Beginning Stages

Multimedia is quickly becoming the norm, incorporating various forms of media for tasks in business, advertising and marketing, research, the arts, education, etc. More specifically, multimedia incorporates print, television, music, the internet, radio and various other mediums to further deliver messages and share content. Over the past few years, media has advanced at an exponential rate, increasing the use of new mediums and social networking. With the increased normalcy of multimedia, many new trends are being uncovered. 


Along with multimedia, brand advocacy has also become a growing concept, especially in the world of advertising. Brand advocacy is becoming more and more pertinent to the advertising industry as more and more consumers develop their lives to encompass the essence of their favorite brands through purchasing, discussing, influencing, etc. A brand advocate has become accepted as someone who discusses a brand and its products in a favorable manner, passing the information along to other people through word-of-mouth. As brand advocacy grows, consumers are beginning to rely more on the advocates' recommendations rather than traditional advertising messages. With multimedia, brand advocates have the ability to contribute to brand growth through a more interactive form of word-of-mouth.

Word-of-mouth has existed for centuries and for the past few decades, it has become an advantage to advertisers and brand messaging. In the advertising industry, word-of-mouth is the unpaid promotion and recommendation of satisfied consumers who discuss their views of a specific brand with other people. With the expansion of multimedia, word-of-mouth has been given more space to reach larger audiences and present more messages. Multimedia has allowed word-of-mouth to not only become a pertinent outlet for the advertising industry, but it has also become a way for consumers to interact on a more personal level and influence the purchases of other consumers.

J.Crew is a brand that is very familiar with brand advocates and their influence on brand expansion. Brand advocates for J.Crew are not few in number or resources, as they share their thoughts through blogs, tweets, Facebook likes, YouTube videos, etc.  Multimedia plays a large part in consumerism today, allowing consumers to actually spread and deliver brand messages themselves.

One example of a J.Crew advocate can be found at Jcrewaddict.com, a blog about a girl and her addiction with a store. J.Crew Addict illustrates how consumer word-of-mouth can influence the image of a brand and the decisions of other consumers. This blog in particular shows what being "addicted to a brand" and advocating that brand really is. The author hosts discussions about the brand and its products, allowing herself to become completely engulfed in that brand's world. Along with hosting discussions, the author describes the actual products and why they are important to her. Subscribers of the blog are able to view and even share this information, therefore further extending the audience of Jcrewaddict's positive word-of-mouth. Readers of the blog or even random searchers seeing this information are being exposed to branded messages.

Multimedia is creating a circular pattern, adding to the consumer culture by providing a more interactive landscape that both assists in brand building and further adding to brand addiction.