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 On-Sale Closing Date 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 2/1/12 3/20/12

Lives

May / Urban Style and The Costume Institute at the 3/1/12 4/24/12

Metropolitan Museum of Art Benefit

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 6/1/12 7/24/12

Decade

September / The Fall Fashion Blockbuster and 6/29/12 8/21/12

Celebrating the Editor’s Eye

October / The Season’s Statement Pieces 8/1/12 9/25/12

November / America’s Got Talent: The CFDA/Vogue 8/31/12 10/23/12

Fashion Fund

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

LinkedIn

 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.