As I begin my summer I find my days filled with social media, publications and marketing more than bathing suits, beaches and lemonade. Although these activities are different than most summer activities I am finding my “alternative” summer to be quite a learning experience. My days begin at 9am at the epic Conde Nast building right in the heart of Time Square. Located across from Broadway and a few blocks from Fashion Ave; I am at the epicenter of trends and style. As I take the elevator up to the sixth floor I pass the editors from Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Allure, just to name a few of the timeless Conde Nast publications. Daily tasks at Lucky Magazine range a great deal. On my first day I found myself running all over New York City. Visiting different showrooms to return clothing samples and making my way to different public relation firms to pick up and drop off a variety of items. One of the stops along my was was the grand J. Crew building. Walking to the company’s downtown headquarters I began to think of a certain CNN interview I had seen, which also reminded me of my summer reading “ The Thank You Economy”. The author, Gary Vaynerchuk, insists on page 6 that in today’s business world a company does not need to implement traditional research techniques like test groups to see how consumers react to their product. Instead they should use platforms like social media to directly interact with their customers. Now to bring social media, J. Crew and the CNN interview full circle I will illustrate exactly what Vaynerchuk was talking about when referring to market research. The interview was with Jenna Lyons, the very successful creative director of J. Crew. When asked how J. Crew has built one of the strongest brand images in America and has more than tripled their sales in the past three years Lyon’s answer was simple: talking directly to the customers. Lyons explained that J.Crew no longer holds focus groups or conducts traditional market research but speaks DIRECTLY with the customer, brand user and consumer. Through customer interactions, relationship building and social media, companies such as J. Crew have begun to take part in the “Thank You Economy” and are thriving in it. So as I delivered the samples back to J.Crew I saw more than just clothing manufactured with no thought behind it; I saw a company taking steps to build a relationship with the customer through the exact sample I was holding in my hands. You may ask how does Lucky Magazine fit into all of this? The answer, like Mrs. Lyon’s answer is simple, this publication is the platform that J. Crew uses to show customers the correlation between what they want and what the brand is giving them. The customer asked for a slim fitting, dark rinse boyfriend jean that properly fits an hourglass figure, well here that exact jean is in the Lucky Magazine September issue denim guide. As an intern for Lucky I am only beginning to take part in “ The Thank You Economy” and I look forward to exploring Vaynerchuk’s concepts deeper in my real world experiences.
To watch the interview here is the website: http://www.stylecaster.com/fashion/12921/everyone-loves-j.crews-jenna-lyons-see-retro-pics-video
(Image taken from fashionolia. com)
