& The Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communication
Caroline K. Callahan
Dr. James Lumpp
IMC 204: Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communication
Thursday, Decmeber 8, 2011
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"I practically hyperventilated every month when Vogue
arrived, and I loved shopping."
-Michael Kors
Born August 9, 1959 in New York’s Long Island, Karl Anderson, Jr.
was, little did we know, to one day become one of the world’s most
influential fashion design and merchandisers to ever live. Joan
Hamburger, former Revlon model and mother of Anderson, portrayed
by example to her son that “what looks best on a woman are clothes that
are simple and understated, designed to flatter her figure and enhance
her personal sense of style” (Fragrance X). The brief statement brought
upon such vast influence within Anderson’s design philosophy that still
holds true, today, within the brand’s concept.
At the age of five, Anderson’s biological parents divorced and his
mother eventually remarried to successful businessman, Bill Kors. It
was then when Anderson’s career began: his mother allotted for young
Karl to design her wedding dress, which drew forth such excitement and
thrill through the young boy’s blood and veins. Taking the last name of
husband, Bill, Joan advised Anderson that he would be getting a new
name- one he could choose himself. Anderson chose his first name,
Michael, which had been his absolute favorite name, and runner-up,
David, as his middle, thus constructing the full name in which we are
able to recognize: Michael David Kors.
Although the marriage didn’t last, Joan and Michael had kept their
full names and went about their lives without Bill. Michael, which I will
now refer to as “Kors,” eventually graduated from high school and
headed off to take on New York City and attend school at the Fashion
Institute of Technology in hopes of receiving a degree in fashion design.
Kors quickly realized that school had not been for him and decided to
discontinue his education after only two semesters. He also realized
that he could not leave the city, therefore stayed and took part in all of
the hands-on fashion aptitude that he could.
In 1978, Kors landed a position with a French boutique by the
name of Lothar’s. Hired as a simple salesperson, Kors completed tasks
above and beyond his job title, ultimately earning himself an
opportunity to design and merchandise an exclusive line for the
boutique. Kors’ outgoing personality and long for finding what it was,
exactly, his consumers wanted made him an instant hit and favorite
with guests to the store.
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Only two years later, after much success
and investment upon the exclusive line at
Lothar’s, Kors launched his own personalized
Michael Kors Women’s Collection line. The
collection could be found at high-end department
stores such as Bloomingdales, Bergdorf
Goodman, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Little did Kors
know, the sub-sequential event would be only a
small factor within the execution and success of
the highly respected, well-regarded Michael Kors
brand.
The Michael Kors brand targets fashion-conscious working men
and women in society who enjoy practical, casual Honorary Chairman and
Principal Designer, himself:
clothing. Celebrities such as Sharon Stone and
Michael Kors
Barbara Streisand helped make the Michael Kors
brand prevalent within the public eye. The lifestyle and brand
personality that Michael Kors products produce are representative of a
simple, comfortable, yet luxurious way of life in which the majority of
high-end designers aspire to uphold within their products. Kors holds a
steady philosophy within creating and maintaining his brand: “to stay
away from clothing that can only be worn at red carpet events and then
left in the wardrobe until the next big event” (The Practicality and
Design of Michael Kors).
In essence of informing the targeted audience of the brand, Kors
made it an effort to disclose his desire for fulfilling the needs and wants
for his consumers. Kors most often claims that it is his “job to make
women look good” and that “seeing them in the clothes, spending time
talking with them about their frustrations and fears” helps him to
service his consumers as they aspire and create strong, intimate
relationships and loyalty between consumers and the brand (Fragrance
X). With close examination of this quote, it is accurate to conclude that
the Michael Kors brand portrays a measureless, incredible interest in
direct access with consumers in anticipation of collecting opinion-based
commentary to suggest what exactly works for his cliental.
The primary focus upon creating a favorable opinion of the
Michael Kors product by means of establishing long-term, intimate
relationships between consumers and products displays the true
characterization of a brand that uses, and uses well, the concept of
Integrated Marketing Communication.
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As clearly defined within the packet received on the first day of
class detailing what, exactly, Integrated Marketing Communication
consists of, it is an approach to marketing communication that focuses
on integration of all related disciplines and how they work together.
Integrated Marketing Communication includes the works of
advertisement, public relations and publicity, direct marketing, sales
promotion, event marketing, and the use of new media, all revolving
around an idea.
The Michael Kors brand primarily works to establish meaningful
connections and puts consumers first, even if it means the brand may be
at loss. As stated within “What is a Brand? And Why Does it Matter?” by
Derek Moore, “listening is a trait that all successful branding companies
share, but not all do it in the same way.” We, as consumers, do not often
catch companies with products such as the Michael Kors brand that
truthfully have us in mind first and foremost. The Michael Kors brand
recognizes that they can, and will never know enough or too much
about their consumers, which calls for much data-driven interaction and
research upon those who consume their products. When brands such as
Michael Kors obtain a consumer-centric focus, it is precise to claim that
its brand-loyal, satisfied consumers broadcast and pass forward a wellrespected opinion and reputation of the brand to others.
A brand is more than just its communicational skills or aspects.
Take into account the quote, “a brand, like a person, must always be true
to its own personality if it expects to be trusted,” from Moore’s “What is
a Brand? And Why Does it Matter?” By associating a brand with an
actual human being, both consumers and retailers are able to connote
what makes a brand favorable and the morality behind it. Moore says
that a brand “ultimately won’t be trusted if it pretends to be something
it’s not,” something in which holds very true to obtaining and
maintaining brand-loyal consumers. Trust is an important humanistic
aspect, not only within relationships between consumers and retailers,
but also those relationships we hold between ourselves and our families
or friends. It is compulsory for consumers to obtain the trust and
knowledge that a product will deliver what’s promised every time it’s
purchased in order to initially establish a brand loyalty. The more
intimate the trust within the relationship between the consumer and
retailer, the less likely it is for the consumer to become easily influenced
and compelled by competitors, as suggested by Blakeman within the
textbook.
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One of the most common forms of Integrated Marketing
Communication tactics within the Michael Kors brand can be observed
throughout various magazine advertisements. The Michael Kors brand
is often featured within consumer magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar,
Vogue, and Vanity Fair- magazines targeted at fashion-conscious women
who look to the medium as an influence to their own personal style.
The Michael Kors brand is not coincidentally featured in such
appropriate magazines, but rather strategically places their
advertisements within the special interest medium in order to attract
both the magazine and consumer’s selected target.
In the most recent December 2011 edition of Harper’s Bazaar
and Vogue, products from Michael Kors had been featured six times
within the Harper’s Bazaar’s “Where to Buy” section, and once within
Vogue’s “In This Issue” section. Magazines create these directories so
that readers are able to refer to the section in order to obtain more
information about a featured product on a specific page and come
across the brand of the product, as well as where to purchase it. It
seemed as if Harper’s Bazaar had been more focused upon advertising
multiple, affordable accessories from the brand under $95, whereas
Vogue featured a $495 tote on a center table.
Although Harper’s Bazaar obtained much placement of Michael
Kors products within photography from cover stories and editorials, it
acquired only one advertisement from the Holiday 2011 campaign
within, portraying only women’s accessories. The emphasis upon
accessories seemed to have been an underlying theme upon the
placement and positioning of Michael Kors products within Harper’s
Bazaar. On the other hand, Vogue acquired a two-page spread
advertisement from the Holiday 2011 campaign, portraying women’s
accessories on the right-hand page, and attire on the left, as well as one
fragrance advertisement that had featured a Michael Kors watch from
the Michael Kors Collection.
As we now become aware of the Michael
Kors advertising campaign place flourishing
single, or even two-page, spread advertisements
for the brand within magazines to target its
audience, but the campaign also acquires
significant product placement in photography
for cover stories, editorials, and apparel
featured on the beautiful, Lady Gaga in the
Lady Gaga wearing Michael Kors
in Vanity Fair’s upcoming January
2012 edition
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upcoming January 2012 edition of Vanity Fair. The Michael Kors brand
makes it an effort to display products in use upon everyday situations
that current and prospective consumers can relate to. If the product is
placed in a more tangible scenario, rather than strictly upon models or
celebrities for advertisement purposes, the consumer is more likely to
recognize that the common man can also wear the brand.
Product placement within consumer-familiar environments
creates a meaningful bond between product image and self-image. This
is key within the magazine advertisement aspect of Integrated
Marketing Communication Such bonds allot for consumers to feel
comfortable with the brand and each individual is able to uphold their
own personal connotations with the product or service which they
obtain. Michael Kors product advertisements contain a phone number
to call or website address to visit allowing for current or potential
consumers to obtain more information about the product. In doing so,
the magazine advertisement establishes a two-way communicational
advertisement by interacting and educating its consumers, a feature in
which traditional advertising fails to value, let alone uphold.
Through consistency within magazine advertisements, consumers
are able to rely upon the Michael Kors brand to uphold and maintain its
portrayal of the “perfected a formula for casual elegance that combines
simplicity, ease and luxury in a purely American way” (Fragrance X).
Throughout past and present advertising campaigns, almost each and
every advertisement for Michael Kors products obtains the familiar
white border with the traditionally recognized “Michael Kors” in all
capital letters somewhere within the advertisement. Familiar
advertisements “allow current and potential consumers to capture a
conceptual environment in which they are able to experience and relate
to though visuals” (Blakeman, p. 157). This is indefinitely the primary
focus within magazine advertisement in the use of Integrated Marketing
Communication- connecting with consumers.
The Michael Kors brand indefinitely attains a primary focus upon
making sure that the brand remains as a stable, well-respected
consumer product through the works of public relations. Integrated
Marketing Communications does the job of tying in works of
advertisement teams with works of public relations representatives: a
concept that had never been given much thought until just recently. We
are beginning to see the use of Integrated Marketing Communications
becoming more commonly popular in the world, today. In these efforts,
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excellent teams, each with individual interactive concepts, come
together to decipher the best ways to build brand awareness, brand
equity, and maintain brand loyalty. The three quality aspects play a
massive role in creating and maintaining a well-regarded, successful
company through the use of Integrated Marketing Communication.
Integrated Marketing Communication entails the work of
Marketing Public Relations. Rather than just the simple form of public
relations, Marketing Public Relations is used as a medium to call
attention to events and upkeeps within the brand. The Michael Kors
brand uses Marketing Public Relations more commonly to reinforce and
maintain the brand’s image, but can also use the process in order to
defend or rebuild the brand’s image, if need be.
Through the use of Marketing Public Relations in works of
reinforcing the Michael Kors brand, the ability to eliminate the
communicational gap between the brand and its consumers is more
sustainable than ever. Consumers feel more connected to their
products and the Michael Kors brand than they have in the past. The
common job of a Marketing Public Relations representative for any
brand is to, most importantly, get the word out about success or even
upcoming events within the company whether it is local, national or
international works of the brand. Representatives must also make sure
to take into account describing to consumers what new products are
coming about and how it may influence their relationship with the
brand.
Marketing Public Relations representatives of the Michael Kors
brand also make it an essential priority to always upkeep the brand’s
simple mediums of communication, such as keeping the official
Facebook page updated for consumers to be able to check up on. One
may consider this to be a small, simple task that deserves no
recognition, but I believe it to be one of the many small tasks that the
brand accomplishes every day for its brand-loyal consumers. By doing
so, representatives keep consumers up to par with things to deal with
maintaining the brand and its image by posting statuses and photos
with information about events such as contests, promotions, giveaways.
One must also remember that as a Marketing Public Relations
representative, is of strict importance to not only inform those
consumers of the Michael Kors brand and its products, but to also
communicate within the company, itself, and give insight to upcoming
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company events, insurance, investments, promotions, or anything else
of such nature that employees may need to hear about.
As emphasized by Blakeman within the textbook: it is of great
value to obtain the ability to build long-term relationships with
consumers when working within a company built upon Integrated
Marketing Communication aspects. The willfulness to interact with
consumers displays that they are, in fact, a part of the brand’s product
success and future developments. Maintaining a cohesive relationship
with consumers of the brand not only satisfies the consumer, but also
the company in means of increased consumer feedback and satisfaction,
most commonly resulting in increased sales and consumer loyalty. This
is a quality that the Michael Kors brand holds so very strong to.
In means of establishing and maintaining relationships with
consumers, direct marketing is among one of the most successful ways
in communicating with consumers on a personal level. With the use of
direct marketing, companies are able to decipher who their target
audience is by simply creating a dialogue between consumer and
retailer. We can see this ideal consistently repeating itself throughout
the areas of Integrated Marketing Communication within the Michael
Kors brand with such strong emphasis upon the importance of two-way
communication within the basic structure of consumer services.
In the collection of opinion-based data from consumers,
marketing efforts are able to reach targets based upon their previous
buying history or behavioral shopping traits. For example, brands from
Michael Kors can more often than not be seen within department stores
such as Nordstrom. If the consumer who purchases a Michael Kors
product from Nordstrom happens to hold a Nordstrom credit card, or
happens to be a part of the Nordstrom Fashion Rewards program, the
Michael Kors’ direct marketing specialists are able to tap into the
history of the purchase from Nordstrom including which Michael Kors
products they may have consumed within the past couple months and
what other competitors are catching your eye, as well.
In doing so, the Michael Kors brand is then able to attempt to
establish an interpersonal relationship with that consumer by using
contact vehicles such as catalogs, e-mail, or telemarketing. Such
vehicles of communicational media will not be generalized and sent to a
mass audience, but rather personal and informative as an incentive in
creating and eventually maintaining a relationship with that particular
consumer.
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It sounds almost desperate and somewhat menacing that a brand
would take such time and effort in reviewing prior purchases and
analyzing shopping habits in order to attract consumers. If you think
about it, the Michael Kors brand is simply attempting to broadcast to a
prospective consumer those positive outcomes of becoming a consumer
of its products. If they care enough to go so far to make you one of their
consumers, you are only left to wonder what becoming one would
actually entail. The Michael Kors direct marketing specialists are always
making sure that both potential and recurring consumers are aware of
interests in which they uphold and are encouraged to request additional
information.
When the consumer acts upon the incentive, it is then necessary
to direct the target toward a salesperson to speak further and discuss
additional information in research, commonly referred to as prepurchasing. The Michael Kors brand reacts to these perspective
consumers and goes through a process of the Integrated Marketing
Communication aspect of sales promotion. In order to grab hold of
prospective consumers before disinterest and loss of attention takes
toll, the sales promotion team within Michael Kors makes a quick
approach in informing the consumer of the common question: what’s in
it for me?
It is safe to conclude that we, as consumers, are media-influenced
citizens and will eventually do and act as salespersons want or expect us
to do. Everyone has their own, distinct “sweet-spot” that the one,
specific promotional incentive triggers, and suddenly takes away one’s
ability to reason with oneself. The “sweet-spot” takes much time and
investigation to figure out under the direction of sales promotion teams.
Mine just so happens to be sale products- I am unable to walk away
from a product if I know I will never find it at a lower price. One must
realize how important it is to obtain and practice quality
communicational skills, and learn how to control others with your
words and assertions, but how you let others influence you. The verbal
and mental power upheld by sales promotion teams is very much
underestimated in society today.
By distributing coupons and samples, promoting bonus packs, and
using point-of-purchase methods in order to lure new consumers,
Michael Kors products are becoming more relevant and accessible to
middle-class consumers by offering promotional incentives. Sales
promotion teams follow up those offers with verbal gestures, assuring
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the product’s superiority in a way to make potential consumers feel as if
they are unable to pass up the offer.
For example, Michael Kors more often than not offers consumers
a free wristlet with the purchase of a fragrance of $ or more just in time
for the holiday season. This incentive draws a flood of male consumers
to stores in the direction of purchasing a fragrance as a holiday gift for a
wife, fiancé, daughter- what have you- because the product seems too
good to be true. On top of receiving two name-brand products for the
price of only one, men are convinced the female with enjoy, simply
because there is the connotation through social norms that “all women
enjoy anything name-brand,” or so it’s assumed.
In attracting consumers through promotional incentives, such as
the fragrance deal or when a consumer uses a coupon, the Michael Kors
brand then records those consumers to a database and is able to further
contact them for notification of other events under the works of the
strategic Integrated Marketing Communication aspect of sales
promotion.
Defined by Blakeman as the
idea in which all messages
broadcasted toward the target
audience speak with one tone of
voice, while projecting a clear,
cohesive image, synergy is one of
the least-talked about
components within the use of
Integrated Marketing
Communication. Without
Michael Kors in one of the most influential fashion
synergy, messages would
designers in the world, today. His heart not only lies
within fashion design, but also within his consumers,
transpire inconsistently, calling
for the erosion of a brand’s image.
The Michael Kors brand loyalty and image are of great treasure in which
much concern is placed upon maintaining and reinforcing one of the
fashion world’s most highly regarded brands. In efforts of doing so,
Kors makes it a matter to make time for Teen Vogue’s Fashion U to talk
to and teach young students who are aspiring a career within the
fashion world lessons and how-to’s in which he has learned at a young
age in serving as one of the most looked-up to fashion designers in the
entire world. Through this campaign, those who do not know Kors are
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able to connect with him and hear advice from one of the most
successful men in the fashion industry on the planet.
Kors emphasizes through this campaign that one doesn’t have to
obtain plans of going into the fashion industry to understand and relate
to his message. He instructs the young men and women at Fashion U to
stay in school and obtain all of the knowledge one can handle, while still
making time for oneself and taking any opportunities one is given to
travel or learn something new. This strong focus shows the public that
Kors truly has a heart out for anyone aspiring to make a change in the
world.
Currently, the brand’s mass focus is upon campaigning and
marketing toward the Spring 2012 New York City Mercedes-Benz
Fashion Week event, one of the designer’s most well-known attendance
events every year, the Michael Kors brand is able to build and maintain
brand image while inviting others who are not familiar with the brand
to soon become a well-informed consumer of Michael Kors products.
The Michael Kors brand uses many forms of new media within
Integrated Marketing Communication. The most influential form upon
this day and age is the use of social networking for two-way
communication between consumers and retailers of Michael Kors
products. In using a two-way communicational method such as social
networking, the Michael Kors brand is able to speak in a language that
its cliental can understand and relate to about topics of interest.
The idea of getting to know the
consumer and fulfilling wants and needs
had been established as early as when
Kors debuted his first clothing line while
employed under the head of Lothar. Kors
stated that he had noticed, quite early
within his career, the “value of having a
store to test designs within. You have
Michael Kors (@MichaelKors) takes
direct access to customers and you can
initiative to respond to and interact with
find out almost immediately what works
his followers on his very own personal
Twitter account
and what doesn’t” (Fragrance X). Kors,
being the busy man he now is, does not
have time or ability to personally sit down with each consumer at
boutiques to discuss their wants and needs as he once was able to.
Bringing the social media aspect within Integrating Marketing
Communication into play, consumers are now able to comfortably and
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conveniently discuss comments or concerns through social networking
mediums, which they possibly had already partaken in, well before
stepping out of his or her way to comment on the brand.
The Michael Kors brand obtains multiple social mediums to
connect with its consumers, such as an official Facebook page, a Twitter
with tweets from Michael Kors, personally, and an official YouTube
channel with videos of ad campaigns and recaps of recent events. By
interacting with consumers, Kors is able to establish and maintain
relationships and brand loyalty in a simple, yet assertive way. It is easy
to bear out that everyone, at present, has either a Facebook page they
check up on daily, a Twitter account in which they tweet from and
follow others’ thoughts with, a YouTube channel to watch and upload
videos to, or even all three. With over 604,294 Facebook page likes,
399,197 followers on Twitter, and 150,379 total upload views on
YouTube, the Michael Kors brand has easily become one with its
consumers simply by acting upon a consumer-familiar lifestyle. Such
simplistic, yet powerful efforts made by the brand to connect with
consumers portray the suggestion to believe and trust that the Michael
Kors brand is a brand that cares for all of its potential and current
consumers.
In addition to maintaining such intimate relationships with
consumers, the Michael Kors brand acquires a product and quality
guarantee, which can be found within the official Michael Kors website
under the
assistance tab.
This is an example
of out-of-store
promotions, which
calls attention to
the brand or
service (Blakeman,
p. 227). With a
primary focus of
customer
Fans of the Michael Kors official Facebook page take time to comment upon the
well-accredited customer service from the Michael Kors brand, while
satisfaction,
graciousness is returned from the brand.
Michael Kors
continues to be one of the most trusted and highly regarded brands
within the fashion world. For example, shown on page ten is a Tweet
sent from a Michael Kors consumer, retweeted by Kors, stating that
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simply that Michael Kors products are one of the only name brands that
is, in fact, worth the high cost. Such loyalty portrayed from consumers
shows the fashion world just exactly why the Michael Kors brand
remains such a success, today.
Consumers of Michael Kors products indefinitely obtain a
knowledge in which they are able to rely upon and trust products to
perform as they should; if they do not, consumers recognize that they
will be treated with a replacement that will, in fact, live up to its
expectations or receive a full refund resulting from dissatisfaction.
Product guarantees from the brand ensure consumers that they will not
find the product at a lower price anywhere, and if they should, Michael
Kors will honor the lower price and refund the difference. Product
warranties guarantee that if the consumer is not 100 percent satisfied
with Michael Kors products, the purchase price will be refunded in its
entirety. Offering such services is one way in which the Michael Kors
brand is able to generate trust and goodwill in its products with its
consumers.
As of June 2011, journalist Andri Antoniades for fashion news
website FashionablyJust.com calls luxury sports brand Ralph Lauren to
be amongst the top competitor of the Michael Kors brand this year. It is
no surprise to anyone that both the Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren
brands have put forth some stiff competition upon each other, and have
been for the past couple of years. Despite such competition and effort
between Kors and Lauren in means of which brand is able to gain and
maintain the better brand-loyal consumers, this may not be a remaining
factor within the near future for the Michael Kors brand.
Kors, personally, has recently “enlisted the help of Morgan Stanley
to sell off a 25% stake in his label,” and is looking to raise over $500
million from this effort in essence of nearly doubling the number of
current Michael Kors boutiques around the world, today (Antoniades).
With that being said, Antoniades suggests that the Michael Kors brand
will sometime near in the future surpass the competition with the Ralph
Lauren Brand and continue forth to compete with some of the most
well-known, competitive name brands in the world, such as Prada and
Ferragamo.
But to focus upon the present, one may wonder: what is it, exactly,
that makes the Michael Kors brand different from its principal
competitor? The clothing seems to attract the same, targeted
consumers- those who wish to be luxurious, while remaining casual and
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comfortable. But what makes the Michael Kors brand superior to Ralph
Lauren and its products?
When drawing a comparison of the Michael Kors and Ralph
Lauren brands, I instantaneously looked to obtaining Ralph Lauren’s
refund/exchange policy and pricing guarantee, which can be found on
the Ralph Lauren official website under the customer assistance tab. To
my surprise, the brand does not offer a product warrantee for any of its
products as the Michael Kors brand, but does, in fact, offer a product
guarantee. I found myself somewhat astonished through my predefined knowledge of Ralph Lauren and its regard to such a high-end,
well-respected brand. Also, to touch base upon the product guarantee,
the Ralph Lauren brand offers price adjustments for full-priced
merchandise for up to 90 days past the original date of purchase, and
only 30 days for sale-priced merchandise. The Ralph Lauren brand does
not offer an exchange or refund for any days after the specified allotted
days after purchase, nor does the brand offer store credit to its
consumers.
Although I am not ashamed to admit that I am a fan of the Ralph
Lauren brand, being that it happens to be my most beloved brand’s
principal competitor, and have never dealt with any sort of
dissatisfaction in products of which I have consumed, I am left to
wonder: are there consumers out there that are, or have been,
dissatisfied with products who are, or were, unable to be rest assured
by the company in regards to their concert for their consumers? Do
they speak up and advise the brand that they are unhappy, even if they
know that in doing so, it may not uphold the outcome that they should
hope for? Do they simply lay it to rest because the website states the
brand’s policies? Such disregard for consumer satisfaction shows just
how much of a difference lies between the brands’ images.
Another aspect in which I came across in Ralph Lauren’s, seeming
to be, low-priority ranking for consumer satisfaction is the Ralph Lauren
brand’s Facebook page. The brand seems to disregard its consumers
and not interact with those who do nothing but compliment products
upon the Facebook page. Even something so simple as liking a wall post
from a consumer who says something exquisite about a product in
which they enjoy would display that there were some sort of concern
for its brand-loyal consumers. The brand even disregards consumers in
their requests for the brand to create a Twitter page in essence of
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interacting with its consumers. The Ralph Lauren brand obtains a
YouTube channel, but has not updated it within the past two months.
Although customer satisfaction is one of Kors’ greatest assets
within his brand, he is to expect a challenge from Ralph Lauren in Spring
2012 at the Fashion Week event in New York. There have been reports
that the Ralph Lauren brand and its products will be featured on the
runway in a 4D experience. One must also consider that to many
consumers of which do not have the ability to afford and attain Michael
Kors products, or literally have no insight to the Michael Kors brand, the
Ralph Lauren brand happens to be considered more so “in-reach” for
the common man or middle-class consumers. The Ralph Lauren brand
offers affordable apparel for those who wish to obtain the luxurious, yet
sporty style without paying the price that one would cough-up for
almost identical products from Michael Kors. Consumers must always
remember the old saying, though, that holds so true within the past and
present in reference to retail- you always end up getting what you pay
for. Sustainable, quality clothing is not cheap, and vice versa. Although
the physical material of the clothing may be legitimately parallel in all
essences, remember, that waiting it out and saving up for that exact
product from the Michael Kors brand may result in peace of mind
between you and the product that you may wish you had gained from a
Ralph Lauren product purchase. The trust attained from purchasing a
product from Michael Kors assures that the product will live up to its
expectations, along with the guarantee that if it does not, the Michael
Kors brand will be happy to satisfy your wants and needs for
replacement or exchange.
In my choosing of the Michael Kors brand, I could not think of any
better brand to hold as a respectable example of a company that utilizes
each and every aspect of Integrated Marketing Communication. A
company, such as Michael Kors, that focuses upon those needs and
wants of consumers before worrying about its own profit and outcome
is a company in which is very rare to find in this day and age. Not only
can we see the desire for a consumer-centric, satisfactory environment
through the brand’s phenomenal upkeep in relationships and services
with its consumers, but as well through the man, himself, who created
the brand.
The Michael Kors brand makes use of every key factor within
establishing and maintaining a successful brand through the use of
Integrated Marketing Communication. Within the use of advertising,
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public relations and publicity, direct marketing, sales promotion, event
marketing, and the use of new media, the Michael Kors brand devotes all
six components of Integrated Marketing Communication to develop
long-term, intimate relationships with consumers.
Michael Kors, himself, has demonstrated since day one his
uncanny ability and desire to please consumers. The fashion and design
aspects behind the development and maintain of the brand is not just
the works of Kors’ career; it is his way of life, which he chooses to share
with his consumers. The Michael Kors brand is not constructed only of
products for consumers to purchase, but products for consumers to
trust and believe in.
Callahan 17
In researching the Michael Kors brand, I looked to the brand’s
official website