Media Focus on Liu Jingjiang: Uncovering the "secret" behind the BM boom
[ MBA China Net News] Whether it is online or offline, women's clothing stores for obese people are very common, but rarely see clothing stores for thin people, even in large shopping malls, looking for an XS (super Small code) is more than luck. However, the "small size women's clothing" brand BM is an exception, becoming the most popular clothing brand in the United States. Why is this? Why is BM so tempting?
Recently, Liu Jingjiang, an associate professor of the Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy of Zhejiang University, was invited to publish a case review article in the magazine "Global People". ("Global People" is hosted by People's Daily, and is the largest, most authoritative and influential comprehensive political journal in China.)
Scholar Profile: Associate Professor, Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, School of Management, Zhejiang University, Doctor of Management, Visiting Scholar, Rice University, USA. Research direction: Cognitive behavior and institutional basis of technological innovation and entrepreneurial management, competitive dynamics and strategic decision-making.
A brand designed for thin people
The brand Brandy Melville (BM) has only 18 retail stores in the United States. If you walk into any of them, you will find that almost all the sizes of the clothes are S numbers, and the rest are all the same size - people who are not thin enough can't wear them or wear them hard to read.
In short, this is a brand designed for thin people, and let fat people feel "malicious". What's even more irritating is that BM's slogan is written like this: "One size, the mass fits." In fact, many girls who bought it ridiculed: "If you are not a flat chest, don't wear it."
However, this does not affect BM leading the fashion trend among young Americans, becoming the most popular clothing brand in the United States. It is not so much that its success stems from the young people's pursuit of “bone feelingâ€, but rather the accurate grasp of the younger consumers' psychology by their founders and the “regression†in corporate public relations strategy.
Marketing Tips for Consumer Psychology
Although BM was in the United States, its birthplace was Italy, and a pair of fathers and sons, Silvio Marsan and Stephen Marssan, created the brand more than 20 years ago. Perhaps because of the great clothing brands in Europe, BM did not stand out in Italy. It was only in 2009 that it entered the United States and really entered the fast lane of development. In 2014, BM's annual sales were US$125 million (about 860 million yuan), and its annual sales growth rate was 20%-25% in the next few years.
To sum up the characteristics of the BM brand, as long as you open its official website and picture social platform, you will know: almost all white beautiful girls, tall, boney, long legs, a long blond hair floating in the wind.
In the subtle, BM conveys to the consumer such a message: those who wear our brand clothes are such hot girls, if you buy, you too. This coincides with the psychology of most adolescent girls pursuing beauty, although rationally tells them that not everyone is suitable for wearing thin clothes, but in the field of marketing, sensibility can always defeat rationality.
In terms of external publicity, Marshall and his son pursued a public relations strategy of “the lower the key is the higher the toneâ€. From top to bottom, the whole company always avoids dealing with the media as much as possible, and the products never directly advertise. This kind of deliberate low-key is in stark contrast with the mainstream practice of “live under the spotlightâ€.
However, on the network platform, the indirect publicity of BM is amazing. Marshall and his son know that the power of example is endless. In order to continue to buy people who wear the S number, and to keep the people who can't wear them continue to pay attention, they make full use of the influence of social media and "opinion leaders." In addition to the carefully selected "thin-like" model put on the product to take pictures, and then sent to the official platform, the company has also established cooperation with many fashion bloggers. For example, Justina Sharp, a 17-year-old blogger with a personal fashion website, said publicly: "Congratulations, you can wear BM clothes! This is a matter of superiority, because many girls want to wear BM. But they can't squeeze in, they want to wear them, they are willing to do anything."
Under this kind of publicity, there are a large number of customers who can't wait to go online to take photos after buying BM, or show off to classmates and friends. It turns out that the effects of interpersonal communication and word-of-mouth communication are immediate. Many American parents report that it seems that overnight, the daughter who was still playing with the dolls yesterday asked for a BM tight-fitting navel. Abandoning the traditional paper advertising and TV commercials, and not relying on the window display of the physical store, Marsang and his son only made a piece of land with the girl's comparison and word of mouth.
Don't have the online and offline layout of "the mind has a "thinking"
With the popularity of Internet shopping, the physical stores in the United States have also been seriously affected, especially in the clothing industry, many large brands have reduced the number of physical stores. In this environment, BM also chose to put the main sales channels online. Compared to the vast United States, 18 stores are really pitiful, and only in the three regions of California, New York and Boston, consumers in other places want to buy products, either to the above areas, or only online shopping. Fortunately, BM's online shopping system is very convenient, and most of the style design is very simple, plus only one size, greatly reducing the need for try-on.
Although there are not many physical stores, the location of BM is very concentrated. California, New York, and Boston are the areas where young Americans gather, and the areas where fashion trends are the easiest to blow. Many of BM's stores are located near well-known local universities, attracting college students and making it easier to create fan effects in colleges and universities.
However, with the popularity of BM, its preaching aesthetics and subtle marketing methods have also begun to be questioned. Many people criticize BM for "making money with a bad aesthetic" and "increasing the shame of obese people." As we all know, the fashion industry has always been thin and beautiful, the small clothes are almost the standard of the models, but the harshness of the BM has not been. For example, the uniform size tights can only be worn by girls with a waist circumference of 25 inches, which is equivalent to the traditional Chinese 1 foot 9 inch waist. In addition, most of BM's short skirts and shorts are also of this size. According to a 2012 report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, young girls in the United States have an average height of 1.62 meters, a body weight of about 62 kilograms, and a waist circumference of about 31 inches.
Therefore, some commentators said that BM fans are a group of people who only pursue the beauty of the skin and ignore the health. However, some people retort that the people who attacked the BM marketing strategy said that they could not eat grapes. In reality, BM has 3.9 million fans in the United States. Although it has a small proportion of the total population, it is the group that best drives the consumer trend. Whether on social platforms, coffee shops, college campuses or downtown areas, they always attract the most attention when they walk. Marshall and his son, who know how to market well, don't plan to change their strategy. They obviously understand women's psychology more than many women. The seemingly invisible propaganda means is often the most powerful. Although it will lose the beauty of the original for a dress, in the current aesthetic environment, the commercial appeal of a S body to all other non-S bodies is incalculable. Whether the critics are willing to accept this.
After the Italian clothing brand BM entered the US market, it quickly became one of the most popular girls' clothing brands. Although the number of stores is small, online store sales are very hot. BM is not advertised, managers are extremely low-key, and all clothing is only available in small or full size. Young American girls generally believe that wearing BM clothes is something worth showing off.
Why is BM able to receive the attention of 3.9 million American girls? Why can BM quickly become popular on the US Internet? The main reason can be analyzed from the following aspects:
Third, BM has several unique selling points. Specifically, it includes: all clothing is small or uniform; the unique "hot girl" brand image; product design is simple but exaggerated, with a whimsical California style, with a little sexy; online shopping is convenient, no need to try on. These unique selling points have laid a solid foundation for improving the differentiation of BM and the competitive advantage of the market.
Fourth, BM uses effective sales channels and promotional strategies. In the environment where clothing stores are seriously affected by online shopping, BM's sales channels are mainly e-commerce and supplemented by physical stores. The physical stores are located in California, New York and Boston, where the young people in the United States gather and fashion trends are most likely to be blown up. They are mainly located near well-known local universities and can quickly produce word-of-mouth communication effects in colleges and universities. In addition, BM places great emphasis on the use of social media for promotion, accurately gathering a large number of loyal customers and potential customers. Its fans are keen to share BM clothing pictures on the online social platform. Whether it is the fashion model of a professional model or the fan's own cool street shooting, it becomes the best advertisement and directly reaches the mobile phone of the target customer group.
Overall, BM is a very successful marketing brand. It brings three important inspirations to the company's lean startup and precision marketing. First, it must be keenly aware of the changes in market trends, unresolved market problems and potential market gaps. This is the primary priority for grasping the real pain points of consumers. Premise; Second, accurate target customer positioning and unique selling point is the cornerstone for establishing and maintaining the competitive advantage of the product (or service) market; Third, carefully study the psychology and behavior of consumers, using big data and artificial intelligence technology for mobile Internet marketing And social media marketing is at the heart of the business model.
Copyright Notice:
This article is reproduced from the School of Management of Zhejiang University. If the original author does not want to publish the relevant materials on this website, please inform the website in time, we will deal with it in the shortest time, contact 010-53572272.
Shaoxing Haisa Textile And Garment Co.,Ltd , https://www.haisafashiones.com