Case Study: Savage X Fenty
Branding and Connecting to Consumers
Clothes offer consumers the opportunity for self-actualization. Self-actualization derived from Maslow's hierarchy, it manifests through one's realization of potential and appreciation for life (Maslow 1962). Clothing has gotten the reputation of being superficial when it is inherently intimate and telling. Apparel is draped over the skin. Humans spend more of their lives clothed than naked. Proximity of clothing to self (PCS) is the "psychological closeness of clothing to self" (Lee and Sontag 2007). Through research, PCS was found to be linked to identity, self-esteem, and mood (Sontag and Schlater 1982).
If apparel is the manifestation of people's personalities, it is vital that brands have identities to connect with consumers. A strong brand personality will allow consumers to see their true selves, and it is crucial to cut through the noise in the social media age. Relatively, we are still at the inception of social media, and "To increase self-brand connection, social media communication should be designed with diverse elements to promote viewers' active simulation and create meaning to the branded photo story" (Lim and Childs 2020).
Setting the Stage
Roy Raymond launched Victoria secret in 1977. Its brand values were inherently unrealistic from ideation. It was an unachievable fantasy that sold a lifestyle to consumers through the use of extremely skinny models. How could a man possibly design functional lingerie? How could a man even understand what women want in lingerie? From its creation, Victoria's Secret was never a brand for women, yet its media presence propelled the brand into unfathomable heights. The brand is the quintessential definition of the "Male Gaze." A term penned by Laura Mulvey to describe the cinematic depicting of women from a heterosexual male's perspective. This would only be amplified with the introduction of the Victoria Secrets fashion show in 1995. In its 26 years, the average model size became slimmer year after year compared to the average American woman size increasing (Maymone, Laughter, Anderson, Secemsky, and Vashi 2019). As beauty standards began to change, the unrealistic portrayal of women caused more tension between brands and consumers. Victoria's Secret never adapted and set the stage for a new brand to enter the market.
The Case for Savage X Fenty
Savage X Fenty launched in May 2018. The Joint venture between Rihanna and the California-based TechStyle group saw almost immediate success with seventy million dollars in funding that year (The Business of Fashion 2019), and as of February 2021, will be securing an additional hundred million dollars in funding from the LVMH group (The Business of Fashion 2021). Savage X Fenty launched with the values of confidence, fearlessness, and inclusion. A stark contrast from its main competitor. With these values and a woman at the helm of the brand. They have used social media to disrupt the market and tell real human stories.
Narrative Transportation and Frameworks
When consumers are able to immerse themselves in a story, they will immediately connect with the brand. Narrative transportation is "when the consumer is absorbed into the narrative, becomes part of the story and lives the story from the inside" (Green & Brock, 2000). Imagine how consumers can live in the story when they see someone who represents them in promotional materials or even sees themselves via user-generated content. The narrative transportation theory is an essential part of the storytelling of the brand. This brand is about eliciting confidence and making its consumer feel "sexy" even if they are not the size of a model.
The story Savage X Fenty tells must be looked through the lens of Freytag's pyramid in addition to the narrative transportation theory. Freytag's pyramid has five major points: Exposition, Initial Incident, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution, and Denouement.
• Exposition is the background information that sets the stage for the story. In this case, it is the astronomical rise of Victoria's Secret.
• Initial incident is defined by the first conflict. Although it took decades for this conflict to arise entirely. The male gaze's problems, unrealistic expectations, and overt sexualization have slowly caused tension between the brand and consumers.
• Rising action adds tension to the story. With the average Victoria's Secret model size slimming annually in contrast to the average American woman size increasing, consumers became extremely frustrated with the brand and its unrealistic portrayal of women.
• Climax is the turning point. This is the stage we are currently in. In the market, we have a disruption. Rihanna released a lingerie line and immediately began to take market share from Victoria's Secret.
• The story has yet to develop further, but with additional funding from the LVMH group, it is expected that Victoria's Secret will fold sooner rather than later.
Fenty uses a mix of user-generated content and promotional images to cut through the traditional marketing promotion and directly speak to their customers. With just under four million followers and a 1.13% engagement rate (Social Blade 2021), the most noticeable thing is how sensitive the brand is with its customers. On a repost of user-generated content, the brand voice exudes sexiness, but the captions empower the original poster. The captions do not make it a point to highlight that a man is in the products or that a woman of a different body shape is in lingerie. The brand voice is consistent without gimmicks. It tells customers that these products will make you feel great about yourself, free of gimmicks.
Brands are projected to spend fifteen billion dollars on ad spend in 2021 (Business Insider 2021). A part of Fenty's social strategy is also influencer seeding. From high-end influencers to micro-influencers. Anyone can get a campaign deal with Fenty because Fenty is for everyone. This aggressive strategy has without a doubt increased brand awareness while maintaining brand values. Seeing a plus-sized influencer with the products on and scrolling down two posts later to see Gigi Hadid in the same products promote inclusion without directly saying it.
On Twitter, the brand is not as successful. With around two hundred thousand followers, the brand has extremely low engagement rates, with the average tweet receiving under one thousand likes. Of all places to tell a brand story, Twitter is the place, but it is not utilized. No narrative threads on the behind the scenes making of a collection, not much reposting of user-generated content, and not much interaction with fans. One could imagine the main reason is for the protection of the fans. Twitter is a heavily unfiltered platform that can lead to harassment of its customers. One wrong post could go viral for all the wrong reasons and seemingly strip the original poster of the content of all of their confidence. After all, Twitter is notorious for having sizeable viral post where thousands of people attack one person. Consumers self-esteems are boosted from clothing (Sontag and Schlater 1982), and naturally self-esteems are broken from human interaction. So, is this to protect its audience?
YouTube and Tik Tok
Upon searching the brand on YouTube, thousands of videos appear from fan made content. This may not seem ideal since these videos overshadow the post from the official account. However, it further enhances the narrative that this brand is for everyone. Users can comb through videos, find someone they identify with and get a more accurate idea of how products will fit them. This representation no doubt psychological gives viewers a connection with the brand since they can see themselves in it (Lee and Sontag 2007). In regards to the account's official post, it will mirror the organic unpaid user generated content. With videos ranging from seven thousand views to over two million views, the brand is slowly building traction instead of trying to dominate the entire market.
The Tik Tok strategy is quite effective. The brand uses influencers to make fun content in the apparel. The posts are fun and sexy without being lewd. The content is exceptionally relatable, fun, and each post, regardless of gender, garners thousands of views and likes. This relatable content connects viewers and can potentially convert to purchases (Ardelet, Slavich, Kerviler 2015).
Integrated Strategy
Luxury goods have been proven to boost women's and men's self-esteem (Kim, Lloyd, and Cervellon 2016). Savage X Fenty uses user-generated content as the primary tool used to tell the story. The marketing mix that involves promotional pictures, user-generated content, and unpaid media all promote the brand narrative. With the created trust and equity Savage X Fenty is able to trigger narrative transportation, ingratiate viewers into the world, and sell products and experiences (Green & Brock, 2000).
Staying true to the brand's disruptive roots, it hosted the Savage X Fenty fashion show. Unlike its contemporaries, this fashion show is streamable on Amazon. Viewers are absorbed into the narrative. The world's first exclusive lingerie runway show that viewers can watch from the comfort of their home. It gives audiences the feeling of not only being front row at a runway show but a well thought out experience (Green & Brock, 2000). The show is a blend of a musical concert (true to Rihanna's nature) and a runway show. On the runway were models of all races, heights, shapes and sizes. It was an actual representation of the world undoubtedly making its viewers connect with the brand. Referring to the PCS theory, we can conclude that viewers felt an intense closeness to this runway show, because they were able to see themselves (Lee and Sontag 2007). Although viewership data is not publicly available the show was nominated for an Emmy further proving its impact. At the core we see that this brand puts people first in every way to deliver an experience.
Evaluation
Savage X Fenty is successful in immersing consumers into its brand story. Its social strategy follows the narrative transportation theory by ingratiating consumers in its story through representation. A representation that was not found for decades. By establishing the brand on values of representation, confidence, and diversity, Savage X Fenty was able to become a real competitive disruptor in the lingerie market. With this information, it is clear that the brand is targeting younger millennials and gen-z. This is a long-term strategy. Gen-Z's values lie in inclusivity and diversity (Lim and Childs 2020). As the generation ages, Savage X Fenty will have inherited a whole new generation of buyers.
With the constant social evolutions, the brand has seen success through putting people first and content differentiation. Although Twitter seems subpar, this feels intentional. In order for the brand to be a safe space, not posting user generated content on Twitter protects its consumers. Protects from harassment, bullying, and an assortment of potential comments. Protecting and nurturing the consumer's mental state is a part of evoking confidence.Unlike other brands, they have a significant Tik Tok presence that will undoubtedly grow as the brand capture more market share.
Conclusion
In the social media age, narrative transportation is a powerful tool to connect with consumers and create a profitable lifetime value. Studies show consumers have a desire for new experiences, but to have a brand that stands out, a personal connection needs to be made (Ardelet, Slavich, Kerviler 2015). This brand understands PCS (proximity of clothing to self) and has implemented it in its values (confidence, diversity, fearlessness) and storytelling.
By looking at this story through the lens of Freytag’s pyramid we see that the stage has been set for a new brand to enter the market. Savage X Fenty emerged as a disruptor and alternative to Victoria's Secret. By using Freytag's pyramid in addition to the transportation narrative theory, it is clear that Savage X Fenty tells the story of confidence, fearlessness, and inclusivity through authentic storytelling. Their social following and engagement on each social platform show that real people are connecting with the content. It is a long term strategy for natural growth. By telling real authentic stories, the brand will emerge as a market leader.
Bibliography
Maymone, M.B., Laughter, M., Anderson, J.B., Secemsky, E.A. and Vashi, N.A. (2019). Unattainable Standards of Beauty: Temporal Trends of Victoria’s Secret Models from 1995 to 2018. Aesthetic Surgery Journal. [online] Available at: https://academic.oup.com/asj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/asj/sjz271/5611156 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2020].
The Business of Fashion. (2019). LVMH’s Secret Rihanna Project: New Details Emerge, and Why It’s a Smart Move. [online] Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/why-lvmhs-secret-rihanna-project-makes-sense [Accessed 14 Feb. 2021].
The Business of Fashion. (2019). Rihanna: 1; Victoria’s Secret: 0. [online] Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/reviews/fashion-week/rihanna-savage-fenty-victorias-secret [Accessed 14 Feb. 2021].
The Business of Fashion. (2021). LVMH and Rihanna’s Fenty Fashion: What Went Wrong? [online] Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/lvmh-to-close-rihannas-fenty-fashion-house [Accessed 14 Feb. 2021].
Lee, Y.-A. (2009). Exploratory Correlation Analysis among Age Identity, Proximity of Clothing to Self, and Self-Actualization for Older Persons in the United States. Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, 33(12), pp.1897–1909.
Sontag, M.S. and Schlater, J.D. (1982). Proximity of Clothing to Self: Evolution of a Concept. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 1(1), pp.1–8.
Lee, Y.-A. (2009). Exploratory Correlation Analysis among Age Identity, Proximity of Clothing to Self, and Self-Actualization for Older Persons in the United States. Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, 33(12), pp.1897–1909.
Lim, H. and Childs, M. (2020). Visual storytelling on Instagram: branded photo narrative and the role of telepresence. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print).
Green, M.C. and Brock, T.C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), pp.701–721.
Kim, J.-E., Lloyd, S. and Cervellon, M.-C. (2016). Narrative-transportation storylines in luxury brand advertising: Motivating consumer engagement. Journal of Business Research, 69(1), pp.304–313.
Ardelet, C., Slavich, B. and de Kerviler, G. (2015). Self-referencing narratives to predict consumers’ preferences in the luxury industry: A longitudinal study. Journal of Business Research, 68(9), pp.2037–2044.
Link to inforgraphic: https://www.canva.com/design/DAEWJx6WrQM/share/preview?token=pffppWCtv1RaliWO8JpaFw&role=EDITOR&utm_content=DAEWJx6WrQM&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton