Marketing In The News: Ads Taken To The Next Level Of Entertainment (Skims)... For What Cost?
By: Maureen V
I, like many who enjoy being on social media, seek to be entertained.
Content that will make us stop in our endless tracks of consuming entertainment for hours. For many, ads don't do that for us, and we have understood that it is a product we are being sold there for a waste of time and we move on.
As I browsed around the Marketing Dive's website. I saw a well-known celebrity name being used in a title, and very cleverly. I clicked on the article and was instantly hooked to know more.
The title was "Campaign Trail: Skims clones Kim Kardashian for first TV push (Link)" written by Chris Kelly. Once I read the title, I had to go on and read the article to get all my questions answered.
The article's main points that it brought up were; the culture that surrounds Kim Kardashian and the influence she has made from her appearance and family. For that reason, many try to imitate her and obtain what she has but no one can. This advertisement pokes fun and plays along with the conspiracy theories people have made that Kim Kardashian has clones.
Another main point of the article is that even though Kim has an image that everyone knows her for. This advertisement is meant to show that Kim is much more than the character we know her as. She is a businesswoman who understands what people react to and spend time on via social media. Skims last year got to be the official underwear partner for the NBA, and WNBA in USA basketball with Kim's assistance in creating a high-end product. With her well-informed background in knowing how to grab people's attention, she has made a unique advertisement that does just that.
The last point the article makes is the brilliant efforts that went into making the advertisement. The vision for this ad was to tell a story, and it does just that. It depicts a more exaggerated process that goes into the rigorous and careful work of examining curves, lines, and shades of all bodies that go into making shapewear. The choice of making this ad the way it has been made gains a playful tone that other brands don't utilize to capture younger audiences. With the tone of playfulness, Kim can toy with the pop culture personality she has made and demonstrate the real-world value that this shapewear holds. The advertisement shows innovation and the use of surprising the audience in unexpected ways to gain a foothold in the marketing of large-scale, brand building.
The brand Skims holds a high, value proposition that is meant to serve the people. You might be wondering what that exactly means. Well Skims, one of a few brands, has sizes that go up to 5X and go down to XXS. They also have 10 shades that match all skin tones and their products hold the high value of comfort and wearability.
One of the challenges Skims faces is getting their name out into the market. Like many, including myself, I have never heard of the brand Skims until now, we might have seen it on a celebrity but have never recognized the product. Skims has focused its marketing on Instagram and TikTok and has forgotten about other platforms. With the new film ad, this might change, but it is not 100% guaranteed that they will get any traction on all platforms. Overall it is still an effort to combat the challenge they are facing.
Skim's market approach of creating this advertisement the way they did, is hands down unique. They have combined pop culture and the art of film production to make an exciting and new way to advertise a product, in a manner that does not feel bland or overdone. Instead of stating the benefits in a shiny new form that most brands take, they added playfulness to a product that may feel embarrassing or even overwhelming to purchase. For that reason, I think the approach of producing the ad this way was great and effective. They have created something entertaining at the cost of nothing.
If I were managing Skims I would probably change one aspect of the business, and that would be the barriers Skims has created around itself that block it from reaching more consumers. Many including myself have never seen the brand and now that we have, the product looks out of reach for the average consumer. For that reason, I would lead Skims to advertise in a manner that shows the product can be used by the average consumer. While continuing to show the high quality of the product that they've done with the new ad.
Take away:
After reading and doing light research, I have learned that an ad does not need to feel, look, or sound the same as others to solve the equation of getting into the market. It doesn't even have to have anyone speaking or explaining what the product does. All it takes is being entertaining and captivating. You can tell a story with a bit of fun but still hold all the values of the product. Playfulness does not always mean being unprofessional.
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