Poster Design For Media Niche (Week 3) Revised

Advertisers put a lot of time into targeting a specific audience as a result of the many dimensions and facets of our society. One cannot simply target a large group of people and expect them to all react the same way to a message or product because everyone is different and has different values, appeals, needs, and wants. The way in which one reacts to a message they are exposed to differ from group to group which is why it has become important for marketers to narrow their focus down to the “niche audience”. “Attracting audience attention is critical for the thousands of advertisers who spend billions of dollars each year to get their messages out to their target audiences” (Potter, 48) Without a target audience these marketers would be spending billions more on trying to appeal to everyone and in the end will be losing more than they intended to gain. That is why advertisers have modified their tactics and moved away from targeting “mass society”, which is not only more costly but complex.

What I have learned so far is that the best way for marketers to reach an audience is to segment the mass into niches. That means that subgroups are used to identify an audience by age, race, religion, income, education, demographics, social group, and so forth to produce the greatest outcome for a product’s success. The hurdle that advertisers need to tackle is attracting people they do not know or interact with and get them to purchase specific goods and services. But to get that to happen they need to have a target audience in mind. The mass population in general has different desires, needs, and wants; they are heterogeneous, not socially organized, and unknown which is why in order to successfully reach maximum potential the audience must be narrowed down. The fact that American society is composed of so many different people from diverse backgrounds, social classes, religious groups, education, and so forth makes it vital for marketers to focus on niche audiences to achieve the greatest results. They need to tap into what certain groups think is cool, appealing, and useful as opposed to trying to grab everyone's attention.

To narrow down this concept one must understand what a niche audience is. Niche audiences can be identified by segments such as geographic location, demographic, psychographic, social status, and geodemographic. These segments allow advertisers to make advertisements appeal to a specific person or certain groups of people without the hassle of trying to reach everyone. Such means of communication between the marketer and audience are channels like the television, newspapers, internet, radio, magazines, billboards and so forth, all of which are geared towards a specific audience in mind in order to yield the greatest outcome. Advertisers want to make sure that they expose their audience members to specific ads, shows, commercials, jingles, and so forth so that they can appeal to their interests and get them to act. In order to do so, the media must position the products & services in a certain way in order to achieve full success and capture their target market. For example, "if a radio station wants to attract an upscale, highly educated, older audience, the programmer is likely to select classical music format and play only a certain type of music as as as present interviews and news about certain artists." (Potter, 45) Conversely, if the radio station was trying to attract a younger more carefree audience such as high school/college students and people that are attracted to mainstream music they would play rap, rock, and pop and promote events/artists linked to MTV and similar media (eg. z100).

The poster that I created is on behalf of a new product coming out this year called Reed Krakoff Clothing (from the creative director of Coach). My ad is intended for one group of people (young adults/adults with a sufficient income & level of education). This ad will obviously be bypassed by another group that does not see the benefits in the product offered. The target market for the ad are men and women with established careers who seek quality clothing that provide luxurious benefits and promote a strong image in society. My audience is already interested in high-quality fashion products and is fashion conscious.The ad targets educated individuals in their late 20s and thirties who are a part of the upper middle class and upper class in society. They read popular fashion magazines like Vogue, Elle, etc and may reside both in urban and suburban areas (NYC/Westchester etc.) The ad combines emotional appeal with sex appeal and targets individuals based on their demographics and social class more than anything else. I combined Coach Products with the images of an attractive male and female model to promote the brand to audiences of both genders who like high-fashion clothing and intertwine it with their lifestyle. This poster portrays typical New York City fashion and it is what I grew up seeing in the streets of Manhattan. I chose the colors blue and gold to signify class and the high-end fashion models to display the products so that it would appeal to my audience. I choose not to make the products or models in color to provide a more mature look so the background is what pops in my advertisement along with the RK logo.

Personally, my niche is a blend of a few niches. I don't feel like I belong to one specific niche just because I like to try different things and be spontaneous with my choice of wardrobe, music, and so forth. I like quality clothing but am price-conscious since I am a college student and do not have a high income on my own. When I was a teenager I identified with the pop-punk kids, I used to go to concerts every other week and used to wear a lot converse, DC skater shoes, and band t-shirts. At my current point in life I am less inclined to stereotype myself since I am still growing and changing my style.