According to Clickz.com, a social media report in 2015 reported that across the eight top social platforms, Victoria's Secret ranked in the top percentile. While most people joke about the reasoning behind this high rating, the truth of the matter is that Victoria's Secret is an online marketing genius. With over 26 million likes on Facebook, 8.2 million followers on Twitter, 24.3 million followers on Instagram, and an average of over 2,000 notes to each tumblr post, Victoria's Secret has not only one over a big audience, but an exceptionally loyal one. Furthermore, Victoria's secret's target market is more engaged in company matters than most companies. Every year the Victoria's Secret fashion show captures the number one spot on CBS above all other shows. Generating millions of tweets in one night, Victoria's Secret successfully dominates the social media platform in one evening, as well as days leading up to the show and after. Victoria's Secret has become an iconic brand for women and fashion enthusiasts everywhere through their strategic marketing strategy and amazing advertising campaigns.
This year, Victoria's Secret has even created a football commercial to target their male audience, reminding them to think of their significant others over Valentine's Day.
AdoreMe is a leading competitor against Victoria's Secret that has been trying to convince consumers to purchase less expensive versions of consumer brands. AdoreMe has been very successful on the social media platform, Pinterest, and has been climbing at a rapid speed. Showing lingerie options that have unique styles at lower prices has been very appealing to customers. However, AdoreMe will have a difficult time catching up to the iconic brand of Victoria's Secret and their incredible branding strategy. However, AdoreMe has been reaching out to their customers as the "New Face of Lingerie" and hopes to increase their incline toward the top with Victoria's Secret. The future will determine their success. So far, AdoreMe has been doing a marvelous job in reaching the millennials through introducing a new intriguing brand that is more affordable and equally sexy.
You've graduated from college and it's time to branch out and purchase your very own car insurance. Which company comes to mind first? The friendly gecko declaring "15 minutes will save you 15% or more on car insurance!" or Allstate's ever so popular Dean Winters on his mayhem commercials that state, "Are you in good hands with Allstate?" Both marketing tactics have done exceptionally well within their target market. However, the difference is that Geico has kept their marketing light, while Allstate taken a much darker, sardonic approach.
According to ConsumerAffairs, Geico rates higher than Allstate by a large margin. Even though Geico has fewer followers on social media than Allstate with 45,400 followers on Twitter, 2,090 on Instagram, 433,205 on Facebook. However, Geico has successfully reached the family segment of their market. When people think of Geico they think of an icon that "they can trust"...a cute little gecko. This initially attracts the customer and then they think of what the company offers, which is their slogan - "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance." This is an appealing offer to consumers, because there is one thing more than safety that people appreciate, and that is saving money.
Allstate has taken a couple different approaches to marketing their brand. First they Dennis Haysbert with the "Our stand" campaign and then accelerated with the "Mayhem" campaign. Throughout both campaigns, Allstate has used the "what if" philosophy. As seen in the video below - "What if your teenage daughter is texting and driving and gets emotionally distraught?" Thus, Allstate throughout their campaigns has attempted to use a seemingly "scar/humorous tactic" to persuade customers into purchasing their auto insurance. These commercials urge customers to get serious, while Geico is a lot more subtle and friendly on the matter. I believe that due to their sarcastic and amusing videos, Allstate ranks ahead of Geico on social media with 453,139 likes on Facebook, 5,878 followers in Instagram, and 66,500 followers on Twitter. However, Geico's approach has granted them a ranking above Allstate, because they do not seem as forceful. When people make purchases, they like to think that it is their idea. Geico provides this option with their friendly stance and generous offer. Allstate has too much of a demanding approach and often seems forced. Therefore, marketers should be aware of the psychological affect that advertising may have on people and market accordingly.
Leading the market in cosmetics, CoverGirl and Maybelline have taken social media by storm. Their target markets are women from around the world and both have similar marketing strategies seen on the surface level. However, when digging deeper, one will notice that their brand strategies are also very different.
CoverGirl:
When one thinks of CoverGirl, they think "Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Cover Girl." CoverGirl creates an emotional bond with their consumers as the cosmetics producer that has their target market's best interests at heart. Through promoting brand awareness with their customers at social events as well as through social media, CoverGirl is often thought of as the "Best Friend" of teens. Every teen wants to be beautiful and will often do whatever it takes to look the part. That's where CoverGirl comes in. Covergirl has 628,000 followers on Instagram, 4.7 million likes on Facebook, 556,000 followers on Twitter, and 141,000 subscribers on YouTube. CoverGirl not only markets through social media but also has a large presence in current TV shows such as "America's Next Top Model." There are numerous occasions where Tyra Banks has the models do CoverGirl photoshoots/videos where they have to represent the company through posing a certain way or repeating the CoverGirl slogan. CoverGirl is not only a cosmetic brand, but it is the widely renowned brand of the Hollywood world. Therefore, by promoting their brand through icons that teens greatly admire, CoverGirl does an exceptional job at grasping the attention of teen girls everywhere.
Maybelline:
Maybelline takes a refreshingly different approach to reaching out to their target market. Their brand strategy is promoting a brand for the empowerment of the people. CoverGirl focuses on outward beauty and advertises through iconic beautiful women, while Maybelline focuses on empowering the inner self of the woman. My favorite line in the movie below is "cover up nothing and show off everything...no regrets, no apologies, no maybes." In summary, do not hide who you are, but be bold and reveal yourself to the world. This is represented by the iconic woman, Ruby Rose, on the video who has boldly revealed who she is as a homosexual woman and is proud to show it off. Maybelline is a proud supporter of empowering women to be proud of who they are, whomever they may be, and that message alone has drawn a loyal following around the world. With 1.4 million followers on Instagram, 490,000 followers on Twitter, 4.6 million likes on Facebook, and 90,000 subscribers on YouTube, Maybelline has a strong following. With over double the number of followers on Instagram, Maybelline has proven to be more successful in winning the hearts of their market by focusing their brand specifically on meeting the needs of the people by providing cheap and simple ways to buy and use makeup that provides nearly the same look as more expensive brands. Furthermore, when using celebrities, Maybelline has focused on trending iconic women as opposed to widely renowned women. This is a much wiser strategy when targeting teen women who are more apt to be interested in new trending iconic celebs than overused/widely known celebrities.
In conclusion, due to the brand awareness that CoverGirl possesses, CoverGirl still remains to be the leading cosmetic brand. However, over the years, Maybelline has remained a more reputable company by their brand strategy of empowering women instead of merely empowering the body. Furthermore, CoverGirl's marketing strategy has been overused over the years and must be revamped. Maybelline has a powerful strategy of using trending icons and topics to promote their brand, while CoverGirl remains the brand of pure flawlessness and outer beauty. Therefore, I believe Maybelline will soon take CoverGirl by storm.
