RIVSAULT CAMPAIGN CRITICAL REFLECTION

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Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the MA Media and Public Relations:

The making of the PR campaign

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 Introduction

RIVSAULT is a PR campaign for the high street fashion brand giant, River Island. This

campaign was an atypical one due to the following reasons: The dynamic nature of the target

market, post covid 19 pandemic, the postmodernist culture of the target market, and recent socio-

economic problems encountered in the western world. This needed a campaign awareness

program that focused on a topic with a powerful message and includes all members of the

community. This was the only way to reach out to the target audience who are mostly young men

and women aged between 18 and 30. The characteristics of the campaign were monitored and

recorded to draw useful conclusions for future campaigns. This document will analyze and

explain such characteristics.

The fashion companies that tried to have a PR campaign like this one include Zara and

Victoria Beckham. These companies had a failed campaign that cost them millions due to sales

drops. This presented a new challenge for the River Island campaign team who wanted to change

all that and be a trailblazer in the post-modern era of PR. The goal of the company is to turn the

more volatile and dynamic market of the young into a more loyal base. This is for the future

realization of the company’s dream of being a mid-level high street fashion brand with no

characteristics whatsoever of fast fashion industries. This will be further discussed in this

document.
 What is River Island company and its position in the industry

This company is one of the most interesting companies in the European fashion industry.

It is among the handful of textile-based companies that existed before the mass production of

clothing started in the mid-20th century. The fact that it is among the leading brands in the high

street fashion scene, makes it more adapted to the modern market than most brands. This is one

of the features of the company that made this campaign a success. There is sufficient evidence to

suggest that the company has been shaped by the market ever since the industrial age. This does

not mean that it is out of the woods just yet. We are no longer in the industrial ages, but rather in

the information age. This is described by high uncertainties in the market, globalization, and a

highly dynamic population.

The fashion market has many levels but we considered only five major ones. These

include the value market, the fast fashion market (low-class high street), middle-class high street,

high-end high street, and luxury brands. According to (Venkatasamy 2015), fashion market

levels are used to communicate certain aspects of the community partaking in it and the society

at large. River Island can therefore be described by the market it has cornered. Interviewed

people in the UK described it as a rather sunny feeling British swagger. Lately, though, most

blogs such as the Outlandishblogpost, describe it as a fast-fashion company due to a recent

scandal. In 2019 the company had to return several outfits because chemical tests found

dangerous amounts of lead on outfits on the shelves.

The market characteristics were crucial in shaping the PR campaign plan. Their

descriptions are illustrated below;

Figure 1: Modern fashion company characteristics

Market level Major characteristics Examples of the

(ranked by the brands with net

average cost of a revenue

single unit of

product)

Value market Very cheap products Primach (1.1 bn)

Large production volumes within a very short

time

Non-seasonal apparel

Huge profits

Low-quality materials used

Largest market share

Fast fashion market Mass-produced products with very short Zara fashion company

– the largest fashion

 timelines company worldwide

Customers expect high quality for a very low in size

price River Island (890

Flagship stores in major streets of cities million dollars)

Try to sell to everyone

Mid-level high Difficult to sell in due to loyal brand customers Erdem

street market Specific brand awareness in the market (they Mulberry

don’t try to sell to everyone) Self-Portrait (2.9 bn)

Intermediate cost of products

High-end high Focus on the core customers Burbor (23 bn)

street market Very refined and high quality

Seasonal attire for seasons, times of days, etc.

Very expensive

Luxury market This is an elite market with very few market Gucci (18 bn)

base Louis Vitton (16 bn)

These are the trailblazers

Exclusive and high risk

The most expensive products

 Campaign research theory

Given the above background information about the brand, the competitors, and the

market, the next step is refining the PR campaign to fit the specific objectives. The company has

taken various stands over the years concerning how they organize and do business. The current

business identity is sustainable fashion products. This is perfect for the target market who are

more concerned about the environment than their predecessors (Venkatasamy 2015). This means

the brand of the company is an asset already thus no need for rebranding. The main purpose of

this PR is the promotion of the brand as being true to its mission statements. This should create

an impact that nullifies all the past mistakes like the 2019 lead poisoning scandal and strengthen

the brand of the company

We know that any PR campaign has clear objectives that shape the components of the

plans, including strategies and tactics (Thompson 2022). This comes from the problem

statements meant to be solved at the end of the campaign period.

Figure 2: Components of a PR campaign

 The problem statement is the opportunity of the PR campaign to make an impact. This is

what makes out campaign shine. Scandals that impact most large industries are either production

design problems or supply chain breakages (Douglas, et-al 1996). This case is a mixture of both

the recent history of the company and current events (global pandemic ) that make this an

atypical campaign. This data was obtained from primary data from sampled customers,

secondary sources from research papers, and recent PR campaigns from competitors (Zara’s

failed PR campaign for plus-sized models). Qualitative research, done by focus groups, brought

to light various issues such as the random nature of the target audience. This parameter goes

against common knowledge of impulse buyers being predictable in the current markets.

According to Forbes’s Public Relations Campaigns textbook, focus groups define the

target public, they provide first-hand information concerning the parameters that matter for

outcome prediction and test the developed campaign materials. The focus groups adopted by the

campaign team comprised individuals extracted from different socio-economic categories,

genders, age groups, and academic qualifications. We put control measures for accuracy

purposes by involving known biased individuals who were never fashion enthusiasts, for

example, members of the public from orthodox religious groups with strict fashion sense. This

led to the identification of sexual awareness as the main theme to highlight the branding

initiative. This also goes in line with the company’s mission of ethical ambassadorship through

active social justice movements in society.

The data obtained from the research narrowed down the target market to the youth

between 18 and 30. However, this created a conflict with River Island’s long-term goals which

include shifting away from fast fashion to a more lucrative but risky middle-class high street

market. This was offset by the realization that the youth market is volatile though lucrative.
Frankly speaking, the young don’t know what they want so long as they have a reason to identify

in a group. This phenomenon has been underutilized by the fashion industry but this campaign

predicts the transformation of short attention span group into loyal long-term customers.

The case study for this reasoning was found within the gaming universe. Companies like

Microsoft enjoy a very stable fan base who are solid and ensures fixed yearly revenues for the

company. The demographic taped is the 18 to 30 age group.

Figure 3:Microsoft's gaming PR campaign that allowed gamers and game developers to come together and fight sexism in the
gaming industry
 How to communicate the vision of the PR campaign

At the end of the campaign, the brand awareness should have increased by the index KPI

of about 40%. The period of the campaign is limited to under 1 month ending with a fashion

show event that will be announced at the beginning of the campaign. This is because most youths

do not participate in any course for a long time (Forbes, et-al 2016). The strategies put in place

are meant to engage them and keep their attention to the very end. The fashion show will act as

an event marking the defeat of the sexual assault epidemic in the UK.

Budgeting

The massive investment needed for a campaign lasting a longer period is not acceptable

due to financial constraints. The main cause for this is the high ratio of the number of employees

and moderators to the audience. The model used will have the market itself treated like the brains

of the operation and River Island as a guide. To ensure organization and planning completion,

highlighted details about the construction of the event and the budget are the venue, date of the

event, decorations, catering, staff, security, insurance, audiences, invitations, and press coverage,

The research done concerning the venue themes were outsourced to the public. The result was

pretty much mainstream ideas thus an UN-inspired theme was selected.

Event theoretical strategies and assessment

The predictability of the target market reduces over time when engaged at first (Wu, et-al

2016). The plan is meant to capture the attention of most people during the first days and then

engage them for a while towards a specific objective (fighting sexual assault by creating

awareness under the umbrella of River Island). This will be done first by creating an initial

media contact that will be newsworthy and viral in the social media outlets. Engagement will
have to create the impression that the audience is the ones in the driver's seat. This will mean

tapering off from legacy campaign procedures including multiple press conferences. Public

speaking and direct audience engagement will make the participants be the heroes of the story

creating a sense of achievement at the conclusion that will last for decades.

Mass media and social media will be used simultaneously during the first announcement

of the campaign. This will be necessary to ensure the ambition of the team to make the

#RIVSAULT trend and thus become the main parameter to be used to track the information for

review concerning the level of success of the campaign. The theory teaches us that specific

measures are necessary to determine the completion of various objectives of the campaign. The

success level is put at a threshold of 500,000 cumulative viewers and listeners within 24 hours on

various social media platforms. This is the threshold that qualifies River Island to trend in the top

10 on Twitter in the UK. This is unachievable when considering a newsworthy press conference

and social media alone. The research done determined April as the best time to start the

campaign since it is the sexual assault awareness month. the publicity and awareness KPI for the

movement will piggyback our campaign to its desired milestones. This is an unconventional

tactic but it is necessary for the demographic at hand.

The critical theories in PR include cultural studies – the study of the roots of society,

semiotics – which entails the use of signs and symbols, and postmodernism – which is the

permanent state of uncertainty concerning any unified social construct. These dimensions are

determined by the ideology, power, culture, and meaning conveyed to the audience. The

complete breakdown of the modern UK youth led to the utilization of different messages

conveyed in a user-defined format for communication. This culminates in the primary use of

memes as a 2-way communication tactic. Memes are graphically altered pictures and words that
convey deeper cultural meanings within different groups in society. They are the epitome of the

post-modern era. This has never been used in the fashion industry but its influence is

undoubtedly felt in other industries like entertainment (motion picture, gaming, sports etcetera).

River Island will be the first to utilize this power using an online meme competition that

is focused on bringing the multi polarized groups of people, who are the major characteristic of

the post-modern era. Memes combine the aspect of ideology, culture, semiotics, postmodernism,

power, and audience in a phenomenal way that has never been documented but its impact is

known worldwide.

Figure 4: Graph showing different trend popularity indexes over different periods
CONCLUSION

Planning a PR campaign is the bulk of the entire process and the execution becomes organized

and cheap since errors are expensive. Research is crucial but thankfully due to social media, the

public can provide first-hand information relevant to the campaign’s success. Strategies and

tactics used were limited due to the over-reliance on social media. This can be an advantage

when considering the ease of communication. It can be a great disadvantage when considering

the diversity of the demographics. It is well known that different social media platforms are

polarized and biased thus skewed information is a risk. I would recommend more budget

allocation to utilize both social media and legacy media in campaigns.

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