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Coursework 1 Module: Marketing Communications M09MKT Brand Marketing Communication Plan: VIRGIN CLOTHINGS (ALWAYS VIRGIN) Student Id: 3500576 Word count: 3456 (including references- 304)

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 THE PRODUCT:

Virgin has been a leading branded venture capital organization and is on e of the world's most used and respected brands. (www.virgin.com). The product chosen is clothing and apparel line by virgin named as ALWAYS VIRGIN. This expansion will be used effectively for virgin to cater to its already large loyal target markets, which have had the benefit of its large product lines. Virgin has always based its ventures on thorough research of the market and consumer needs. There business is focused on adding value for customers and this new extension of clothing and apparel will focus on giving them a fresh way to reach to them.

The clothing line will be first launched in UK, with multiple stores opening all across the UK on the same day at the same time. Once the brand has been establishment it will move forward to Asian markets. The USP of the clothing line is that, they will have in house designers apart from the clothes, where a customer can come in with their idea of what they want and the designers can customize the clothes that they like for them. Always Virgin will showcase all these custom made designs through their website and on the basis o f popularity these designs will be included on a weekly basis in all stores.

2. THE COMPETITOR ANALYSIS


Competitor Analysis is a very important aspect in trying to place a new brand in the market. It is very important to try and understand who, are the competitors, with whom the brand must fight in order to safely secure its target market.

Competitor analysis has several important roles in strategic planning: To help management understand their competitive advantages/disadvantages relative to competitors To generate understanding of competitors past, present (and most importantly) future strategies
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To provide an informed basis to develop strategies to achieve competitive advantage in the future To help forecast the returns that may be made from future investments (www.tutor2u.net)

2.1 The main Competitors

The main competitors for Always Virgin in the clothing and Apparel segment can be listed as
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Top shop Marks & Spencer

2.2 Competitor background y TOP SHOP

Top shop was launched in 1964 and since then has been known for its new look and brave looks have led it to be one of the most successful British fashion brands. Top shop has around 300 stores in the UK, and over 100 in internati onal territories including the US flagship in New York. (www.topshop.com).
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Marks & Spencers is one of UKs leading retailers, with over 21 million people visiting their stores each week. They employ over 75,000 people in the UK and abroad, and have over 600 UK stores, plus an expanding international business. They are the market leaders in the womens wear and lingerie section. The clothing and home ware accounts for 49 % sales of M&S. They have over 600 stores located throughout the UK, ranging from large out -of-town and flagship stores of over 100,000 sq ft. (www.marksandspencer.com).

2.3 Competitor Strengths y TOPSHOP

Topshop has long been seen as a trendy young and fun brand for the fashion conscious. Topshop has followed a ver y interactive communication strategy from the
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beginning. Whether it is by promoting online shopping or by launching the Kate Moss line in New York, Top shop seems to have focused on keeping the consumers involved and up to date. Topshop attracts women from their teens to the 40s searching for a weekly fashion fix. Psychographically they try and appeal to the fashion conscious women.

To keep the consumers interested and involved Topshop on 25 th may 2011, in a press release announced its first ever secret store. The Secret Store was a temporary feature at the Oxford Street and New York flagship stores from 26 th may for two weeks. The store featured a number of Designers for Topshop, including Meadham Kirchhoff, Nasir Mazhar, Maria Francesca Pepe, Emma Cook, Ann -Sofie Back, Michael Van Der Ham and Pamela Love who designed exclusive pieces for consumers making them totally unique and personalized as per their preference.

Not only this, being a big fashion brand they have also supported various institutions such as PETA, TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) , FASHION TARGETS BREAST CANCER etc thus creating a socially aware and responsible image of itself. (www.topshop.com). They have played heavily on the Customer Relationship Marketing tools such as student discounts, special lines, or most recently by allowing Visitors to Topshops flagship stores in London, Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool and New York to receive a complementary styling and makeup session. They will then have their photo taken, using an iPad2, and then edit the look and feel of the image using the Instagram app , which will then be uploaded at the visitors Facebook profile.

Topshop has also used its website and online shopping its very strong asset. Not only is the website a display of the changing trends but also, it has acted as a source of constant feedback from it s consumers. An article in Sunday times article on 21st may 2005 stated that Topshop concentrates on fashion as its USP and is not here to win the price war, as their customers are willing to pay a little more for the unique designs.

The popularity of Topshop can be contributed to the fact that, they focus on creating value and providing the consumer with an elaborate experience whether it is online or in store. Another very strong usage of internet has been in the form of their blog INSIDE- OUT.
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Marks & Spencer (M&S) is one of the UK's leading retailers of clothing . The company trades in 30 countries and has group turnover in excess of 8bn. M&S has been one brand which has always sold its own produce rather than other brands and therefore has always focused on marketing it as a brand which focuses on quality and innovativeness of the products. (Williams Lea case study).

The company is very well organized and structured. It has two main units -food and general merchandise. The general merchandise unit is further divided into womens clothing, menswear, lingerie, beauty and home. Marks and Spencer works on main core values of innovation, quality, effective service and trust. (M&S CSR Case Study Series, September 2005.) One of the strongest points of M&Ss communication strategy has been trust generation via fulfilling it corporate social responsibility. Not only towards the environment but also M&S has been very dedicated towards it employees for example with their marks and start p rogramme which was launched in 2004. In this programme M&S aimed to provide training and work experience to the homeless, the young unemployed, disabled people, parents returning to work, students who are the first in their family to go to university, and school students (14-16 years old). The aim of the programme was to give the participating individuals a fair idea of the actual challenges and exposure of a workplace. (M&S CSR Case Study Series, September 2005.)

M&S has been very good with using the new media and internet to their best advantage. They tied up with Amazon and an online store was inaugurated on 23 March 2007. The internet revenue earned by Marks and Spencer Group plc reached 100 million in the year 2007. They also collaborated with O2 for their geo location marketing service which allows the O2 subscriber near any M&S store to see the deals and offers available. (www.marksandspencer.com)

3. THE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN


3.1 Target Markets

The target market for Always Virgin is the urban women between the ages of 15 45. They belong to the social category of B -A, i.e. middle class to upper middle class as per the NRS social grades. Psycho-graphically these people have the following traits: Fashion conscious Lifestyle oriented Busy
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Professionals Ambitious Stylish

3.2 The Communication Objective

Always Virgin is a new retail clothing and apparel line, thus its important to first and foremost familiarize people with the brand and get them t o try it. Since there are already a lot of market players well established in this line, its important to differentiate the brand as the per DRIP model (Chris Fill, 2002 ). AIM OF COMMUNICATIONS:
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To establish Always Virgin as a trendy fashion brand. To differentiate it from other clothing lines. To define the U.S.P of Always Virgin. To draw the desired consumers to the store.

3.3 The Core Message

The core message of the campaign in launching and establishing Always Virgin as an innovative brand is A new you, Always. The message focuses on helping the consumer to relate to the novelty of brand. As Martin Evans states in his study of Consumer Behavior towards Fashion , Even though fashion requires constant styling changes it makes sense to promote a long term image of the brand consistent with its brand values. In case of Always Virgin, it is the motto of the company to provide innovative and wearable clothes. Martin Evans also states in his study that Fashion Consumption is a manifestation of Self Expression, thus the focus of this strap line would be to help induce consumer involvement in the brand, based on the USP of Always Virgin- which is the in store designer made customized clothing.

3.4 Positioning Manhas et al (2010) states that positioning a brand involves making choices, having a brand position means that your brand will be chosen over others. A bRand can be positioned on the basis of y y y y

Specific benefit Specific segment Price Distribution

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Always Virgin will be positioned as the consumer friendly brand, which prioritizes and focuses on catering to all consumer needs. The brand will be promoted as a tool for consumers to fulfill all their Fashion fantasies with the help of in house designers. The main idea will be to make the brand a part of the consumers extended self, and offer them something unique and satisfactory.

3.5 Communication Strategy

The communication strategy will focus on bringing together th e efforts through all media possible to create a buzz in the potential markets about the launch of the first collection of Always Virgin. This will be mainly achieved by marketing the search for the in house designers for the brand. Further all communicati ons will look to promote the launch of all 6 stores in U K. The website and social media will be used as essential viral marketing tools to generate an e buzz and create a curiosity for the brand.

3.6 The Media Used (B2C)

 ADVERTISING: Always virgin is a new Brand and needs to find its footing in the market. The main aim is to be noticed. The first step would be to advertise the brand and expose the target market to launch of the first store and familiarize them with the product. The idea is to increase the visibility of the brand and create a buzz about the stores launch and the first collection of clothing line. The focus will be on word of mouth combined with viral marketing where all the advertising will lead the consumer to the website of Always Virgin, where the consumer can find out the closest store location, take a preview of the launch collection, and learn about the prices. This can be achieved by putting forth the effective advertisements in the following media channels:
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Print:
According to Denk et al (2009) cross-media programs may help increase advertising effectiveness when complementing print advertising campaigns; firms can be encouraged to supplement traditional print advertising with new media channels.

Always Virgin will have a full page Newspaper advert promoting the launch of the multiple stores all over UK , marking it as a huge nationwide launch,
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asking all the women in the country to go and visit the official website and take a look at the specially designed first collection of the store. This will be followed by adverts in leading fashion magazines announcing the nationwide contest for the search for Always Virgins special In house Designers. The details of this contest will be provided on the offi cial website and the interested designers will be asked to submit their designs online.
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Television:
According to Heath et al (2011) , Television advertising is a key element in creating an emotional link with consumer and acted as a source of reinforcement for the brand and its core values.

Always Virgin will advertise for the search of the In house designers who will get to work with them for a year and win prize money of 50000 pounds. In all ten new designers will be chosen and placed as the Masters of Collection. The advert will focus on directing interested participants to the website where they can register for the same.

Outdoor:
According to Woodside (1990) outdoor media enjoys, the advantage of high exposure frequency without any clutter.

The outdoor advertising will involve the following media: Billboards Bus shelters Bus benches Airports Buses exterior News stands Pedestrian panels Subways Train Stations The core message of all the outdoor advertising will focus on the contest and the launch of the stores. The billboards will be used to advertise the launch of the store in the local area.

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 PUBLIC RELATIONS
According to Ehling et al (1998) When organizations focus public relations efforts on developing long -term behavioral relationships, benefit -cost analyses then can be used as a means of determining the value of those organization-public relationships. y

Designs for Always contest: This contest will be used as tool to create buzz about the launch of the Always Virgin clothing and apparel line. The first and foremost step would be to announce the contest. The contest would involve participa nts sending their entries through the website and being shortlisted. They would then go through a four week elimination process where out of 25 main shortlisted candidates 6 would be chosen for each store as the In house head designer. They would win a one year contract with Always Virgin and also 50000 pounds. The contest will be aired on television at prime time.

Press conferences These play a very important role in the media relations that a brand generates. The focus would be to keep the media informed of every step that the brand takes. Also the press conferences would focus on getting the fashion journalists involved by making th em a part of the contest, pre launch parties showcasing a preview of the first collection.

Store launch The Store launch is the main event which will mark the journey of the brand. The launch would include special invitation for local fashionistas as w ell as international celebrities for the main store in London. The London store will also see an in store press conference and a fashion show will be organized in order to showcase the first ever collection of Always Virgin by the winners of the Always Virgin contest. Stores will be launches in the following cities: a. b. c. d. e. f. London Manchester Birmingham Edinburgh Cardiff Richmond

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These cities have been chosen on the basis of the latest study by Experian. (www.experian.co.uk)

Cause Related Marketing Virgin the parent company is associated with various charities and under the Virgin giving money has raised various charities. Always Virgin would take one pound from every purchase made and donate to the c ompanys endeavors. (www.virgin.com)

 INTERNET
Hairong Li (2011) in his review of internet as an interactive media for advertising states that internet has long been an advertising medium, but in the current scenario interactive advertising has to be dynamic, innovative and synergized. y

Website The website for Always Virgin is the focal point of all the communications. All efforts are directed towards viral marketing. The website would serve as a platform for consumers to interact with the brand and keep up to date with the latest developments. The website also plays a key role in the users can vote for their favorite designers and even support them online via chat rooms on the website. The website will also have celebrity editorials every month where each month a fashionable celebrity will be asked to pen down some of their fashion mantras. Each month will see four articles from these celebrities. The website will also have special interactive feedback and innovative idea posts, where consumers will be encouraged to give their suggestions and update trends which they think Always virgin should look at.

Videos

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Special updates and episodes from the contest will uploaded on YouTube for people to go and take a look at the kind of clothes they can expect. Also the viewers will be allowed to .
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Social Media The brand will see public pages on facebok and the website will be well connected with flikr, twitter, youtube, google plus. The main aim is to get the target audience to be involved with the brand and ensure that they perceive it to be an exclusive source of stylish clothes for them.

Since the brand is a new launch, currently we will be focusing on above the line activities to ensure accurate positioning in the target market. But these efforts will be duly supported by the following:
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E-Catalogues of the first collection Introductory discounts Free goodies Special jute bags for carrying the clothing Informing the consumer of special offers via mobile services Geo -location of stores on mobiles

3.6 The Budget Berger et al (2001) define budget allocation as By budget allocation we mean the monetary allocation between acquisition (of new customers) and retention (of existing customers) using one or more than one promotion vehicle.

The parent company Virgin is entering the clothing line and the estimated budget will be calculated on the basis of their current marketing budget for the other extensions of the company. Always Virgin will be allocated the same annual budget as virgin media of 170 million pounds in order to set up and promote the brand effectively. (www.virgin.com)

THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET

Always Virgin looks to expand its market a year after its UK launch. The primary focus will be to establish it as a core UK brand first, followed by expansion in Asian markets with special focus on India and China. Mishra et al (2009) in his study of international branding of retail stores states that for fashion retailers to successfully diversify in International markets, the fashion retailer
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must pay attention to details such as target markets, pricing, distribution, cultural aspects and most importantly communication. The International target market would remain the same as the home target marke t. The marketing will also be focused on creating a buzz about the brand using local celebrities and fashion critics. The focus will be to provide an international line of clothing with a slight local touch. REFERENCES

1. Anil Mishra. (2009). Strategic Bra nd Management of International Fashion Retailers in South Asia. Pranjana -The Journal Of Management Awareness. 12 (2), 38-50. 2. Bartol, K. M., & Martin, D. C. (1991). Management. New York: McGraw Hill, Inc. 3. Hairong Li. (2011). The Interactive Web. Journal Of Advertising Research. 51 (1), 13-34.

4. Johnson, G., Scholes, K., & Sexty, R. W. (1989). Exploring strategic management. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice Hall. 5. Liz Shuttleworth. (2011). Topshop announces first ever Secret Store. Available: http://www.responsesource.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=64942. Last accessed 10-07-2011. 6. Martin Evans. (1989). Consumer Behaviour Toward fashion. European Journal Of Marketing. 23 (7), 7 -16.

7. Manhas, Parikshat S.. Journal of Economics, Finance & Administrative Science, Dec2010, Vol. 15 Issue 29, p15-33. 8. www.marksandspencer.com

9. Paul D. Berger, Nada Nasr Bechwati. (2001). The allocation of promotion budget to maximize customer equity. Omega - The International Journal Of Management Science. 29 (1), 29 -61.
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10. Robert G Heath. (2011). The secret of Television's success. Journal of Advertising Research. 51 (1), 112-121. 11. www.topshop.com 12. www.tutor2u.net 13. Wakolbinger, Lea M.; Denk, Michaela; Oberecker, Klaus. Journal of Advertising Research, Sep2009, Vol. 49 Issue 3, p360-372.

14. Woodside, Arch G. "Outdoor Advertising as Experiments." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 18, 3 (1990): 229 -37. 15. William P. Ehling , Estimating the Value of Public Relations and Communication to an Organization. In: James E. Grunig, David M. Dozier, William P. Ehling, Larissa A. Grunig, Fred C. Repper and Jon Whits, Editors, Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ (1992), pp. 617 638.

16. Anonymous. (2011). About Us. Available: http://www.virgin.com/about-us. Last accessed 13-07-2011.

17. Anonymous. (2011). A segmentation of UK consumers fashion purchasing behaviour. Available: http://www.experian.co.uk/assets/businessstrategies/brochures/fashion-segments-factsheet.pdf. Last accessed 13 -072011.

18. Anonymous. (2011). Case study: Marks and Spencer. Available: http://www.tso.co.uk/documents/MarksSpencercs.pdf. Last accessed 12 -072011. 19. Anonymous. (2005). CSR Case studies- M&S. CBI. (13), 1-3.

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