1. CONSUMER INSIGHTS & CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
EMBA – BRAND & MARKETING
TENGKU BADARIAH
STUDENT ID: EMBA-BM-121521

2. About
founded by Giorgio Armani
belongs to Armani Fashion Group
Armani Exchange (often A|X) is a subsidiary brand of Giorgio Armani.
Giorgio Armani offers various fashion and clothing brands. These brands
are:
 Giorgio Armani Privé
 Giorgio Armani
 Armani Collezioni
 Emporio Armani
 AJ Armani Jeans
 A/X Armani Exchange
 Armani Junior
A|X is the lower priced line of Armani and its geared towards the young.
A|X was launched in 1991 in the U.S. A|X products are available exclusively
in 263 stores in 31 countries and on the brand's website.

3. About
A|X is accessible Armani, inspired by street-chic culture, fashionable dance music and
everything that signifies freedom and personal style. A|X is the youthful label created by Italian
designer and entrepreneur Giorgio Armani.
A|X designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails fashion and lifestyle products, including
apparel, accessories, eyewear, watches, jewelry, and music. The brand is inspired by “street-
chic” culture and fashionable dance music which derived from European styles and is constantly
gaining popularity among Americans.
A|X brand is known for its provocative advertisement campaigns and popularity among young
Hollywood pop culture celebrities which expended throughout young males and females across
the world.

4. CAMPAIGN: MARLON TEIXEIRA, CLINT MAURO & IRINA SHAYK FOR AX
ARMANI EXCHANGE SUMMER 2010 BY MATTHEW SCRIVENS

5. CAMPAIGN: MARLON TEIXEIRA, CLINT MAURO & IRINA
SHAYK FOR AX ARMANI EXCHANGE SUMMER 2010 BY
MATTHEW SCRIVENS
These 'Bodies of Summer' are 22 year old Marlon Teixeira from Brazil and 27 year old Russian, Irina
Shayk, who both also featured in the AX Neon sunglasses billboard. Photographed once more
by Matthew Scrivens, the trio journey to a beach in Parrot Cay, Turks & Caicos for an over the top
display of summer swimwear and sensuality
This billboard is youthful, sensual and a real attention grabber and was photographed on June
8, 2010 and its a real traffic stopper. How amazing is this steamy swimwear billboard for A|X, with
those rippling biceps and sexy, sand covered models.
The underlying message of the advertisement is clearly expressing sex. The main characters are
the man and the women lying on the beach, while they both have well-shaped bodies.
The man is topless and the women is wearing swimming suit under a sleeveless top, showing her
skinny legs and arms. The background setting in the picture is a wild nature as the wave is running
up to the beach.
The man is looking at the woman’s face, yet the woman is facing the audience with an anxious
facial expression. I was attracted to the image of a fashion brand, A|X, and hence determined
to further explore the products of this brand. The affection of an ad is acknowledged since
emotions, desires, and fantasies are appealed through our connection to media when we share
“popular culture”. It gives the audience a mood of nature and a sense of freedom.

6. T-Plan
Target Audience A|X mainly targets the American market.
A|X is a brand focused on the young generation who are outgoing fun
and proudly represent the brand.
A|X target costumer is “contemporary, focused, modern and fast”. A|X is
not for everyone. It is targeted towards young man and women whose
ages vary from 18 to 32 years old and middle-class Americans .
Recommendation Fashion forecasting is nothing more than predicting the mood, behavior
and buying habits of the customers, who are no longer identified by
traditional norms of age, geography or income.
A|X should also consider to target on Asian market and to feature Asian
models in their campaign. Asian teenagers spend money on more
expensive brands of clothing for urban market.

7. T-Plan
Target Objective Targeted at youth looking for designer clothing on a budget. A|X
moderately prices with most products priced under MYR300.
Recommendation The advertisement is selling more than the product it offers, yet it sells
images and beliefs that might not be acceptable in nowadays’ society.
The advertisement does not telling the truth about value and quality of a
product.
The average median monthly disposable salary (After Tax) for people living
in Kual Lumpur, Malaysia is MYR3000 per month. This shows that prices need
to be a little lower than in the U.S market however there is still a substantial
profit margin to be made. This makes A|X products globally known and
holds a competitive price against other high fashion brands.

8. T-Plan
Target Belief A|X provides customers with the complete feel of the luxurious fashion at
affordable price.
Showing the hidden message of sex is to be revealed to the audience if
only critically analyzed.
The sex appeal is injected with the sexual power and attractive element to
the ads. They are associated with the brand and so are the products.
Recommendation When the audience looks at ad casually, they are not able to decode the
message easily from it, but their “unconscious wants” within them will draw
their attention. Their desire to buy the designer product persuade them to
buy the product.
The target audiences of the ad are mostly teenagers. They are at the
stage of life, developing from kids to young adults. Thus A|X are exploring
the adult world, while sex are something that they wanted and curious
about which is not suitable ads for teenagers.
The attitude of youthful optimism and glamorous exhibitionism, while
highlighting the seasons soft, clean, and sophisticated pieces may make
A|X Armani Exchange the label of choice.

9. T-Plan
Target Insight The advertisement is full of underlying messages that convince us to buy the
products, as it implies sex, escape, dominance, and aesthetic sensations.
Recommendation To purchase a garment from Armani Exchange does not technically help to
increase our attractiveness towards the opposite sex, if you do not have a
well-built body and enough self-confidence.
Since the inner beauty is more important than the outer appearance, we
should have positive values and beliefs in order to maintain high self-
esteem.
Especially for the target audience – teenager – whose personal values are
immature, the hidden messages are influential to their undeveloped mind.
As the unemployment rate increases year by year, the stress degree of
American’s living hood rises while struggling with bad economy. They may
not have a good mood to go outdoors. However, by looking at the ad with
a background of nature, they are allowed to enjoy the beauty of nature
created by the ad. For instance, some people like landscapes since these
photographs or paintings are functional to get a feeling of suburban areas
when they are actually living in urban.

10. T-Plan
Target Reaction A|X is on it. Which means to say, its target audience is an individual who
has his or her finger on the pulse of the latest, the hippest and the coolest.
In other words, a trendsetter.
Recommendation The advertiser transits the sex appeal to youths by implying sex messages in
the ad of the brand.
The youths may believe that the products can raise their sex appeal and
become attractive.
Teenagers do not fully understand the impact that advertising has on
them. Advertisers are well aware of these qualities when they concoct
strategies to reach the youth market. The positive and emotionally
provocative ads proved more successful than negative attack ads.

11. Core Creative Direction “Romance Angle”
CAMPAIGN: MARLON TEIXEIRA, CLINT MAURO & IRINA SHAYK FOR AX
ARMANI EXCHANGE SUMMER 2010 BY MATTHEW SCRIVENS
It’s featured in black and white as the main colors because cold colors
can bring the viewer’s mind to beyond the reality.
The affection of an ad is acknowledged since emotions, desires, and
fantasies are appealed through our connection to media when we share
“popular culture”.
Therefore, it is essential to be able to notice the messages of the
advertisements that we are presented with, before we purchase both
material products and imaginary fantasies.
To analyze why we are attracted by an ad, we should explore how the ad
appeals to us and what the ad is selling other than the product itself.
Thus, not only does the advertisement appeal sex and escape, but it also
infers the need for dominance and aesthetic sensations.
It’s up to you to decide! No matter what side you choose, it’s going to be
opted with sexiness, hotness, elegance and chic: because let’s face it, we
are talking about Armani, here!