Media Plan Isadora Busch Advertising 126 Professor Tim Hendrick December 3, 2013
Table of Contents 1.
Overview
2.
History
3.
Situation Analysis
4.
SWOT Analysis
5.
Competitors
6.
Target Audience
7.
Budget
8.
Reach
9.
Frequency
10. Geography 11. Media
Mix
12. Media
Vehicles
13. Media
Objective/ Strategies
14. Reflection
Victoria’s Secret Media Plan
Overview: Victoria’s Secret is part of the Limited Brands Company. It is based out of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Victoria’s Secret specializes in lingerie, swimwear, beauty products, sleepwear, hosiery, etc. Currently operating 1,000+ stores in 49 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada, the company generated $6.12 billion of revenue in 2012. Victoria’s Secret consists of Victoria’s Secret PINK, Victoria’s Secret Beauty, and Victoria’s Secret. .
History: Roy Raymond, a Stanford Graduate School of Business student, founded Victoria’s Secret in 1977. Raymond felt embarrassed when shopping for lingerie for his wife in a department store setting. Raymond opened the first Victoria’s Secret store in Palo Alto. The store was meant to create a comfortable environment for both men and women with wood-paneled walls, Victorian details, and helpful sales staff. Instead of racks full of lingerie with every size, Victoria’s Secret featured single styles hung on the wall in frames. After men picked out the style, sales staff would pull the correct size out of the back inventory. In 1982, just five years after the first store opened, Raymond sold the Victoria’s Secret company to The Limited. At the time of the sale, Victoria’s Secret had six stores, a 42-page catalogue, and grossed $6 million a year. The Limited rapidly expanded Victoria’s Secret into U.S. malls during the 1980’s. Victoria’s Secret started offering a wider range of products including shoes, evening wear, and
perfumes through its catalogue, which was issued eight times a year. By the early 1990’s, Victoria’s Secret was the largest American lingerie retailer and sales reached $1 billion. Victoria’s Secret gained notoriety in the 1990’s when they started using supermodels in their advertisements. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show began in 1995 and was broadcasted on primetime television. The annual show has elaborate custom lingerie, music, and set designs. Celebrities and entertainers attend the show every year. In 2007, Limited Brands sold 75 percent of The Limited clothing chain to Sun Capital Partners in order to focus more attention to Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, which accounted for 72 percent of revenue in 2006. As of January 2013, there were 1,019 Victoria’s Secret stores in the United States.
Situation Analysis: Although historically the lingerie industry has been a very resilient sector both for brands and retailers, its revenue fell during the recession in 2008 as consumers started to purchase less expensive basic lingerie items or shopped from discount retailers, mass merchandisers, and e-commerce retailers. In the years since the recession, however, the lingerie industry has begun to recover it had an estimate 3% revenue gain during 2012 Over the next five years, conditions are set to improve for the lingerie industry. By 2017, the lingerie industry is estimated to be worth $30.55billion. From 2012 to 2017, the unemployment rate is expected to slowly trend down, reaching 6.1% by 2017. With more favorable employment trends, per capita disposable income is
expected to rise at an average annual rate of 2.3%, allowing consumers to increasingly splurge on higher-end lingerie items. The industry will, however, face increasing external competition from discount retailers, mass merchandisers and ecommerce retailers that are expected to continue expanding their lingerie lines. Currently, Limited Brands Inc. dominates the industry with its established brand Victoria's Secret and absorbs about 42.7% of the market. Frederick's of Hollywood, the second largest operator and another established lingerie brand, trails far behind, absorbing about 1.0% of the market.
S.W.O.T. Analysis: •
Strengths o Strong brand presence with over 1,000 stores across the United States o Established and well-known brand o Victoria’s Secret offers higher quality products than most of its competitors o Well-executed advertising and marketing strategies
Top notch models as brand ambassadors, Victoria’s Secret “Angels”, help brand to stand out among other intimate apparel brands
Annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show helps create brand awareness
o The company’s sub-brand Pink targeting teenagers and young adults
has been a great success among such audience o Strong online presence: they have active blogs, social media profiles, and catalogues to create awareness about their product lines; o Their catalogue has been around for many years and it helps the brand to reach men, and consumers living in more isolated areas of the country; as well as create a more intimate relationship with the consumers. •
Weaknesses: o Limited size selection o High priced o Their product selection is not offered at all locations; some locations have very limited choices o Association with top notch models (Victoria’s Secret Angels) causes many women to feel intimidated by not having the “perfect” body to wear Victoria’s Secret o Company has limited lines of products
•
Opportunities: o Introduction of plus size line for their products o Extension of its portfolio by foraying into different lines to expand its offering o Stronger involvement on social issues such as anorexia, body dysmorphia, and negative self image in women to show consumers
that VS cares about the women’s health, and that one doesn’t need to be as skinny as the VS Angels to be beautiful or to wear their lingerie o Expand its presence on mobile:
Improve its current app by making it more interactive and friendly;
Possibly launching an exclusive app only for the VS Fashion Show, so consumers can interact with the brand before, during, and after the show
•
Threats: o High marketing clutter o Intense competition in the category o Many competitors offer lower price for similar products o Several competitors and low-involvement purchase decision may cause consumers to switch brands frequently o Fake imitation and replicas
Competitors: •
Frederick’s of Hollywood
•
Department Stores (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.)
•
Sara Lee
•
Chain clothing stores (Aerie by American Eagle, Gap Body by Gap, etc.)
Target Audience:
•
Demographics o Adults (61% female, 39% male) o Aged 18-49 o Middle and Upper-Middle Class o 70% Caucasian, 13% Hispanic, 9% African-American, 7% Asian, 1% Other o 51% Married, 44.1% Single, 4.9% Separated/Divorced o 58.8% Have one or more children, 41.2% Don’t have children
•
Psychographics o High brand loyalty o Heavy shoppers o 66% consider themselves impulsive buyers o High TV, Internet, and magazine involvement o Conscious about their body and physical appearance o Engaged in some sort of physical activity; 69.2% exercise regularly o Prefer mixed drinks o Favorite season: Summer (44%) o VALS: Experiencers
Budget: •
$300 million
Reach:
•
75%
Frequency: •
4.0
Geography: •
Top 20 Spot Markets
•
Nationally
Media Mix: •
Must Use o Television
VS products are very visual. Lingerie is much more appealing when you can see how it would look like when you put it on. Thus television is a medium that offers a great visual aspect for the product.
With television you can advertise directly to your target audience by choosing a program with the same target audience
TV has a low cost per thousand (CPM) exposures
o Magazines
Magazines allow the consumers to view the product for as long as they want.
Print is high quality which allows consumers to see the colors, the style, and take a more detailed look at the product
High ability to select audience of ads and align with target audience
Long shelf life with high pass along readership, good for multiple exposures
o Internet
VS audience is relatively young and very savvy with societal trends
Internet allows VS to engage in a more personal, friendly conversation with consumers
It is a way for VS to stay young and up to date
Internet will help VS to be a part of its consumers daily life
o Direct Mail
Very exclusive and personal, helps consumers to relate to the brand in a meaningful way
It is a way of getting consumers to go to the stores even if that wasn’t one of their priorities at the time
It is a way to stay in touch and generate brand loyalty
o Outdoors
VS target audience exercise regularly and participate in various social activities
Their income allows them to own cars and drive to school, work, the mall, anywhere, everyday
Outdoors are a way of getting their attention as they perform such activities
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Must Not Use o Newspapers
VS target audience is not the type that would read newspapers regularly
Newspapers are very expensive and would not be very effective for selling and advertising lingerie
o Radio
Radio would not be an ideal medium to advertise intimate apparel
Not appropriate for the type of products VS offers
Media Vehicles: •
Television: o Networks: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC
Special programs such as VMA’s, AMA’s, Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, etc.
The Big Bang Theory, SNL, Sunday Night Football, The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, etc.
o Cable: A&E, AMC, E!, Comedy Central, TNT, USA Network, SHO, Telemundo, Univision, ESPN, FX, TBS, HBO, and Fuse.tv
WWE Entertainment, NFL Regular Season, Walking Dead, Chelsea Lately, E! News, How I Met Your Mother, etc.
•
Magazines: o Men: GQ, Playboy, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, ESPN Magazine o Women: Bride, Cosmopolitan, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Essence, First for Women, Glamour, Intouch Weekly, Marie Claire, Modern Bride, More, O The Oprah Magazine, Ok! Weekly, Real Simple, Soap Opera Weekly, Vogue, W Magazine, Women’s Day, Women’s World, Working Mother, Lucky, Star, Soap Opera Digest, Elle, Women’s Health o General: Entertainment Weekly, People, Fitness Magazine, Health, Metropolitan Home, New York Magazine, Seventeen, Vanity Fair, TV Guide, US Airways
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Internet o VS target audience uses the internet daily because they are on social media o They visit fashion and beauty sites, celebrities pages, social media, and blogs o From searching the web to browsing, VS ads will pop-up in keyword searches, banners, and sponsorship.
•
Direct Mail: o Direct mail will be sent twice a month, every month, all year long
o VS has the budget to do so, and if they happen to not get the some consumers on the first mail, they might get them on the second •
Outdoor: o 50 show o Outdoor ads will be displayed in billboards and bus shelters strategically located in shopping areas
Media Objective/ Strategies: •
Objective: o To reach 75% of American adults with a frequency of at least 4.0 from ages 18-49. These adults will be exposed to Victoria’s Secrets advertisements all year long (12 months) using a combination of multiple media vehicles
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Strategies: o I used a continuous ad campaign throughout all 12 months of the year o VS has a very high advertising budget which allows it to stay present in the market all year long without any need for a break o Intimate apparel is something that people use everyday and may buy all year long, so it makes sense for VS to stay present in the market since it has the budget to
•
January – February:
o During these two months VS will highly advertise for Valentine’s Day. A time of the year when most of their target audience, men and women, of all ages, go spend on lingerie to impress their significant other. •
March – May: o VS advertisements during these three months will be targeted to two important times of the year to buy intimate apparel: Mother’s Day and Wedding Season. o Almost 60% of VS target audience have children which means that their significant other will be spending money on presents o VS target audience are at an age range that either they will get married, once 44% are single, or they will have a friend’s or relative’s wedding to attend.
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June – September: o The warmest months of the year o VS sells bathing suits as part of their product lines, so these four months are the time for them to intensify their advertisements o Most VS consumers prefer warm weather, 44% say summer is their favorite season o Many consumers are out of school or on vacation so they have more time for shopping
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October – December: o The last three months of the year are very important for VS’ target market because the Holidays as well as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show that is hosted annually in December, are coming up
o American adults get very excited to shop for the Holidays so it is crucial to intensify advertisements for this time of the year o The VS Fashion Show also attracts many eyeballs and get consumers very excited about the brand, thus it is a great time for VS to advertise
Reflection: When I first started this project I was completely overwhelmed and lost. I did not know where to begin, what to do, or how to do it. Throughout the semester I learned a lot more about advertising and media planning, and gradually I started to develop my own media plan for the brand I chose, Victoria’s Secret. The first time I launched Media Flight Plan I was completely lost. Those numbers and charts scared me a lot. However, once I started playing around with the numbers I began to understand how to use the program. I kept working with my goals, target demo, and budget, and had to make adjustments in all of them a few times because I couldn’t get my numbers to match. I made a lot of mistakes at first, but I was able to learn from them and began making smarter buys that made more sense for my target audience and budget. Although I had a little bit of trouble with Media Flight Plan at first, it was not the hardest part of this project. For me, finding the budget, working on my situation analysis, demographics and psychographics of my target audience, selecting media vehicles, and so on, was the hardest and most frustrating part. It took me almost an entire semester until I got all of this done correctly. I had to learn how to use Simmons. I had to web search several websites to try and find my budget, and still I got it wrong many times until I finally had the right number. And had to incorporate a
lot of critical thinking and what I have been learning in class the whole semester into this media plan. Overall, I learned a lot doing this media plan. I really enjoyed this project as much as it got me frustrated at times. I believe the best way to learn and get better is by doing hands on things, failing and learning from it, and trying again over and over until you get it right. This project was very helpful and I’m glad I got to the end of it.