Click here to view my Advertising 206 Final Project
After entering the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications I was enrolled into Advertising 206. For our final project, the class was told to choose and evaluate a brand along with their communication, media and advertising strategies. I chose to write my paper on the brand "Juicy Couture" as I feel this brand impacted society in many ways, especially after making a comeback. Be sure to check out my essay about Juicy Couture and their genius media strategies and tactics.
Advertising 206 Advertising Plan
Upon researching and looking through several different brands that impacted the minds of consumers within the past couple of years, I couldn’t help but choose a classic brand that is familiar to all people, specifically women. I chose the brand Juicy Couture due to its extensive impact on the industry and the development of fashion in the early 2000s. Although Juicy Couture is a brand that anyone can recognize, their main audience is teenage women with their most successful year of sales being in 2008. Juicy Couture is a brand that sells women's clothing and can be seen to almost have shaped the overall fashion industry, continuing to leave a lasting impact on fashion today. The impact this ‘Y2K’ brand had on society was so strong that the company has been seen to be even more popular today than it was when first created, due to a recent boom in early 2000’s fashion and clothing.
Juicy Couture was founded in 1997 by two women, Gela Nash, and Pamela Skaist-Levy, who were attempting to create a fashion label before being named Juicy Couture in 1996, this company was called Travis Jeans and was deeply rooted in a focus on selling maternity pants. After officially taking the title of Juicy Couture, this maternity brand was transformed and developed into a fashionable athleisure brand. This brand caught the interest of consumers due to the promotion from iconic celebrities at the time such as Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, J-Lo, and Kim Kardashian. The engagement from these celebrities had a huge influence on this brand and within the media, causing many people to become interested in the clothing sold by Juicy Couture, with their most popular item being the velour Juicy tracksuits. Using celebrities as a marketing campaign caused a huge increase in the brands' popularity and overall sales, setting them up for success in the future.
The success that came with Juicy Couture’s usage of well-known influencers to promote their products meant that they were now able to distribute their products to higher upscale department stores. One of the main high-end department stores that began to receive Juicy Couture products is Saks Fifth Avenue, which allowed this company to widen its audience and reach more customers. In 2003, after Juicy Couture continued to expand and grow through the past few years, the company was sold to fashion designer Liz Claiborne for $266 million. Additionally, the first Juicy Couture storefront was opened in 2004, in Caesar's Place, Las Vegas. The success and rapid growth of this brand allowed for overall net sales to double between the years 2006 and 2008, with there being over 100 Juicy Couture storefronts globally. The peak year of this company was 2008, with net sales totaling $605 million. The brands' success allowed them to successfully expand their product range to not only women’s clothing but also fragrance and jewelry.
Although this brand seemed flawless to the public ever since it was created in 1997, the stock market recession in 2008 caused irreversible damage to the brand of Juicy Couture. The 2008 Great Recession can be recognized as the worst economic contraction since The Great Depression, and it refers to the economic crash from 2007 to 2009 after the global financial subprime mortgage crisis occurred within housing and real estate around the world. The recession of 2008 affected many companies and brands around the world, as domestic product declined by 4.3%, while the unemployment rate doubled and reached 10%. One of the many brands affected by this sudden economic crash was Juicy Couture, as the brand's vision no longer aligned with its customers' interests. After the recession of 2008, customers could no longer afford these ‘premium prices’ and the clothing being sold to customers no longer aligned with the fashion trends of the time. After Juicy Couture began losing customers due to the recession, the percentage of the overall sales dropped heavily, causing the founders of Juicy Couture to step away from their positions and leave the company, as they felt they now had different visions in life that did not include this brand. The brand of Juicy Couture was sold to a company called Authentic Brands Group for $195 million and they made the executive decision to close down all Juicy Couture stores in 2014 due to the continued downfall of the brand.
A few years later, in 2016, Juicy Couture made its return to the media and fashion industry as a result of their Spring 2017 collection which rekindled the interest of previous customers in addition to new audiences. As a result of their success, Juicy Couture hired James Mizrahi to be the new creative director in 2018. With continued help from influencer Paris Hilton, a new collection dropped and was available for purchase at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, or directly from the Juicy Couture website, which allowed the audience variety to widen and reach more groups of people through these heavily populated and successful department stores. This brand then collaborated with several other high-end companies, such as Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, and Emi Jay, to launch a runway collection that further grew its audience and variety of buyers, allowing this company to regain its popularity. Within the past two years, this brand has maintained its popularity, as the appeal of ‘Y2K’ styled clothing is resurfacing as a trend throughout the media. As we reach 2024, it can be seen that the brand of Juicy Couture is still booming in success and has become a classic staple style for this generation. This brand has successfully made itself recognizable within the past 30 years as people are familiar with its signature logo. Juicy Couture is a brand that produces timeless clothing and has successfully normalized casual staple pieces that can be worn year after year.
The success of Juicy Couture has been seen to heavily fluctuate within the past 30 years, and it is important to recognize its main competitors that may have contributed to the negative instances this brand has dealt with. The main brand that is seen to compete with Juicy Couture is Victoria’s Secret, as these brands both have very similar audience pools and are known to sell similar products such as women’s wear and fragrance lines. Victoria’s Secret can be seen as threatening to the status of Juicy Couture as this brand is highly successful and has been familiar with the media for a longer time, as it was founded before Juicy Couture. Although both of these brands are successful for different reasons, they are still seen to be affected by one another and are competitors due to their similar ways of advertising and gaining traction in the media. Victoria’s Secret is known to use models as a way to showcase its products, while Juicy Couture markets their brand to be more inclusive and available to all people. These brands are similar in the sense that they both market their products to resonate with women, but differ due to their overall message to the public.
Another brand that is seen to compete with Juicy Couture is Abercrombie & Fitch, as both of these brands aim to promote casual, everyday clothing. Abercrombie & Fitch can be seen as a competitor of Juicy Couture because Abercrombie & Fitch has a wider audience that resonates with more people, as their clothing caters to men and women, while Juicy Couture only sells women's wear. Founded in 1892, Abercrombie & Fitch has been able to grow with their audience and adjust their products to match the interests of their consumers as fashion trends fluctuate and change throughout the years. Unlike Juicy Couture, Abercrombie & Fitch has a wider range of clothing that resonates with people of all ages and can be easily adjusted to mold into today’s trends, while Juicy Couture is only known for their most popular products that have been the same for years. The difference between a brand like Juicy Couture and Abercrombie and Fitch is the idea that the clothing at Juicy Couture will always be the same which gives consumers that sense of comfort that they may not receive at a trend-cycling store like Abercrombie & Fitch.
After compiling research about the brand history and advertising tactics of Juicy Couture, it can be seen that this brand is successful in many ways but also may have some problems that can easily be fixed with proper media communication. When dealing with a brand like Juicy Couture that has been on the market for over 30 years, consumers and audiences need to know what they are getting from a brand, but there also needs to be a sense of surprise and anticipation coming from the products being sold. Juicy Couture is a brand that sells timeless pieces that have been trending for years, but it is important to include newness, which keeps the customers wanting to come back for more. This brand is facing issues in the sense that they are not carrying out the unexpected, as they have been selling the same products for over 30 years and have not dropped a new line of clothing since the collaboration with Paris Hilton in 2018. Juicy Couture is a timeless brand that has shaped the media and fashion industry for the better, but it would be heavily beneficial for this brand to continue coming out with clothing lines and almost rebranding the company while still recognizing the popular clothing items that customers still fluctuate towards. A rebrand of this company would allow for higher overall sales rates, as it would draw customers in and make them interested.
Juicy Couture is considered to be a timeless brand, as it has been popular ever since it was created in 1997. The style of clothing that is made by Juicy Couture can be seen to have shaped the media and fashion industry due to its constant popularity and appeal to celebrity culture. This brand had such an impact on society that it is considered to be even more popular today than it was when it was first created. Juicy Couture is a brand that successfully promotes timeless, comfortable, and versatile clothing for all women. Additionally, this brand made such an impact on the fashion industry that it is still popular and still worn by all women around the world. The growing popularity of this brand shows how much of an impact it had on society in the early 2000s, as well as today.
Section Two
After becoming familiar with the brand history of Juicy Couture over the past 30 years, it can be seen that this brand is highly successful, but it would be even more beneficial for Juicy Couture to widen its audience by dropping new collections without failing to recognize the viral, popular staples. Juicy Couture is a brand that is over 30 years old and is known for their women's casual clothing, specifically their velour Juicy tracksuits, which were so popular they made a comeback in today’s fashion industry. Although this brand has proven to receive great amounts of success over the past 30 years, there is one issue that can be easily fixed in attempts to maximize customer interest and sale opportunities. The problems associated with Juicy Couture are that this brand only appeals to a small group of people (middle-class and middle-aged/teenage women), as well as the fact that this brand has not regained its audiences' interest or intended to gain new audiences by dropping new collections and clothing pieces. Juicy Couture is a brand that can be seen to sell the same staple pieces of clothing in 1997 as they do now in 2024, which is what some people tend to rely on with this brand: consistency.
When looking at this brand and the problems that come with it, a broad audience, and a lack of engagement with audience interests, it can be seen that several strengths and weaknesses would come with the change of this issue. When looking to go about changes within the marketing and aiming of this brand, several strengths will come about as a result of this change. The first strength that will come as a result of this change is the fact that audience engagement will be expanded if Juicy Couture decides to release a new clothing line that is unexpected to the current public eye. As of right now and for the past 30 years, Juicy Couture has catered to a specific group of people, that being teenage women and young adults. If a change were to occur in this brand, such as a release of a men's line or a different article of clothing, the brand would benefit in the sense that the intended audience for these products would widen, allowing the number of overall sales and interest rates to increase. This change would strengthen the brand of Juicy Couture by making it more inclusive to all genders and ages, therefore generating sales from more types of people in the long run.
Although this change would benefit the brand of Juicy Couture, it is also important to pinpoint the weaknesses that may occur as a result of this rebrand or change. As briefly mentioned above, Juicy Couture has been a booming company for the past 30 years due to its product consistency and ability to keep up with cycling fashion trends. The rebranding of Juicy Couture can lead to some weaknesses within the overall brand due to the customers who value Juicy Couture strictly for their consistency and loyalty to their original products and merchandise. Some customers have no issue with the lack of options that Juicy Couture has to offer and will continue to value their most popular products, which is why a change in branding may lead to losing the original audience pool of customers. When looking at a brand and a possible change within it, every single strength and weakness must be evaluated to determine which option will be most beneficial to the brand overall. Another weakness that may come about as a result of this change is the authenticity of this brand, and the idea that it may be lost if a change were to occur. Juicy Couture caters to a small group of people who may not accept change within this brand, risking a loss of customers and supporters. If Juicy Couture changes the products being sold, the original audience pool (middle-aged and teenage women) will feel as if they no longer resonate with this brand and the items being sold.
Additionally, it is important to weigh the opportunities that may come about as a result of this brand change. As briefly mentioned above, a rebrand of Juicy Couture would allow for several opportunities within this company, the main opportunity being the ability to widen the audience pool and gain overall sales. Juicy Couture is a brand that has stayed consistent with its audience for the past 30 years, but a sudden rebrand would allow it to strike the media and hit them with something they never expected to see from this brand, which will increase the amount of traction and overall interest within the media. Although this move can be seen as a risk, it would create a large boom in sales and open up a new door for the brand of Juicy Couture. Several opportunities would come with the rebrand of Juicy Couture such as a strike in the media's interest and a chance to adjust the intended audience pool so that it isn’t so directly geared toward teenaged women and young adults.
Although many opportunities come with the rebranding of Juicy Couture, we must also look out for potential threats. As stated in Section One of this assignment, the brand Juicy Couture went through a struggle as a result of the 2008 Great Recession, causing a huge decline in overall brand sales as well as a drop in customer interest rates. Although this exact economic situation will never happen again, it is not certain that the rebranding of Juicy Couture will not pose a threat to the brand and cause a decline in overall sales and customer interest rates. To avoid these threats, brands need to interact with their main audiences to keep up with the needs of their consumers to gauge future circumstances for the brand. Additionally, brands need to stay updated with the economic state of the fashion industry to understand the proper price points to place newly dropped products to keep customers wanting to purchase.
When looking at the brand Juicy Couture and its fluctuation within the past 30 years ever since it was founded, it is important to understand the target audience of this brand and the overall impact it had on the fashion industry. Juicy Couture is a brand that seems exclusive and limited because it has a broad audience of people who are interested in these products and resonate with the items being sold. Although this brand is aimed and targeted toward a specific group of people, it has been around for several decades and has catered toward several women of all ages due to its recent comeback in the media and fashion industry. Juicy Couture has heavily influenced and shaped the fashion industry in the sense that it has been successful ever since it was founded in 1997 and is still being sold in stores across the world today. The use of well-known influencers to promote Juicy Couture's clothing led to its success and ability to create a target group of buyers, people who are easily affected by influencers within the media. With the recent trend of ‘Y2K’ clothing coming back into style, the target audience of this brand has adjusted to a slightly younger age, but is still seen to be catered toward pre-teens and young adults.
Section 3
Juicy Couture is a timeless brand that has been around for over 30 years, and has been able to master the proper marketing and advertising tactics in order to keep customers wanting to come back for more, decade after decade. With its previous and recent success, it is also important for this brand to keep up with the fashion trends circulating the media today. Once social media started becoming normalized within our everyday lives, the appeal to media from viewers has changed, meaning that brands need to follow very specific tactics in order to keep their audiences interested in the content being created and shown online. The power of social media has grown stronger over the past 5 years, meaning that brand marketing and advertising is not the same as it used to be. When Juicy Couture was founded over 30 years ago, social media was not as relevant in our lives as it is now. In order for Juicy Couture to appeal to the interest of viewers within the media today, it needs to cater toward their viewers and post content they know their audience would be interested in.
As an advertising and communications student that knows the importance of media and how to cater to the trends online, it would be very beneficial for Juicy Couture to hire a new PR and social media agent, specifically a young adult who is familiar with trends online. Additionally, it would be beneficial for this brand to be more interactive with their viewers on several social media apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, and most importantly, TikTok. Viewers and users of social media are very easily influenced by what they see online, which means all it takes is a few memorable ads in order to make people become hyper fixated on a brand. Another way that Juicy Couture would benefit from this social media usage is by making it easy to buy these products at just the tap of a finger. As the world of social media progresses, people rely on having less to do, even when shopping online. Social media users are more likely to gravitate toward items that are easy for them to purchase, which is why Juicy Couture should be interactive with their social media platforms and update the way items can be purchased. People will be more likely to gravitate towards Juicy Couture items by seeing an ad they like online and having the ability to click on it and purchase the item right away. A user friendly and interactive online shopping experience would allow this brand gain this brand great amounts of traction, as opposed to needing to purchase these items in storefronts. It would be very beneficial for this brand to keep up with the social media trends that are currently circulating the web, as the audience pool for this brand is very niche and has specific interests online.
Another way that Juicy Couture could strengthen their media marketing skills within this day in age is by catering to their original audience group from over 30 years ago by making appearances in magazines and other forms of print media. Even though social media has become the new norm for promoting products and becoming influenced, it is also important for Juicy Couture to cater to their viewers and supporters who may not spend as much time online. It is important to recognize the fact that Juicy Couture was founded in 1997, a time where social media was not nearly as popular, important and influential as it is now. The original group of Juicy Couture’s audience came from promoting this brand through organic interactions such as fashion shows, throughout department stores, and by seeing famous influencers wear these products, which is why it is important for this brand to continue marketing to this audience, and not only online. It would be beneficial for Juicy Couture to launch a new line of clothing similar to the pieces that are populated, while promoting this launch throughout magazines and other forms of print media.
In order for Juicy Couture to continue growing their sales rates, it is important for them to adjust they way they are marketing to their viewers by placing emphasis on the importance of social and print media. Juicy Couture has been a successful brand for the past 30 years and will continue to be successful with the inclusion of updated social media marketing tactics that resonate with the content that viewers are looking to see from brands online.
