Versace Beer is new on the market, and like most craft beer companies, they are counting on millennials’ insatiable thirst for novelty to jumpstart their profits. To ensure the company reaches their target market, it would be wise to consider using several different mediums for maximum visibility. However, as technology and consumers’ definitions of what constitutes effective, non-intrusive advertising evolves, some mediums are bound to be more effective than others.
A well-known fact about advertising (and about media in general) is that print media is in trouble. Environmental concerns about paper waste and the sheer convenience and variety of digital media are two things that have ensured that print media is going to be a secondary resource for the vast majority of millennials. Aside from these problems, print advertising is still very expensive—one reason why young companies like Versace beer would not consider it until they were more established. Aabaco, a subsidiary of Yahoo! dedicated to small business research, compared print to digital advertising options: “In fact, since social media and online advertising can be very cheap or even free, many business owners don’t even consider the more expensive print advertising anymore” (Davies, n.d.). However, Versace beer could still consider running a magazine ad when they have enough in their advertising budget to justify it. In addition to conveying a certain degree of professionalism in a well-designed, glossy picture ad, magazines will reach a more diverse market (Davies, n.d.). Many magazines also have digital subscriptions available thanks to services like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The digital versions are accessible through e-readers (a favorite device of millennials and older generations alike), and they have all the content that their print versions do. So while print advertising in a newspaper would not be a wise choice for Versace Beer, magazines could be a viable option for marketing to millennials, but not until later in their tenure as a company.
On the digital front, Versace Beer has a lot of options. Social media like Facebook, as mentioned above, would be an excellent starter option for this young, trendy company to reach young, trendy people. The problem with Facebook specifically, however, is that its use is declining among millennials for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is the oft-complained about lack of real privacy, which LinkedIn contributor Michael Spencer elucidated in a very colorful article: “Many who have left the platform, call it ‘Facistbook,’ [reflecting the]…lack of true privacy settings…Facebook has been shown to … promote a kind of thinking that makes social spying seem normal” (Spencer, 2016) This is relevant for millennials, because pages that people “like” on the social media giant are visible by everyone connected to them, and the process for making one’s information private on Facebook is positively byzantine. A better option for Versace Beer would be to turn to social advertising through sites like Buzzfeed, a social news, entertainment, and advertising site heavily trafficked by people aged 18-34 (“Buzzfeed advertising 101”). Buzzfeed’s unique videos and “listicles” attract more than 200 million unique young visitors, and they are specially curated by Buzzfeed staff to appeal to people with specific interests (“Buzzfeed advertising 101”). Versace beer may also choose to do advertorials in a travel or food blog, a digital medium also heavily trafficked by millennials. This non-intrusive and interest-catching form of advertising would probably be one of the best options for a new company like this.
Print media and digital media both have their advantages. However, for Versace Beer, it would probably be best to start with inexpensive digital options, waiting until they had more capital available before pursuing more expensive forms of advertising. By the time Versace Beer has enough money, chances are high that their millennial target market will know and have an opinion on them, thus it would not be a bad strategy to diversify their market until they grow as a company.
- Davies, G. (n.d.). Is print advertising still worth it? Retrieved from https://www.aabacosmallbusiness.com/advisor/print-advertising-still-worth-120009959.html
- Spencer, M. (September 29 2015). Why Facebook is in Decline. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/facebook-dying-michael-spencer
- Buzzfeed (n.d.). Buzzfeed advertising 101. https://www.buzzfeed.com/advertise/resources/overview
