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Zeitgeist Position Paper


McKenzie Krawczyk
TMD 424
October 20, 2016

Zeitgeist, the spirit of the age or spirit of the time. This definition is what shapes
companies thinking when having to direct their products to a new audience. Companies must
evaluate what is happening around them to understand how to accurately market to their
customers to create profit. Fashion companies will gain new audiences or potential consumers
when they take advantage of the impact fashion bloggers have on Instagram users.
Companies should look towards advertising their product with Instagram bloggers as
users connect with bloggers that they have similar styles with. Consumers find bloggers clothing
to be more obtainable than clothes that are worn on celebrities and will in the end create a
positive buying decision about the product being shown1. Bloggers are usually normal, nonfamous people using social platforms to put their personal style out to the world. Again,
reiterating the idea that what these bloggers have is obtainable to society as a whole unlike
celebrities whose status seems unobtainable to society. Marshall McLuhan discusses the idea of
every culture or age having a favorite model of perception; hence the idea that bloggers each
have their own perception of style that garners the follow of users who are drawn to a similar
perception.2 A user sees a trend, such as ripped jeans, among bloggers that they follow and
immediately believes this a prescribed item for everyone to have, something that they most own
and wear to be a part of society. Debord says that this spectacle is not from the collection of
images that are shown and is instead a social relation among people that has been facilitated by

1 Justin Fenner, Apparel, How Bloggers Influence Can Benefit Fashion Brands,
2011, http://apparel.edgl.com/news/How-Bloggers--Influence-Can-Benefit-FashionBrands76168.
2 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964)

the images3. We, as McLuhan states, are a society that is eager to have things4; a materialistic
world. We see something online and immediately feel as though we need to have that specific
item because it will enhance how we look on the outside and how we feel emotionally on the
inside. Humans constantly feel they need the correct things to fit into societys mold so they
dont stick out from the crowd.
Blogging is best known for getting brands into untapped markets so that their target market can
grow or shift according to how it is received. Companies looking to keep their target market yet
also reach a younger consumer that will grow with the brand will look towards bloggers who
have a young following as the blogger will introduce the user to the product which will lead to
the user wanting to learn more about the product, or company, that isnt told by just the picture
that is posted. Companies can change how they are perceived in a digital space just by the
bloggers who wear their clothes; brand known to be worn by older crowd yet now is being
shown on a 25-year-old blogger will change consumers perceptions. Using technology to
reshape how a consumer thinks about your company can relate back to McLuhan when he talks
about technology being able to reshape human experience5. Once someone has experienced
something, such as seeing a product they first believed to be for one crowd but seen on a person
that they consider alike to themselves, the decisions they make will be based on their
experiences. Companies can also not only reach another market age wise they can reach
audiences in other geographical locations because as McLuhan also says there is no longer a

3 Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle (1960)


4 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964)

5 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964)

limit to location because the internet is worldwide6. There is no longer a global village either, as
McLuhan says, where people know everyones business. Society is now a part of a global theater
where everyone is taking part and looking to each other for guidance; like an echo land7. As an
example for blogger, consumers look towards bloggers to lead them in a certain direction in
fashion. Consumers then echo what bloggers are putting out whether it is buying the actual
product they have or copying an outfit ensemble they have put together. Instagram also allows
for users to quickly know the new trends because a picture can be uploaded in seconds to news
feeds thanks to the speed of electric technologies. Society will never be behind in fashion again
as long as we have internet.
Images on bloggers Instagrams are seen as more of a reality, more organic than advertising that
includes a professional photographer, makeup artist, and studio8. McLuhan uses the tetrad of
technological effects to discuss the internet and states there is an instantaneous exchange with an
individual voice9. Bloggers are able to post images of themselves wearing their product in
locations they are individually comfortable in: coffee shops, beaches, city streets. They are also
able to mix and match the products as they choose with other brands products with their own
makeup and hair styles without any strict direction from companies. This revulsion against
imposed patterns10 of being a model in a studio getting prepped for hours, professionally
photographed, and then perfectly edited is replaced by the idea of images being natural; in
6 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964)
7 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964)

8 Justin Fenner, How Bloggers Influence Can Benefit Fashion Brands, Apparel,
2011, http://apparel.edgl.com/news/How-Bloggers--Influence-Can-Benefit-FashionBrands76168.
9 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964)

everyday life. Debord states that all of life presents an accumulation of spectacles11 which is true
with bloggers as they are able to wear the products and present the images as them going about a
regular day and showing how simple it is to wear what they are wearing. Reality is able to rise
up within a spectacle making the spectacle real12 which brings it back to bloggers being
obtainable whereas an advertisement involving a celebrity isnt seen as obtainable; a reality for
the rest of society. Everything that this blogger is living is being represented by the image that
they post on their Instagram.
Having companies work with bloggers raises the question on how to connect followers or likes
to revenue.13 Companies are able to gain visibility online yet dont want to foot the expense of
bloggers for just a mention, tag, or hashtag. The cost of a blogger is similar to that of a
photoshoot for an advertisement yet involves less work on the bloggers part making it hard for
companies to justify. Some companies who dont have a large following online are still doing
very well yet this could be attributed to them having a strong following in different online areas
because their target market might not be a large Instagram using market. What companies need
to understand is that having a digital influencer is important as society moves to online outlets
to help form their opinions. With up to 500 million active monthly users on Instagram14 there is

10 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964)


11 Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle (1960)
12 Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle (1960)
13 Declan Eytan, Are Fashion Bloggers Able to Convert Followers into Buyers,
Forbes, 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/declaneytan/2016/05/11/are-fashionbloggers-able-to-convert-followers-into-buyers/#784788f15fdd.
14 Statista, 2016, https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthlyactive-instagram-users/.

consistently always going to be a new user reached whereas if a company places an


advertisement in a magazine the same people read the same magazines monthly. More and more
people are also going online for information and inspiration because social media platforms such
as Instagram is free to browse whenever and wherever whereas magazines have to be bought and
once read the content is old and not needed anymore. Instagram images can be uploaded at any
time for free and will go directly to the users news feed without the user having to put in any
effort besides the initially following of the blogger.
By using fashion bloggers on Instagram fashion companies will be exposed to new audiences
and reach potential consumers. This is because users on Instagram are more likely to relate to
bloggers than celebrities as they feel more obtainable, consumers ideas on a brand can be altered
by images posted by a specific blogger, and bloggers images show a more natural state than an
advertisement does. To start working with bloggers, companies must know where they stand as a
brand and where they want to go as a company as that dictates what kind of blogger they will
need to work with and how much they are willing to spend on it. It is crucial to become part of
the social world as more and more consumers move away from media that contains
advertisements and into the world of free content.

Bibliography:
1. Debord, Guy. Society of the Spectacle. 1960.
2. Eytan, Declan. Are Fashion Bloggers Able to Convert Followers into Buyers. Forbes.
2016. http://www.forbes.com/sites/declaneytan/2016/05/11/are-fashion-bloggers-able-toconvert-followers-into-buyers/#784788f15fdd.
3. Fenner, Justin. How Bloggers Influence Can Benefit Fashion Brands Apparel. 2011.
http://apparel.edgl.com/news/How-Bloggers--Influence-Can-Benefit-FashionBrands76168
4. McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man. 1964.
5.

Statista. 2016, https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-activeinstagram-users/.

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