Modereportage - en marknadsföringskanal?
Marketing has been developed and revalued the last years. The consumer today is moreeducated and is therefore able to have higher demands. These requirements together with theincreased competition is forcing brands to find creative ways to reach their target market.Fashion has throughout history contributed to, and been influenced by, changes in society.Through all times, people have used fashion and clothing as a way to demonstrate their socialidentity and to be accepted. Companies in the fashion industry can be successful if theydevelop brands that attract consumers. To achieve this, companies must find newcommunication tools to reach out to the consumer, among these tools, we find the fashioneditorials.Our aim is to investigate whether product placement occurs in Swedish fashion editorials.Through our thesis we want to explore how consumers perceive the editorials and alsowhether if they are used as a marketing channel.The method is qualitative and the study is based on semi structured interviews and a focusgroup interview. To get several opinions of the problem area, the issue is discussed from twodifferent perspectives. According to the hermeneutical approach, with interpretation in focus,the empirical material has been analyzed alternately with theory. The theories have thereforebeen reviewed during the process.Our conclusion is that all respondents experience that product placement occurs in fashioneditorials. It is also clear that there are differences between the interview perspectives. Theoccurance of product placement in fashion editorials is percieved in different ways. The maindifference is that the fashion industry operatives can see the press offices as messengers forthe brand's image. The consumer, on the other hand, is completely unaware of their existence.Furthermore, readers believe that the content is selected by someone who is an interpreter inthe fashion area and therefore it is accepted. Readers can see the fashion editorials as a sourceof inspiration when shopping. The fashion brands that frequently appears in fashion editorialsbecome top-of-mind of the consumer/reader. Our results suggest that consumers actually areshopping garments from the brands that appear in editorials. Fashion editorials can thus bedescribed as an important part of a fashion company's marketing. Finally, we discuss thefuture of fashion magazines as internet and blogs are changing the conditions to attract theconsumer.