Hype (marketing)

Hype in marketing is a strategy of using extreme publicity. Hype as a modern marketing strategy is closely associated with social media.

Marketing
Key concepts
Promotional content
Promotional media
Research

Marketing through hype often uses artificial scarcity to induce demand. Consumers of hyped products often participate as a form of conspicuous consumption to signify characteristics about themselves.[1]

Hype allows brands to promote their image above the actual quality of the product. Streetwear brands have collaborated with luxury fashion to justify charging premium prices for their goods.[2] As an example, fashion label Vetements used social media channels to promote a limited-edition hoodie which sold 500 units in hours, recording sales of €445,000.[3]

When hype marketing is used to drive demand for limited-edition goods, consumers sometimes attempt resell those good on secondary markets for a profit (comparable to ticket scalping). The resale market is a $24 billion dollar industry.[4]

Method

Luxury brands may release products as a collaborate with ready-made garment brands as a way to build hype.[5] Collaborations have been used by some luxury brands to circumvent fast fashion brands copying their designs.[6]

NYU Professor Adam Alter says that for an established brand to create a scarcity frenzy, they need to release a limited number of different products, frequently.[7]

Hype is often built via Pop-up retail. Comme des Garçons was one of the first to use this strategy, leasing a short-term vacant shop solved the storage problems of releasing product for quick sale.[8]

The term ‘hypebeast’ has been coined to define consumers vulnerable to hype marketing. The origins of the term come from the Hong Kong based company Hypebeast. The behaviours of the hypebeast define hype marketing; the purchase of popular goods they can’t afford to impress others.[9] Hype also manifests itself in queues with brands often retailing hyped products through pop-up stores.[10][11] The use of hype has created a range of associated expressions;

  • 'Drop' - the actual release of the product
  • 'Cop' - to purchase the product
  • 'Taking the L' - unsuccessful in attempt to purchase the product

Many luxury brands release hyped products via their online shop. This has led to the creation of companies that allow consumers to use bots to guarantee or improve their chances of purchasing a limited-edition product.[12]

See also

References
  1. Cassidy, Nicholas George (2018). The Effect of Scarcity Types on Consumer Preference in the High-End Sneaker Market. Appalachian State University.
  2. Mitterfellner, Olga (2019). Fashion Marketing and Communication. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9780429837166.
  3. Porter, Charlie (April 18, 2018). "How to build a hype brand". The Financial Times.
  4. "The hype machine: Streetwear and the business of scarcity". BBC.
  5. "Brand collaborations: What worked in 2019". Vogue Business. November 18, 2019.
  6. Cohen, Arielle K. (2012). Designer Collaborations as a Solution to the Fast- Fashion Copyright Dilemma. Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property.
  7. Alter, Adam (2017). Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780735222847.
  8. "How Comme Des Garçons Changed Retail With Its Pop-Up Stores". Fashion Industry Broadcast. December 30, 2016.
  9. "What Is A Hypebeast? 5 Important Aspects of the Hypebeast Lifestyle". Bustle. July 14, 2015.
  10. Hawes, Byron (June 26, 2018). Drop. powerHouse Books. ISBN 9781576878781.
  11. Renwick, Finlay (December 20, 2019). "How Waiting In Line Became The Biggest Fashion Trend Of The 2010s". Esquire magazine.
  12. Izundu, Chi Chi (January 14, 2020). "Why people use bots to buy limited edition trainers". BBC News.
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