The Target Is You: An Analysis of Hollister's Marketing Strategies
The Target Is You: Hollister
Executive Summary
The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into Hollister Co.’s marketing communications and assess whether it successfully targets my demographic of young, male recent college graduates. The paper will first introduce Hollister and provide a brief company history as well as outlining the challenges in reaching out to consumers such as myself who differ from the brand’s intended targets. It will then segue to discussing Hollister’s position within the market and any outlying challenges the brand has navigated through.
Characteristics such as income, age, behaviors, emotions, occupation, and location will be addressed as they pertain to the company’s target audience. The paper will then recreate Hollister’s current marketing plan by addressing the marketing objectives, the mediums used to deliver the brand’s message, the brand’s messaging, it’s integration across channels and an evaluation of tactics, and finally a recommendation for the plan’s improvement in regards to my consumer niche.
Company Background
Hollister Co. forms part of Abercrombie & Fitch, an American apparel corporation with an international outreach, established in an effort to cater to younger, less affluent consumers. Founded in 2001, Abercrombie developed Hollister as a concept brand for high school teenagers who could not afford the parent company’s offerings. According to Transworld, “over the first few years of the new millennium, growing interest in surfing helped perpetuate mainstream attention though Blue Crush and MTV’s Surf Girls” (Hunter); Hollister helped bring surfing into the mainstream, and popularize it, with its launch. As with other branches, Abercrombie developed a storyline to give its brainchild an extensive history despite its 21st-century founding. The challenge for the company lies in its ability to reach out to older age segments such as college and graduate students who lie outside the company’s target age of 14
Executive Summary
The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into Hollister Co.’s marketing communications and assess whether it successfully targets my demographic of young, male recent college graduates. The paper will first introduce Hollister and provide a brief company history as well as outlining the challenges in reaching out to consumers such as myself who differ from the brand’s intended targets. It will then segue to discussing Hollister’s position within the market and any outlying challenges the brand has navigated through.
Characteristics such as income, age, behaviors, emotions, occupation, and location will be addressed as they pertain to the company’s target audience. The paper will then recreate Hollister’s current marketing plan by addressing the marketing objectives, the mediums used to deliver the brand’s message, the brand’s messaging, it’s integration across channels and an evaluation of tactics, and finally a recommendation for the plan’s improvement in regards to my consumer niche.
Company Background
Hollister Co. forms part of Abercrombie & Fitch, an American apparel corporation with an international outreach, established in an effort to cater to younger, less affluent consumers. Founded in 2001, Abercrombie developed Hollister as a concept brand for high school teenagers who could not afford the parent company’s offerings. According to Transworld, “over the first few years of the new millennium, growing interest in surfing helped perpetuate mainstream attention though Blue Crush and MTV’s Surf Girls” (Hunter); Hollister helped bring surfing into the mainstream, and popularize it, with its launch. As with other branches, Abercrombie developed a storyline to give its brainchild an extensive history despite its 21st-century founding. The challenge for the company lies in its ability to reach out to older age segments such as college and graduate students who lie outside the company’s target age of 14
Cited: Hunter, Josh. How Hollister Co. Stole Surf: Eight Years After Abercrombie & Fitch Invaded The Surf Market, What Can be Done To Defend Against Them? Transworld Business. August 7, 2008. Web.