Fashion Promotion: Brand Report

BA (Hons) Writing, Fashion and Culture

Nathalie Yvette Dawe

CONTENTS
1.0Abstract
2.0Introduction
2.1 History of Fashion Promotion
2.2 Theory of Fashion Promotion
2.3 What is PR?
2.4 What is advertising?
3.0 Methodology
3.1 Topshop store visits
3.2 Independent research
3.3 Questionnaire
3.4 Analysis of findings
3.5 Conclusion
4.0 Findings
4.1 Visual Merchandising
4.2 Advertising
4.3 PR
4.4 Marketing and Promotion
5.0 Discussion
5.1Success of Topshops visual merchandising strategies
5.2 Success of Topshops advertising strategies
5.3 Success of Topshop PR
5.4 Success of Topshops marketing and promotional strategies
6.0 Conclusion
7.0 Reference list
8.0 Bibliography
9.0 Appendix
9.1Appendix A - Graphs of questionnaire results.
9.2Appendix B My wish list cards from Topshop
9.3Appendix C We want your views cards from Topshop

1.0The brand report is an analysis of the promotional strategies adopted by the Highstreet fashion giants Topshop, throughout autumn/winter 2008.

The report will examine the historical and theoretical perspectives of fashion promotion,
providing identification of current advertising and PR, surrounding the fashion time
Christmas.

The study of visual merchandising, advertising, PR, and marketing; promotional

strategies used by Topshop, during A/W 08 will demonstrate an understanding of
fashion and sales promotion, illustrating how it ties in with all areas of the marketing
mix.

An analysis of research conducted within A/W 08 will be included in the methodology

demonstrating how this report has been produced. Following this the findings section
will describe the visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional
strategies used by Topshop during A/W 08

Using the findings the discussion section will provide a description of the promotional
strategies used by Topshop and a discussion surrounding the success of each strategy.

2.0This section will examine the history of fashion promotion and look at the theory of
promotion, identifying its development, and looking at what has happened as a result of
this.

2.1 Today fashion promotion is a key element to gaining a market for a brand or
product being produced. Advertising, marketing, visual merchandising, and PR are
fundamental to the success of fashion promotion.

The earliest example of a promotional tool is suggested to be the town crier who would
literally call out in the streets the availability of goods or services of a seller (Easey,
1995). However promotion has developed significantly over the years and fashion
promotion is still relatively new.

Today the communication between a high street brand such as Topshop and the
consumer is achieved simply through the straightforward model of communication
(shown below).

SENDER >>> MESSAGE >>> RECEIVER

In relation to fashion, it would normally be identified by the company that a campaign

is needed (Easey, 1995). If the fashion company or store identifies that there is need
for a greater communication with its consumers it will adopt a method from the
promotional mix which is traditionally listed as advertising, sales promotion, public
relations and personal selling (Easey, 1995)

Advertising is possibly the oldest method of promotion to be used successfully in the

media, although half price sales and buy one get one free offers have always existed,
with high-street brands in competition with each other to gain more custom. PR is
suspected as being the most recent form of fashion promotion in the media, as the
world of celebrity has become a key tool to the development of PR in the last decade.
Brands use celebrities by encouraging them to wear their products through gifting
them, which simply means giving them merchandise from the brand free of charge. This
is called a celebrity endorsement, and will feature throughout this report.

2.2 Promotion is the communication with customers about products and services to
create demand and encourage purchases. Fashion promotion is used by high-street
fashion brands such as Topshop to achieve just this.

It is made up of a combination of promotional strategies, consisting of:

Visual Merchandising

Advertising

PR

Marketing and

Promotion

Fashion Promotion is one of the four major elements in the marketing mix in order for it
to be successful an understanding of how promotion, links with product, price, and
place is required.

Stores such as Topshop use the theoretical elements of fashion promotion to create
awareness, convince and remind customers of the benefits of their brand, in a hope to
encourage and stimulate purchases. This report identifies the areas of fashion
promotion, examining the theory adopted by Topshop during autumn/winter 08

2.3PR is an abbreviation for public relations; these are activities which are designed to
build positive relations with the customers, employees and the community. In fashion
marketing public relations (PR) is the most effective method of promotion (Easey,
1995). Although the use of this method can result in good publicity for a store such as
Topshop (Harrison, 1995) suggests that there is no universally accepted definition of
PR (Easey, 1995), Suggesting that the idea of PR is still relatively new to fashion
promotion.

2.4Advertising is any paid form of a non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or

services made by an identified sponsor. Topshop during autumn/winter 08 advertised
in the September and October 2008 issues of Elle Magazine.

In advertising the marketing mix, plays an essential part as it is important to ensure the
advertisement is in the right place to reach the attention of the target customer. Above
the line, paid for advertising in fashion is relatively low in comparison with other
goodswhich probably reflects that the fact that less money is spent by consumers on
fashion than on food, transport, leisure, fuel, housing, etc (Easey 1995).

3.0 In this section I will discuss the methods used to develop the fashion promotion
report.

3.1 A series of visits were made to the same Topshop store during the A/W 08 period.
During each visit, the visual merchandising and promotional strategies being used were
examined. This developed an idea of how frequently Topshop appeared to change its
window display, its layout inside the store and its promotional offers and activates.

3.2 For the purposes of the report research was conducted through the use of text
books, websites, and various media texts such as magazines and newspapers which can
be found in the reference section, bibliography and appendix.

3.3 For the purposes of the report a questionnaire was conducted to identify the
success of the promotional strategies used by Topshop.

The questionnaire consisted of thirteen questions and was put forward to twenty of
Topshops consumers, who were willing to participate in the questionnaire for the
development of this report.

A tally of the results from the questionnaire will also be produced, with graphs also
being included to show the results of the questionnaire more clearly with annotations
explaining what the graphs demonstrate. (Appendix A)

3.4 This section demonstrates the visual merchandising, advertising, PR, promotional
and marketing strategies adopted by Topshop, focusing on the visits made to the store.

3.5 To conclude the report the discussion section examines the worthiness of the
visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional strategies used by
Topshop. Giving a description of each strategy and a discussion to whether or not it was
successful in achieving the aims and objectives of Topshop.

Following this is the overall evaluation, demonstrating a final understanding of the

fashion promotion strategies adopted by Topshop and their success.

4.0 This section demonstrates the visual merchandising, advertising, PR, promotional
and marketing strategies adopted by Topshop.

4.1This section identifies the visual merchandising techniques used in Topshop from
the start of October 2008 until the end of December 2008.

Throughout the A/W 08 period Topshops window display and floor plan in the store,
changed three times, keeping up to date with the A/W 08 catwalk looks.

During the September/October 08 period the window display emphasized colour and
GREAT British Topshop, the inside of the store was also well lit and boasted about the
seasons love of colour, with a neon section. (Appendix C)

The window display changed during October/November 08 emphasizing the NEW Kate
Moss collection, the arrival of Kates new collection also caused changes to be made to
the layout inside the store, bringing Kates collection to the front, making it the first and
last thing shoppers could see. (Appendix D)

During November/December 08 the shop window display and store layout changed for
the final time during the A/W 08 period for the fashion time Christmas. The visual
merchandising in the closed shop window emphasized a winter wonderland; this was
continued inside to promote the trend with four glamorous mannequins situated on an
island display, at the front of the store. (Appendix E)

The changing window display during this period demonstrated the four main looks for
the season display gothic undertones, military styles, brilliant colours and fine knit
(www.albawaba.com). Topshop has a closed window display, meaning customers can
view only the window display and cannot see behind the display and inside the store. As
a result of this it is important for the window display to be eye-catching enough to
encourage consumers passing to enter the store.

Section five of the questionnaire focused on finding out the consumers opinions on the
visual merchandising used Topshop in its window and store displays. The results of the
questionnaire showed that the majority of consumers liked the window displays at the
Topshop store, although a small amount of those who participated in the question said
they only sometimes like the shop window.

The interior display of Topshop features, island displays, giving emphasis to the newest
products and trends in the store, shadow boxes are also used inside the store, mainly in
the American style shoe lounge, creating an expensive and glamorous ambiance.
Topshop also uses eye catching point of purchase displays of sweets to stimulate
impulse buying by consumers.

4.2This section identifies the advertising for Topshop from the beginning of October
2008 until the end of December 2008.

The advertisements for the A/W 08 Topshop campaign featured in the September 08
issue of Elle magazine. A follow up advertisement for the A/W 08 Topshop campaign
was also featured in the October 2008 issue of ELLE magazine. Topshops choice to run

its advertising campaign in a magazine such as ELLE shows the type of fashion conscious
late teens early twenties student they are aiming for with their campaign.

Section four of the questionnaire focuses on asking the consumers of Topshop their
opinions surrounding the A/W 08 advertising campaign. The results demonstrated that
the majority of Topshops consumer market had seen the campaign and felt it was
better than those of other stores.

4.3This section identifies the PR received by Topshop from the start of October 2008
until the end of December 2008.

In Fashion marketing, PR is responsible for ensuring that magazines have merchandise

to feature in fashion shoots, comparative offers and editorial features (Easey 1995)
during the time of this report Topshop are shown to have done this with their celebrity
endorsement Kate Moss.

Topshop also regularly appears on the fashion pages. Features on the latest trends,
often include merchandise from Topshop, one particular feature taken from the
November 2008 issue of Cosmopolitan demonstrates successful PR for Topshop as the
brands products dominate the page, with little merchandise from other high-street
stores featured. As a result of this report it has been discovered that Topshop doesnt
just feature in fashion magazines, but also gains PR from the fashion pages in red top
tabloids such as The Sun and celebrity gossip magazines such as Heat.

4.4This section identifies the marketing and promotional techniques used by Topshop
from the start of October 2008 until the end of December 2008.

Topshops sales promotion This method of promotion revolves around offering a

discount on merchandising (Easey, 1995) Topshops does this by offering 10% discount
to students all year round. Topshops choice to do this demonstrates that they hope to
turn new or occasional shoppers into regular purchasers (Easey 1995).

Previous research demonstrates that due to the seasonal nature of fashion, mid-season
and end-of-season sales are the most frequent methods of sales promotion (Easey,
1995) During the time of this report Topshop adopted this method with a sale for a
short time, where much of the S/S 08 products could be brought at a fraction of the
price they were being sold for in season.

The use of the internet has allowed fashion brands/retailers to establish a presence on
the world wide web prior to a potential future transactional website (Easey, 1995)
Topshop are shown to take advantage of the internet by establishing a newsletter titled
style notes that can be signed up to via the website or by making a purchase on the
website. (Appendix F)

Section 6 of the questionnaire focuses on what the consumers think to the promotional
strategies adopted by Topshop. The promotional strategies of Topshops consumers are
focused in the majority towards students, as a result of the 10% discount offered to
students all year round. The questionnaire asked how the consumers felt about this
method of promotion; the majority claimed that they think the discount is good, this

indicates that the majority of Topshops consumers are students and therefore
benefitting from the student discount. However a significant amount stated that they
felt the discount offered was unfair.

Topshop uses in-store promotion to interact with the consumer, during the Christmas
period Topshop produced My wish list cards which could be filled in by the consumer
with a list of Topshop merchandise, for friends and family to purchase for them.
(Appendix G). Also Topshop during the time of this report encouraged its consumers to
get involved in the store by giving them the opportunity to give their views surrounding
their shopping experience at Topshop. (Appendix H)

5.0 This section examines the worthiness of the promotional strategies used by
Topshop.

5.1One of the aims of this report is to discover if the visual merchandising of Topshop
is successful, having asked consumers Do you feel the appearance of the store (through
its window display) has an impact on your decision to enter the store? it is made
evident that the visual merchandising adopted by Topshop has a great influence on its
consumers as the majority decided that the appearance of Topshop from the outside
can influence their decision to go inside. This demonstrates the importance of visual
merchandising to a high street brand such as Topshop.

However a significant amount of those who participated in the questionnaire suggested

that they would continue to shop in the store despite the appearance of the window
display, this shows that a percentage of Topshops consumers are influenced by other
areas of promotion.

5.2The majority of Topshops consumers that participated in the questionnaire

claimed they have seen the advertisement. This shows that Topshop was successful in
placing its campaign in ELLE magazine as the majority of those asked claim to purchase
the magazine, and therefore see the campaign. The advertising campaign could have
therefore had an influence on their choice to visit Topshop. This could have been as a
result of liking the fashions shown in the advertisements, appreciation of the fact that
ELLE allowed for the advertisement campaign to be run in their magazine, or sheer
curiosity about the brand and its A/W 08 collection.

5.3 Topshop appears to gain much PR from the press, during the time of this report;
the celebrity endorsement of Kate Moss gained much PR for Topshop as a brand. This
emphasizes the success of a celebrity endorsement.

5.4 Topshop adopts many promotional strategies including the style notes which can
be signed up for by consumers and received in an email. This personal contact between
brand and consumer causes the brand to become a part of the consumers live,
establishing loyalty between the brand and consumer as they look at Topshop as a
reliable adviser of fashion and style.

This report aims to assess the success of Topshops promotional techniques having
asked Topshops consumers if they would stop shopping at Topshop if the 10% student
discount was taken away, the majority claimed that it wouldnt affect their decision to
shop in Topshop. This shows that Topshop have established themselves as a strong high
street brand, by drawing consumers into the store with promotional offers.

6.0This section gives an overall evaluation of the success gained from the visual
merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional strategies used by Topshop.

In conclusion to this report the methods of fashion promotion selected by Topshop

during the A/W 08 fashion time have been justified as being successful. A selection of
research methods were used to conduct this report to investigate the success of the
visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional strategies used by
Topshop.

The promotional aim of Topshop is to get the customers into the store, during the A/W
08 period I feel Topshop have been successful in achieving this through a wide range of
promotional activities conducted by the high street brand.

One of the most important elements to fashion promotion is visual merchandising,

during the time of this report Topshop continued to change the window display of the
store, with the majority of the stores consumers claiming they like the displays
produced in the closed window at Topshop. Personally I also feel Topshop produced
glamorous and eye catching window displays, fitting with one of the store key styles. I
feel this demonstrates an excellent use of visual merchandising.

In conclusion to the importance of visual merchandising the attractiveness of the shop

window is significant because if a store doesnt catch the consumers eye from a closed
window display, then it is unlikely that they will be attracted to the store and become
interested in entering the store. I have identified this in the report as the majority of

those asked claim the appearance of the window display would have an impact on their
decision to enter the store.

However a significant amount of Topshops consumers who participated in the

questionnaire did claim that the window display wouldnt have an impact on their
decision to enter the store. I feel this shows that they are being influenced different
promotional strategies being conducted by Topshop.

Other strategies conducted by Topshop during the A/W 08 period include advertising,
PR, marketing and promotion each of which are important elements to fashion
promotion.

During the time of this report Topshop released its A/W 08 advertising campaign in
ELLE magazine. I feel their choice of placement for the advertisement has been proved
by the report as successful, with the majority of Topshops consumers who participated
in the questionnaire claiming that they had seen the advertisement and they liked it, I
also felt the advertisements were good, showing that you can be glamorous and
fashionable anywhere and at anytime.

The success of Topshops advertising campaign is emphasized by the majority of

consumers claiming they felt it was better than that of other stores. I feel that the
report has demonstrated the importance of advertising to a high-street brand and also
the importance of place for an advertisement. Personally my opinion is that if the
advertisement had been placed in a magazine which isnt as popular as ELLE amongst

fashion conscious women, the advertisement wouldnt have fulfilled its purpose and
reached as many of its target consumer.

Topshop, throughout the A/W 08 fashion time has been successful in achieving much
PR for the brand. PR cannot be paid for, therefore justifying itself as the most successful
form of fashion promotion. Having gained PR from a wide variety of media sources it is
important for Topshop to ensure that the PR they receive is good rather than bad. This
is done by the marketing department of Topshop ensuring magazines are given the
latest merchandise to put into their fashion features. In conclusion to Topshop
successfully receiving good PR it is shown that through providing magazines with the
correct merchandise Topshop as a brand has been able to build a good reputation
within the media and amongst its consumers.

Overall I feel the combination of visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and
promotional strategies adopted by Topshop throughout the A/W 08 fashion time
worked well together to produce successful fashion promotion for Topshop as a brand
on the high-street. I feel the report has demonstrated that it is important for fashion
promotion to include all of these elements for it to be successful in achieving the
promotional aims and objectives of a brand and achieving good PR received from
fashion magazines and the press. Most of all I feel the report has shown that a
combination of the promotional element in fashion promotion works better than
choosing one promotional strategy to promote a brand.

7.0This section gives a list of the books, texts and websites used to construct the
fashion promotion report.
Books

Don Milner, (1995). Advertising and Promotion. London: John Murry (publishers)
LTD.

Gini Stephens Frings. (2005). Fashion from concept to consumer. New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc.

Tony Morgan, (2008). Visual Merchandising window and in-store displays for retail.
London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Mike Easey, (1995). Fashion Marketing. Blackwell science Ltd.

Texts

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, September 2008.

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, October 2008.

Kates hot new Topshop collection (2008). Heat Magazine, 13-19 September 2008.

New Kate range is Moss-ive (2008). The Sun, Tuesday November 4th 2008.

September / October 08 shop window and floor plan.

October / November 08 shop window and floor plan.

November / December 08 shop window and floor plan.

Check mate (November 2008) Cosmopolitan.

Style Notes (2008) Topshop Email

My wish list cards from Topshop

We want your views cards from Topshop

Websites

www.albawaba.com

8.0This section identifies ALL the resources used to construct the fashion promotion
report.

Books

Don Milner, (1995). Advertising and Promotion. London: John Murry (publishers)
LTD.

Gini Stephens Frings. (2005). Fashion from concept to consumer. New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc.

Tony Morgan, (2008). Visual Merchandising window and in-store displays for retail.
London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Mike Easey, (1995). Fashion Marketing. Blackwell science Ltd.

Pamela M Phillips, (1996). Fashion Sales Promotion: the selling behind the selling.
Prentice Hall.

Mary Frances Drake, Janice Harrison Spoon, Herbert Greenwald (1992). Retail
fashion promotion and advertising. Macmillan.

Janet Bohdanowicz, (1994). Fashion Marketing. Routledge.

Texts

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, September 2008.

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, October 2008.

Kates hot new Topshop collection (2008). Heat Magazine, 13-19 September 2008.

New Kate range is Moss-ive (2008). The Sun, Tuesday November 4th 2008.

September / October 08 shop window and floor plan.

October / November 08 shop window and floor plan.

November / December 08 shop window and floor plan.

Check mate (November 2008) Cosmopolitan.

Style Notes (December 2008) Topshop Email

My wish list cards from Topshop

We want your views cards from Topshop

Websites

www.topshop.com

www.fashioninsanity.com

www.myfashionlife.com

www.dailymail.co.uk

www.albawaba.com

9.1Appendix A - Questionnaire Results.

What gender are you?

18
16

This simply shows that

the majority of those
who participated in the
questionnaire
were
female.

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Female

Male

How old are you?

10-15 Years

The pie chart shows

that the majority of
those who participated
in the questionnaire
were 16-24 year olds.
This is fitting with the
main target market for
Topshop.

16-24 Years

25-31 Years

32-40 Years

40 + Years

What is your employment status?

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Student

Unemployed

Employed
(Full-Time)

Employed
(Part-Time)

Housewife

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
questionnaire
were
students. This adds
emphasis
to
the
promotional
10%
discount offered to
students by Topshop
all year.

How often do you visit Topshop?

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
questionnaire
visit
Topshop on a monthly
basis. With a small
amount admitting that
they visit the store
weekly. This shows
those who participated
in the questionnaire
are familiar with the
store.

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Never

Do you read any of the following magazines?

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
question have seen the
advertisements
for
Topshop. This could
indicate
that
the
advertisements
featured
for
the
autumn/winter
08
campaign have an
influence
on
the
customers choice to
visit the store.

Ne
w

Gr
az
ia

No
w

OK
!

He
at

Lo
Ha
ok
rp
er
sB
az
aa
Co
r
sm
op
ol
ita
n
M
ar
ie
Cl
ai
re
Gl
am
ou
r

le
El

Vo
gu
e

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

This shows that those

who participated in the
questionnaire read the
fashion and gossip
magazines, advertising
Topshop and giving
Topshop PR. This
could explain their
choice to shop at the
store.

Have you ever seen any of these advertisements for Topshop?

Yes

No

Do you think the advertisments are good, and better than those of
other high-street brands?

Yes, but I haven't seen

advertisements for other stores
No, and I haven't seen
advertisments for other stores
Yes, I think they are better than
other stores
No, I have seen better
advertisments by other stores

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
questionnaire like the
window
displays
produced by Topshop,
this is significant
because if a store
doesnt catch the eye
of the consumer from
the outside it is
unlikely that they will
go in.

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
questionnaire liked the
advertisements
by
Topshop. This could
therefore
be
influencing
their
decision to shop in the
store, despite being
faced by competition
from the other high
street retailers.

Do you like the window and store displays produced by

Topshop?

20
15
10
5
0
Yes

No

Do you feel the appearance of the store (through its window

display) has an impact on your decision to enter the store?

Yes

No

Sometimes

Sometimes

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
questionnaire
agree
that
the
visual
merchandising used by
Topshop
on
the
outside of the store can
affect their decision to
go inside the store.

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
questionnaire feel the
10% discount offered
by Topshop just for
students
good.
However a significant
amount feel it is
unfair, indicating that
Topshop may benefit
from offering the
discount to everyone.

How do you feel about the 10% student discount offered by

Topshop?
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Good

S1
Bad

From the following, who do you consider to be Topshop direct

competitors?

Unfair

This
shows
that
Topshop has a variety
of stores on the high
street which their
consumers consider as
competition
for
Topshop. The most
popular stores amongst
the consumers of
Topshop appear to be
Miss Selfridge and
Primark.

River Island
Miss Selfridge
Dorothy Perkins
Warehouse
Primark
H&M
New Look
Zara

Would you consider any of these stores better than Topshop?

This shows that the

majority of those who
participated in the
questionnaire felt that
some of Topshops
competitors
were
better than Topshop.

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Yes, all of them

Some of them

No, none of them are

better

9.2 Appendix B My wish list cards from Topshop

(NOT INCLUDED IN THIS EXAMPLE PIECE)

9.3 Appendix C We want your views feedback cards from Topshop

(NOT INCLUDED IN THIS EXAMPLE PIECE)