Week 9 - Sales promotion and Personal Selling

The ESENCE Music Festival, celebrating African-American music and culture, is always held over the Fourth of July weekend in New Orleans. The festival attracts nearly 200,000 of the best-dressed, fun-loving, talented, and committed people in the world.  Being that Essence celebrated their 40th anniversary, Louisiana have put together a special "Top 40" for visitors to win.  If visitors won they would visit 40 places, events and attractions that are sure to be a hit on their  trip to the ESSENCE Music Festival or their  next Louisiana vacation.

Essence magazine also promotes sweepstakes and contest such as winning a tube of Panthene Pro - V for your hair and entering in a contest to win a DVD gift pack of cool films.  In entering for the sweepstake or contest these ads require you to enter your personal information.

Week 8 - Advertising and Public Relations

Essence Communications is out to capture the essence of African American culture through advertising and publishing fashion, and entertainment.  Essence is geared toward African American women, which has a monthly circulation of more than 1 million and a readership of 8.5 million.

Essence gets most of its advertisements through different companies who want to sell their products.  Advertising through Essence has been one of the effective ways to expose products, health issues, etc., to its consumers.  Essence is well-known because of the celebrity exposure it gets from high rank clientele like Ophrah Winfrey, President Obama, etc.  

Essence advertises through celebrity personal, fashion designers, stylist etc.  These celebrities give back to Breast Cancer awareness.  Essence uses concerts such as the "Think Pink" concert to promote Breast Cancer to bring awareness to early detection. Every ticket that is purchased is donated to the Breast Cancer foundation to help women who suffer from Breast Cancer.

Essence also promoted the Black Girls Rock concert which is an organization founded by DJ Beverly Bond. It mentors young black girls and works to combat negative images of black women in the media.



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Retail Visit

I visited several retail businesses this weekend but I would like to talk about the retail store I visited yesterday, Forman Mills.

Forman Mills is a retail and department chain known for its low-priced designer clothing brands such as Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, Sean Jean, Bay Phat etc.  They have several stores throughout the region and their target market in the Elizabeth, NJ area is African American.  When you walk into the store you are not greeted by a salesperson. The stores layout is pretty simple.  They have every item on display according to the designer.  Each section is also seperated by size, age, gender etc.  The atmosphere I would say gives you a sense of clutter. They provide you with a shopping cart but you can barely get the cart down some of the aisles.  They used every space, aisle, fixture, mechandise display and even have some items left in boxes.  For the most part, every item is hung on racks.

I would rate the level of service to be low because there are no salespeople on the floor to help you.  They created the "do-it-yourself," casual atomosphere.  The Product Assortment is Broad and the price is low.  I would think that the Gross margin would be high because a lot of people shop there.

You might ask, "Why shop here if it is so cluttered?"  Well, I shop there because I have 4 children who like to keep up with the latest trends.  Shopping at this store allows me to shop and by name brands at a very low cost and at the end of the day my pockets are not broke.

Week 7 - Business Marketing

LONDON - eBay has appointed digital agency Essence to its European digital ad account following a competitive pitch.
Essence will manage eBay's display, editorial and integrated marketing content across 11 European countries, expanding its remit from the UK.

eBay will use the agency to promote its brand and products on European portals to drive people to its sites.

The appointment of Essence follows a restructure of eBay's marketing team under European marketing director Torsten Schuppe.  This is a example of B2B electronic commerce.  The use of the Internet to facilitate activities between organizations.

Week 6 - Consumer Decision Making

African-American women are vibrant shoppers of prestige beauty brands, but their biggest challenge is finding products that are effective and effectively marketed toward them. Such points were revealed last week at Essence’s Smart Beauty panel, which discussed the African-American woman’s shopping experience in the prestige beauty market.

The type of beauty goods she’s searching for, according to the findings, are brands she trusts, that reflect her personal style and offer high-quality ingredients. She’s also more likely to buy products from aspirational labels — Chanel lipsticks and Versace perfume, for example — than brands that are associated with celebrities.

Essence's Smart Beauty research confirms that African-American women are confident and aspirational;  embracing and celebrating their unique beauty to the fullest.  As trendsetters, African-American women enjoy the beauty experience and are loyal consumers, who trust prestige brands to deliver the quality they expect.


* Regarding spending power:  African-American women spend 80% more on cosmetics annually and nearly twice as much on skin care products than general market women do annually.


* Regarding how the African-American women think:  Her self-confidence is evident in describing herself as intelligent, independent, attractive, ambitious, sexy and fabulous more often than general market women.


* Regarding what informs the purchase decision for African-American women:  Reflecting her personal style, being a brand she trusts, offering high-quality ingredients and being suited to her needs all stand out as key attributes to compel purchase across cosmetic, skin and hair categories respectively.

Week 5 - Global Marketing

Burson-Marsteller, LLC operates as a public relations and communications company. The company provides strategic thinking and program execution in a range of public relations, public affairs, advertising, and Web-related services.

Essence has formed an alliance with Burson-Marsteller, LLC which we will see the latter be its exclusive affiliate partner in Malaysia.  This new cooperation will enable Essence to further sustain and cement the position as one of the leading public relations agencies in the country.  Essence will also have a chance to tap on the facilities of B-M in terms of training, international resources and expertise, which will be a big boost for the talents.  This alliance combines the international resources and reach with Essence's know-how in the Malaysian market.

Essence has also partnered with eBay.  Ebay has hired Essence to manage its European partnerships for display, editoral and integrated content.