Midterm Project: Communications Audit

Vogue Magazine

Carrie Kotalik & Danielle Macpherson

Key Stakeholders

Psychographic profile

Jenna, 32, is a Caucasian woman, who has no kids or one child. She has a very busy

schedule and works for a fashion magazine. She also has designed her own lines and is a

social-light. Her salary is around 100-200,000. She spends her free time shopping at

designer stores or runways and going out with friends to lunch or dinner, but she does not

have much free time, because of her busy schedule. She picks up Vogue magazine to see the

current trends and fashion updates for business and pleasure.

Audience Profiles: Older women from 35-50, women 25-35, Younger women 18-25.

Older Women from 35-50, who are very successful and interested in fashion; they are their

own boss and are either interested in what Vogue offers or are doing research for their

current business and affairs.

Women 25-35, who strive to be, like the strong independent women they read about in

Vogue Magazine. They are striving business owners, fashionistas, etc; it’s not if they will

make it to the top, but when.

Women 18-25; younger women just figuring out what they want to do with their lives and

fashion is a crucial part of their lives and experiences. Maybe Vogue will be a big eye

opener into their future or they will read about something in the magazine that will get

them thinking about or get them to start planning their future.

Board of Directors- are the older, stylish, fashionistas; in their 40s or 50s, who are working

for the magazine to edit and make sure the magazine is up to par in its successful manor.

Parent Companies- Conde Nast is the mother to Vogue. Conde Nast is a prestige Publisher

Company that controls many different magazines such as Vogue, W, Style, Allure,

Glamour, Self, Lucky, Teen Vogue, GQ, etc, which are also there partner companies, just

like designers and people looking to advertise their brand in their prestige magazine.

Retailers-Retailers could be stores such as Forever 21, American Outfitters, Wet Seal, or

even American Eagle, etc. that have studied the trends Vogue has to offer and finds the

most popular of them to try out in their own store with their own spin on it, but sell them to

the demographic at a lower cost for the average working girl or boy.

Vogues relationship with all their different types of audiences is to create a passion for

myriad aspects of life and inform their readers of different cultures around the world for

inspiration.

Current Communications Initiatives

Time frame

2012 Editorial Calendar/Special Issues

Issue* Space/Material Closing Date

On-Sale Date

January / Fashion's New Stars

11/1/11 12/20/11

February / The All-Americans

12/1/11 1/24/12

March / The Spring Fashion Blockbuster

12/30/11 2/21/12

April / The Shape Issue: Transforming Bodies and Lives

2/1/12 3/20/12

May / Urban Style and The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Benefit

3/1/12 4/24/12

June / Olympics Special Issue

3/30/12 5/22/12

July / The First of Fall

5/1/12 6/26/12

August / The Age Issue: Defining Style Decade by Decade

6/1/12 7/24/12

September / The Fall Fashion Blockbuster and Celebrating the Editor’s Eye

6/29/12 8/21/12

October / The Season’s Statement Pieces

8/1/12 9/25/12

November / America’s Got Talent: The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund

8/31/12 10/23/12

December / Chic for the Holidays and On Vacation

10/1/12 11/20/12

e-newsletters- bring you amazing contents that send out every day; the latest trend, the

most exclusive video, the latest exhibition, celebrities’ beauty secrets, the style of the most

elegant women in the world, and the latest news.

Club Vogue- You can exclusively join on Vogue.com and are entitled to:

Create your own look books

Rate your favorite look books

Comment on our forum community

Sign up to our newsletters

Enter competition

Social Media Platforms-

Vogue updates its Twitter and Facebook feed daily, sometimes even up to 2 or 3 times a day

with the hottest news on the magazine, trends, promotions, or even fun things you can try

or learn about the main website “Vogue.com”.

Vogue.com- has a special place for daily news about events, designers, writers,

photographers, you name it! They are always on top of their game and trying to give their

audience their Vogue addictions 24/7 and keep their readers happy and wanting more.

Twitter Followers- 804,885

Facebook Friends/Followers- 1,728,963

Promotions

Jimmy Choo is celebrating 15 yrs

Revlon All Access for I phone

Sperry sweepstakes to get new fall trends

Kenneth Cole offering new graphic prints

New Cream by Pharrell Williams

Behind the Scene Videos

“Don’t Steal the Jacket” short film by Bruce Weber and Moncler

Audience:

VOGUE is mainly for women; women that are independent, strong, successful, and

women that have a passion for culture and fashion.

Vogues socio-economic status includes the extremely wealthy branch of society.

Rate Base: 1,150,000

Audience: 9,480

Male/Female %

12/88

Median Age: 34.5

Median HHI: $61,145

Budget (monthly): 1,200,000/+

Subscriptions: 887,633 71.5%

Total Average Paid Circulation: 1,240,800100%

Total Audience: 12,030,000

Median Household Income: $68,667

Estimated staff time: Intensive

Return Investment/ ROI: Vogue is paid for by investors and advertisers so they can

be advertised and shown in their prestige magazine to boost their own sales and

Vogues sales in magazines. It’s a win win.

There are a lot of correlations between cost, reach, and staff time. The more the magazine

spends on an issue, the more they pay their staff to work on an issue of Vogue, the more

magazines they sell and the more people are reached, and the more money is made. The

money is spent mostly on communicating with the readers, the advertisers that want to be

seen in the magazine pay Vogue to advertise for them, which later ends up paying for more

than half of the magazine publication.

Vogue focuses mainly on older women and their demographic. They ignore the men and

younger females, but Conde Nast has made a special set magazine for each of them and

everyone else. Teen Vogue is for the younger female generation and GQ is set up for the

males. They thought through this process clearly and did not want to forget about anyone.

The communications are choreographed to arrive to Vogues readers monthly and daily on

every level to keep them happy and fed with the latest news and trends of the magazine

and era.

Vogue Magazines Mission

For 118 years, Vogue has been America’s cultural barometer, putting fashion in the context

of the larger world we live in- how we dress, live, socialize; what we eat, listen to, watch;

who leads and inspires us.

From its beginnings to today, three central principles have set Vogue apart: a commitment

to visual genius, investment in storytelling that puts women at the center of the culture, and

a selective, optimistic editorial eye.

Vogue’s story is the story of women, of culture, of what is worth knowing and seeing, of

individuality and grace, and of the steady power of earned influence. For millions of

women each month, Vogue is the eye of the culture, inspiring and challenging them to see

things differently, in both themselves and the world.

Gather Samples:

The Vogue logo is usually the same. The website logo is a little different from the

logo for the magazine and the magazine logo changes colors depending on the style of the

front cover or issue. Even though the color changes, the font always stays the same. It is

clear and simple; bold and always in capitals, to make it stand out more from the contents

and headlines. The colors may change but the main colors will always be a classic black

and white for the normal issues.

I think people would recognize the Vogue font if it was presented somewhere else

and in a different fashion or color. The font has been recognized and connected to

Vogue for 118 years.

What 3 adjectives do you think people would think of when looking at your current

visual identity?

Classic

Timeless

Strong

These adjectives match the organization’s mission, its background, and even its main

objectives for the magazine and for its readers.

Everything always looks professional; Vogue wants to be taken seriously, just like they take

their readers and their business partners seriously.

Outside the magazine it may look cold and institutional, but inside are stories and struggles

of strong women and stories of how they overcame their obstacles in life; inside gives

readers hope for their own independence.

Mission Statement:

VOGUE is the eye of culture and wants to inspire and challenge women to see things

differently, in both themselves and in the world.

www.vogue.com

Strengths:

Top selling magazine

Brands

Top Designers

Independent

Women

Successful

Professional

International

Etc.

Weakness:

Competition (Any other Fashion magazine not linked to Conde Nast)

Not known for good advertising

Opportunities

Sell more magazines

Increase rates

Brand Loyalty

New Designers

New Artists

Fashion week

Threats:

Recession

Bad Economy

Losing revenue

$

Competitors & Their Share of the Market

Elle- 2nd

most popular fashion magazine and shares target market. “Head to Head

with VOGUE”

Total Audience 5,942,000

Women 5,456,000 (92%)

Median Age 32.9

Age 18-34 55.1%

Age 25-49 48.4%

Median HHI $77,039

HHI $75,000+ 51.2%

Any College 73.8%

Employed 66.4%

Single 60.6%

Readers per copy 5.52

Bazaar

Marie Claire

Cosmopolitan

“Elle and other category contenders such as Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar now enjoy

larger profiles than ever thanks to their involvement with television reality shows and other

forms of promotion which Vogue continues to disdain”

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/24/magazines-elle-vogue-business-media-elle.html

Core Values:

VOGUE wants women to be independent, successful, sexy, and strong. Make them feel as if

they can rule the world and have men just live in it. They want to show that women can be

sexy without degrading themselves just because they are women and that they can do

anything they set their mind to.

Other magazines that Conde Nast represents are:

VOGUE

GLAMOUR

InStyle

W

Allure

Self

Teen Vogue

GQ

Details

Men’s Vogue

Architectural Digest

Brides

Modern Bride

Elegant Bride

Your Prom

Brides.com & Brides Local Magazine

Lucky

Cookie

Golf Digest

Golf World

Vanity Fair

Gourmet

Bon Appetit

Conde Nast Traveler

Wired

The New Yorker

Your Digital Identity

1.) Do a google search for you organization

Potential Customer

Sewing patterns

Subscriptions

Galleries

Knitting

Teen Vogue

Websites

Eye wear

Fabric

Facebook Twitter

Blogs

Collections

News

UK, Italian, U.S. – issues

A potential employee

Article reviews

Career opportunities

Applications

Job sitings

Interviews

Controversy on some written articles

Issues

Videos

Member of the media

Controversy on some written articles

Press Releases

History of Vogue and its background

Videos

Culture of the magazine

Letters to the editor

2.) Do this same exercise for the executive director and board chair

Executive director- Diego Scotti

Fashion funds

Fund receiving donations

Building a global team of 30 communications professionals

Handmade 2 campaigns for American Express successfully

Background and Biography

Web lessons in Obama’s Campaign

21 most intriguing article on him

Diego Scotti has his own blog and facebook page

Board chair- Cindy Fuller

Home calls the Eco friendly

Theater renovations

Charities

Fundraisers

Twitter and facebook page

Editor & Chief since 1988- Anna Wintour

Fierce fashion icon

Most powerful woman in the world

Trademark fashion, hair, and sunglasses

September Issue: Vogue Movie/documentary on her and the magazine

When I Googled Vogue Magazine it showed me every possible cover I could imagine and

emphasized its unique and classic look.

When I Googled the Executive Director it showed pictures of him with different designers

and Vogue articles that he had written or been a part of. Other pictures showed him with a

happy face with happy people.

When I googled Cindy Fuller, Board Chair, I could not find any pictures of her, as if she

tries to maintain a professional outlook and stay out of the presses eye. It showed many

more images of articles and Vogue covers.

3.) Videos- Barbara Walters Interview with Anna Wintour

-Photo shoots

-documentaries

-Cover shoots

Youtube.com

Barbara Walters Interview

Photo shoots

Documentaries

Interviews

Cover shoots

Behind the Scenes

Tributes

The making of Vogue

Behind the Cover of Vogue Magazine

Clothes encounters

Twitter.com

Preview of November issue and cover story

Editors blog

News on the magazine or website

Special events

Promotions

Facebook.com

Cover pictures

News on magazine or website

Special events and promotions

PR

Del.icio.us.

Vogue India

Vogue looks

5 days, 5 looks

Giorgio Armani Spring 2012

Models

Russia fashion photos

News –UK

Food

Sonam Kapoor photos

Flickr

Photo shoots

Articles

Covers

Designers

LinkedIn

Professional background

Covers

Photographs

Biography

Education

Partners

4.) Do searches for your organization on popular fashion Websites and directories:

Anniversaries, celebrations, celebrities, parties, releases, news on designers,

trends, collections, culture, popular articles, and photo galleries.

I could not find really any bad said or done that the magazine has been involved in. The

only negative thing I found was negative attention on some serious issue articles. The

magazine was addressing racism or a culture crisis or differences that offended another.

But, their job is to research culture and share with the world how things are done in

different cultures and different parts of the world. They are very professional and serious

and like to stay classic and important to the media and their audience.

References

http://www.condenastmediakit.com/vog/index.cfm

http://www.condenastcareers.com/home.cfm

http://www.vogue.com/

http://www.teenvogue.com/

Janal, Dan. “Expert Resource Network.” Now Theres an Easy Way to Get

Publicity.

www.PRleads.com

www.Vogue.com

www.CondeNastPublications.com

http://www.condenastmediakit.com/vog/index.cfm

http://www.condenastcareers.com/home.cfm

http://www.vogue.com/

www. Fundinguniverse.com “A Brief History of the Conde Nast

Publications.” New York: CNP, 1993

International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 59. St. James Press,

2004.

www.Condenet.com

Oliva, Alberto and Angeletti, Norberto. “In Vogue: The Illustrated History

of the World’s Most Famous Fashion Magazine.” Rizzoli New York,

2007.