Old Navy has always had creative commercials and advertising, but I ultimately decided to follow them for this project because of this commercial that recently aired over the summer:
The commercial features Jennie Garth, Luke Perry and Jason Preistley from Beverly Hills, 90210--a hugely popular show from the 90's that I loved when I was younger. They also aired commercials featuring Jordan Knight from New Kids On The Block and another featuring The Backstreet Boys. It was an obvious attempt to grab the attention of 30-something women, and for me, it worked!
Over the past few weeks, I have been monitoring Old Navy's presense in social media. I used Social Mention, IceRocket, Google Insights, and Tweetstats, as well as monitoring their website, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest accounts for activity.
- Old Navy has a strong presence in social media, and they use it heavily to promote and market products.
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| Old Navy's official Facebook page |
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| Pinterest |
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| Old Navy's Youtube channel |
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| Website |
All of Old Navy's social media platforms have similar color schemes and imagery, but each have a different focus. The website and Facebook page seem to be more targeted towards families, while their Pinterest page is definitely more focused on teenagers and women. Which makes sense since most Pinterest users are women. Their Youtube channel almost exclusively features commercials and videos about recent promotions that Old Navy has sponsored.
Old Navy seems to understand the notion of building a community to create a buzz and excitement for their product by energizing the groundswell.
Most recently, Old Navy promised it's customers that once they hit 5 million fans on Facebook, users would receive a special surprise from the store. They asked their Facebook fans to "like" their page, and then share the video below with their friends to encourage them to like Old Navy's page as well.
Old Navy was successful in it's goal and they recently hit the 5 million fan mark, and shared this video.
Both videos show people coming together and being excited to go shop at Old Navy. And as you can see, they used their fans to create the actual coupon that was the gift for reaching 5 million fans.
This campaign has been going on since the end of September and ended October 9th when they reached their goal. During this time, there was a definite spike in blog mentions, according to Icerocket. But as soon as the goal was reached, there was a significant drop off in blog mentions. They've since made a recovery in mentions.
Google Trends also shows a significant spike in interest during the 5 million fan campaign.
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| Social Mention- October 8th-12th |
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| October 15th-21st |
The information I gathered from Social Mention showed that there was a significant decrease in Old Navy's strength of discussion over 2 weeks, from 26% to 3%. However there was an increase in sentiment and passion and a reduction in reach. Most of the sentiment in both weeks was either postive or neutral and very little negativity in the mentions of Old Navy.
Old Navy also saw an increase in followers both on Facebook and Twitter, even beyond the 5 million fans campaign. According to Starcount, on October 22, 2012, Old Navy increased their Facebook fans by 14,836 and their Twitter followers by 33.
When taking a closer look at Old Navy's Facebook and Twitter pages, the company definitely takes the time to respond to most of it's posts from fans--especially the negative ones. However, most responses are rather generic and refer customers with concerns or complaints either to in-store managers or to call the customer service hotline.
Overall, most of the negative posts had to do with the quality of the clothing--or lack thereof. Many people complained that the clothing they had purchased had fallen apart soon after washing them. This is something that Old Navy needs to take heed of. If they develop a reputation of having cheap clothing, that would be something that would be difficult to bounce back from.
Most of the positive posts were about products customers liked or wanted to see more of. Those posts were rarely responded to.
Although it is important for Old Navy to reach out to disgruntled or unhappy customers, it is also important for them to make the happy customers feel appreciated, so that they will continue to be loyal to the Old Navy brand, and continue to leave the positive feedback that is so important to the company and it's reputation.
Most posts from Old Navy on it's Facebook page try to enage customers in discussions about their products. Each week, a new item is featured and feedback about the item is encouraged. Many of the posts also gave advice on how to wear the product or how to accessorize.
The Facebook page seems more like blatant advertising and doesn't seek to engage customers beyond showing a product. I think it would do Old Navy well to become a bit more personalized with it's customers.
Over the next few weeks, I want to continue to monitor Old Navy's social media accounts to see if they can sustain their recent success with their 5 million fan campaign. I will also be interested to see if the posts complaining about the quality of their clothing will increase or decrease, and I would also like to see if Old Navy is better able to engage their customers--particularly their target audience of teenage girls and women.
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