midterm project: communications audit vogue magazine
TRANSCRIPT
Midterm Project: Communications Audit
Vogue Magazine
Carrie Kotalik & Danielle Macpherson
Key Stakeholders
Psychographic profile
Jenna, 32, is a Caucasian woman, who has no kids or one child. She has a very busy
schedule and works for a fashion magazine. She also has designed her own lines and is a
social-light. Her salary is around 100-200,000. She spends her free time shopping at
designer stores or runways and going out with friends to lunch or dinner, but she does not
have much free time, because of her busy schedule. She picks up Vogue magazine to see the
current trends and fashion updates for business and pleasure.
Audience Profiles: Older women from 35-50, women 25-35, Younger women 18-25.
Older Women from 35-50, who are very successful and interested in fashion; they are their
own boss and are either interested in what Vogue offers or are doing research for their
current business and affairs.
Women 25-35, who strive to be, like the strong independent women they read about in
Vogue Magazine. They are striving business owners, fashionistas, etc; it’s not if they will
make it to the top, but when.
Women 18-25; younger women just figuring out what they want to do with their lives and
fashion is a crucial part of their lives and experiences. Maybe Vogue will be a big eye
opener into their future or they will read about something in the magazine that will get
them thinking about or get them to start planning their future.
Board of Directors- are the older, stylish, fashionistas; in their 40s or 50s, who are working
for the magazine to edit and make sure the magazine is up to par in its successful manor.
Parent Companies- Conde Nast is the mother to Vogue. Conde Nast is a prestige Publisher
Company that controls many different magazines such as Vogue, W, Style, Allure,
Glamour, Self, Lucky, Teen Vogue, GQ, etc, which are also there partner companies, just
like designers and people looking to advertise their brand in their prestige magazine.
Retailers-Retailers could be stores such as Forever 21, American Outfitters, Wet Seal, or
even American Eagle, etc. that have studied the trends Vogue has to offer and finds the
most popular of them to try out in their own store with their own spin on it, but sell them to
the demographic at a lower cost for the average working girl or boy.
Vogues relationship with all their different types of audiences is to create a passion for
myriad aspects of life and inform their readers of different cultures around the world for
inspiration.
Current Communications Initiatives
Time frame
2012 Editorial Calendar/Special Issues
Issue* Space/Material Closing Date
On-Sale Date
January / Fashion's New Stars
11/1/11 12/20/11
February / The All-Americans
12/1/11 1/24/12
March / The Spring Fashion Blockbuster
12/30/11 2/21/12
April / The Shape Issue: Transforming Bodies and Lives
2/1/12 3/20/12
May / Urban Style and The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Benefit
3/1/12 4/24/12
June / Olympics Special Issue
3/30/12 5/22/12
July / The First of Fall
5/1/12 6/26/12
August / The Age Issue: Defining Style Decade by Decade
6/1/12 7/24/12
September / The Fall Fashion Blockbuster and Celebrating the Editor’s Eye
6/29/12 8/21/12
October / The Season’s Statement Pieces
8/1/12 9/25/12
November / America’s Got Talent: The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund
8/31/12 10/23/12
December / Chic for the Holidays and On Vacation
10/1/12 11/20/12
e-newsletters- bring you amazing contents that send out every day; the latest trend, the
most exclusive video, the latest exhibition, celebrities’ beauty secrets, the style of the most
elegant women in the world, and the latest news.
Club Vogue- You can exclusively join on Vogue.com and are entitled to:
Create your own look books
Rate your favorite look books
Comment on our forum community
Sign up to our newsletters
Enter competition
Social Media Platforms-
Vogue updates its Twitter and Facebook feed daily, sometimes even up to 2 or 3 times a day
with the hottest news on the magazine, trends, promotions, or even fun things you can try
or learn about the main website “Vogue.com”.
Vogue.com- has a special place for daily news about events, designers, writers,
photographers, you name it! They are always on top of their game and trying to give their
audience their Vogue addictions 24/7 and keep their readers happy and wanting more.
Twitter Followers- 804,885
Facebook Friends/Followers- 1,728,963
Promotions
Jimmy Choo is celebrating 15 yrs
Revlon All Access for I phone
Sperry sweepstakes to get new fall trends
Kenneth Cole offering new graphic prints
New Cream by Pharrell Williams
Behind the Scene Videos
“Don’t Steal the Jacket” short film by Bruce Weber and Moncler
Audience:
VOGUE is mainly for women; women that are independent, strong, successful, and
women that have a passion for culture and fashion.
Vogues socio-economic status includes the extremely wealthy branch of society.
Rate Base: 1,150,000
Audience: 9,480
Male/Female %
12/88
Median Age: 34.5
Median HHI: $61,145
Budget (monthly): 1,200,000/+
Subscriptions: 887,633 71.5%
Total Average Paid Circulation: 1,240,800100%
Total Audience: 12,030,000
Median Household Income: $68,667
Estimated staff time: Intensive
Return Investment/ ROI: Vogue is paid for by investors and advertisers so they can
be advertised and shown in their prestige magazine to boost their own sales and
Vogues sales in magazines. It’s a win win.
There are a lot of correlations between cost, reach, and staff time. The more the magazine
spends on an issue, the more they pay their staff to work on an issue of Vogue, the more
magazines they sell and the more people are reached, and the more money is made. The
money is spent mostly on communicating with the readers, the advertisers that want to be
seen in the magazine pay Vogue to advertise for them, which later ends up paying for more
than half of the magazine publication.
Vogue focuses mainly on older women and their demographic. They ignore the men and
younger females, but Conde Nast has made a special set magazine for each of them and
everyone else. Teen Vogue is for the younger female generation and GQ is set up for the
males. They thought through this process clearly and did not want to forget about anyone.
The communications are choreographed to arrive to Vogues readers monthly and daily on
every level to keep them happy and fed with the latest news and trends of the magazine
and era.
Vogue Magazines Mission
For 118 years, Vogue has been America’s cultural barometer, putting fashion in the context
of the larger world we live in- how we dress, live, socialize; what we eat, listen to, watch;
who leads and inspires us.
From its beginnings to today, three central principles have set Vogue apart: a commitment
to visual genius, investment in storytelling that puts women at the center of the culture, and
a selective, optimistic editorial eye.
Vogue’s story is the story of women, of culture, of what is worth knowing and seeing, of
individuality and grace, and of the steady power of earned influence. For millions of
women each month, Vogue is the eye of the culture, inspiring and challenging them to see
things differently, in both themselves and the world.
Gather Samples:
The Vogue logo is usually the same. The website logo is a little different from the
logo for the magazine and the magazine logo changes colors depending on the style of the
front cover or issue. Even though the color changes, the font always stays the same. It is
clear and simple; bold and always in capitals, to make it stand out more from the contents
and headlines. The colors may change but the main colors will always be a classic black
and white for the normal issues.
I think people would recognize the Vogue font if it was presented somewhere else
and in a different fashion or color. The font has been recognized and connected to
Vogue for 118 years.
What 3 adjectives do you think people would think of when looking at your current
visual identity?
Classic
Timeless
Strong
These adjectives match the organization’s mission, its background, and even its main
objectives for the magazine and for its readers.
Everything always looks professional; Vogue wants to be taken seriously, just like they take
their readers and their business partners seriously.
Outside the magazine it may look cold and institutional, but inside are stories and struggles
of strong women and stories of how they overcame their obstacles in life; inside gives
readers hope for their own independence.
Mission Statement:
VOGUE is the eye of culture and wants to inspire and challenge women to see things
differently, in both themselves and in the world.
www.vogue.com
Strengths:
Top selling magazine
Brands
Top Designers
Independent
Women
Successful
Professional
International
Etc.
Weakness:
Competition (Any other Fashion magazine not linked to Conde Nast)
Not known for good advertising
Opportunities
Sell more magazines
Increase rates
Brand Loyalty
New Designers
New Artists
Fashion week
Threats:
Recession
Bad Economy
Losing revenue
$
Competitors & Their Share of the Market
Elle- 2nd
most popular fashion magazine and shares target market. “Head to Head
with VOGUE”
Total Audience 5,942,000
Women 5,456,000 (92%)
Median Age 32.9
Age 18-34 55.1%
Age 25-49 48.4%
Median HHI $77,039
HHI $75,000+ 51.2%
Any College 73.8%
Employed 66.4%
Single 60.6%
Readers per copy 5.52
Bazaar
Marie Claire
Cosmopolitan
“Elle and other category contenders such as Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar now enjoy
larger profiles than ever thanks to their involvement with television reality shows and other
forms of promotion which Vogue continues to disdain”
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/24/magazines-elle-vogue-business-media-elle.html
Core Values:
VOGUE wants women to be independent, successful, sexy, and strong. Make them feel as if
they can rule the world and have men just live in it. They want to show that women can be
sexy without degrading themselves just because they are women and that they can do
anything they set their mind to.
Other magazines that Conde Nast represents are:
VOGUE
GLAMOUR
InStyle
W
Allure
Self
Teen Vogue
GQ
Details
Men’s Vogue
Architectural Digest
Brides
Modern Bride
Elegant Bride
Your Prom
Brides.com & Brides Local Magazine
Lucky
Cookie
Golf Digest
Golf World
Vanity Fair
Gourmet
Bon Appetit
Conde Nast Traveler
Wired
The New Yorker
Your Digital Identity
1.) Do a google search for you organization
Potential Customer
Sewing patterns
Subscriptions
Galleries
Knitting
Teen Vogue
Websites
Eye wear
Fabric
Facebook Twitter
Blogs
Collections
News
UK, Italian, U.S. – issues
A potential employee
Article reviews
Career opportunities
Applications
Job sitings
Interviews
Controversy on some written articles
Issues
Videos
Member of the media
Controversy on some written articles
Press Releases
History of Vogue and its background
Videos
Culture of the magazine
Letters to the editor
2.) Do this same exercise for the executive director and board chair
Executive director- Diego Scotti
Fashion funds
Fund receiving donations
Building a global team of 30 communications professionals
Handmade 2 campaigns for American Express successfully
Background and Biography
Web lessons in Obama’s Campaign
21 most intriguing article on him
Diego Scotti has his own blog and facebook page
Board chair- Cindy Fuller
Home calls the Eco friendly
Theater renovations
Charities
Fundraisers
Twitter and facebook page
Editor & Chief since 1988- Anna Wintour
Fierce fashion icon
Most powerful woman in the world
Trademark fashion, hair, and sunglasses
September Issue: Vogue Movie/documentary on her and the magazine
When I Googled Vogue Magazine it showed me every possible cover I could imagine and
emphasized its unique and classic look.
When I Googled the Executive Director it showed pictures of him with different designers
and Vogue articles that he had written or been a part of. Other pictures showed him with a
happy face with happy people.
When I googled Cindy Fuller, Board Chair, I could not find any pictures of her, as if she
tries to maintain a professional outlook and stay out of the presses eye. It showed many
more images of articles and Vogue covers.
3.) Videos- Barbara Walters Interview with Anna Wintour
-Photo shoots
-documentaries
-Cover shoots
Youtube.com
Barbara Walters Interview
Photo shoots
Documentaries
Interviews
Cover shoots
Behind the Scenes
Tributes
The making of Vogue
Behind the Cover of Vogue Magazine
Clothes encounters
Twitter.com
Preview of November issue and cover story
Editors blog
News on the magazine or website
Special events
Promotions
Facebook.com
Cover pictures
News on magazine or website
Special events and promotions
PR
Del.icio.us.
Vogue India
Vogue looks
5 days, 5 looks
Giorgio Armani Spring 2012
Models
Russia fashion photos
News –UK
Food
Sonam Kapoor photos
Flickr
Photo shoots
Articles
Covers
Designers
Professional background
Covers
Photographs
Biography
Education
Partners
4.) Do searches for your organization on popular fashion Websites and directories:
Anniversaries, celebrations, celebrities, parties, releases, news on designers,
trends, collections, culture, popular articles, and photo galleries.
I could not find really any bad said or done that the magazine has been involved in. The
only negative thing I found was negative attention on some serious issue articles. The
magazine was addressing racism or a culture crisis or differences that offended another.
But, their job is to research culture and share with the world how things are done in
different cultures and different parts of the world. They are very professional and serious
and like to stay classic and important to the media and their audience.
References
http://www.condenastmediakit.com/vog/index.cfm
http://www.condenastcareers.com/home.cfm
http://www.vogue.com/
http://www.teenvogue.com/
Janal, Dan. “Expert Resource Network.” Now Theres an Easy Way to Get
Publicity.
www.PRleads.com
www.Vogue.com
www.CondeNastPublications.com
http://www.condenastmediakit.com/vog/index.cfm
http://www.condenastcareers.com/home.cfm
http://www.vogue.com/
www. Fundinguniverse.com “A Brief History of the Conde Nast
Publications.” New York: CNP, 1993
International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 59. St. James Press,
2004.
www.Condenet.com
Oliva, Alberto and Angeletti, Norberto. “In Vogue: The Illustrated History
of the World’s Most Famous Fashion Magazine.” Rizzoli New York,
2007.