Zoella

Question 1

Awards

Answer 1

cosmopolitan blog of the year award - 2011& 2012

Teen Choice Awards - Choice ‘webstar’ - 2014 & 2015

Question 2

Multi-Channel Networks
(MCNs)

Answer 2

MCNs = organisations that work with video platforms to offer assistance to channel owners in areas such as “product, programming, funding, digital right management. monetization / sales etc”

BASICALLY - they act as a manager for content creators
they:
- secure sponsorships / advertising deals
- provide creators with any media tech that they require for any more involved content they wish to create - EG film studios, sound crew etc
- will take a % of the revenue that is generated from these deals
-

Question 3

Brand Management - Stage 1 - Youtube Partnership Programme

Answer 3

• Youtube Partnership Programme = quite early on Zoe was able to ‘monetise’ her video through this programme

channels required to have over 1000 subscribers and over 4000 hrs of their content viewed

Zoella’s channel has always been user friendly with non-offensive, mainstream content so this was easily achieved

results in targeted ads with a 55/45% split of the revenue between creator and Youtube

Question 4

Brand management - 2010 (ish)

Answer 4

Zoe joins her first MCN - Style Haul

Style Haul = subsidiary of media conglomerate RTL

agency also managed a number of other high profile content creators and influencers

Question 5

Brand Management - 2013

Answer 5

Zoe left Style Haul and joined Gleam Futures

Gleam Fututres - amongst oter things secured her deals with a number of high street chains for her range of beauty & lifestyle products - EG Zoella lifestyle & beauty sold in Boots

Alfie Dyes = previously sogned with Gleam Futures but left in 2018 to start A-Z Creatives with Zoe

Zoe = still contracted under Gleam when she co-founded A-Z Creatives

Question 6

Brand Management - 2021

Answer 6

contract with Gleam Futures ended

move to A-Z Creatives as her full time MCN management

As a co-director of this agency she was essentially managing herself

vertical integration - doing it all yourself - logic of profit and power - Curran & Seaton

Question 7

A-Z Creatives

Answer 7

MCN co-founded by Zoe SUgg and her partner Alfie Deyes in 2018

Zoella joined in 2021

Short lived - company wound up (closed down) in March 2022

May hav been a move to distance the Zoella brand from the controversy of Zoe Sugg (a multi-millionaire) using the government furlough scheme to pay the employees during the first lockdown.

Had a legal right but morally looked bad

reputation = everything to influencers

Question 8

Brand Management - Today

Answer 8

Today the Zoella brand id run entirely independently without the interference of any third party management services.

Probably ran by Zoe Sugg Ltd - Zoe’s own personal company

Curran & Seaton and Hesmondhalgh - it’s logical - doing it all in-house allows full control and minimises risk

the brand has vertically integrated and diversified

HOWEVER, it has not attempted to horizontally integrate any other companies - less typical practice due to ‘democratisation’ of the internet.

Question 9

Zoe Sugg - Profile

Answer 9

• 2009 = 19-year-old Zoe Sugg begins a blog about fashion, lifestyle and beauty under the nickname ‘Zoella’ - within a year it had a thousand followers
• late 2009 = diversified into a vlog - creating & posting video content to the Zoella Youtube channel
• Been in a relationship with Alfie Deyes (social media influencer) since 2012 - a lot of content about their lives together.
• The couple live together in Brighton - THE cool, trendy, m/c place to live
• 2014 = named the first ‘digital ambassador’ for Mind, the mental health charity and has spoken openly about her own anxieties
• 2021 = gave birth to first child - a lot of recent posts to her Morezoella channel have been about her pregnancy and ‘journey’ to motherhood.
• £50k a month from business interests
• Active across a range of social media platforms (2013 - Telegrapher named her ‘one of britain’s most influential Tweeters)

Question 10

Audience - Female

Answer 10

Targeted through content being about traditionally female interests (fashion, beauty etc)

gendered language - ASOS Try on Haul - “girlfriends” - assumes her audience is female and so excludes any other gender

Presents herself as stereotypically feminine - always has make-up done and hair styled
dress codes = dangly earrings and delicate necklaces and stereotypically feminine dresses and floral patterns (EG Ultimate Pizza Taste Test with Mark video)

Website = all blogs and images laid out in blocks / rectangles = connotations of a magazine = stereotypically read by women and the majority of which are targeted at women EG lifestyle and beauty mags like cosmopolitan

Question 11

Audience - Middle class

Answer 11

vlogging = showing her home and lifestyle - she is middle class so middle class audiences can relate to this

Shop Zoella = always trying to sell something - audience needs a disposable income

ASOS Try on Haul = talks about her holiday and buying clothes for her holiday - only richer audiences would be able to relate to this

paid partnership with ASOS to try and persuade audience to buy from the shop - disposable income

BC1C2 - m/c with a decent level of education

Question 12

Audience - teens and young adult

Answer 12

Makes videos on current trends
EG 7 second challenge with MIranda Sings

dress codes = current and on trend
EG wearing a choker in June Favourites 2016

brand collaborations with companies with a similar target audience - EG Primark and ASOS

Zoella lifestyle - selling homewear products - audience = maybe moving out for the first time and need decorations / furniture

Question 13

Audience - Active

Answer 13

Para-social relationship - comments section, likes etc
EG ASOS Try On Haul = asks audience to act as her ‘girlfriends’ and comment their opinions on the products in the comments section ‘ what do you guys think?’

Website - uses navigation bar with buttons and a drop down menu with internal links to blogs where the audience can select which one they want to read

Shirky end of audience theory - Zoe is a consumer turned producer

Jenkins fandom theory - fans have created their own ‘zalfie’ edits and posted them to Youtube (inadvertently promoting Zoella)

Question 14

Audience - Young and Rubicam’s 4C’s theory

Answer 14

Mainstream & Aspirers = very much into fashion and trends (the ‘zeitgeist’) attracted by consumer items that connote exclusivity status - EG ‘Full Face of Glossier Makeup’ - Glossier only has one shop in the whole of the UK located in London

Aspirant tribe - Aspirant tribe: Zoella is concerned to be ‘on-trend’ - she is constantly
chasing latest fashions. Zoella’s vlogging lifestyle also represents an ideal
job choice. Her wardrobe choices and hairstyles reflect a brand driven
outlook. Her partnerships and activities foreground a concern to be a
‘social butterfly’.

Question 15

Representation - applicable adjectives

Answer 15

• Youthful
• fun-loving
• upbeat
• ‘authentic’
• m/c
• educated
• heartfelt
• ‘kooky’
• chic
• stylish
• sophisticated
• fallible
• responsible
• emotional
• intimate
• friendly
• heteronormative
• traditional
• stereotypical
• independent
• empowered
• family-oriented
• home-centred
• maternal (lately)
• mainstream
• user-friendly
• non-controversial
• family friendly
• feminine

Question 16

Zoella - Products & Merchandise

Answer 16

• zoella beauty = 2014
• director of ‘ZS Beauty Ltd’ & ‘ZS Lifestyle’ = 2016 (splitting into 2 companies = Hesmondhalgh’s cultural industry theory of minimising risk)
• Zoella Beauty and Lifestyle products enjoy a range of distribution deals with major UK high street retailers EG Boots, Superdrug, House of Fraser and Dunelm
• 2019 = Zoella Beauty and Lifestyle products were discontinued and companies wound up
  Zoe said she had a different ‘vision’ for what she wanted to do in the future
  May also reflect eh challenges of being successful in the highly competitive and saturated beauty industry.
  Revenue from these products = estimated £3.8 million per year
• 2016 = launched online merch store ‘Sugg Life’ with brother Joe Sugg.
  This sold Zoella branded stickers, hoodies and phone cases
  Hosted by Creator Store - an online shop owned by Alfie Deyes and the CEO of Gleam Futures
• 2018 = Sugg Life store no longer active - reflecting the very brief life span of many internet companies - incorporated for a single purpose and then dissolved rather than grown of diversified (challenges Curran & Seaton)

Question 17

Social Media - Growth & Regulation

Answer 17

• the arrival of ever-increasing broadband speeds in the mid 2000s and the explosion of the era known as ‘web 2.0’ the internet started to become truly interactive for large audiences and social media began to develop as a legitimate media form.
• social media remains controversial in terms of how it can be regulated

very little ‘official’ regulation possible

all current social media platforms ‘self-regulate’

Consumers rely on the companies being responsible and not wanting to damage their own reputations or lose audiences through inappropriate content.

Are these powerful companies only doing just enough regulation to maintain their reputation?

Livingstone and Lunt - citizen vs consumer and large companies using their power to influence how much regulation they are subject to.

Question 18

Social Media - Growth and Regulation in terms of Zoella

Answer 18

• Largely subjected to 2 forms of regulation:
  1) Terms of Service
  2) Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

Terms of Service:
- vlog and all video content published on YouTube is subject to its Terms of Service
- As are her Tweets, Instagram posts etc - each of their organisation’s terms of service

Advertising Standards Authority:
- UK’s independent advertising regulator across all media platforms
- is responsible for regulating bloggers/vloggers who advertise products through their content.
- Zoella’s sponsored promotions (EG ASOS try on haul) and marketing of her own products are subject to regulation by the ASA
- Zoella has been subject to complaints from the ASA in the past - EG 2019 encouraged her followers to buy the dress she was wearing without making it clear that ASOS had paid her to promote the item.

Question 19

Zoella - Sponsorships & Partnerships

Answer 19

• 2019 = limited edition ‘vintage’ makeup range on collaboration with ColourPop (US cosmetics company)
• 2019 = collaborated on the development of Filmm (a mobile photo app) and Template (a mobile editing app)
• 2020 = announced a home wares collaboration with Etsy - selling her items and products from other Etsy sellers she has ‘curated’
• 2020 = worked with Lush to produce products that promote ‘online’ mental health - she herself created a bath bomb for the range

Question 20

Zoella - Books

Answer 20

Zoe Sugg has ‘authored’ a number of books including:
- 3 novels in the Girl Online series (2014, 2015 & 2016)
- ‘Cordially Invited’ - non-fiction book about cooking % hosting (2018) - traditional, domestic representation of women
- The Magpie Society (2020 & 2021) - 2 novels for children (planned trilogy)

Question 21

Influencing and Reputation

Answer 21

reputation = EVERYTHING for an influencer

The continually evolving media industry is a very difficult place to become ‘secure’

Therefore, Zoella has had to be very careful ta avoid any form of controversy that may affect her image - may get cancelled and lose her audience or brands do not want to associate themselves with her / her brand.

Hesmondhalgh = this is one reason why she began to diversify into more traditional types of media (TV, sponsored advertising and print - books)

Question 22

Zoella - controversies

Answer 22

• 2014 = it emerges that her first novel ‘Girl Online’ was likely ghost written by another author on her behalf. She did not publicly comment on the rumour but the sequels are described as ‘collaborations’ with another author
• 2014 = criticised for filming a vlog whilst driving - critics deemed her irresponsible and a bad example for her young audience
• 2017 = criticised for poor quality of Zoella advent calendar being sold through Boots for £50 - she claimed to have no control over the retail price but issued an apology
• 2017 = posts that Sugg made on social media between 2009 and 2012 in which she makes homophobic statements and mocks ‘chavs’ are reported in the press - she issued a public apology
• 2020 = used the government furlough scheme to pay the wages of her staff at A-Z Creatives during the first lockdown - had a legal right but morally (as a multi-millionaire) it looked very bad and she received some very negative publicity in the press as a result
• 2019 = given warning by ASA for not making it clear that she was paid by ASOS to promote a dress to her followers in one of her paid partnerships.

Question 23

Zoe Sugg - Work in other media

Answer 23

• 2014 = Guest appearances on both This Morning and Loose Women - both ‘magazine’ style shows known for covering lifestyle and women’s issue topics
• 2015 = Band Aid 30 charity single (with Alfie Deyes) - first non-singer celebrities to appear on a Band Aid record
• 2015 = Appears in a special edition of The Great British Bake Off for Comic Relief.
• various photoshoots for women’s lifestyle magazined, particularly Cosmopolitan (Younger adult, pro-feminist, but still arguably mainstream in its ideology)
• 2018 - Appears as a guest on the podcast of established, mainstream, lifestyle presenter Fearne Cotton

Zoella’s appearances on other media tend to ‘play it safe’ in terms of programmes that feature conent with which she is already associated.

Question 24

Zoella - Evolution of the Blog

Answer 24

• In its earlier form the house style of the blog evokes a very ‘homemade’ feel - like a teenage girl creatively designing the front page of her diary.
  The signature-based logo, the hand drawn party lights as a banner, the stereotypically feminine colour palette (including baby pink) creates a ‘faux-amateur’ look that fits the representation of one woman’s ‘authentic’ personal journal.
  This also helps to establish an intimate or ‘confessional’ mode of address with the reader.
• Early posts = hair, makeup & beauty topics with the occasional reference to her personal life & relationships
  Develops over the years with more intimate posts about her life and personal issues, as well as branching out to explore other typical ‘lifestyle’ content such as food, travel and events
• 2017 = updates to the blog become less frequent - focuses more on developing her YouTube career & other media interests.
• 2018 & 2019 = no blog posts at all
• November 2019 = blog undergoes a major redesign and new branding is introduced that establishes a more professional and ‘corporate’ look
  Mode of address moves from ‘I’ to ‘We’ with the majority of the posts being produced by ‘Team Zoella’ - a fact also reflected in the ‘Meet the Team’ button / section being included on the drop down menu on the website.
• Content is similar to before but with one new introduction; a section on ‘Sex and Health’
  Represents a dramatic shift away from Zoella’s original representation as a ‘teen friendly’ icon & reflects a clear business decision to move into more adult areas of lifestyle and woman’s issues - more likely to appeal to Zoe’s maturing audience.
  May also draw in other audiences she may have previously engaged with through her work with other media such as ‘Cosmopolitan’
• Advertising space is now sold on the site with major brands (EG designer fashion label Dune) taking up the option to market their products.
  Convergence with other social media platforms, such as an Instagram feed, is now better integrated into the page as well - through external hyperlinks easily visible on the homepage
• Zoella = now identified as ‘Editor in Cheif’ and has become much less of a personal presence on the blog.
  Shifting away from being the journal of an individual person to becoming an established media content brand.

Question 25

Zoella - Evolution of the Vlog

Answer 25

• The main Zoella channel has not been updated for over 3 years.
  Indicates a deliberate shift away from Zoella being associated solely with ‘teen’ makeup & style advice which would arguably conflict with the more mature branding the company is now trying to establish.
  However, the content on the channel remains monetised and receiving traffic, as well as signposting audiences to Zoella on other social media platforms.
  Over 10 million people are still subscribed
• ‘Zoe Sugg’ = the sister channel
  Is still being updated regularly as her personal channel.
  produces ‘intimate’, ‘confessional’ behind-the-scenes content it always has - Helping Sugg to maintain her prominence as an internet ‘personality’ and engage with audiences more interested in her day-to-day life and relationship with Alfie Deyes.
  Most of the recent content is centered around her journey as a new mother.
• However, the Zoe Sugg channel is now where Zoe posts her paid promotions
• Existing as an entirely separate entity, this channel allows Sugg to continue to connect with her existing fanbase whilst the Zoella brand develops and attempts to reach new audiences through its other media avenues - Hesmondhalgh minimising risk

Question 26

Prosumers - Key points

Answer 26

• Prosumer = someone who both consumes and produces products
• people have moved from being CONsumers to PROsumers with far more influence than ever before
• Businesses = no longer in complete control of their products, brand and messages.
  Today consumers are in control - leaders of this shift = members of the social web
  Bloggers, vloggers, social networking participants etc who spread messages act as opinion leaders and ‘influence’ people around the world, driving trends.

In some instances the word of an influencer can now ‘make or break’ for some products.

Question 27

Prosumers - Sources of Revenue

Answer 27

• Seeking representation through a Multi-channel Network (MCN)
• Monetising content
• Sponsorship by brands and paid promotions (ASOS try on haul)
• Merchandising (Zoella lifestyle & Beauty)
• Synergistical partnerships with other brands/producers
• advertising; such as:
  Display ads/banners
  Overlay ads
  Pre-roll video ads before vlog posts (skippable or not)

Question 28

Curran & Seaton - Power and media industries

Answer 28

• The ‘democratisation’ of social media (allowing anyone to become a media producer) has made it challenging for large media organisations to maintain their power.
  HOWEVER
  it is large media conglomerates that own most of the social media platforms (EG Meta owns Whatsapp, Instagram & Facebook)
• Zoella uses algortithmically appropriate and effective titles of her videos to ensure that she attracts a large audience and maximises advertising revenues.
• Until recently the blog and vlog produced the same kind of content that had success with the audience before - follows the logic of repeating or building on previous success.
  Illustrates a conscious limitation on creativity for the purpose of increasing profit and maintaining her ‘power’ as an influencer.
• Vlog posts use ‘clickbait’ such as ‘Huge Primark haul’ and ‘YouTube secrets’ in order to maximise and manipulate her TA to click on the video.
• Although there has been some recent creative developments on content (Sex & Health) this can be seen as a logical step in expanding audience outreach to new audiences and evidence of sound business sense in trying to better reflect both Zoella’s age and that of her established audience.
  This consolidates its ‘power’ as a more mature brand that deals with serious women’s issues in a post #metoo media landscape
  The expansion in content is for business and power purposes not creativity.
• Both the updated blog and the Zoe Sugg YouTube channel continue to exploit opportunities in advertising sales and sponsored promotions to maximise revenue (EG ‘A Fresg Start To 2023’ vlog includes a paid promotion for Hello Fresh)
• As Zoella brand has grown it has adopted the traditional business practices of larger media conglomerates more and more.
• HOWEVER, the relatively brief life span of a number of companies set up under the Zoella name, often created for a sole purpose, before being abandoned challenges the traditional industry logic of ‘growing’ companies and developing their longevity and influence over a considerable amount of time.

Question 29

Hesmondhalgh - Cultural Industries

Answer 29

• Technological change has allowed a new industry to grow and become very profitable.
• Zoella originally worked independently and even now only has a small production team. However, as an emergent media brand it has tried to follow a reasonably traditional model of growth.
• At first she needed the third party support of an MCN to represent the brand’s interests and support for better quality production.
  Control then moved to an independent company set up by the producers themselves to oversee the interests of both Zoella & Pointless Blog (A-Z Creatives)
• A-Z Creatives demonstrates some attempt at horizontal integration with both brands being managed centrally - however it was brief.
• Zoella ultimately moves to become an established fully independent media brand that is vertically integrated with all aspects of production and distribution entirely under its own control.
• Recognising the insecure nature of the social media industry, Zoella also diversifies into a number of more traditional & established media forms (EG books, magazines, audio and TV broadcasting - appearing on Fearne Cotton’s podcast, Girl Online, Cosmopolitan and Great British Bake Off) to further maximise audiences and minimising the risk of becoming an outdated or forgotten brand.
• Zoella media brand populates a number of different social media platforms.
  These platforms are generally owned by large media conglomerates who have tried to ‘restrain’ the audience’s ability to fully exploit the radical potential of the internet.
  Zoella = a large-scale ‘advertiser-friendly’ content producer who has come to dominate social media. - seeks to mimic this behaviour in order to be commercially successful.

Question 30

Livingstone & Lunt - Regulation Theory

Answer 30

• Zoella’s paid promotions and merchandising activities are subject to regulation under the Advertising Standards Authority’s code of practice (EG ASOS incident).
  However, outside of that the brand is not governed by any other ‘official’ forms of regulation.
• For the most part, Zoella is expected to ‘self-regulate’ and is only subject to the rules contained in the individual terms and conditions of the various media platforms the brand uses (EG obeying YouTube’s community guidelines)
• Illustrates the continual struggle between protection of the citizen and freedom of the consumer. (especially in relation to her lovehoney products)
  Demonstrates how largely ineffective online regulation is.
  Self regulation means that posts tend to only be regulated after they have been published if a problem is identified, by which time the public have already been exposed to the inappropriate content.
  She can take more risks and touch on taboo subjects (EG Sex & Health section) as she does not have to appease a regulatory body
• HOWEVER, in terms of protecting the reputation of the Zoella brand it is in Sugg’s best interest to be effective at self-regulation.
  Clear evidence of this = posts have shown no political bias, no references to strong themes and no sexualisation.
  This has allowed her to maximise her audience and remain attractive to mainstream advertisers.
  Although the updated blog includes more mature themes it is a conscious repositioning of the blog as a whole for a more adult audience reflecting a responsible attitude.