Live Colorfully

In 1993, Kate Brosnahan Spade delved into the handbag industry and designed just six silhouettes, combining sleeks designs with colorful palettes. The designs caught on quickly, and the company's first storefront opened in 1996. Kate Spade New York has since then grown into a globally-recognized brand, offering anything from handbags to stationery to clothing. According to the Kate Spade website, the company's hallmarks include crisp color, graphic prints and playful sophistication. The company's slogan is Live Colorfully. Kate Spade is consistent across all platforms, making it one of the most successful brands in e-commerce at utilizing multimedia communications. 

Here is how Kate Spade does it: 

Product: You can't have a successful brand without a successful product. One of Kate Spade's biggest strengths is its constant introduction of new products for different occasions. For 2014, Kate Spade is capitalizing on the idea of traveling, and of course, traveling colorfully. Not only is the company giving away a trip to Rio, it is also introducing new arrivals that are reminiscent of a tropical paradise. The campaign has been extremely consistent with the overall brand. 

Character, Tone and Language: Going off of this chart in the Social Media Examiner, Kate Spade's character is extremely warm and inspiring. The typical Kate Spade woman is smart and sophisticated, and their brand often reflects this. The language is also very personable and insider-like. They speak to their customers as equals, and they hard ever "sell" their products. (At least to me it never feels like selling.) Instead, they sell their brand. A lot of their posts could pass as posts that my own friends write and share, as demonstrated by the Facebook post below. Kate Spade is notorious for writing in all lower caps, including on their website, as that is how their logo is designed and written. 

Imagery: The typical Kate Spade imagery is colorful and true to their brand. They create custom graphics for just about everything, and it's clear that their graphic designers work closely with the e-commerce and social media teams. Everything is very cohesive, and you can usually spot a Kate Spade graphic from a mile away. 

Blog: Kate Spade's blog is a written collection of all the brand's interests: lifestyle, travel, behind-the-scenes and fashion. A majority of their posts are holiday-based such as a Mother's Day themed blog post where staff members divulged the best advice they ever received from mom and what to gift her. Once again, the posts are extremely personable.

E-mail updates: I get a Kate Spade e-newsletter twice a week, always recognizable by their signature lower caps  and teaser subject line. Below is an example I received on April 21 with the subject line "april showers bring..." One again, very Kate Spade and nothing like "You have to shop!" or "Must buy!" It's simple, catching and sealed with Kate Spade's signature imagery/text. I especially love their 75 percent off sales because newsletter subscribers are notified first. 

Facebook: A majority of Kate Spade's Facebook posts link back to their website, encouraging users to read their blog or browse their products. The theme is usually colorfully and obviously marked. All blog posts have a "read more" graphic on them, and promotions are colorful and usually consist of a custom graphic. 

Twitter: Kate Spade's Twitter threw me off when I first followed because it is just so casual and personable compared to most brands. A lot of it is just seems like someone on the team's thoughts, which is extremely consistent with the Kate Spade brand. Some of it is very subtle promotions of their products, such as the Memorial Day day post below.

Pinterest: Kate Spade's Pinterest is a collection of Kate Spade inspirations from around the web. Boards names include "Dress Colorfully," "Travel Colorfully," "Celebrate Colorfully," and more. I love that they keep a board of inspirations each year since they've joined Pinterest, according to specific marketing campaigns. For example, 2012 was the year of the pattern and 2014 is about places to go and people to see. Pins have the same consistent voice as the rest of their posts and are usually colorful (surprise!). 

Instagram/Tumblr: Kate Spade's Instagram is very similar to its Twitter. Most of the images are generated by the social media team, using the company's products in some creative manner or snapshots of the brand's travel log. I love they include personal team items, demonstrated by the Instagram below. Kate Spade's Tumblr is basically an album of their Instagram photos. 

YouTube: Kate Spade posts to YouTube to promote special collections or new locations. The videos are very clean, well-edited and bright. Below is the last video they posted to YouTube to promote their theme for 2014: travel colorfully. 

Kate Spade is a multimedia powerhouse, and the company's sales growth is projected to reach $1.2 billion by 2016. The brand is growing due to its consistency and understanding of how to engage with its audience. But most of all, you know what you're getting with Kate Spade: a quality product, great customer service and a friendly voice. The way Kate Spade presents itself is undeniably genuine, which encourages loyalty. This transparency translates into customer trust and recognition. 

Old vs. New

In examining the above "Classic Marketing & Social Media Marketing" chart, I am interested in comparing and contrasting scheduling and language.

Scheduling

When it comes to classic marketing, the chart says that campaigns are "planned both over and for long periods of time." Social media marketing, meanwhile, is not planned in detail, but exists as reactions to comments and requests. 

When it comes to scheduling, I don't think there is truly a "better" way. When I think of scheduled classic marketing, I think of unforgettable ad campaigns such as Nike's Just Do It or Got Milk. I'm sure campaigns like that took so much time and effort to not only plan, but to implement and stretch over time. They are now embedded in history, and those slogans will always bring up certain images and ideas for people. This is one instance where classic is better than social. Social is fleeting, but classic is memorable.

As for social media, I would first of all argue that for a lot of bigger brands, social media campaigns, like classic marketing campaigns, are planned well in advance. Take Wendy's new salad campaign, featuring models and clothing. Wendy's is a company that doesn't take their social media campaigns lightly, and you can tell just by looking at it that it must've been time-consuming. However, there are instances where an unplanned post can make a big impact. One that immediately comes to mind is Oreo's response to the Superbowl blackout in 2013, retweeted more than 15,000 times. Of course, Oreo had a social media team of 15 on hand that evening, but the photo was by no means planned.

I think social media marketing is beneficial when it comes to scheduling because PR disasters can be stopped in their tracks. For classic marketing, you often have to wait for things to blow over. With social media, you can respond to a complaint right away and take care of it. But, social media can also create PR disasters with its real-time responses. Take, for example, the time Applebee's started hiding and deleting negative comments over the termination of an employee.

I do believe that scheduling for both classic and social media marketing can work together. I love campaigns that translate from television, radio or even billboards to social media with hashtags or links. 

Language

Classic marketing language is very formal, complete and well thought-out, while social media marketing language is direct and genuine. They are similar in respect that they both need to stay true to the brand's overall voice. In this instance, however, I would have to argue that the new way is better. I think, for quite some time now, people have been tired of being talked at by marketers. How many times have you verbally responded to a television ad? Well, now you can get online and respond directly any way you choose and receive a response in return. This also relates to direction of communication.

Because we were often talked at, ads became boring, repetitive, and they all said the same things. I would argue that social media marketing language allows brands to be more creative. Just take a look at these examples. Now brands have a human component, and we don't feel as though we are talking to a corporate robot. Additionally, brands have more freedom with how they want to convey themselves, shown in the chart below. (As a side note, I think it's interesting how social media has revolutionized language, especially with emotions and communicating via images.)

I think if your brand is very formal, traditional marketing language may work. However, for most others, the more personable you are, the more your audience will like you. The two, of course, can coexist. Take Old Spice, for example. On television, the brand is absolutely hilarious, and they have translated that to social meida as well. I think as long as voice stays consistent, the classic and social media marketing can coexist.