VALS™ Lens Applying VALS™ to current events November 2014
In this issue:
In Stores: The Limited's Scandal
The Limited, a retailer with 250 shopping-mall store locations, is looking to reinvigorate its brand through a licensing agreement with ABC's award-winning prime-time TV-program-hit Scandal. The program's main character, Olivia Pope, is a take-charge Washington, DC, political "fixer." Olivia's wardrobe epitomizes power-woman femininity: clean lines and simple designs in fresh neutral colors and lots of white. The Scandal Collection is a collaborative effort between actress Kerry Washington (Olivia Pope), the program's costume designer, and The Limited's head designer. The seventy-piece collection is available in stores through May 2015, when the show's fourth season will end. The Scandal Collection is somewhat more expensive than merchandise from Express and slightly less expensive than merchandise from Ann Taylor and Talbot's. Spring 2014 VALS™/GfK MRI data show that Believers and Achievers are more likely than all US adults to watch Scandal three or four times a month. Of the two groups, Achievers are the target. Stores currently favored by Achievers are Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Dress Barn, and Talbots. The Limited's plan just might work.
In Technology: Apple Pay
In September 2014, Apple introduced the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. First-weekend sales topped 10 million smartphones (excluding in China, where the government had not yet approved the phones); early record-setting sales exceeded most analysts' expectations. Early sales volume suggests that Apple's 2014 holiday sales will result in record profits. No doubt sales volume reflects both consumers who want to own the latest cool phones and pent-up demand for larger phones (phablets). However, the desire for Apple Pay—the ability to pay for goods and services with the iPhone 6 directly—may be as much of a sales driver as owning the latest Apple device. Apple Pay is a more secure payment method than Google Wallet, for example; Apple has no desire to collect and share personal information, because it doesn't sell advertising. Secure transactions and personal-information privacy are potentially a very attractive value proposition to high transactors. In rank order, Innovators are almost twice as likely as all adults (27%) to own an iPhone (Spring 2014 GfK MRI), followed by Achievers, Experiencers, and Thinkers. In rank order, Innovators also make the highest estimated number of noncash transactions per year (925 transactions), followed by Achievers (813), Thinkers (797), and Experiencers (680), according to Strategic Business Insights' Consumer Financial Decisions' 2012–13 MacroMonitor. Apple Pay is most attractive to Innovators and Achievers. We predict that Apple Pay will be a game changer.
In Advertising: Brand Mascots
The four-day, eleventh annual Advertising Week conference was in New York City, as reported by the New York Times (6 October 2014). Among marketers' most in-vogue catchphrases of the year are anonymized nontransactional data, right-brain, out-of-the-box, creative thinking, and rich, immersive, breakthrough experiences—buzzy labels for services the industry has provided previously. Advertising Week also announced three brand mascots inducted into the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame: "the Morton Salt girl, celebrating its 100th anniversary; Smokey Bear, celebrating its 70th anniversary; and Snuggle Bear, celebrating its 30th anniversary." Most likely to remember the first introduction of the Morton Salt girl and Smokey Bear are individuals who grew up or were young adults in the 1950s and 1960s: The majority are currently Survivors, Thinkers and Believers (although many people in subsequent generations are also familiar with Smokey). Most likely to remember Snuggle Bear are individuals who grew up or were young adults in the 1980s, the majority of whom are currently Achievers, Believers, and Makers.