Week 9: On Audiences, Publics, and Demographics

The perspective of PR practitioners is one where the target Publics, or audiences as they are more often referred to in advertising lingo, refer to the group of people which the message of PR is directed towards. A planned target audience is by no means the sole limiting factor on who and what hear one’s PR message, but it is a necessity to sculpt some semblance of direction of message….These are the only subjects through which goals and objectives can be constructed, and therefore they must be drawn out. Hence, I will attempt to spell out my target audience in this blog post.

Given Feiyue’s current line of products, a full list of which can be viewed here, and the line of products already on offer, it is appropriate for the PR campaign to target men more than women. This is not to say that there are no women buying and wearing Feiyue’s shoes, or that the brand may not produce female-targeted products in the future, but merely a reasonable limitation by which the campaign can be kept within the reasonable definitions of “feasible”. Thus, on a consumer level, the campaign is targeted at men. Androgynous features are a bonus to the campaign, although not fundamentally necessary. I attribute this to my personal thinking: I personally do not believe that these shoes will sell well with the women of my country, as they would usually wear more feminine shoes as fashionable, casual wear.

A possible androgynous look

 

Furthermore, this definition can be refined to a demographic of fashionable, open minded, middle-class men and teens. Sneakers are very much the purview of fashion conscious individuals, therefore the campaign should specifically target the group most likely to buy its products. Further, owing to the show that Feiyue put up at Men’s Fashion Week, the fashionistas of the country would already have has some inkling of the brand. These individuals should be open minded enough to try a new brand, and plausibly the sort to be actively seeking out aesthetically and functionally fulfilling goods. Lastly, they should have reasonable income to afford such a brand.

Amongst the media, the campaign should target the design and fashion related components of publications. These span both the newspapers, such as the Life! Section of the Straights Times and T! of the Today newspaper; and men’s fashion magazines, such as Singapore FHM and STYLE: MEN. The local press will be targeted, as well as online media such as blogs and social networks. While it would be good to have the foreign press in countries outside of Singapore mention Feiyue, these are fundamentally out of the control of the campaign.

The last group of publics are the retailers. In order for Feiyue to become a more established brand, it is essential that retailers showcase Feiyue’s products. There are currently only a handful of  retailers displaying Feiyue such as LeftFoot.. In order for the momentum of the campaign to be further solidified, more retailers must be made aware of Feiyue’s existence.

In conclusion, the three publics my campaign will target are fashionable men and teenagers, the style and fashion press online and offline, and lastly retailers in the country.