Ch. 4 – The Marketing Environment

As numerous economic, social, and technological factors throughout society shift from year to year, keeping up with and performing within such rapidly changing marketing environments can be a great challenge for today’s business leaders. Thanks in great part to innovative management and shrewd leadership, even in these hard economic times, Vogue Magazine has been able to keep its well-revered and successful position at the head of the fashion industry.  

Technological Factors

One ever-growing challenge that continues to haunt Vogue, and many other print media companies, is the increasing demand for online content and a dwindling market for hard copy print sales and print subscriptions. And though keeping print sales up at Vogue remains a priority, the digital side of publication is also being given very serious attention. Vogue Australia has been very successful in these efforts and continues to reach over a million unique browsers a month through its website, as well as 77,000 Facebook “friends” and 50,000 fans on the social multimedia network Tumblr. Vogue Australia’s editor-in-chief Edwina McCann has said, “I don’t think Vogue is just a magazine. It’s not. I’m going to be editor-in-chief of Vogue the brand. I would like obviously to get print sales up but digital is very much a focus — digital is the long-term future.” She continued by stating, “The idea of being editor-in-chief over not only the magazine but also the digital assets is what was so attractive about the position. But the digital assets need to be reinvigorated, potentially redesigned. The magazine is the heart and soul of the brand, but I’m just as interested in a Facebook friend.”

Social and Political Factors

In 2008 President Obama promised the nation many positive changes and has been working hard on many fronts to really deliver these promises. A select few among the private sector of U.S. culture and education world, including Harvard University and the Aspen Institute among others, were selected by the President to help lead The White House’s Committee on Arts and Humanities. Included as a key member in this eclectic group of cultural leaders was Vogue magazine. This crucial step for Vogue’s continued prominence and success arose shortly after the magazine’s U.S. editor-in-chief Anna Wintour decided in 2008 to hire the same online marketing strategy team that Barack Obama had used to help his 2008 campaign. Then in an effort to legally maneuver complicated anti-trust laws related to propagation of online content, Wintour consulted carefully with both her new team and also related White House officials. This led to close ties with the Obama’s, thanks in part to the strong relationship Wintour struck up with Michelle Obama. The rest is history, and Vogue’s continuing success in both online and in print publication, in addition to the magazine’s prestigious position on Obama’s arts committee, is very strong testament to the fact that Witour continues to wisely maneuver the socio-political arena to keep Vogue at the very top of its game despite today’s volatile marketing environment.