Comments (0)

By Peggy & Arthur Winters, September 27, 2012 12:15 pm

by Peggy and Arthur Winters

Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been defined as a management tool that can be used to investigate the degrees of loyalty in a firm’s customers’ experiences. It serves as an additional tool to traditional customer satisfaction research. The Net Promoter Score is obtained by asking customers a single question on a 0 to 10 rating scale. “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” Based on their responses, customers are categorized into one of three groups: Promoters – extremely likely to recommend (9-10 rating), Passives – likely (7-8 rating), and Detractors – not at all likely (0-6 rating). Subtracting the proportion of detractors from the proportion of promoters and converting it to a percent gives a Net Promoter Score.

Any analysis of NPS reveals that it is being employed as a useful form of market research that can present companies with an understandable way to measure customer satisfaction without getting lost in deep data. It gets companies to think about their customers’ experiences and loyalty from the customers’ point of view. NPS and CX should serve as a matrix or model for how customers see their interactions with a brand / designer / store and/or website and how the brand should work to improve these experiences.

But answers to only one question will not reveal the whole story of WHY a customer might or might not recommend the brand. To improve one’s loyalty NPS, one must look for the root cause. These interactions include individual stages in the customer’s exploration, discovery, purchase, satisfied use and services rendered.

Additional ways to employ NPS as an indicator of customer loyalty could include:

ACE – Actual Customer Experiences and referrals – using point of sale, call center and billing data that signifies exactly what customer interactions have occurred…

SPA – Superior Perception of Attributes that are revealed through customer conversations that inquire how satisfying were their experiences with the good old 4 Ps — Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

APS – Analysis of Promoter Score through further evaluations of customer interactions asking what they did as a result of interactions with the brand (designer, product, store, website, or experience). Specifically: “Have you recommended this brand?” These evaluations are calculated to define customer perceptions, future intentions for purchasing, and importantly, recommendations and referrals.

NPS can be an effective predictor of whether, how, and when a customer might, and actually has recommended the brand to a friend, family or colleague.

Above all, NPS can also be an analysis of Customer Experiences (CX) that serves as a reference for a company’s Internal Branding. NPS can be infused as a metric for evaluating a company’s systems for creating related Customer Experiences (CX).

How would this recommendation affect “STAYSEXY™’s” NPS Net Promoter Score? Drawing by Arthur A. Winters.

Arthur & Peggy Winters co-teach SXB 200 Brand Marketing Communications for Image & Meaning and SXR 050 Intro to Branding: The Art of Customer Bonding.

Comments (1)

By Peggy & Arthur Winters, August 30, 2012 10:47 am

Drawing by Arthur Winters

For today’s fashion marketing, original visual content is vital.  The marketing communications strategy is how to make it effective. We’re still seeing some fashion brands using old-style fashion model poses in their visualizations of their new styles or products. But, we appreciate and recommend fashion brands that are creating better visual stories, which provide customers with answers and suggestions. These brands tell a visual story of what they can do for the customer, not just what items they make that only create awareness by projecting their brand image.

Visual Content — yes …

Visual — but NO story …

Fashion marketing needs better communications that connect with the customer’s branding of self. Marketers could now look at their products for visual content and the story that generates its facility for self-styling. And in this multi-media, social media world, visualization in all its forms is pre-eminent.

“Power to the She” –self-styling visual and verbal story

A significant brand mark for fashion marketers is to see visual content that covers all aspects of customer/consumer experience. For example, a fashion firm might even introduce their customers to a fly-on-the-wall look at their design team at work. There is no doubt that fashion may be a most visual product that offers ever-flowing fountains of ideas for visual content – and desire, especially with the use of social media and web sites.

Fashion brand positioning can be more inspiring by showing the customer real life style and life-stage happenings instead of static, mannequin-posed model photos with their logo.

Starbucks visualizes it is the customer’s lifestyle…

Those brand managers who have a sense of the visual in communications may be the new Rembrands of fashion marketing!

What’s your story?

.

Arthur & Peggy Winters co-teach SXB 200 Brand Marketing Communications for Image & Meaning and SXR 050 Intro to Branding: The Art of Customer Bonding.

.

Comments (0)

By Paige Smith, August 27, 2012 8:31 am

Written by Chelsea Candelario, FIT Hot Topics Summer Intern.

While browsing through WGSN.com, I came across three collections of Fashion Forecast. I was completely drawn by the detailed clothing that matched the similarity of objects and themes. New Digital Aesthetic, Next Nature, and Neo-Geo all present a different side of something completely out of the ordinary and new for Spring/Summer ’14.

One of the collections I looked into was New Digital Aesthetic. They were inspired by the online culture of design. The digital ideas are put upon the construction and colors of the designs. Four themes that struck out with N.D.A are Preppy Pixel, Digital Fantasy, Cyber Strange, and Chemical Cartoon.

Preppy Pixel present designs that look like it could have been created on a computer. It brings on a ‘nerd quality’ giving colors that are simple such as black, white, blue, and grey.  Most of the attire consists of suits and layered women wear.

However, as I go through the slides, the theme shifts. It becomes more colorful. Blue, green, and red come together like I never seen before. The colors are either coming together or staying independent. The frequent show of blocks and pixel-like shapes still make their comeback to present the modern world of technology quality.

As I looked through Digital Fantasy, I stepped into a world unlike my own. The designs are out of this world. It starts off with bright neon colors and move to serene pastel colors. Fabrics such as wool and sheer become used for a two-piece assemble, over the knee dresses and complicated shirts. Characteristics of technology inspire the intricate details of these garments to bring out a unique feel of living in the digital 21^st century.

Cyber Strange lives up to its name. Sleeveless suits and open up heels have presented themselves on the slides.  At first, I was confused and wondering why would anyone want to wear that? Then I sat back, a smile on my face, and think ‘This is Fashion after all’. This theme breaks all the rules of understanding where and how it was made. It’s the art portrait you enjoy, but can’t quite understand.

Chemical Cartoon is the last theme to N.D.A. It’s like stepping on a bridge between imagination and reality. So many bright colors splattered on to fabrics. You can literally spot one of these garments from a mile away. All sorts of colors and prints put together to give in a fun child-like quality. The three-piece suit filled with bright summery colors followed by stripes endlessly parading the garment or the patches of colors mixed in with floral prints that remind me you of the picnic day in June.

As if the colors were going to stop, it gets even more bold and electrifying with different shades of pink and purple covering the clothes. Also introducing light pastel colors such as periwinkle, baby blue, green, and yellow. Sticking to the theme of Cartoons, a charming picture of Kermit is plastered on one of the sweaters.

Comments (0)

By Peggy & Arthur Winters, June 28, 2012 3:35 pm

Segmented Marketing has been rapidly replacing, or at least collaborating as part of,what we have known as Mass Marketing. So why would any brand, U.S. or “other world,” not customize their communications about their product, service or experience? With a rising local diversity in our domestic market, and an increasing mix of different global cultures throughout the world, a brand needs to continue to create strategies and communications for glocal brand marketing.

Some brands are trying multicultural marketing that attempts to create communications for more than one market segment. The brands that seem to do the job best do forms of Integrated Marketing that go beyond running traditional ads, doing outdoor advertising or going on-line. They are developing innovative Consumer-Centric Promotions (CCP) and Customer Experiences (CX). And they are considering cross-over life-style psychographics to identify “cross-across” target markets.

Today’s Brand Management has to recognize that cross-over segmented markets require more glocal strategies and multicultural communications than ever before.

One to watch is what a retail giant like The GAP is doing. GAP Inc. has products available to customers in over 90 countries worldwide. Their global expansion formula is to enter a country with brand-building flagship stores, after which outlets and smaller franchise stores can be added beyond the main cities, in addition to building an online web presence for each country/region/language and offering international shipping.  This plan goes on even with the news that they will be closing a number of stores in NYC, the USA and Canada.

In the Gap Inc.’s case, they are promoting their image of Americana and it’s fun, family, fashion and value appeals across the globe. They integrate or “glocalize” their promotions with the local customers as seen on their international web pages:
www.gap.cn   www.gap.eu

https://m.gap.co.jp

• 12.06.07

GAPドレーピーなネックがアクセント！ネオンカラーTを、マキシ丈スカートに合わせて、今年顔のデートスタイルに♪

コンサバになりがちなデートスタイルも、今年トレンドは忘れたくない！今年マストのジャージー素材のカジュアルなマキシ丈スカートも、ドレーピーなネックが美しいネオンカラーのＴシャツでコンパクトなトップを作って目線を上に。縦長シルエットの好感度スタイルの完成です♪
（撮影：フラッグシップ銀座）
ポケットT
（Color:Lime/¥2,900/ID:160866）
マキシ丈スカート
（Color:Navy Stripe/¥6,900/ID:160758）
キャミソール
（Color:Red/¥1,900/ID:495955）

• 12.06.07

Gapお得意のサーフグラフィックのTシャツは、POPなカラーパンツをチョイスして今年流に♪

夏のアメカジの王道スタイルと言えば、サーフ。西海岸がオリジンのGapなら、サーフのグラフィックTシャツもお手の物。さらに、トレンドのカラーショーツを取り入れることで、今年顔にアップデート！
（撮影：フラッグシップ銀座）
グラフィックT
（Color:Lemon/¥3,900/ID:164336）
クルーネックT
（Color:Grape Vine/¥3,900/ID:164289）
デニムシャツ
（Color:White/¥7,900/ID:164399）
ショーツ
（Color:Red/¥6,900/ID:164439

The Gap is approaching each segmented market with its brand story and brand image, while welcoming each target market in their own language and giving them the opportunity to adapt this American brand in their own “glocal” way.  In today’s global economy world, we need to develop our own global perspectives as we choose which ideas or products to include in our company brands and our personal customer lifestyles.

Arthur & Peggy Winters co-teach SXB 200 Brand Marketing Communications for Image & Meaning and SXR 050 Intro to Branding: The Art of Customer Bonding.

Comments (0)

By Dalia Strum, June 14, 2012 12:39 pm

WHAT’S TRENDING

Louis Vuitton has recently collaborated with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama on a handbag collection and is raising awareness with a mobile application that uses augmented reality and photo sharing.

The Louis Vuitton Kusama Studio iPhone app allows users take photos of images around them and apply an effect called visions to transform them into Ms. Kusama’s artwork.  Users can share them on a public gallery as well as social media platforms.

Yayoi Kusama began as an avant-garde painter in Tokyo in the 1950s. She became a figure in New York’s contemporary art scene in the 1960s. Her style is a cross between pop art, surrealism and minimalism.

This strategy is a combination of simplicity meets innovation, which augments and transform photos into Kusama’s lens.

The app lets users imagine a person or object covered with dots or reinterpreted as abstract waves, as inspired through Ms. Kasama’s artwork. It is available for free in Apple’s App Store.

Dalia Strum teaches SXF 120: Blogging Smarts for Business and SXF 130: The Social Media-Social Commerce Revolution: What You Need to Know to Keep Up.

Comments (2)

By Dalia Strum, May 24, 2012 11:14 am

WHAT’S TRENDING

Luxury Brand Christian Dior has created a two-part video marketing strategy for its new jewelry collection on mydior.com.  In doing so, they have humanized the jewelry collection by featuring model Raquel Zimmermann in a candid conversation truly opening up across the gamut from fashion, beauty, emotions and dating. She concludes both videos with “My Dior is My Dior. Imagine talking to your jewelry.”

There’s truly an emphasis on the product because she speaks about various experiences, and in in a sense, it’s like her Dior jewelry has become her security blanket.  No matter what, she can count on that to be beautiful and consistent part of her life while Zimmerman proclaims her feelings and flaws.

In this micro-video, she is continuously re-styled with red lipstick and black eyeliner, to nude lip gloss and messy hair, truly exemplifying that Dior Jewelry can be universal in the various occasions or even everyday wear-age.

This is not only a much more engaging opportunity for Dior to get their brand messaging across, it’s an interesting opportunity in regards to their brand positioning and how deep their future approaches will be in terms of brand messaging.

Dalia Strum teaches SXF 120: Blogging Smarts for Business and SXF 130: The Social Media-Social Commerce Revolution: What You Need to Know to Keep Up

Comments (0)

By Joan Volpe, May 17, 2012 4:17 pm

Register online: http://www.fitnyc.edu/noncreditregister
and click to download the Summer Catalog.

Register online: http://www.fitnyc.edu/noncreditregister
and click to download the Summer Catalog.

Comments (0)

By Dalia Strum, May 15, 2012 1:13 pm

WHAT’S TRENDING

Louis Vuitton is going back to its roots and what they’re originally known for; their luggage and trunks by creating an iPad application.  The 100 Legendary Trunks iPad application provides exclusive brand information through unpublished texts and documents, videos, sound clips and images. The Louis Vuitton app price seems to be a luxury item in and of itself, with a price point of $18.99 in Apple’s App Store.

The application’s vivid representation of the history of Louis Vuitton’s design’s and usage is truly representative of the company’s evolution throughout the years.

The history of the Trunks, also include the globe-trotters (celebrities) whom have owned them and have been carrying their possessions for some time. While they’re more nostalgia pieces nowadays, they still draw attention for their classic lines and sticker friendly surfaces.

Louis Vuitton’s luxury experience backstory was translated into an application, similarly like the details and quality of their products. Their clientele understands the value behind the brand, and LV has established a sense of trust with their customer base, so they shouldn’t have an issue with the price point of the app.

Dalia Strum teaches SXF 120: Blogging Smarts for Business and SXF 130: The Social Media-Social Commerce Revolution: What You Need to Know to Keep Up

Comments (4)

By Paige Smith, May 4, 2012 11:50 am

English is the language of the global fashion business!

Do you want to improve your English language skills?
Are you interested in fashion design, promotion, retail buying, the fragrance business, fashion trend forecasting or global fashion business development?  
Would you like to spend several weeks in New York City?  
Then FIT’s Summer English as a Second Language / Fashion Business Program is for you!

July 5, 2012 – July 26, 2012
This three-week intensive session offered in partnership with FIT’s Educational Skills department includes an ESL course and classes in fashion business and design topics. Attendees meet a variety of fashion-related industry experts in the classroom and at special events.
Earn a Professional Studies Certificate of Completion.

Standard Programs:
Fashion Design
Fashion Merchandising
Fragrance Product Development
Fashion Promotion

Elite/Accelerated Programs:
Fashion Trend Forecasting
Global Fashion Business

For a complete brochure, download this PDF.
To register, go to fitnyc.edu/noncreditregister, select ESL Programs, choose the track of your choice, and proceed to check out.