The Fashion Channel was successfully until other channels such as Lifetime and CNN started adding fashion related shows to their line-up. The Fashion Channel viewers began to decline because it does not have diverse viewers. The Fashion Channel needed to implement a strategy to gain back lost market share. It was time for The Fashion Channel to rethink its marketing strategy. Dana Wheeler was hired to complete that task. Dana Wheeler is the senior vice president for marketing for The Fashion Channel (TFC).
After careful reviewing The Fashion Channel current marketing strategy, Dana identified 5 specific results. They are:
• The Fashion Channel is the only network dedicated to fashion 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• The Fashion Channel appeals mainly to women between the ages of 35 and 54.
• The Fashion Channel is included in the basic cable package that is in approximately 80 million households.
• The Fashion Channel market is very unique compared to other networks.
• The Fashion Channel has achieved full penetration of available households.
These 5 research are very important because it will help Dana come up with a plan for TFC to gain viewers and increase ratings.
The Fashion Channel hired GFE associates to conduct surveys to get consumer feedbacks on their viewing preferences and how they feel about fashion. As a result of the surveys, GFE came up with four unique segments. They are Fashionistas, Planners and Shoppers, Situationalist and Basics. Fashionistas is the smallest of the four segments but had a highest interest in fashion related programs. Dana came up with 3 scenarios that can help The Fashion Channel increase its viewers are ratings.
The first scenario is to develop a multi-segment strategy and focus on Fashionistas, Planners & Shoppers and Situationalist and focus on women between the ages 18 to 34. The advantage of this is that the ratings will increase by 20% which will lead to an increase in viewers. The ratings will increase from 1.0 to 1.2. The disadvantage is ad sales are forecasting a 10% drop in CPM and competitors will continue to gain additional market share.
The second scenario is to focus on a single segment. The Fashion Channel will focus on the Fashionistas segment and spend an additional $15 million on programming. This segment shows the highest interest in fashion and mainly comprise of women between the ages of 18 to