Advertising Strategy Used by Old Navy to Target Young Male Customers Essay

Advertising Strategy Used by Old Navy to Target Young Male Customers - Essay Example With the suggested demographics, psychographics and lifestyle elements already selected for this targeted consumer, it appears that you have decided that he is young and virile, has changing tastes and is very much into fashion trends, is a typical metro-sexual living a college life on campus or off it. As members of this young community, the minds of people like Mike are always changing as they are swayed by the latest trends on the move, with the I-Phone, the Internet and the I-Pad very much a part of their lives. With opinions on social media dominating their tastes and choices, it is a wise move to have targeted the bulk of your advertising budget towards the Internet and social media network advertising. Opening pages on Facebook and Twitter has become a necessity now rather than an exception. With millions of users not only in the USA but right across the world, social media pages, opinions and advertising is the way to go nowadays and I commend the new advertising agency for r ecognizing and helping you capitalize on this trend. I noticed that the new advertising campaign makes use of online video instead of television. This would be in line with the viewing habits of the young teenagers and adolescent group that the company wants to target for increased business. I might add that this is a very good strategy and is well timed too, as industry analysts have noted that the market for men’s apparel was up 3.3 percent last year, compared to the average rise of 1.9 percent in shopping for clothes for both sexes. It was also seen that in the three months of the year ending February 2011, the sales in men’s apparel was 12 percent higher than last year. Consumer analysts have also noticed that as men are taking more and more interest in their wardrobes, they tend to order similar pieces in a variety of colors if a style and a cut suits them. This is what is likely to boost men’s clothing sales even in a recession. The only thing that I do no t like about the present advertising strategy for men’s clothing is that the ads have not been tastefully made. Of course I understand that they are meant to be humorous, but as any sane person and especially a stand-up comedian can tell you, it is really hard to make people laugh. In fact it is an art form that the likes of Eddie Murphy, Danny Kaye, Buster Keaton, Robin Williams and even Charles Chaplin took years to perfect. No one finds the same things funny, and most of us laugh at different things at different times. When you make an ad for young men’s clothing and want to connect it to humor, there is a danger that your product too will not be taken seriously at all. The ad for Super Tool is really pathetic and needs to be taken off the air immediately. Frankly I fail to see the humor in it at all! Some scenes are images have decidedly religious inferences-like the man with the sheep that reminded me that Christ was the Paschal Lamb of God or the papal style head gear that is worn by the model in the beginning of the advertisement. The entire ad consists of disjointed scenes and elements that are intriguing but have no connection and no purpose. A very disappointing ad if I may say so, in fact disgusting and easily forgettable (Advertising Age, 2011). I would suggest a complete remake from scratch and more cleverly made.