Marketing
The concept of online video promotion has allowed companies and organizations to fulfill their marketing objectives. Until recent times, organizations have had to rely on the experiences of marketing and promotional agencies or attend their online marketing seminars to comprehend how to create, manage, and even execute simple online promotions (Eastman, Ferguson, & Klein, 2012). While the promotional strategy of using television exhibits visual appeal and colorful graphics with the bonus of a sound effect, online video promotion through gadgets such as Smartphones and iPads has become an increasingly more popular and effective method of marketing by companies, particularly those that target young males such as Old Navy.
The Choice of Young Adult Males as a Target for Old Navy Promotion Strategy through Online Media
According to Tansley (2013), there has been an increase in the demand by men to dress well due to the significant role played by the internet in terms of addressing the issue. Increasingly, young men continue to be much more involved in browsing and evaluating their potential purchasing options online.
About 198 millions of consumers bought their products online where 78 percent of this group comprises young people. The report also revealed that despite women being the ones mainly involved in household spending (80 percent), men are more likely to make their purchases through mobile devices. In addition, young men aged between 18 and 34 were found to spend more money online in any given year than any of the other age groups. These studies indicate that young adult males should be the main target when it comes to online video promotions by companies such as Old Navy (Elliott, 2016).
Egan (2007) explains how technological advances have changed the mode of marketing communications over the last decade. This factor has forced most companies to reinvent their marketing strategies to come up with new forms of appealing marketing communications that reach out to their target market. In this context, Old Navy has transformed its marketing communication methods to target the young male customers. In the old promotion methods, most of the marketing promotions by the company were designed to speak to the male customers through their girlfriends, sisters, or wives. However, the company has decided to embark on a new campaign that pokes fun at male fashion through tools such as funny video parody ads that can run in through social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Assumptions made regarding the viewing habits of young men when choosing mobile media as Old Navy’s promotional strategy
Several reasons and assumptions have been made as to why young adult males are a main target for online promotions by companies such as Old Navy:
Lack of pressure
The internet allows this age group to take its time and ponder what options it has concerning the products sold and/or decide whether it should commit itself to purchasing the product (Tansley, 2013).
Increased accessibility
Most companies are designing websites that are specifically structured for configuration into Smartphones and tablets. Others even have incorporated mobile applications to enable a memorable mobile experience. Young men today carry a Smartphone with them where they can easily access the online promotions anywhere, unlike Televisions where they have to be tied to a chair or sofa (Tansley, 2013).
Social media habits
Young men are usually logged in to their social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. The platforms present a good platform for Old Navy to market its products to this age group (Tansley, 2013). In addition, this group is more socially active compared to its older counterparts, especially because of the evolution of online media in the generation (Ciochetto, 2013).
Poor state of mind when watching Television
Another school of thought labels men as not being in their right mind set when it comes to watching Television. This situation poses a great difficulty in terms of picking up items through the promotional adverts seen on offline media such as television. For instance, when men are watching their favorite games or shows on the television, they are never in the right frame of mind to look at denim jeans or designer shirts.
In my opinion, I think this view is true since men rarely appreciate interruptions of their favorite television shows and games. Thus, they have little or no concentration for the ads that are shown on the TV (Crang, 2012). Therefore, I will recommend the use of alternative marketing strategies such as online videos as young men can easily view them without any pressure and in their right mindset.
My thoughts on the Old Navy’s online video promotion strategy, particularly with the popularity of social media
The campaign to use online video promotions, as opposed to television adverts, is a very creative strategy that targets the young generation customers, particularly youthful males. It assists Old Navy to realize more sales of its products to this age group. This form of marketing promotion can easily be integrated into other programs such as SMS marketing where the company can send links of its website to customers, including mobile alerts of exclusive offers on new arrivals upon signing up. Similarly, through signing up in the company’s websites or liking its social networks’ page, customers can access all features without being inconvenienced such as being interrupted while watching their favorite TV shows (Johnson, 2015).
Concerning the company’s pricing policy, online video promotion is a cheaper alternative compared to contracting offline media such as television stations. For instance, the company spent $ 176 million on measured media such as television alone. Unlike a television promotion strategy, online video promotions, which are more effective as they are tailored to speak to a specific target market such as the young adult male population, are much cheaper (Rodriguez, 2014).
Recommendations to Old Navy regarding its online promotion strategy
I would recommend the company’s marketing team to use an integrated marketing communications plan to mesh up its online promotion strategy with its other marketing programs. This strategy will require adequate planning to ensure that the principles of an integrated marketing system are applied throughout this process. The move is important since it will allow the marketing managers to deliver an effective and consistent message across all its online and offline media platforms. The company can first evaluate the needs of the young male adults, both directly and from the competitive environment to allow the company to come up with content that engages and interacts with this age group (Percy, 2014).
Conclusion
An online promotion strategy is a very creative strategy that engages the audience. The strategy is an effective marketing communication plan for the young male adults who increasingly use online platforms such as social media and company websites to make purchases of the trending fashion. Online video promotions have proven a better method of marketing since they speak to young adult males who pay little attention to television promotions. Therefore, online promotions form the promotion strategy of choice if the Old Navy Company is to succeed in achieving its marketing goals.
Reference List
Crang, D. (2012). Behind the Campaign: Old Navy Goes After Men in New Ad Push. Advertising Age. Web.
Ciochetto, L. (2013). Globalization and Advertising in Emerging Economies. London: Routledge. Web.
Elliott, S. (2016). Old Navy Replaces Mannequins With Music. Media Decoder Blog. Web.
Eastman, S., Ferguson, D., & Klein, R. (2012).Media Promotion & Marketing for Broadcasting, Cable & the Internet. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
Egan, J. (2007). Marketing communications. London: Thomson.
Johnson, D. (2015). Old Navy Localizes SMS Marketing Campaign | Tatango – SMS Marketing Software. Tatango – SMS Marketing Software. Web.
Percy, L. (2014). Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications. Hoboken, NJ: Taylor and Francis.
Rodriguez, A. (2014). Old Navy CMO Aims to Lessen Brand’s Reliance on TV. Adage. Web.
Tansley, I. (2013). Forbes Welcome. Web.