statement because teens can feel more confident expressing themselves visually and verbally through a digital avatar. The virtual version of the UnME jeans allows teens to interact with and shop for the product before seeing it physically more than a picture or video would. The ability for users to share the products they have designed helps spread buzz between social circles, which consumers view as more credible and reliable than advertisers. Lastly, the

competition to create a design that would be made in real life creates involvement with the brand. One risk is that the consumer may not feel like purchasing the physical product if they have already spent some money purchasing the virtual version, but Foley may offer a sales promotion where the purchase of a virtual pair of jeans can go toward the purchase of the physical pair. Similar to Second Life, UnME is at risk of destroying its public image by presenting the brand to an anonymous group of Internet users, who can vandalize and display slander about UnMEs virtual stores and products. Lastly, the amount of girls participating in the designing contest may not warrant creating the product for physical sale. Also, those who do not win are at risk of becoming discouraged to interact with a brand that promotes tolerance but is selective of designs they think are more fashion-forward or profitable. Facebook does allow for direct advertising targeting based on demographics and interests and also has such a large percentage of the population using it. However, for UnME to invite independent women with unique style goes against the positioning statement of appreciating different tastes and opinions and against the open-source nature of social media and Web 2.0. Lastly, with Web 2.0s open nature, UnME may also risk receiving comments of vandalism and slander on its brand page and be viewed as censored and restrictive of feedback if it filters certain comments. YouTube does have the benefits of being heavily populated, rich in high-quality videos, able to communicate stories and emotions, display advertising in a way similar to television, and is connected with Google search and AdSense; however, from my personal experience on YouTube, people who respond and comment to videos are the most inappropriate, lewd, offensive, prejudice, and racist users in Social Media. YouTube is less about a community of friends and family characteristic of Facebook, which is useful for credible promotion and word of mouth buzz for products, and more about random and worldwide subscribers based on personal interests. As stated in the

examples in this case, Toyota, Axe, and Borat created successful campaigns on YouTube, but these are all brands directed toward adults, with the exception of Axe, which is directed toward young men but is still risqu. Another risk of YouTube is slander far greater than that on Facebook. Rebecca Black is a perfect example of how YouTube users can blatantly bully and express death threats toward a young girl, who is the same age as the target of UnME jeans. For young girls to post videos voicing their opinions about tolerance and appreciation for differences while allowing responses on a site with a terrible history of controversial comments, there is a major risk of cyber bullying and slander. 3. According to the case, the amount of money spent on television advertising is more than the amount of time viewers actually spend with it because of digital video recorders (DVRs). Television shows are being watched on the Internet rather than cable television, especially with younger generations. There is also some overspend in magazines. I think the amount of the media budget allocated to television and magazines should be used to fund radio and Internet advertising, especially social media, because there is much more potential time viewers could be spending with those media compared to the amount of money allocated to them, and they are much better for narrowing down the target market and being cost effective. Search advertising is most important because it is not an interruption and is actually used when consumers want to find out information and seek out products. Search advertising has brought in more revenue than banner/display ads and classified ads. Fifty percent of consumers use search engines to initiate online shopping trips, and clickthrough rates for search ads are up 5% more than banner ads. 4. Reach and frequency are already estimated through Facebook advertising and Google analytics and are not really important measures of effectiveness. Internet advertising really

focuses on reducing the frequency and reach to create a less invasive user-friendly experience and only reach viewers that will be most receptive to the product. For the two major concerns of the company, awareness and sales, two different sets of metrics need to be used. Impressions, page views, unique visitors, and time spent on site are important for measuring how much people are engaging with the brand and learning about its mission and products to inform others about UnME. Clickthrough rates are more important for initiating sales if viewers are able to purchase the product through an Internet shopping cart. UnME can also add tracking codes to see the path viewers take before getting to the sale and measure the amount of conversions, or viewers turned into buyers. Lastly, UnME can connect sales to advertising by offering promo codes to be used online or redeemable coupons to be used in-store. 5. UnME Jeans is the right type of brand for Web 2.0 because fashion is all about social and taste leaders, and the Internet is where these people live. Fashion is subjective, and all it takes is the sharing and self-expression of an idea for it to become a viral trend. With a defined positioning statement to encourage teens to speak out against peer pressure and conformity, consumers are able to participate in social affiliation with a community that shares the same socially conscious interestsan important component of Web 2.0. UnME is also able to encourage consumer co-creation through product designing contests. The only disadvantage that the brand would have in this new cultural world is that there is so much clutter and entrepreneurs creating companies because there is no requirement for brick-and-mortar stores, so there is great difficulty in competing with so many other brands trying to reach that target market. 6. The social media plans outlined in the case do present effective ways to use the platforms, but because this case is fairly old, there are so many rapid changes being made, and these ideas would no longer stand out among every other company using the same strategies and

tactics. MySpace is no longer popular, and Google+ has launched its own social media platform. Teens are growing up, and by the time strategies are formulated and implemented, there is a new generation of teens attached to their cellular phones, where mobile marketing will become more effective. As I mentioned earlier, I would focus on choosing the correct platform most relevant to the objective and target market rather than advertising on Facebook and YouTube just because of their size. Although MySpace seems relatively dead to college students like me, who have moved to Facebook and perhaps slightly older professionals using Google+, MySpace may still be relevant to reaching teens, and advertising will be much cheaper now. The case states that the typical members on Tagged.com are younger teens and their parents, which seems like a perfect audience for UnMEs products. UnME should segment the media target to match the target market of the product: 13 to 19 year olds that will wear the jeans and 40-46 year old that will most likely be purchasing them for their teen daughter. Purchases of virtual products on Zwinktopia should go toward purchases of physical products. Lastly, UnME can measure the return on investment by using promo codes or coupons to track sales created through social media advertising.

References Taylor P., Cohn D., Livingston G., Wang W., Dockterman, D. (2010, Aug 19). The New Demography of American Motherhood. Retrieved from pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/754-new-demography-of-motherhood.pdf