The first blog that I looked at this week was classmate, Kevin Mahoney's. Kevin's blog had an entry that really stood out to me because it focused on something I know a decent amount about, and spend a decent amount of time working with (or wasting time, whatever you consider it!)--social media. Today's society is now consumed by social media. On a personal level, almost all people use facebook or twitter. We are able to be fully connected to whoever we want to be, whenever we want to be. It has taken society to new heights. As Kevin points out, on a business level, it is nearly essential that every field, especially within communications utilizes social media to their advantage. Companies can promote and express to viewer's just what their organization is doing. Being that social media is used so much by people it is instantaneous and requires little effort by interested consumers to find out information. Besides it being helpful, it seems to be that if those in the field of communications are not using social media, they likely will fall behind their competitors. Facebook, twitter, blogs, etc. are all going to become a major aspect of what we know to be the communications, and the Public Relations field.
The second blog that I looked at was Roberta Soares' blog on Fashion PR. Not only did it stand out to me because we both share the same topic, but all the information in her blog I truly found to be so interesting. Roberta emphasized how important observations were to the fashion industry--and I couldn't agree more. People are heavily inflenced by what they see celebrities wearing, that is basically what starts a trend. People get ideas for fashion of what they see in magazines or on the red carpet or what the cast of their favorite t.v. show is wearing. It is important that these influencers are observed so that designers know exactly what they are going to where, which will eventually lead to the commoners like the rest of us, buying these new styles to add to our wardrobe!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is thorough. It emphasizes finding out about the subjects you are studying through ways that the subject's will have the ability to remain in their natural element. Normally, qualitative research is done through interviews, focus groups, etc. It's a way to find out about your subjects through detailed questions and ideally detailed answers. Quantitative research normally uses surveys, and during that type of research one normally doesn't find out as thorough answers as one using qualitative research would.
Public relations courses often express different types of qualitative research and how in the PR industry it is used. I never realized until learning so much about different kinds of research, just how much the fashion PR industry utilizes qualitative research. By using qualitative research we look to understand certain behaviors and the reasoning behind why those behaviors occur. In the fashion world, styles are changing so fast that it is often difficult to keep up for customers—let alone the designers who are faced with pressures to create the most up-to-date looks to keep their clients pleased and well-dressed. Fashion designers are constantly coming up with different ideas, probably more than the average person could even imagine. However, a designer can come up with as many ideas as he or she would like, but if it’s only as good as the people who buy the clothes. Take Mark Fast for example. Fast has lines of new clothing but still holds onto a whole line of classic looks. When thinking of what new styles to create for the season, designers need to think of if their target market is actually going to wear the new trends. Designers need to gain insight on what their customers want next, what they have liked in the past, and what they have not liked all in an attempt to get a better idea of what trends are going to work.
Focus groups are a perfect use of qualitative research for designers. With a group of 6-10 of their customers, focus groups can provide information about what the target market (as reflected from those particular customers) likes when they look for a new dress or pair of shoes. They can express that they love when a certain dress is versatile enough to wear it to Sunday brunch or to a fancy cocktail party, or on the opposite end of the spectrum address that they like dresses that are fancy and perfectly suited for a very special event. Gaining insight through focus groups can serve a great purpose for designers when they are creating/working on pieces.
Research is necessary, we get that. For designers, qualitative research may be the very best kind they have access to. Gaining their public's insight is only going to help their collection.
Public relations courses often express different types of qualitative research and how in the PR industry it is used. I never realized until learning so much about different kinds of research, just how much the fashion PR industry utilizes qualitative research. By using qualitative research we look to understand certain behaviors and the reasoning behind why those behaviors occur. In the fashion world, styles are changing so fast that it is often difficult to keep up for customers—let alone the designers who are faced with pressures to create the most up-to-date looks to keep their clients pleased and well-dressed. Fashion designers are constantly coming up with different ideas, probably more than the average person could even imagine. However, a designer can come up with as many ideas as he or she would like, but if it’s only as good as the people who buy the clothes. Take Mark Fast for example. Fast has lines of new clothing but still holds onto a whole line of classic looks. When thinking of what new styles to create for the season, designers need to think of if their target market is actually going to wear the new trends. Designers need to gain insight on what their customers want next, what they have liked in the past, and what they have not liked all in an attempt to get a better idea of what trends are going to work.
Focus groups are a perfect use of qualitative research for designers. With a group of 6-10 of their customers, focus groups can provide information about what the target market (as reflected from those particular customers) likes when they look for a new dress or pair of shoes. They can express that they love when a certain dress is versatile enough to wear it to Sunday brunch or to a fancy cocktail party, or on the opposite end of the spectrum address that they like dresses that are fancy and perfectly suited for a very special event. Gaining insight through focus groups can serve a great purpose for designers when they are creating/working on pieces.
Research is necessary, we get that. For designers, qualitative research may be the very best kind they have access to. Gaining their public's insight is only going to help their collection.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Classmates Commentary 2
This week for my blog post I examined a different two classmate's blogs. The first blog I looked at was Katie Warner's. My fellow classmate's blog is all about non-profit Public Relations. I do not know extensive details about non-profit PR so I found it truly interesting to look at Katie's writing. The post that I closely looked at was entitled "Non-Profits, Facebook and Unobtrusive Research". Like that of any college student, I was hooked once I saw the word 'facebook'. I find myself absentmindedly on my facebook multiple times a day. Katie explained the importance of non-profits relying heavily on social media--specifically Facebook. With millions of user's accessing the site on a daily basis, I can see why research has shown that it is an effective outlet of research and PR in general. I really liked how Katie linked facebook, a common past-time for many, to unobtrusive research. By doing this she really made it a lot easier to understand the topic, and included an interesting journal article to reinforce the subject.
The second blog that I looked at was Alexis Gerleit's. We both are using Fashion PR as our focus' for our blogs this semester, So I thought it would be interseting to see if we discuss similar things, or if we have totally different viewpoints and perspectives. Right away from reading her post on unobtrusive resarch I could see that our views were fairly similar. We both emphasized how designers use unobtrusive research all the time, that is how they get their inspiration with certain designs, colors, materials etc. I found it to be really entertaining to read Alexis' blog as she discussed unobtrusive research in the fashion industry as well as research in the field overall!
The second blog that I looked at was Alexis Gerleit's. We both are using Fashion PR as our focus' for our blogs this semester, So I thought it would be interseting to see if we discuss similar things, or if we have totally different viewpoints and perspectives. Right away from reading her post on unobtrusive resarch I could see that our views were fairly similar. We both emphasized how designers use unobtrusive research all the time, that is how they get their inspiration with certain designs, colors, materials etc. I found it to be really entertaining to read Alexis' blog as she discussed unobtrusive research in the fashion industry as well as research in the field overall!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Unobtrusive Research
Unobtrusive research is a truly interesting aspect of Public Relations Research. Research, as we have learned, is collecting all different sorts of data and information and analyzing it so that it the researcher gains a better understanding of what they intended to find out. Unobtrusive research follows similar standards of normal research, however the vital part that makes it very different from other types of research is that the subjects can't know they are being studied and researched.
Fashion Public Relations of course requires a variety of different types of research. Unobtrusive research is used during Fashion PR as well. For designers to determine how their clients use the clothes and what styles the particularly like, unobtrusive research fits perfectly. If a consumer of the clothing knew they were being observed they likely would make certain efforts that they wouldn't if they didn't know they were being studied for a research report. An important part of unobtrusive research is that the subject be in their natural element. For example, someone who know's their shirt is being observed for research would take a few steps subconciously or conciously to make their outfit look ideal to them. Perhaps they would be sure to match it perfectly with their pants, or wear certain under-garments to make it more flattering or even make sure that the item of clothing is ironed so that they look neat. In reality, the designer most likely wants to see the shirt when they dont really think about it. They want to see if the shirt goes well with all different pants, not just a certain color. Or perhaps they would like to see how the shirt looks when it has been worn a few times and not been washed or ironed. Unobtrusive research allows for the designers to see exactly what the clothing is like for their customer's on a typical day.
Los Angeles is innundated with large clothing stores. Designer Rachel Salzman decided to open up a store with her business partner that would make it for a unique type of botique. They did a great amount of researching to ensure that their store would have an edge or something different. They saw that the area had Japanese authenticity, a variety of gardens and after viewing people in the area they saw that they always were going to the gardens or restaurants and then leaving. There was no store for them, so using research they figured out the ideal place for their new botique, that would have the Japanese influence in it!
Fashion Public Relations of course requires a variety of different types of research. Unobtrusive research is used during Fashion PR as well. For designers to determine how their clients use the clothes and what styles the particularly like, unobtrusive research fits perfectly. If a consumer of the clothing knew they were being observed they likely would make certain efforts that they wouldn't if they didn't know they were being studied for a research report. An important part of unobtrusive research is that the subject be in their natural element. For example, someone who know's their shirt is being observed for research would take a few steps subconciously or conciously to make their outfit look ideal to them. Perhaps they would be sure to match it perfectly with their pants, or wear certain under-garments to make it more flattering or even make sure that the item of clothing is ironed so that they look neat. In reality, the designer most likely wants to see the shirt when they dont really think about it. They want to see if the shirt goes well with all different pants, not just a certain color. Or perhaps they would like to see how the shirt looks when it has been worn a few times and not been washed or ironed. Unobtrusive research allows for the designers to see exactly what the clothing is like for their customer's on a typical day.
Los Angeles is innundated with large clothing stores. Designer Rachel Salzman decided to open up a store with her business partner that would make it for a unique type of botique. They did a great amount of researching to ensure that their store would have an edge or something different. They saw that the area had Japanese authenticity, a variety of gardens and after viewing people in the area they saw that they always were going to the gardens or restaurants and then leaving. There was no store for them, so using research they figured out the ideal place for their new botique, that would have the Japanese influence in it!
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