Gucci benefits from a high level of awareness and a prestigious status all over the world. This aspect made it a global status symbol. Donna Karan International, designs, manufactures and sells clothes under the name of 4 brands: Donna Karan New York, DKNY, DKNY Jeans and DKNY Active. Donna Karan New York is dedicated to up scaled workmanship. The positioning of these two brands seems to be more affordable than something from Gucci. Indeed, a research conducted by BMRB in April 2002, established that 7% of interviewed have owned something from Donna Kara, versus 4% from Gucci. Therefore, Gucci seems to be considered as the most desirable brand to own by 25% of interviewed people, vs. 9% for Donna Karan. Moreover, Gucci invests more on advertising than does Donna Karan: In 2001, Gucci invested almost 512.900 pounds, while Donna Karan invested almost 66.400 pounds following data from Nielsen Media Research.
[...] Designer clothes are made to be worn in society, and reflect most of the time personalities of the owner. A purchasing decision is not based on simple features. As the motives are personal, they can be called “emotional motives”. Moreover, these ads do not communicate on the products but on the brands. People do not need to be objective in order to take their decision. It is more a question on how they feel about the ad and the brand? [...]
[...] Today, we can say that the brand is saved and even succeeding in peoples mind, as it is still used in order to show people own level of achievement. Donna Karan does not benefits from this past and awareness. That is why; the target has been well chosen. Indeed, detached, self- sufficient and confident people are often considered as being leaders, and then often imitated, mainly in their purchasing behavior. This is one of the best things to raise the brands awareness. [...]
[...] Following the brand personality framework, Gucci would be sophisticated, targeting the upper class as said above and charming; and Donna Karan would be based both on sophistication and competence. Motivations and needs Concerning the trio of needs, we could say that Gucci's target needs affiliation, since it has already be defined as a compliant target concerning the upper class group. But in this case, Maslow's hierarchy of needs is more meaningful , since the target can be seen as reaching two levels at the same time: the first level is social needs: they are class conscious, and fancy to show their belonging while the second level concerns ego needs: the need for prestige, status and self esteem. [...]
[...] The common point of these two ads is the luxury clothes and other attributes, such as a bag, the beach for Gucci, the big window and the cuff links for Donna Karan. Moreover, colors are not diversified. Gucci's ad is mainly black, which symbolize sophistication, but also authority and power. Donna Karan's ad is a black and white picture, which represents carefully engineered products and sophistication. Then, we can say that they both clearly represent and target the upper class. [...]
[...] The brand introduces the daydreaming of success and this way directly reaches actualizers, which will certainly result in a positive attitude towards the brand. That is why the ad mainly reflects the ideal self image of Donna Karan's target, that is to say a man who is succeeding in doing something. Donna Karan uses a value expressive appeal. Indeed, the ad reflects the target value of achievement. Even if different, these ads are both linked to self images. The first is linked to the status, the fancy to show it to people, the other one is mainly linked to the fancy of being successful. [...]
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