CHAPTER 5

Fashion as a Means of Communication

People need information before they can judge if buying a fashion product will be relevant for them. Modern shoppers are well informed, mainly through social interactions, about the season’s must haves. They obtain, retrieve, and repeat information through media, word of mouth, advertisements, and interpersonal communication.1

Fashion products tend to be perceived as risky, because of their ability to transmit key messages to others. Their symbolic and social aspects make these products special for shoppers, who use them to create a preferred image of themselves. To deal with the constant changes in fashion products, consumers seek substantial information to get reassurance about their fashion choices.

A Means for Interpersonal Communication

Because of their unique characteristics, fashion products can improve consumers’ own images and grant them recognition in their social environment. These characteristics also prompt shoppers to search for information before they will consider adoption. Individual decisions regarding fashion apparel and accessories are influenced by references and information from others. In turn, fashionable products help people express themselves and grant them a position in their social environment.

The social and symbolic aspects of fashion products enable people to project a certain image of themselves to others. Therefore, interpersonal communication is crucial to information diffusion. Fashion customers establish their places in their social environment through verbal interactions, word of mouth, nonverbal cues, and observation; both word of mouth and observation provide efficient methods to communicate about and convince people of fashion products.

Word of mouth refers to oral communication between someone who receives information and someone who communicates it. In this informal communication between consumers, language is a social instrument, such that it creates exchanges in the social environment. According to Buttle, word of mouth features five main characteristics:

1. Value: Word of mouth reveals positive or negative information about products and thereby ascribes positive or negative value to them. If word of mouth derogates a fashion product, shoppers will be reluctant to adopt it.

2. Centrality: Word of mouth involves face-to-face communication through verbal exchanges between at least two persons.

3. Temporality: Word of mouth can occur before or after purchase or consumption.

4. Solicitation: People can pursue word of mouth, such that it reveals what information people seek before deciding to buy a fashion product. For some shoppers, word of mouth is a crucial source of information that aids their decision-making process.

5. Intervention: It can be manipulated to transmit a specific message. Companies might evoke word of mouth to communicate indirectly about their products or their competitors, such that it provides a strategic tool for informing fashion shoppers about products or brands.2

Today, electronic word of mouth may take place nonverbally, but it still involves direct communication between at least two consumers. Modern customers chat, exchange text messages and pictures that might influence their decision, when it comes to buy or not the latest design.

Bone also establishes several elements to explain what determines whether word of mouth constitutes an important interpersonal means of influence and communication:

• Social environment: Word of mouth has an impact on shoppers’ social environment. It reflects the social link between shoppers and the role of every consumer in his or her social groups.

• Consumption situation: The importance of word of mouth depends on two elements during consumption:

○Time—word of mouth appears mainly during the first consumption experience and less commonly during subsequent purchases.

○Reasons for purchase—shoppers resort to word of mouth for personal fashion purchases or gifts.

• Purchase perception: The level of satisfaction influences the type of word of mouth, positive versus negative. If a customer is satisfied (dissatisfied), he or she may be more sensitive to positive (negative) word of mouth.3

Word of mouth also enables people to exert a normative or informative influence on their social environment, regarding the product assessment and the decision to purchase fashion products. Shoppers give advice and judge products according to word of mouth, which appears to be a stronger determinant in relation to subjective information, such as quality assessments. Shoppers seek more information about the intangible aspects of fashion products. Information such as price and color are easy to determine, but when it comes to the value of fashion products, consumers need advice and reference. They trust their peers and take into account their personal values and perceptions before deciding whether to purchase the products or not.

As a form of social support, word of mouth thus reduces the risk involved in individual choices. By obtaining information, advice, and judgments from others whom they trust and whose points of view matter, customers can make their decisions and establish their convictions.

Such verbal interactions with referent others also enable a person to define his or her social position in the group. Fashion products have social and symbolic aspects, so people need reassurance about their fashion choices, which influence their acceptance and belonging in the group. In this sense, word of mouth allows a potential customer to gain information, apprehend the appropriateness of a fashion product, and grow accustomed to its novelty before buying it.

In turn, word of mouth is superior to traditional media for enhancing fashion products’ adoption.4 Although traditional media communicate widely about new products, the information they transmit appears less reliable than the ones transmitted through word of mouth, such that the interpersonal communication mechanism exerts a greater impact than traditional media, because the received information is more accessible to the consumer.5 Personal and direct contacts through word of mouth with peers also are more relevant to the purchase decision than are traditional media, because the information comes from someone they know and trust.6 Thus, this face-to-face communication and interactions reassure fashion shoppers in their fashion choices.

Word of mouth is not only a tool consumers use to get information but also a means for a company to communicate about its products. Crocs offers a good example: The successful footwear company began with a foam clog shoe for sailors and expanded through word of mouth to persons who spend much of their day standing, such as nurses, doctors, and gardeners.7 Crocs then attended festivals and sports events to talk to customers about its distinctive foam shoes, highlighting the benefits of the products and developing customer targets. As consumers expressed satisfaction with these new kinds of shoes, more people began talking about them and adopting these trendy, funny shoes. Through word of mouth, this company reached a wider target market, at a far lower cost than would have been associated with an international advertising campaign. Word of mouth also allowed this fashion company to focus first its communication on a specific group of customers, such as doctors and nurses, then extend to everyone.

Positive word of mouth benefits fashion companies even when they do not initiate it. By spreading information about what is fashionable or where to find the hot new bag at a good price, word of mouth arouses customers’ desires to own this trendy product, attracting more of them to stores, which in turn increases purchases for the brand or retailer. Word of mouth consists of a suggestive tool that fashion managers should handle carefully to ensure a positive influence on shoppers. To gain positive word of mouth, and thereby retain shoppers and generate new customers, a fashion firm needs to give people reasons to talk about it. Word of mouth is central in social interactions, as a rich source of information, a means to influence the social environment for fashion shoppers, and a strategic means of communication for fashion companies.

Observation is another route for fashion customers to gain information about what is fashionable at a particular time and to evaluate other shoppers’ status in their social environment. For example, consumers observe what others wear, what trends are in stores, which informs them about what is fashionable.

They also recognize certain visual stimuli from the fashion products that others wear, such that codes and norms related to these fashion products constitute a reference to follow if they want to become part of a specific group.8

Unlike word of mouth, observation can take place without direct interaction, whether in the streets, in a group, or on retail display.9 Observation is a nonverbal route to information related to fashion apparel and accessories. Because fashion offers such visible, well-recognized symbols, observation alone can help people maintain their place in their social environment.

Moreover, observation is personal; people choose who or what they want to observe. Shoppers usually observe people they consider appropriate as models to follow. Observation refers to fashion apparel visual interpretation, but people need references to come to a judgment or appreciation, whether by learning from others or education.

First, people learn by imitation and by being exposed to others’ behaviors. Such exposure might lead a consumer to purchase the same apparel, to adopt an image similar to that communicated by the person observed. Each shopper chooses independently whom to observe and imitate. Observation may convince them that a new fashionable apparel, is the right one for them, as it is for others customers they observe. Thus, observation reassures fashion shoppers of their choices. This information gathering process includes four main steps:

• Attention: The observer takes into account the characteristics of his or her model. In this first step, shoppers get information about the person or group of persons of interest.

• Retention: The observer memorizes others’ behaviors and choices. These information are recorded in their memory.

• Replication: Act on the observations. By knowing what others choose to wear, the observer decides whether to purchase or not.

• Motivation: The observer considers the consequences of his or her choices (reward or punishment). If he or she decides to purchase the same fashion apparel as the persons observed, he or she might gain approval, but choosing not to mimic those choices might lead to rejection by others.10

Because fashion shoppers learn by observing others’ fashion choices and make their decisions about their consumption experiences, observation constitutes a means of interpersonal communication that matters in the fashion diffusion process. Customers use it to judge, compare, appreciate, and adopt fashion products.

Second, shoppers learn also through education to observe and evaluate the relevance of fashion apparel. In childhood, people are exposed to consumption codes and norms, which they refer to later in life to decide if the pink coat that is fashionable this winter really is appropriate for their group. Many customers base these judgments and decisions on the norms they learned from their family; that is, their family legacy likely determines how they view a person, perceive of fashion clothing, and judge fashion products. They can internalize this legacy or reject it along their life and own experiences but if needed these family norms enter long-term memory, so they can be retrieved at the time of the decision. People interpret fashion products in accordance with their family education; when it comes to information about these new products, observations reflect the memorized codes, which also influence whether they decide to purchase or not.

Overall then, word of mouth and observation are two means of interpersonal communication that enable consumers to gain more information, become accustomed to a novel product, and appreciate it more.11 Both forms of exposure are important, though some elements may reduce their relevance. Information gained through word of mouth is inherently subjective and based on others’ judgments about a new product, such that it depends on others’ interpretations. If referents change their minds about a fashion product or have an initially negative opinion, they might spread negative word of mouth influencing potential shoppers’ interpretations. In contrast, observation depends only on the customer’s own judgment. Although people observe fashion products that others possess, they judge them only according to their own standards.

The level of independence exhibited by fashion shoppers in their decision-making process thus is more important for observation than word of mouth, because observation grants customers more objectivity in their choices and decision. They still consider fashion products’ social values but also require a product that fits their specific expectations and accords with their own references. Observation seems more objective than word of mouth in the information transmission process and may lead fashion shoppers to more stable judgments.

Although customers and fashion companies rely strongly on word of mouth and observation in the decision-making process related to fashion apparel and accessories, they also have other ways to gain and spread information and communicate about trends and fashion products.

A Means for External Communication

Fashion companies must communicate with shoppers to help them discover new trends and identify their offerings such as the latest coat for this season, the crucial item they must wear. Such communication helps potential customers become aware of the trend, the brand, and its novelty. They also might arouse attention and curiosity. Fashion companies use communication to increase knowledge about their products and encourage shoppers to spend money on them. Therefore, communication enables companies to achieve different objectives:

• Increase customers’ knowledge about products. Through communication, fashion companies deliver information about the specifications of their apparel and accessories, such as design or price.

• Increase customer traffic in stores. Fashion companies attract fashion shoppers through communications about the arrival of new apparel and collections, exhibits in the store, and promotions.

• Increase sales. Good communication should increase sales, by tempting shoppers to come into the store and purchase more.

• Maintain and improve brand, store images, or both. Companies communicate to be known but also to say something about themselves. For example, advertising that explains the new fashion collection features only organic cotton might improve the company’s ethical image; information related to a new fabric that is easy to care for and breathable might encourage an innovative image.

The communication process involves several elements: a message, a sender, and a receiver. The message can be based on visual or verbal stimuli or both. To be effective, communication requires a response or feedback, so that the sender knows if the message was communicated effectively. In this sense, communication is a two-way process with three stages: encode, delivery, and decode (Figure 5.1).

Encoding consists of message creation, through words, symbols, images, and sounds that aim to appeal to the fashion brand’s target market. Message delivery takes place through one or several media (magazine, TV, radio). Fashion firms generally rely on magazines, televised ads, and bill postings, though each firm must decide which channels best match their message and intended communication. In the decoding stage, the message and its meaning gets interpreted by shoppers. This challenging step requires fashion managers to work carefully, because their intended interpretation may differ from customers’, especially when noise disrupts the transmission of a message. Noise refers to external factors affecting the content or the transfer. When shoppers interpret the message, their translation is subjective, depending on the person, the environment, and other factors. Shoppers’ perceptions are the key. For marketers, the main goal is to deliver a message that conveys the same information, interpreted similarly by every fashion shopper.

Marketers have various tools at their disposal to attract shoppers and encourage their desire for latest fashion apparel. This chapter emphasizes the role of fashion exhibitions, public relations, advertising, merchandising and window displays, personal selling, and direct marketing as important means of communication.

Exhibitions

Fashion exhibitions are held all across the world (e.g., Paris, London, Milan, New York, Tokyo), usually twice a year. The events target fashion buyers, but regular shoppers can watch televised fashion shows or review summaries online through sites such as FashionTV and FashionOne in the United States or La Chaine Mode in France. During these exhibitions, fashion designers present their collections and new trends. By revealing their must haves for the next year, they aim to inspire other brands and retailers, which in turn should add the key trends to their own collections with different fabric and different costs. Hence, today some fast-fashion retailers such as Mango and H&M hold their own fashion shows twice a year. In 2005, Wal-Mart also sponsored a fashion event on Times Square during New York’s Spring Fashion Week.12

Broadcast fashion shows also enable companies to initiate the communication about the new black or cool flower themes. This means of communication often is taken up by other media channels that share information, such as magazines and news coverage, allowing the fashion companies to reach a wider group of customers and communicate their specific images.

Public Relations

With this process, a company establishes and develops understanding and relationships with the public, including both fashion shoppers and fashion media, which are important actors in these exchanges. Through public relations, fashion companies try to shape their public perceptions. For fashion shoppers, the information obtained through public relations often seems more impartial than regular advertising, because the information is produced by journalists who do not appear directly connected to the brand. But this impression can be somewhat misleading, in that public relations outputs come directly from the brands themselves. The firms provide information to the press to help them write articles about the latest exhibitions or new trends. Many companies maintain their own press section on websites, offering various information; press packs with information that they send usually before each fashion show; and look books highlighting photographs of the essential looks of the season. All these forms of information are transmitted to journalists, to encourage them to communicate about the firm or brand and its fashion items.

Public relations also tend to reduce advertising budgets, because this common means of communication among fashion firms is less expensive than traditional advertising. In support of each new season, public relations professionals seek to foster favorable messages and images and thereby generate attention for the brand, with a limited budget. In this sense, public relations establishes a beneficial, reciprocal relationship between a fashion company and journalists. The latter need stories, events, and news to tell readers; the former need media coverage to remain prominent in their customers’ minds and encourage purchases. So, public relations consist on a win–win means of communication.

Advertising

This element covers multiple activities and media, including magazines, cinema, television, radio, store signs, and the Internet. This wide scope of communication allows shoppers to become aware of new products, brands, and trends quickly. Some formats are particularly efficient for fashion products, such that fashion companies tend to invest in magazines or television ads rather than radio. Fashion magazines are full of fashion ads: Vogue, Marie Claire, and Elle produce, for example, respectively, 23, 24, and 44 editions worldwide, in which fashion brands often spend the bulk of their communication budgets. For some editions, especially during holiday seasons, more than one-third of the advertising pages feature fashionable apparel, accessories, perfumes, shoes, and so on.

Sears Holding spends annually about $1.8 billion on advertising; Macy’s spends almost 6 percent of its revenues on multiple advertising campaigns in magazines and television and Mango invests 4 percent of its turnover in advertising.13

Celebrities’ influence also is important in fashion advertising. Some celebrities become brand muses, such as Uma Thurman for Louis Vuitton or Madonna for Versace, such that the fashion company relies on these celebrities’ charisma to enhance its own image. The fact that Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Peter Sellers, Audrey Hepburn worn the Burberry trench coat in movies help this brand become more popular. In 2000, Kate Moss became part of the new Burberry advertising campaign. As Doherty, Burberry senior vice president of marketing worldwide, notes “When we introduced Kate in our ads, we were really able to communicate our more modern, fashion-oriented side.”14

Celebrities also affect fashion brands through their presence in celebrity magazines: The simple fact that a celebrity wears the latest design from brand X represents a huge communication effect for this brand and its sales.

Because advertising can be very costly for fashion firms, four key questions are important for setting advertising budgets,15 as illustrated in Figure 5.2.

Fashion companies should ask themselves:

1. Can we communicate something different from others, and on a related note, what are our competitors’ policies in terms of advertising? If a fashion firm offers a unique fashion product or a specific promotion or event that everyone will recognize, fashion managers likely enjoy a good return on their advertising investments, because shoppers will seek these products after seeing the ads. Competition is high when it comes to attracting shoppers’ attention first, so fashion managers must be careful and avoid confusing customers by proffering too many, or not enough, ads. Instead, they need to deliver specific messages and unique propositions.

2. At what stage in its life cycle is our target product? A mature product should not be intensively advertised, because it will fade quickly. Timing is important when managers decide whether and when to purchase new ads. They have to consider the timeline of their fashion trends and products before planning and investing in advertising.

3. What do we expect in terms of market share? High market-share expectations should increase the communication budget, to spread more information about brands and reach more potential shoppers.

4. How often do we need to communicate? Some fashion companies advertise more frequently than others, such as initiating several communications about a summer collection to emphasize apparel (shirts, dresses) in one campaign, as well as swim-suits, sandals, and accessories in another one.

Advertising represents an important part of any fashion company’s communication budget because of the important benefits achieved through these campaigns. This traditional method for spreading information has the ability to create powerful messages and shape fashion companies’ image in different formats across several media, reaching a large audience.

Merchandising and Window Displays

Visual presentations and displays of apparel and accessories in retail stores aim to gain shoppers’ attention and represent the retailer’s image, brand’s image, or both. Fashion companies choose their merchandising plan in accordance with their stores’ traffic patterns. Usually fashion apparel stores, especially department stores, feature curving or free-flowing traffic patterns, with aisles and displays that allow fashion shoppers to browse in any direction. In these settings, fashion firms use several tactics to highlight their brands and products, such as placing sale items at the back of the store. Shoppers looking for discounts thus must walk all the way through the store, exposing them to new fashion apparel, before they get to the clearance area. This path and the displays along it may incite them to buy new collection items instead of sale products. Another tactic consists of setting brand labels to the left of a national or international brand because after seeing the brand name, Western shoppers’ eyes automatically moves left, as on a page of written text. This placement increases shoppers’ attention to the private label displays and may stimulate their purchases for this label.

These visual appeals constitute a means of suggestion and persuasion for potential customers because merchandising and window displays help ensure that fashion products are displayed in their best light, to catch, build shoppers’ interest and, to lead to more sales for fashion companies. As examples of memorable window displays, consider Louis Vuitton, which wrapped its Fifth Avenue store in Monogram Multicolor LV in 2008, or Lanvin, which used fans in window display in its Paris store to create windswept dresses with flow and depth. These displays surely caught shoppers’ attention—as well as establishing the brands’ innovative, exciting images.

Fashion firms use visual displays in their stores to help shoppers discover the latest trends and learn what to wear, such as how to accessorize large prints or coordinate new colors with their existing wardrobes.

Moreover, fashion brands play with their in-store layouts and displays to establish an appealing store atmosphere. With lighting, wall, and furniture colors and choices, as well as the ambient music, they define their image and communicate through it. A visitor to an H&M store, with its many racks, displays, and loud music, recognizes a different atmosphere and image than a shopper in a Chanel boutique, with scattered pieces of furniture, soft lighting, and gentle music.

Fashion managers have many tools available to induce shoppers to enter their stores and purchase, and merchandise and window displays interact with many of them to communicate the company image and enhance sales volume and profits.

Personal Selling

The first contact that a shopper has with the fashion company is critical; this promotional method accounts for a large portion of fashion companies’ promotional budgets. We address three kinds of personal selling: transaction processing, routine selling, and creative selling.

Transaction processing refers to simple selling activities, such as checkouts. Retailers including Kohl’s and Target effectively illustrate these basic fashion transactions by providing both self-service and checkout services. Routine selling goes a step further, such that the staff is more involved and gives advice to customers. In department stores such as Sears, Nordstrom, for example, salespeople guide shoppers personally throughout the large assortments. JCPenney trains salesperson teams to achieve high sales levels and reinforce its image as a fashion-oriented retailer. To accomplish those goals, salespersons seek to guide and advise shoppers on how to wear the new long dress or which kind of shoes would match it. JCPenney thus bets on its salespeople’s abilities to foster shopper loyalty. Finally, in creative selling, salespeople work individually with customers to define their needs and desires and accommodate those wishes. In luxury stores such as Valentino and Dior, salespeople are dedicated to their customers. Today, many fashion retailers offer customized shopping assistance, such as style advisers and personal shoppers. The department store Galeries Lafayette in Paris specifies three available customized services: personal shopping help, according to the shopper’s desires and expectations, to produce a fashionable wardrobe for the season; shopping services that allocate a salesperson to the customer and shop with him or her in the store, providing information about trends, brands, and advices for his or her fashion choices; and custom shopping, where in a large private apartment on top of the Boulevard Haussman store in Paris, customers meet with stylists to learn about new trends prior to others, gather style advice, and choose a specific outfit for a particular event if needed.

Fashion companies and retailers pay a lot of attention to their sales staff because shoppers perceive the brand’s image through them and the customer’s services they offer. For fashion managers, personal selling also represents a means to access customer information. Salespeople link the brand and the company by providing feedback on assortments, prices, and stores. To maintain and even improve customer satisfaction, fashion managers make adjustments according to this feedback, available through their salespersons.

Finally, customers’ perceptions of salespeople’s abilities influence their purchase experiences and determine their level of satisfaction. Effective personal selling can lead to increased purchases and greater loyalty. The reassurance and help provided by trained, knowledgeable salespersons create a positive perception among fashion shoppers, leaving them more confident to settle into long-term relationships with this dedicated brand or retailer.

Direct Marketing

Direct communication with a shopper generally aims for a specific target, through one-to-one contact with the customer, whether by mail (postal or electronic) or phone. It offers an opportunity to personalize companies’ messages, then gather accurate information about specific target markets, and build relevant customer databases. Especially through Internet transactions, better customer targeting leads to fewer wasted promotional expenditures for fashion brands and retailers. Some fashion firms send card for their customers’ birthdays or information about new collection, promotion, or special events.

The Internet provides a valuable, inexpensive means for brands or retailers to communicate about their new trends and products to a wide audience or to a target one. On the one hand, shoppers use the Internet to seek information about trends, prices, availability, and to purchase; on the other hand, fashion companies use it to advertise the latest fashion apparel and accessories. Furthermore, the Internet has supported the massive development of social networks, which offer another channel of communication between fashion companies and shoppers. This new information exchange mechanism has quickly become indispensable in fashion sectors. For fashion managers, social networks readily spread news about their brand to connected customers, leaving the brand more prominent in shoppers’ minds. They use social networks to increase their communication impact, as well as to receive feedback from consumers. Social media support advertising and announcements about special events and, promotions. Pinterest, for example, collects information about a fashion brand designer and team in one place, making shoppers feel closer to the brand.

Retailers and brands increasingly use network and digital technologies to create such links with their shoppers. The brand We uses a Twitter Mirror in their stores’ dressing rooms to enable customers to post photos of themselves with the fashion apparel they have selected, for their Twitter followers to see. This technology enhances shoppers’ experience, prompting them to visit more often, stay longer in the store, and perhaps purchase more. Another example comes from the brand American Eagle’s 77 kids which uses interactive screens to allow children to participate meaningfully in the purchase process: They can try on apparel in different virtual environments and take photos. This brand, thus, creates enjoyable experiences for children, who are not always willing to spend time shopping for clothing.

These technology tools also give customers a new way to decide which clothing fits best, which eases the process of buying. By investing in such technologies, fashion firms enhance their images among shoppers, who likely desire to repeat their enjoyable shopping experience.

Social networks and new technologies also enable firms to react more quickly to issues, such as quality problems, or present updated, targeted offers to shoppers. Through social networks, customers often share important word of mouth about fashion apparel and accessories with their online friends. Many members join virtual fashion groups, post pictures of their latest fashion purchases, their advices and, their opinions about a new fashion trends. In turn, fashion companies can connect with wide audiences, advertise their new collection and, potentially, create special links through online interactions. The increased exposure through social networks helps fashion shoppers feel more connected with their favorite brands.

Social networks establish important word of mouth regarding fashion apparel and accessories that have to be considered seriously by fashion managers. Negative word of mouth can be spread in a second through social networks. Therefore, fashion shoppers’ feedback must be studied carefully and prompt swift reactions, if necessary. Fashion customers tend to trust their peers’ ratings and comments more than brand communication, and they seek reviews from other shoppers before purchasing fashion items. Therefore, fashion managers should be aware of these reviews and analyze them carefully, and then adjust their offers accordingly.

It is important for fashion managers to establish an overall, strategic promotional mix that combines advertising, public relations, displays, and personal selling to reach their target market and communication purposes. Usually, fashion firms use a mix of these means of communication to reinforce each other.

Consumers react to fashion companies’ communication through the hierarchy of effects: from awareness to knowledge to liking to preference to conviction and finally to purchase. Different communications can best maintain shoppers’ attention and interest through these steps. For example, advertising usually serves to develop awareness, but promotions are best to stimulate desires. Fashion managers have to decide which mix, timing, and message fit their goals the best.

Across these different information exchanges, shoppers obtain and share knowledge about the latest trends. Therefore, these large amount of information and communications enable fashion companies and brands to develop notoriety.

For fashion companies, notoriety is crucial. It ensures customers have their brands or products in mind during their decision-making and adoption processes. Notoriety can be defined as a level of knowledge that allows for brand recognition. The main goal of communication is to make the brand known by more shoppers. Consumers must be aware of and familiar with the new fashion product to have it in mind when they begin the decision-making process.

To illustrate, consider the notoriety pyramid, as elaborated by Aaker, in Figure 5.3.16 The different levels reveal the brand’s or product’s place in the customer’s mind. The first stage, unawareness, implies the shopper has no knowledge of the brand or product. Then with recognition, shoppers become aware of the new product to which they have been exposed. Some recognition exists only when consumers’ awareness and knowledge are stimulated, which is called “aided recall.” With unaided recall, the product is spontaneously familiar. Finally, in the top of mind level, the new product is ever present in the consumer’s mind.

Managers seek to move their fashion products up in this pyramid to increase their chances of being selected and purchased from among the huge fashion assortments offered by many fashion brands and retailers. A person who knows that a product or brand exists is more likely to buy it than an unknown brand, even if it offers poorer quality than the other.17 By knowing it exists, the customer can develop liking and trust for the brand or product and thus incorporates it into his or her consideration set for purchase.

It is comforting to have knowledge about fashion because it changes so quickly but also has direct impacts on people’s physical appearance and others’ judgments. Fashion product notoriety can help people assess and judge if buying this new product will be relevant for them.

Customers are exposed to many information related to fashion trends. Therefore, repetition through different communication methods can enhance people’s attitudes toward new products. Exposures to fashion in particular tend to be multiple because fashion trends often are shared by several different brands or creators simultaneously. Furthermore, fashion is a short-term phenomenon, which implies that the consumer decision process must be rapid. In other markets, a new product can be adopted years after its initial launch, but with fashion products, the timeframe for the consumer decision is quite narrow. Therefore, people have to form their perceptions and preferences, and in turn their choices, quickly. Finally, the newness of fashion products offers a constant challenge to consumers, in the form of an ambiguous situation. They regularly confront new styles and products they do not know but about which they must make an immediate adoption decision. The multiplicity of contacts with fashion products and information provided by fashion managers may help speed up the decision-making process. In fact, the mere exposure effect implies that “the more we experience something, the more we like it.”18

The different communication forms help create and develop this familiarity with fashion. When shoppers are more exposed to fashion trends through multiple channels, the repeated exposures enhance familiarity, with greater impacts during the decision-making process. Exposures contribute to enhance people’s knowledge and appreciation; that is, people get used to the specificities of a novel product and become more familiar with it.19 Then, repeated exposures enables shoppers to identify fashion items, become more familiar to them, begin to value them positively, and develop favorable adoption and purchase intentions.20 The positive effects of repeated exposures explain the important investments made every season by fashion managers in advertising, store layout, public relations, salesperson training, and others communication. Each fashion firm wants to be the first to catch shoppers’ attention, and then maintain with them long-lasting, profitable relationships.