Strategi Word of Mouth Communication Konveksi "Spunky! Apparel" Yogyakarta Dalam Pembentukan Brand Awareness

RAMADHAN BAKTI P., Dr.Muhamad Sulhan, SIP.M.Si.

2020 | Skripsi | S1 ILMU KOMUNIKASI

Yogyakarta, imagenya sebagai kota pelajar menjadikan benak setiap orang tua merasa yakin mengirimkan anak-anak mereka untuk kuliah dan hidup mandiri di Yogyakarta. Sejalan dengan itu, keragaman budaya dan gaya hidup di kota Yogyakarta pun semakin bewarna. Kehadiran pemuda dan pemudi dari berbagai kota mampu membangun gairah UMKM dengan gaya pemasaran yang konvensional. Salah satu contoh adalah konveksi SPUNKY! APPAREL, muncul ke permukaan sebagai suatu brand bisnis secara otomatis memiliki tantangan bagaimana mengkomunikasikan produknya kepada konsumen. Serta, pentingnya menerapkan komunikasi dengan pendekatan yang benar untuk mencapai segmen pasar tertentu. Bak dua sisi mata koin yang tidak dapat dipisahkan, produsen dan konsumen merupakan khalayak aktif dalam perhelatan ekonomi di suatu kota. Dalam penelitian ini memfokuskan pada bagaimana strategi word of mouth communication konveksi SPUNKY! APPAREL periode 2015-2019 dalam pembentukan brand awareness. Analisis dibangun dan didasarkan pada deskriptif kualitatif. Peneliti memiliki pandangan bahwa strategi yang terbilang murah ini memiliki kekuatannya sendiri. Word of mouth communication memiliki karakteristik dekat dengan konsumen. Word of mouth mampu menciptakan interaktivitas yang tinggi tanpa adanya batasan ruang jarak dan waktu. Dalam penelitian ini pun menggunakan data primer dari wawancara kepada tujuh orang yang diambil dari owner, designer, dan lima orang customer acak. Kemudian, melihat hasil penelitian dimana kurang aktifnya media sosial SPUNKY! APPAREL masih mampu ditutupi oleh word of mouth yang dilakukan. Dua jenis word of mouth, yaitu organic dan amplified menjadi senjata SPUNKY! APPAREL semasa periode 2015-2019. Kata kunci: Strategi komunikasi, word of mouth, brand awareness.

Yogyakarta, with its image as a student city, manages to convince every parent to send their children in pursuing higher education as well as living independently in the city. Along with that, the diversity of culture and lifestyle in Yogyakarta has been increasingly colorful. The presence of youth from cities around the country is capable of building enthusiasm in establishing Micro, Small, and Medium-scale Enterprise (UMKM) with a conventional marketing style. One example is SPUNKY! APPAREL Convection appearing to the surface as a business brand with an automatic challenge on how to communicate their product to the customers as well as the importance of implementing suitable communication and approach in reaching certain market segments. Like the unseparated two sides of the same coin, producer and consumer are active figures in a city's economic affair. This study focused on SPUNKY! APPAREL Convection 'word of mouth communication' strategy during the year of 2015-2019 in establishing brand awareness. The analysis was built and based on qualitative descriptive. The researcher possesses an outlook that this relatively low-cost strategy has its own strength where the 'word of mouth' communication has a close characteristic with the consumers. 'Word of mouth' capable of creating high interactivity with no limitations of time, range, and space. This study utilized primary data based on interviews with 7 people who are the owner, designer, and 5 random customers. Then, seeing the results of this study where the inactivity of SPUNKY! APPAREL Convection's social media can still be covered by the 'word of mouth' implementation, two types of 'word of mouth' which are organic and amplified, have become the weapon of SPUNKY! APPAREL Convection in the year of 2015-2019. Keywords: communication strategy, word of mouth, brand awareness.

Kata Kunci : Strategi komunikasi, word of mouth, brand awareness.