“An Exploration Into How ASOS Could Use Their Successful Influencer Market Techniques - "

“An Exploration Into How ASOS Could Use Their Successful Influencer Market Techniques to Increase Sentiment and Acquire New Customers From a Male Audience.”

Olivia Dennis - 18015216 Fashion Marketing Y3 Diploma in Profesional Studies Luis Gomes Da Silva Antas Parada 21st May 2021 I, Olivia Dennis, certify that this is an original piece of work. I have acknowledged all sources and citations.

No section of this essay has been plagiarised.

5,069

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary p.1

Rationale, Aims, Objectives

Methodology

Market and Company Context

Primary and Secondary Categories

p.3

p.2

p.4 - 6

Conclusions and Recommendations p.12- 13

p.7 - 11

References p.14

Appendices p. 15 - 17

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Executive Summary & Acknowledgments

In this report, we look at the behaviours of ASOS’ male target audience, and create recommendations of how the brand can better their relationship with this audience, and acquire new customers. The report recognised 5 key categories which need to be examined in order to create the best strategy, and offers recommendations based on these findings; here primary and secondary research was used in order to get a well rounded and realistic customer vision.

The report first looks at the market and company context which may be affecting the brand. We can see how the brand can use its strengths, USP and competitive advantage to push menswear, and what weaknesses it needs to overcome to effectively relate to a male audience. We further look at the external factors, such as competitors, PESTLE and key market trends, which may have an effect on the brands performance.

ASOS’ male target audience are young men, aged 18 - 29, mainly found living in metropolitan cities. They love to keep up with trends, using social media as a tool to search for style tips, and always want to look and feel good about themselves (see page 11 and appendix B). These customers care deeply about sustainability, inclusivity and authenticity, and will pay more to shop with a brand who follows these rules. They are heavily influenced by influencers and celebrities, with primary research finding that 51% of men were influenced by rappers and musicians.

A primary research survey was used to examine the attitudes the male audience has towards ASOS. The respondents were asked 23 questions about how they felt towards ASOS, how they used social media, and how they felt about influencers. Unfortunately, the results weren’t very positive, with most respondents not seeing ASOS as relevant to them. They did, however, recognise ASOS as trendy and affordable, which is key to the brand’s image.

The report is finished by drawing conclusions based on the research categories, and recommending strategies to trial moving forward. For example, trialing paid influencer partnerships on the platform twitch, and starting an ambassador style relationship with more traditional celebrities.

In the making of this report, I recieved help and support from: Olivia Smith (line manager), Luis Gomes Da Silva Antas Parada (DiPs placement year leader), Lotte Williams (Global Social Media Manager), Matt Vass (The Academy Leader), Drew Hughes (Brand Mananger), Martine Dennis (Proof Reading)

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Rationale, Aims, Objectives

Even before starting at ASOS, I was aware of how well ASOS has adapted to using influencer marketing to grab the attention of their target market, with popular celebrities, reality stars and social media influencers. However, it was brought to my attention through my time working as a PR intern, that we were having less success with our male audience, only having a 23% following on our global social channels. After discussion with my manager, it was clear that this would be the best project to support, and find the best way to reach a male audience using the influencer marketing strategy.

Having spent time building monthly competitor analysis, I saw that our competitor brands, such as Boohoo Man, may have more success when it comes to menswear influencers, and using more recognisable public figures than we were, which may relate more to our male audience. Despite us managing our menswear brand in a different way to our competitors, it is definitely important to compare our methods and rethink our menswear strategies the ASOS way.

Through this report, I aim to research the behavioural patterns of our male audiences and their attitude towards social media and influencers, and offer recommendations on how best to improve our male sentiment in true ASOS style. My objectives for this report are: 1. To review the male consumer sentiment towards ASOS through primary research over a 3-month period.

2. To recommend a strong menswear influencer strategy to trial over the next business year which could build a strong relationship with our MW consumers.

3. To research the behavioural patterns of the menswear consumer in the UK through secondary research and improve our understanding of how our male audience behaves.

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Methodology

In order to build this report, I used a mixture of primary and secondary research to ensure an accurate, academic reflection of our target audience, and to build the best recommendations for ASOS to take on. You can find the full summary of my primary research in the appendices.

For my primary research, I conducted a survey taken by Gen Z and Millennial men living in the UK, entitled ‘ASOS Menswear and Influencer survey.’ The purpose of this survey was to help me gain a more personal understanding of our male audience, and to get a better insight into their behavious, how they view the brands, and social media influencers. The participants were asked 23 questions, a mixture of quantitative and qualitative, to help me gain a more rounded perception of the audience; however, with the quantitative questions, the respondents were given the option to go into further detail if necessary. This survey gained a total of 58 responses, of which 53 were usable; the respondents ages ranged from 18-28, which was particularly good as it was the age range of ASOS’ target market; all of the respondents came from metropolitan cities. Throughout this report, I use the elements of the survey, some quotes and some statistics, in order to complement my secondary research and recommendations.

For my secondary research, I reviewed 20 academic books, reports and market research data. I also was able to take some elements from discussions within the company, but due to confidentiality, most details were not able to be included. When looking for academic readings and reports, I was solely looking at those which covered the topics of Gen Z, Millennials and how to market to the male audience, in order to grasp the most relevant information. I then broke this research down into sections to which I felt were most important to complete my objectives; ‘Sustainability and Inclusivity,’ ‘Social Media Usage,’ ‘Shopping Habits’ and ‘Attitudes towards Influencers and Celebrities.’ Each section was based on secondary research, and complemented by the results of my primary research. All of this research was used to draw my conclusions and recommendations based on the research categories constructed by the secondary sources I used.

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Market & Company Context As any ASOSer would know, our goal is to be the number one shopping destination for fashion- loving 20 somethings. With the UK menswear market being worth £10.9bn, 89% of 16-24’s in the MW market purchase new clothing, (Mintel, 2021) and the influencer market set to reach $22bn in 2022 (WGSN, 2020), it is definitely important that we fine tune our skills now, to ensure success in these growing markets. In this section, we will analyse the internal and external environments of the company, and how they affect our performance.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Oppurtunities, Threats

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPURTUNITY

THREATS

Wide range of products and sizes: One of the key strengths of ASOS is their offer of a wide range of products and sizes. An example of this is the new ‘inclusive sizes’ addition in menswears wear, which allows men of all sizes access to the same products. This is a very important step to access the menswear market and increase customer sentiment, as 28% of 16-24 year old male shoppers paid more for clothing from an inclusive brand in 2020 (Mintel,2021).

Strong social media presence: Another key strength of ASOS is their strong social media presence, owning accounts across all major social media platforms, and 11.4 mil followers on their Global instagram account. With 96% of Millenials using social media apps in the past month (Mintel, July 2019), and 32% of millennial men using social media apps for fashion inspiration, ASOS is in a strong position to reach their target market.

Sustainability: Being a fast fashion company, which thrives on bouncing off the quick turn around of trends puts ASOS in a difficult position when it comes to being sustainable. One third of male shoppers in 2020 agreed that buying from a sustainable brand has become more important over the past year (Mintel, 2021), which shows that ASOS is going to have to do more to promote sustainability within their brand in order to successfully reach a male audience.

Acquiring Arcadia brands: In February 2021, ASOS rescued Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT from liquidation, costing £295 million. This acquisition provides ASOS with the opportunity to fulfil their brand mission to be the number one destination for fashion loving twenty-something, by gaining a new customer base within the same age range. It also means they can offer a wider range of products, making it more likely for consumers to head straight to ASOS. Close Competition: Despite being one of the earliest players in the online retail game, ASOS faces heated competition by other trend based online retailers in the UK. With Boohoo Group quickly dominating the UK high street, picking up almost any business that’s going under, ASOS needs to make sure they’re staying relevant and not missing out on sales, whilst maintaining their strong brand image.

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Market & Company Context Unique Selling Point

In ‘Marketing to Gen Z’ (2018), Fromm suggested that in order to reach a Gen Z audience, ‘User experiences should be

seamless. Speeds should be fast - preferably imperceptible. And of course, everything needs to work flawlessly on mobile.’

It’s also noted in Mintel’s Menswear report (2021) that 78% of males purchased clothes online in 2020, and 28% of males purchased clothes through an app.

ASOS’ unique selling points are their offer and a seamless digital shopping experience. The offer of fast delivery and free returns creates a clear and simple customer journey, which matches and even betters the in-store experience. This is further boosted by the mobile app, boasting multiple features to speed up the spending journey, keep the customer up to date and push the brand’s message. These platforms create a perfect environment for ASOS to reach their target customer base.

Competitive Advantage

When looking at Porter’s competitive advantage model, it’s clear that ASOS sits in cost leadership. With a target market of 16-34, affordable prices and A variety of products, ASOS is ticking all the boxes to get ahead in this market.

Competitor Analysis

Boohoo Man

Zalando

Urban Outfitters

Mission & Vision

‘Our vision is to lead the fashion e-commerce market globally, in a way that delivers for our customers, people, suppliers and stakeholders.’

‘Reimagining fashion for the good of all drives us to make the fashion world more intelligent, friendlier, and more open’

“To build a strong emotional bond with the customer.

To do this we must build lifestyle environments that appeal emotionally, and offer fashion correct products on a timely basis.”

Value Proposition

Affordable, on trend, youthful and connected

Unique and up to date as- Customer loyalty, diversity, sortment of clothing, fash- creativity, and honesty. ion competent destination, personalization, smooth online experience.

Clear focus on the latest trends

Approachable luxury fash- Unique, established retail ion with localised stratemix and a strong emotiongies for each market. al understanding of their customer.

‘Trend Led’ rather than ‘Brand Led’ price conscious consumers aged 16-24

Young adults who like to ‘stick with the herd,’ largely influenced by popular mainstream culture.

‘Young adults, who are culturally sophisticated, self-expressive and concerned with acceptance by their peer group’

£600.7 million (Fashion United, 2020)

€1.85 billion (statista, 2021)

€3.9 billion (Forbes, 2018)

Differentiation

Persona

Revenue

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Market & Company Context Key Market Trends

According to WGSN’s report ‘Male Wellness,’ the male grooming market is beginning to pick up speed, with an estimat-

ed growth of 5.2% over the next two years to an estimated value of $60.8 billion. This is being pushed by a younger generation, making it a key market for ASOS to tap into. Mintel’s menswear report (2021), saw that there was a rise in sports and casualwear in the three months leading up to December 2020, with 68% of men buying casual clothes for work due to a growing number of people working from home. Another WGSN report ‘Gen-Z influencer style: young men’s apparel’ (2020) suggested that it’s important to keep an eye on the trend of upcycling and DIY. The report explains that the sharing of thrifted finds and upcycled vintage inspired looks is becoming prominent with tiktok influencers. Influencers are picking up vintage, two mile styles which are playful and dressy, over loungewear.

PESTLE Analysis

POLITICAL

ENVIRONMENTAL

SOCIAL

TECHNOLOGICAL

ECONOMICAL

LEGAL

In lieu of recent events across the globe, it has become increasingly important for brands to show evidence that they are listening to political problems, such as BLM, and making real change. In ‘Marketing to Gen Z’ (P.12) Fromm suggests ‘Unless a brand knows its editorial authority - what it has permission to talk about based on the true beliefs of the brand - it wont resonate with this consumer group.’

The Menswear market suffered badly during Covid 19, with a 29% decrease in consumer spending post pandemic, and 40% of men saying they’re spending less on clothes than they did before the pandemic. However, it is predicted that this will bounce back over the second half of 2021, with demand for sales being driven by the lockdown roadmap being announced (Mintel,2021)

Mintel (2020) found that 83% of Gen Z social media users ‘follow/frequently view’ influencers, and 45% of people purchased an item of clothing or accessory after seeing an influencer promoting it. In ‘Marketing to Gen Z’ (2018), it’s suggested the Gen Z are more influenced by real people and friends, than celebrities, and influencers have the power to friendship style relationships with their followers.

Visual search engines are becoming a popular addition to online retail apps. Mintel research found that 47% of men either used the visual search functions in an app or are planning to in 2021.

Mintel research has found that many social media users often struggle to understand the relationship between influencers and brands. In September 2019, The Advertising Standards Authority published a report on the labels which should be used in order to help the consumer understand this relationship, and later introduced strict guidelines on how to flag paid or gifting content.

There is a growing media trend towards the use of sustainable products, evidenced by a 40% increase in veganism in the UK (plantbasednews.org, 2021). It is important that brands aim to adopt a more sustainable process in order to keep customers happy.

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Primary & Secondary Research Categories In this section of the report, we will analyse the core characteristics of our male target audience, using both primary and secondary research. My primary research comes from a survey of 53 men, ages 18 - 28, living across the country. Although a large proportion of the participants were students, each person had a different income, which gives us a broader understanding of the target market. This analysis is broken down into key categories, which will then be used to build strategies in order to reach our target market.

Ethical, Inclusive, Sustainable, Genuine Inclusivity, sustainability and social justice are extremely key factors when it comes to reaching our male consumer. According to Fromm (marketing to Gen Z, 2018), community consciousness is the defining characteristic of this consumer group, and brands need to offer a proof of purpose in order to resonate with them. Our consumer recognises that they come from a capitalist society, but believe that we need to do more to make the world a better place. Due to this belief, conscious capitalism began.

Conscious capitalism is essentially a corporate decision-making process which is influenced by advancing the quality of life for both society and the environment. According to Fromm (p.172), this is the only way brands are likely to hold brand loyalty from this generation. This point is also replicated by the results of the mintel report ‘Menswear - UK - March 2021,’ which found that 3 in every 10 male shoppers age 16-24 were more likely to shop from an inclusive brand, and ⅓ of male shoppers (16-44) agreed that buying from a sustainable brand has become more important over the past year.

To further this point, in a survey conducted by the author (O.Dennis, 2021), when asked ‘What factors are most important to you when deciding where to shop?,’ 29% of participants suggested that buying from a sustainable, ethical brand was a key factor in their decision making process. One respondent (age 20) stated: ‘To be honest, more than 90% of today’s fashion (as most of it is fast) is purely damaging. It’s causing the destruction of the environment, keeping the youth self conscious and so impacting mental health. It’s continuing the racist colonialist system in place, seeing as it exploits black and brown people in the poorest parts of the world. I don’t think anyone who cares about the planet and it’s vulnerable people should be supporting today’s fast fashion unless focusing on sustainable brands.’

This comment alone proves how strong our target generation feels about community consciousness, and an ethical brand image.

Fig. i (Dennis, O. 2021)

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Primary & Secondary Research Categories Atittudes Towards ASOS In order to gain some more context on the sentiment of our male audience toward the brand, and the best way to target

them, a survey was conducted of 53 men, aged 18 - 28. In this section, we will be analysing the sentiment of the respondents towards the brand and how they use the brand, before looking into how we can build a better relationship with our male audience. For the full results of this survey please see the appendix.

When asked what words came to mind when they thought of the brand ASOS, we had a mixed response. The top comments (19% of respondents) were ‘trendy’ and ‘range,’ which shows a positive image, and complements what we’re trying to achieve as a brand. 4% of respondents felt that ASOS was good value, and also described ASOS as accessible. Despite this, there were also a lot of negative comments, with 11% describing ASOS as cheap, and 6% suggesting that ASOS was unethical, or unsustainable. This shows that even though we are getting our vision across to our audience, we will need to work harder to build their trust in our company and products.

Next, the participants were asked how often they visit the ASOS website, with or without purchase; the question in particular found some negative results. 64% of respondents said that they visited ASOS less than once a month. This shows that some serious work needs to be done to convince our target market to visit our site, and buy our products (see fig.1) Our next set of questions were based around ASOS’ social media platforms and the influencers ASOS use. Here we can definitely see that a lot of work needs to be done to help our male audience relate to the ASOS social media accounts, and the influencers who we chose. The survey found that 95% didn’t follow ASOS on any social media platforms, and 94% were not aware of the ASOS_MAN account. These results can also be seen by the following on our global instagram account; of 11.5 million followers, only 27% are male (see fig. 2 & 3) In addition to this, 87% of respondents weren’t aware of any of the influencers that ASOS used, and 89% aren’t influenced to shop at ASOS based on the influencers we use. The 8% who did feel inspired to shop based on our influencers were all older Gen Z (18+), which shows that we are in some cases reaching our target audience (see fig. 4 & 5) On a more positive note, 25% of respondents said that they would look to ASOS accounts for style inspiration. 33% of these respondents suggested that this was due to ASOS’ selection of styles. Other comments included that ASOS provides good fashion knowledge, and the option to try something new. (see fig.6) In contrast, 76% claimed that they would not go to ASOS accounts for style inspiration. Of these respondents, almost 19% said that they didn’t like ASOS, or didn’t find the brand interesting, and 14% see ASOS as unsustainable or just ‘fast fashion.’

Fig. 1 (Dennis, O. 2021)

Fig. 3 (Dennis, O. 2021)

Fig. 5 (Dennis, O. 2021)

Fig. 2 (Dennis, O. 2021)

Fig. 4 (Dennis, O. 2021)

Fig. 6 (Dennis, O. 2021)

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Primary & Secondary Research Categories Social Media Usage Our customer base comes from the social media generation, never having experienced a world without smartphones

and social media (Fromm, 2018). According to the Mintel ‘Digital Quarterly Report’ (September 2020), 80% of males, and 97% of 16-24 year olds accessed social media platforms in June 2020. This proves how important it is that we understand how our male customer uses social media, so we can decide the best way to target them with influencer marketing.

The Mintel report ‘Marketing to Millennials’ (2019) found that 39% of male internet users (age 20-39), used social media to look for fashion and clothing inspiration, and 34% of them used social media for work out tips. Further, a survey by the author found that 64% of the respondents used instagram to keep up with style and culture. This gives us more of an idea of where the purchase journey of our male consumer begins,(And which) and which influencers would be best to promote our clothing. This report also found that younger millennials (20-29), who sit comfortably in our target group, are more likely to use non traditional forms of social media, such as youtube and snapchat, with Youtube being the top most used platform of Gen Z (Mintel, 2020); Ekholm (Curemedia, 2020), further found that 78% of men used Youtube.

Another Mintel report found that 45% of younger millennials were interested in making purchases from within a social media platform, which suggests that we must be targeting platforms with the shop function, such as Instagram and Tiktok. Youtubers and vloggers were found to be the most likely to influencer purchase (Mintel, 2019). Two key platforms which we must keep our eyes on in order to stay relevant with our male target audience are Tiktok and Twitch.

Twitch is a live video streaming platform with a focus on the streaming of gaming and live sports competition. The platform has consistently been the main player in the online gaming world, and offers a unique experience for its users.

According to Fromm (2020, p.34), 66% of Gen Z claimed gaming as their top hobby, and a Mintel report (2020) found that 53% of 16-24 males are following gaming personalities on social media. Mintel research further found 73% Twitch users will notice sponsored content compared to 50% of Youtube users. This provides us with evidence that Twitch could be a key platform for us to push influencer marketing.

Tiktok was the most downloaded app in the US in September 2018 (Gotana & Ranchordas, 2020, p. 133) and the top grossing iOS app in Q2 of 2020 (Mintel, 2021). We can clearly see Tiktok cementing its place as the ‘go to’ platform for entertainment and viral content, and even the effects that Tiktok is having throughout the fashion industry, with Celine’s SS21 collection being inspired by the E-boy fashion of Tiktok (WGSN, 2020). The app is currently dominated by Gen Z and younger millennials (42% in March 2020), and seeing as 60% of tik tok users use the platform to view posts from social media personalities, paying more mind to Tiktok influencers just makes sense.

In a survey conducted by the author (Dennis, O. 2021), when asked which social media personalities they would like to see ASOS work with, one respondent (age 21) stated: ‘I think an appeal to more esoteric/abstract humour, especially considering the rise of that on Tiktok, would be an interesting move.’

This comment shows us how tiktok can be used to show a different side of the brand, and how Tiktok is becoming integrated in the day to day life of our target consumer.

Fig. 7 (Dennis, O. 2021)

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Primary & Secondary Research Categories Shopping Habits According to the Mintel report ‘Menswear - UK - March 2021’, online fashion sales jumped up by 26% over lock-

down, with 89% of 16-24 year olds buying new clothing. Here, we can see what an amazing position we are in to boost our sales from a male audience. In ‘Branded Male: Marketing to Men’ (2008), Tungate suggested that men are extremely loyal to brands and require a ‘strong role model’ to convince them to try something new, which highlights the importance of our influencer strategy.

In a survey conducted by the author, 55% of respondents suggested that cost was the most important factor when it comes to shopping, and 25% claimed that style was most important, Showing us that our target market is looking for hot trends at a low cost. A mintel report further suggested that 32% of males (aged 16 - 24), spent less on clothing during the pandemic, which shows the importance of highlighting our cost benefits. The survey by the author also showed that 20% of the respondents liked shopping with sports retailers, 76% of those respondents mentioning Nike. 23% of respondents enjoyed shopping with designer or upper high street brands, such as Carhart, Calvin Klein and North Face (see fig.8)

Due to the pandemic, more and more people have been working from home, which has changed the way we dress day to day. 68% of men claimed to have bought, or are planning to buy more casual clothing for work, and 49% of consumers are planning on working from home more post-pandemic (Mintel, 2021). This shows the importance of pushing our casual range at this time, and providing WFH fits to our male audience. However, since the announcement of the lockdown roadmap, it has been predicted that this could change; with 43% of men looking forward to going on holiday, 40% looking forward to going out for a meal and 34% looking forward to going for a drink we can expect to see a rise in beachwear, and going out clothes.

Fig. 8 ‘Which other brands do you regularly shop with?’

(Dennis, O. 2021)

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Primary & Secondary Research Categories Attitudes Towards Celebrities and Influencers According to WGSN (2021), the role of influencers is in a period of flux, with the influencer market predicted to rise to $22bn

in 2022 from $9bn in 2019. Our target age range in particular is extremely susceptible to influencer marketing, with 83% of Gen Z following/frequently viewing social media influencers (Mintel,2020).

It’s very important to carefully pick which influencers we are working with, in order to gain the best results. For example, working with niche or micro influencers, classed as having between 5,000 - 100,000 followers, is often better as they have a smaller but very loyal following, who are more likely to trust what they say over a bigger influencer (Fromm, 2018, p.87). Micro influencers are also more likely to be seen as friends, which is important as 21% of men’s buying decisions are influenced by friends (Mintel, 2020). Despite this, 39% of Gen Z social media users think that having more followers makes an influencer more trust-worthy, so it is also important to have a variety to stay relevant (Mintel, 2020).

Mintel (2020) found that only 17% of men aged (16-24) followed fashion and beauty influencers, however 63% of them followed gaming influencers, which suggests that it might be useful to start using more gaming personalities in order to reach our male audience. A survey by the author also found that whilst 42% of the respondents followed a combination of influencers, 25% of them did not follow any influencers at all, which means we could be missing out on a large chunk of our audience, so need to look for better ways to reach them.

When it comes to men, using traditional celebrities and personalities to promote our products could be the way forward.

According to Mintel (2020), 50% of social media users trust traditional celebrities more than social media influencers to promote a product, and 44% of 16-24 year old males felt the same way. This shows that our target audience is more susceptible to product promotion from celebrities. In addition, a survey by the author found that 51% of respondents felt rappers and musicians had the most influence on their personal style, compared to only 7% feeling the same about influencers.

Fig. 9 (Dennis, O. 2021)

Fig. 10 ‘Do you follow any social media influencers?’

(Dennis, O. 2021)

Customer Analysis

Please see appendix B for full pen portrait

Psychographic: Trend Obsessed Social Media Savvy Politically Correct Sustainability Seekers Loyal To Brands Demographic: Older Gen Z - Younger Millenials All levels of NRS social grade Secondary Education or higher Working Towards A Career

@ay.0.0, Instagram, 2021

careeraddict, 2020

statenews, 2020

Geographic: Global, but most commonly found in Europe, North America and Mena.

Usually found living in urban areas (cities or towns) Behavioural: Happy to spend more on branded products Seek deals on trend based products Care deeply about conscious capitalism and inclusivity Enjoy looking and feeling good

11 flexjobs, 2021

modlar, 2020

macgriffiths, Instagram, 2021

Conclusions and Reccomendations In this section, I will draw my final conclusions about our male target consumer and build recommendations about how we can fulfil the report objectives, and use our influencer marketing skills to reach our male audience.

Ethical, Inclusive, Sustainable, Genuine From the analysis of primary secondary research, it is clear how important it is for our male consumer for a brand to be

ethical, sustainable and inclusive; following the idea of consumer capitalism as closely as possible. Failure to do so can lead to permanent negative connotations towards a brand, and the loss of a large chunk of a customer base, with 30% of men being more likely to shop at an inclusive brand, and ⅓ of men thinking it is more important to shop sustainably post pandemic. Primary research further showed that there was some speculation around how ethical and sustainable ASOS was as a brand, with some comments suggesting that ASOS was cheap, unsustainable fast fashion. This shows that, although we are taking steps towards sustainability and conscious capitalism, there is still a lot more that needs to be done in order to show that we do genuinely care and gain the trust of our male audience.

As a brand, we need to show authenticity in every aspect of our decision making process, which is particularly important when it comes to the people we chose to represent our brand. We know exactly who is representing us as a brand, and what they do and say outside of their work. In this case, I would recommend choosing to collaborate with conscious capitalist influencers that share our values, and may promote social causes. I think it would also be useful to do regular checks, perhaps monthly, of our influencers, and the customer sentiment towards them, to make sure that nothing negative slips under our radar. If we find that influencers do something that goes against the idea of conscious capitalism, it’s important that we cut ties with this relationship, after acknowledging that we’ve made a mistake, to minimise the risk of permanent damage to the brand name. I would also recommend that we work with a variety of influencers, of all different ethnicities, social background, shapes and sizes. This should be done throughout the business year, not just for certain activations, in order to show that our interest in inclusivity goes beyond surface level. In particular, we could make sure that of every ten menswear influencers we gift , at least three are plus sizes, and at least half are people of colour.

Social Media Usage One thing that was clear from the research was the importance of social media to our male target audience, with the major-

ity of our audience rarely spending a day without social media, and the younger generation barely knowing a world before it. This evidences the importance of using the right social media platforms to reach our audience and convert them to purchase.

Through this secondary research, it was easy to identify which platforms we should be using to reach our male target consumer. Youtube was found to be the most popular platform for men, and for Gen Z, which shows that we should be prioritising finding influencers who use this platform in order to get greater reach to our target market. We further discovered that Tiktok quickly became a top player in the social media game, being the most downloaded app on iOS in Q2 of 2020, with a huge percentage of Tiktok users using the platform to view social media influencers. This suggests that Tiktok is the perfect platform to push our influencer marketing strategy to our male target audience.

Seeing as 53% of 16-24 year old males follow gaming personalities on social media, the live streaming platform, Twitch, would definitely be an interesting new venture for us. Further, the majority of users notice sponsored content on Twitch, which essentially suggests that it would be the perfect platform to push our products through influencer marketing.

By using the platform, we would be tapping into multiple areas of interest for our target market, giving us more recognition.

My recommendations here would be to focus on pushing our influencer strategy through three main platforms; Tiktok, Youtube and Twitch. It would be useful if we used influencers who have strong following across all of these platforms, in order to ensure a better reach and to gain a greater volume of content. With Tiktok and Youtube, platforms we already use, we can start to gift oN a greater scale. It would be valuable to pick up some more gaming youtubers, and offer them paid collaborations in order to get dedicated sponsored content. With tiktok, we can stick to fashion influencers due to the influencers TikTok ‘E-boys’ are currently having on the industry. With Twitch, I suggest we take a more cautious approach to begin with, starting with 10 influencers, 4 mega, 3 macro and 3 micro, and monitor how they perform over a 4 week period. With the mega influencer, it may be useful to offer them payment for their sponsorship, while we’re learning how to use the platform.

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Conclusions and Reccomendations Shopping Habits It’s important to understand the shopping habits of our male target audience in order to know what we should be pushing

to get the best response and an indication of where our brand stands in the current climate. With online sales in 16-24 year old males skyrocketing due to covid-19, we are in an extremely good position to reach our target audience. As men have very strong brand loyalty, we need to push the best product, using the best influencers to build a better relationship with our target market.

From the survey conducted by the author, we found that the respondents preferred shopping with sports retailers and design or upper high street brands. Nike was the most mentioned brand. At ASOS, as well as our own label, we offer a variety of designer and sports brands. It could be useful for us to push these brands through influencer marketing, in order to attract our male target market and show we have such variety. This survey also found that cost, and style were the most important factors when it came to shopping, which was backed up by a Mintel study that showed 32% of 16-24 men spent less on clothes during the pandemic. With ASOS being a low cost, high trend platform, which has regular sale periods, it may be useful to use our influencers to push this benefit.

Due to the pandemic changing the way people work, casual clothing has been topping the market. More and more people are working from home, or planning to buy more casual clothing for work due to the relaxation of the working environment, which is predicted to be a growing trend. It would be useful for us to use our influencers to push our casual range, and our WFH looks. However, as the end of the lockdown in the UK comes closer, more men are becoming excited about the prospects of going out and getting dressed up again, which means we can’t neglect formalwear.

In this case, I recommend using our influencers to push the key menswear brands we stock onsite, such as Nike and North Face, in order to bring their loyal customers over to ASOS. We should also use our influencers to promote sales and promos onsite, if men are able to see that we are offering their favourite brands at a lower cost, it will definitely help to convert them to purchase, and improve our customer sentiment. When using paid influencers, we should ask them to highlight our low prices and product value, which will help to highlight the cost advantage that we have as a brand. As we come closer to the end of the lockdown, we should be gifting our influencers going out styles, and holiday looks to play on their excitement to get out and about.

Attitudes Towards Celebrities and Influencers Influencers and celebrities are the core of the PR strategy at ASOS, so we must make sure that we are using the correct

personalities in order to relate to our male target market.

In terms of social media influencers, each level comes with its own benefit. For example, micro influencers are seen as more knowledgeable and genuine, seeming more like friends than personalities, who can influence mens purchasing decisions.In contrast to this, it was also found that 39% of Gen Z thought that having a larger follower count means an influencer is more trustworthy.

As mentioned in ‘Social Media Habits,’ gaming is a key hobby for our male target market, and research found that 63% of males within our target age range follow gaming influencers, a much higher rate than those who follow fashion influencers.

This strengthens the cause for ASOS to branch out to collaborating with gaming influencers to boost our recognition and better our customer sentiment.

Another important point brought up by the research, is that it may be more useful to use traditional celebrities, over social media influencers in order to relate to our male audience. Mintel found that 44% of men in our target age range trusted traditional celebrities more than social media influencers. The survey by the author also found that around half of respondents thought rappers and musicians influence their personal style, and only a tiny percent of respondents felt that influencers had the same effect.

Here, I would recommend introducing an ambassador style partnership with 5 traditional celebrities, focusing on up and coming rappers and musicians in order to gain traction and better our customer sentiment. We should review and renew these partnerships every 3 months, to make sure we’re staying relevant to our target market. I also recommend regularly collaborating with gaming personalities, rather than just looking at fashion based profiles. We should ensure for every 20 new influencers we reach out to, a third of them are gaming influencers.

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Appendix Appendix A. Survey Template

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Appendix Appendix A. Survey Template cont..

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Appendix Appendix B Pen Portraits

Name: Aaron Age: 26 Location: Nottingham Salary: £25,000 p/a

Name: Owen Age: 19 Location: London Occupation: Graphics BA, UAL Salary: Student Loan

Family background: Aaron comes from a working class family of 5, born and raised in Nottingham. His dad works as an electrician and his mum is a social worker. Both his siblings are currently in secondary education. Aaron has just completed a degree in Sports and Exercise Science.

Family Background: Owen comes from a small middle class family, who live in oxford. He moved to London for his studies. His dad is a history professor at Oxford University and his mum is an art curator. He doesn’t have any siblings.

Living Situation: Aaron is currently living in his family home, along with his parents and two younger sisters. He also spends a few nights a week at his girlfriend’s house, who is also living at home. They are planning on moving in together next year.

Living situation: Owen is currently living in uni halls in a flat with 6 people, but he spends a lot of time sofa-surfing after nights out. When home from uni, he lives in his parents large family house, with his parents and two dogs.

Future aspirations: In the near future, Aaron hopes to build a big enough client base so that he can start doing freelance personal training, and leave the gym that he works at currently. He also wants to start a football coaching company for disadvantaged children. In the distant Future, Aaron hopes to marry his current girlfriend, and have a big family.

Future Aspirations: In the near future, Owen wants to complete his degree with a 2:1, and move out of his parents house to London permanently with a group of friends. In the distant future, Owen wants to be a freelance graphic designer living alone in London.

Interests and Hobbies: In his spare time, Aaron loves spending time with his friends, who have known eachother since school. They will go out to the pub once or twice a week, or sometimes go for fancy meals; they also play 5-a-side football every Wednesday. Aaron and his friends play games online most nights, and he loves to spend time on social media. Aaron loves to spend time at the gym outside of work, and workout on his own. He enjoys cooking dinner, and watching a film in bed with his girlfriend.

Personal style: Aaron always wants to look his best, and feels that the way he dresses has an effect on his social status. This means that he’s always looking to keep up with trends, and is happy to splurge on key branded pieces, such as a North Face puffer, and the newest Nike trainers. His go to look would be Nike trainers, black jeans, a white hoodie/sweat and a North Face puffer.

Shopping Behavior: Outside of his key pieces, Aaron is happy to shop with other brands, as long as the product is on trend and has the right fit. He mostly shops online or in-app, and he’s more likely to purchase from a brand that offers reliable, free delivery like ASOS.

Interest and hobbies: Owen loves to go out and have a good time with his friends, he’s always on social media looking for new, fun events and restaurants to go to. Being part of the social media generation, he also likes participating in tiktok challenges with his friends; he also uses social media to follow the latest trends in fashion and beyond. Owen is politically minded, and likes to research companies which are ethical, sustainable and diverse, he will always share educational political posts on instagram, and enjoys debating with his friends.

Personal style: Owen loves keeping up to date with trends and changes in style; his style is very fluid, with both masculine and feminine aspects. His go to look at the moment would be a bold boxy cardigan, a white tee, some baggy jeans and bold trainers. He will also experiment with fun hair colours.

Shopping Behaviour: Being a student living away from home means that Owen doesn’t have much money to spend on material items, because of this, he is happy to shop in fast fashion, so long as the brand has a good reputation. Owen likes to spend his weekends looking through charity and vintage shops for more unique items; he also uses Depop and ebay to look for cheaper designer pieces.

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Appendix Appendix C Research Ethics Forms

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