Analysis of River Island Campaign in Terms of Digital Tricfecta and Its Elements

For a lot of people, the clothes we wear help define who we are. Clothes give us a sense of belonging and personality, as well as displaying our individuality and giving us confidence. Earlier this, River Island released its #LabelsAreForClothes campaign with a anti-bullying charity called “Ditch The Label”. The campaign exhibited bright and eye-catching imagery. Brilliantly picturing 12 new spokespeople who have all been experienced discrimination due to outdated social stereotypes, River Island’s #LabelsAreForClothes campaign acknowledges and celebrates that each of their customers are all uniquely different.

River Island made great use of the digital trifecta to market the #LabelsAreForClothes campaign. The Digital Trifecta is a powerful tool used in digital marketing to help reach your target audience and build brand awareness. The Digital Trifecta differentiates the owned, earned and paid media that are fundamental in a digital marketing strategy. By applying the correct skills and approach across the three digital media platforms, it can ensure that your brand is being delivered across all available channels effectively to your target audience. All three channels offer their own benefits. For example, Owned media is fully controlled by the brand but is not as trusted as earned media channels. Earned media is honest and authentic, but is not controlled by the brand.

Owned media is all the digital channels that your brand owns and controls such as the website, blog, and social media accounts. Brands can share their core brand message and interact with customers increasing both brand awareness and loyalty. Owned media, especially social media intern evokes earned media as it creates a platform for people to interact with you. Creating a new always-on campaign to showcase the diverse identities of their customers, River Island used their owned media as one of their main tools for promoting their #LabelsAreForClothes campaign. The #LabelsAreForClothes advertisements across the River Islands owned media, features a rich and diverse cast, of all ages, shapes, sizes and abilities. Using the same core and consistent message, River Island used their Website, Blogging, Social Media, Email newsletters and their social media accounts to promote their campaign. All the digital marketing material throughout the campaign directed you to the River Island website. Showing off their new A/W18 range, a diverse range of models were photographed in some of their latest releases in what is one of the most inclusive high street campaigns. Throughout all of River Islands owned media, they headline 12 new spokespeople, with beautiful eye catching imagery and a powerful message. Here each individual has a different message, describing their source of their individual empowerment. Targeting specific personas, each individual, has a direct link to the specific clothing range. Each spokesperson has a slogan stating with ‘100%’. With a consistent core brand message throughout all their owned media, River Island embeds into their customers minds that they are an inclusive brand and that they celebrate individuality.

River Island promoted their campaign across all their social platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Constantly trying to earn shares and gain mind share through word of mouth.

Earned media is advertising generated by customers and is essentially digital word of mouth. Earned media is when a customer advertises by word of mouth or uses social media, a personal blog, or review website to recommend a brand. This type of recommendation or review can be the best endorsement your brand could hope to have. According to the Global Trust in Advertising Report by Nielsen, 92% of consumers around the world trust recommendations from family and friends more than all other forms of advertising. In other words, most people will trust when their mother tells them a certain brand of chewing gum is the best before they will believe the same message in an advertisement for the gum. What a brands audience says about the brand is just as important as who says it.

River Island’s campaign #LabelsForClothes was unique, different, current and shareable. By creating share-worthy content, the River Island campaign went viral. #LabelsAreForClothes the hashtag behind the campaign that is all about removing social labels and taking apart the social constructs. People were able to connect on an emotional level with the campaign.

Paid media is similar to traditional marketing, where you pay to promote a brand on a digital platform. There are various different types of paid media including display ads, Facebook ads, retargeting etc. Paid media gives a company the ability to widen their audience and grow their business. When done so correctly, paid media can drive the right customers to you. Paid media, however, presents two challenges. First, the platform has become especially cluttered, which means consumers might overlook your advertisement. Second, new technology has made it possible for consumers to block your ad, diminishing the response rate for your ad. Although it has less impact on organic search results than owned and earned media, paid media can provide significant, measurable results within your search campaign, supporting the overall strategy.