A&F "Sexy" Is No Longer Popular.

Sexy male models with different skin color, eight abdominal muscles and beach pants are used as marketing tools for Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), an american apparel brand. The sexy marketing model, including these men's models, even helped the US Centennial brand, which was founded in 1892, get out of its business predicament. But this has become a past tense. In the flagship store of A&F in New York, there may never be a naked male model.

The company's former CEO Jeffries (Michael Jeffries) has used the controversial marketing strategy of sexy marketing to lead A&F to change its poor management. During the 22 years of Jeffries's management of A&F, he made it into a famous brand in the United States and even in the world, and established 965 stores in more than 20 countries. But according to Bloomberg reports, sales of the brand store in the past 8 years have been declining for 6 years, and the company's profit last year was 5.1%. With the decline in sales, Jeffries's management style and previous marketing strategy have been questioned. Last December, Jeffries stepped down.

A&F's efforts to reshape the brand image have also been made clear. According to the US business news website Business Insider, it will reduce its brand. Logo Use, keep up with the trend of fashion, and dilute the strategy of "hot salesmen". "We put the consumer at the core of our business," said Christos Angelides, President of Abercrombie, the company's Christos brand.

A&F is not the only retailer to abandon its iconic sexy marketing. The US fast fashion brand AA American Apparel, which filed for bankruptcy in October, has also expanded rapidly because of the extreme sexy marketing activities. This summer, the brand's advertising campaign significantly reduced the sexy ingredients. model They are no longer close to nude, and pose sexually at will, but "the neckline is upwards, the skirt is downward".

The website that opens AA before can discover this brand design is simple and low-key, model wears however bold. However, with the "sexy marketing" no longer worked, and the excessive expansion caused too much financial burden on the stores, AA broke into bankruptcy in 2010, and filed for bankruptcy protection in October this year, and carried out a comprehensive debt restructuring. The company has said it will streamline business, reduce costs and abandon sexy routes.

Bernstein believes that if a brand is caught, Consumer Psychology, sexy is still a good card. "What is real sexy is the key, and it has to be changed with the upgrading of culture and consumers." She said, "as long as you grasp it accurately, it can still push sales."

These changes show great changes in consumer mindset. Bernstein Bernstein, founder and chief strategist of YARD, said: "no matter whether these activities can save the brand, they are making some major changes based on their repositioning of consumers, which is absolutely right for them." (Ruth) She thinks that whether A&F or AA, sexy marketing in the past is only using sexy to attract consumers, but there is no real support, consumers will continue to look for and be attracted by some new brands.

Bernstein believes that the "millennial generation" born in the 80s and 90s of the last century is the main reason for this change. "Traditional beauty or sexy ideas may not resonate with them." She said, "real social change and self direction can resonate with them. They make a voice, change an industry, and have ambition.

In addition, consumers have been drowned in the "sexy" sea, so empty sexy pictures or sexy and meaningless pictures that are out of touch with consumers can no longer allow them to pay.

"Now the world is full of nudity and sex appeal. People are no longer just looking for impact and nudity, because you can see them everywhere." Bernstein said, "consumers are looking for more." According to Broadcasting British Corporation reported in October, the American sexy magazine Playboy will be revised, no longer published famous naked women photos, to a certain extent, because in the Internet era, consumers see sexy pictures of channels increased, the circulation decreased.