Pitch Document Abby Lake
Contents Executive Summary page 3 The Brand page 4 The Problem and The Solution page 5-7 SWOT Analysis page 8 Target Consumer page 9-12 Footwear Market page 13 Marketing and Social Media Trends page 14-20 Competitors page 21-28 The Strategy page 29-30 The Marketing Mix page 31-34 Store Plan page 35 Promotion page 36-41 The Launch page 42-43 Bibliography page 44-46
Executive Summary Kickers Amplified is a new, innovative retail space located on Curtain Road, London; it is a creative hub, embracing customisation and music. Kickers Amplified is where consumers can customise their own Kick Hi boot on iPads throughout the store, Kickers Amplified is in collaboration with Polydor Records, aiming to demolish the school shoe association and re-establish the cool. Customers will also be able to enjoy an energising juice or a coffee at the in-store Joe and the Juice juice bar, as well as having the opportunity to attend in-store gigs from Polydor Records artists. The customisation service will also be available online at Kickers.co.uk and artists from the label will also create their own Kick Hi design, limited availability online and in-store. This will be the forefront of the campaign and aims to increase brand awareness through the collaboration with Polydor Records and also aims to increase consumer engagement. An illustrated campaign image will be launched to promote the collaboration, designed by emerging freelance graphic designer, Nick Booton, giving a platform to promote his work. Due to the rapidly changing digital world, the website blog will be rejuvenated, and ‘Off the Record’ will be launched. Off the Record will be Kickers new and exclusive consumer lifestyle blog, offering fans of the brand another reason to visit the website, as well as consumer specific regular content. The website will also be redesigned making it more inviting and interactive to the new 18-23 year old target consumer.
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Kickers Kickers were founded in France in 1970 by Daniel Raufast, inspired by the musical Hair, Raufast designed a boot to be worn with denim; their slogan was ‘Born From Denim’. Although it has French roots, they are traditionally known as a British brand. The most popular Kickers shoe is the Kick Hi which was produced in 1975. Kickers used to be heavily associated with music with the likes of Roger Daltrey from The Who and Rod Stewart donning the boots. Kickers have circulated amongst many music genres from new rave to Brit Pop and urban to indie; the rave scene in Manchester in the 90s saw ravers wearing Kick Hi boots as an alternative to trainers to bypass the strict ‘no trainers’ policy in the Hacienda. Kickers prides itself on selling quality, hard wearing, leather shoes and they advertise their shoes as being accessible to all generations. Kickers trademarks are the rubber sole, red and green plastic tabs on each shoe, embossed eyelets, signature stitching and most importantly the leather ‘fleurette’. Kickers is currently represented by IPR London and is licensed in the UK under the Pentland Group. Kickers currently have eight standalone concept stores in France, four in Cyprus, one in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai. Kickers first opened up shop on King’s Road, London in 1975 which was visited by David Bowie and Elton John. Kickers currently have no stand alone shop in the UK. Kickers did open a concept store in Gateshead’s Metro Centre in 2005 but proved to be unsuccessful as it later closed. Their shoes are sold in the UK through their website and through retailers such as Schuh, Office, ASOS and Very.
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The Problem Kickers was once known as a cool shoe, the number of ‘fleurettes’ a Kickers wearer used to have on the shoe was a signifier of how cool they were. Kickers have since lost their cool and their association with music and are now known for being a go to brand for mums to buy their children’s school shoes. Kickers have tried to reach a new market by collaborating with emerging designers such as House of Holland, Fred Butler, Lazy Oaf and more recently Christopher Shannon. Christopher Shannon is a British menswear designer and is into his fourth season with Kickers. Kickers do not utilise print advertising , look books are produced every season but are only available to press and are not published online. Kickers have produced campaigns but they are not consistent every season. Their website is aimed at parents buying school shoes for their children and is focused more on user friendliness than the visual aesthetic. Kickers are on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram but it is clear they do not have a strategy for their platforms; each is abandoned from time to time and their posts are inconsistent, they have not posted a video to their YouTube channel since December 2011. Kickers do not have a clear target audience, their Spring/Summer 2014 look book appeared to be targeting 16-23 year old men and women who are urban and edgy; this does not translate through their promotional and social media strategy. Kickers website has a blog and a news section, yet their latest blog posts was in August 2013 and their last news story was in September 2012.
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The Solution Kickers have the potential to reinvent themselves as the cool shoe brand they once were; they are an iconic footwear brand with rich musical history. Kickers need to refer back to their roots in order to be recognised as a go to shoe brand, not just for quality but for style and coolness. Kickers will launch a concept store, Kickers Amplified, in Shoreditch, East London aimed at 18-23 year old fashion conscious music lovers. The concept store will have a design lab where consumers will be able to customise the trademarks of the iconic Kick Hi boot. Kickers Amplified will be launched in collaboration with Polydor Records, artists from the label will customise their own Kick Hi boot which will be available to buy in store and online. Artists from the label will also do a series of gigs for the launch and will perform throughout the year when new artists are signed to the label and when new EPs/albums are released. The bespoke customisation service will also be available online on kickers.co.uk only. Kickers Amplified will also have an instore cafe; Joe and the Juice. Joe and the Juice is a juice franchise with cafes in London, Norway and Germany. Kickers Amplified aims to epitomise a lifestyle, it is intended to be a meeting place not just a retail store. Kickers.co.uk will undergo a revamp, focusing more on the visual aesthetic and will update their blog feature. The blog will post regularly about music, gigs, festivals, exhibitions, activities, news, and style. This will give consumers another reason to visit their website. The news section on their website will be removed and the blog will take the main stage. Their YouTube channel will be taken down and will be replaced with a Spotify account, available to consumers to subscribe to their channel and playlists. This aims to increase brand awareness, consumer engagement and to reach out to a new audience.
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The Aims - To increase brand awareness to new, young consumers (18-23 year olds) and position Kickers as a leader in the footwear market - To increase consumer engagement through a new social media and promotional strategy
- For Kickers Amplified to be recognised as an innovative concept store and meeting place
- To ensure Kickers bring back its musical heritage
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SWOT Analysis Strengths
Weaknesses
Kickers is known internationally in the footwear market and is recognised for selling high quality, leather shoes.
Kickers Amplified will host gigs throughout the year; people will sign up and enter online and winners will be picked at random for gig entry. Kickers need to put in place a system whereby tickets cannot be sold on as it is a free gig to promote Polydor Records and the brand itself.
Kickers Amplified will increase consumer engagement as consumers will visit the shop and the online service to customise their own shoes and make them personable to them. Consumer engagement will also be increased by the Off the Record blog; consumers will now be able to comment on posts and interact with other users.
Kickers Amplified is only available for the Kick Hi boot, due to its popularity, this could displease customers wanting to customise other styles of shoe.
Kickers Amplified will increase brand awareness due to the collaboration with Polydor Records and the instore Joe and the Juice cafe. The new social media and promotional strategy will be more clear, concise and targeted more towards the consumer.
Opportunities
Threats
More Kickers concept stores could be developed across the UK rather than it being limited to Shoreditch.
Other footwear brands are already utilising this facility; Kickers need to ensure their service is seamless, simple and innovative.
The customisation service could target a different demographic, for example, children and could incorporate prints.
Targeting Kickers Amplified at 18-23 year olds may deject parents from buying school shoes, and in turn, could lose custom.
The customisation service could look at developing a range of textures and fabrics rather than restricting it to leather.
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Target Consumer Current
Kickers shoes are currently marketed towards parents and children as school shoes. Their website reinforces this as, upon entering their website, their kids range is at the forefront of the homepage; there is a scrolling gallery of four images to promote each different range and the kids range is first. Also on the homepage, is a section devoted to ‘All Year Classroom Cool’ and ‘Top Marks: Our year-round range of school-friendly styles!’. There is also a kids range and a school range. Kickers have different styles and different styles are targeted at different consumers, but, overall, their current target market is parents looking to buy quality, durable, leather shoes for their children.
Intended
Kickers new target consumer will be 18-23 year old male and female students who live in London and hang out East. They have a strong interest in music and fashion and are always on the look out for new, upcoming bands. In the Summer they frequent music festivals such as Glastonbury and Bestival. This is supported by findings from Mintel, they undertook a study analysing Youth Fashion in December 2013 and found that “In order to compete in a changing young fashion landscape, clothing retailers need to do more to entice young customers to part with their cash. Exciting stores, large fitting rooms, innovative websites, ontrend garments and exclusive collaborations with popular musicians and celebrities are among the factors that will help retailers stand out from the crowd.” The intended consumer will also fall under Generation D, also known as the digital generation, is the generation most comfortable and knowledgeable of technical devices and the digital world. This generation was born into a ready made digital world, the Internet was in full swing, mobile phones were readily available and schools replaced pen and paper with computers. Generation D have been born into a world were social media is a communication tool and they know no different.
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Intended Target Consumer
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Consumer Profile: Male
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Consumer Profile: Female
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The Footwear Market
The footwear market is increasingly competitive and brands need to utilise innovative techniques in order to be at the forefront of the industry. Customisation of shoes has been around for a number of years, with Nike being one of the first footwear brands to utilise this service; NikeiD. Nike offer this service online and in selected stores which feature NikeiD Studios. Sportswear brand Adidas also have a customisation service; MiAdidas offering consumers the ability to customise and personalise Adidas products ranging from trainers to hoodies, however, this is only available online, not in store. Bespoke customisation allows the consumer to personalise their shoes to reflect their style, it also give the brand information of what colourways are popular, they can then take this information and translate the trends into a new colour way for the shoe. This type of service entices a customer as, effectively, their personalised shoes will be a one off and unique to them. It is also important that the process in which the shoes are customised is as simple and as seamless as possible; if it is too difficult or confusing, the customer will abandon the service, therefore the brand will lose sales.
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Marketing Trends New marketing techniques are now few and far between, years ago, completely new launches took over the fashion marketing landscape, as brands recognised that internet and social media was taking over. Nowadays, rather than massive launches of a completely new material; marketers are looking at tweaking what’s already out there. Social advertising is set to be on the increase in 2014, with retailers thought to be spending 24% of their budget on native advertising in 2014 (WGSN, 2014). Native advertising is a new marketing technique which materialised in 2013; a more subdued way of advertising. Marketers employ this technique as it’s less invasive and advertised to be viewed in a more subconscious manner. With new social media apps such as Vine, SnapChat and WeChat, brands are expected to experiment more with these, especially in terms of video. Vine and SnapChat are more difficult to control than the typical picture app, Instagram. This being that the videos cannot be deleted, and are sent out instantly, proving to be more of a risky social media platform to be on, yet, these instant video sharing apps are becoming increasingly popular. Brands need to have a clear strategy and ensure the person/team managing these platforms can be wholeheartedly trusted and maintain the brands sentiment. 2014 aims to be the year of the iBeacon; a low cost indoor positioning system powered by low energy Bluetooth. iBeacons work off Bluetooth 4.0, a relatively new version of Bluetooth that is embedded into many smart phones, from iPhone 4S upwards to the Samsung Galaxy S |||. Due to the fact iBeacons are small in size, they can be placed almost anywhere and are a must for retailers wanting to push relevant content to consumers. For instance, if a shopper came into Kickers, the iBeacon could transmit a signal to a shopper’s phone, without having to unlock the screen, offering a discount or promotion. The signals can be transmitted to smart phones from a distance of two inches to fifty metres, depending on the surroundings, and their life can last up to two years, without any battery charging. iBeacons are far more precise than GPS, an iBeacon could detect which part of the shop the consumer was in, even down to which stand or aisle, therefore, retailers are able to push relevant promotions to what the consumer is viewing. This is an exciting breakthrough in technology for retailers and can drive sales due to the relevant promotions suggested to their consumers and Kickers Amplified will utilise this new technology.
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“It’s about turning targeting on its head. Rather than hunting, you should be fishing. By creating magnetic content, you draw people in.” Geoff Ramsey, co-founder and CEO of eMarketer
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Social Media Trends Personalisation is everywhere online, and it’s not always positive. Amazon for instance is a culprit of poor personalisation, Amazon tracks what users have viewed on their website and just from this, it generates a list of suggested items the user would be interested in, just based purely on Internet history, nothing else; this is based on too little information about the user. Personalisation in social media centres around getting the right content delivered to the right person in real time. One and one personalisation was seen at Burberry’s Autumn/Winter 2013/2014 show; models such as Jourdan Dunn and Karlie Kloss posted pictures of themselves on Twitter holding a plaque with the users name who tweeted them. This engages users and instills a feeling of exclusivity. Topshop pushes personalisation innovation further for their Kate Bosworth collection at Christmas time in 2013. Topshop’s CMO Justin Cooke pulled names from their email distribution list of 7 million, the team began with 650 of the most popular first names on the list, then narrowed it down to the most popular 200. They then recorded Kate Bosworth wishing them a Merry Christmas by first name; again this makes Topshop fans feel recognised and wanted, it also makes for great brand sentiment and impact. Customer service is utilising social media as a means to answer customer complaints and queries. An example of this is Nike; Nike has set up a Twitter page called Nike Support as a separate page with a dedicated team to help customers with queries and complaints. It is important for brands to keep customer care and their main social media platform separate to ensure there is positive content on their main page. An example of bad customer care practice is ASOS, ASOS is an established online retailer with a strong social media following, yet, their Facebook page shows countless comments all of which are customer complaints and queries. For such a massive retailer, with this amount of queries, they need to create a separate Twitter or Facebook account with a dedicated team of knowledgeable customer service agents to deal with these queries. Instagram takeovers have proven popular and successful on the picture sharing social media platform, especially on the fashion landscape. Brands, fashion houses and magazines have been known to employ a celebrity, model or public figure to do an Instagram takeover to give viewers an insight into what they like, what they do and give viewers ‘backstage access’. This is usually takes place during fashion week; for the Autumn/Winter 14/15 season, Kendall Jenner took over Love Magazine’s Instagram. Kendall Jenner, sister to Kim Kardashian, is best know for being on reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but Kendall Jenner took fashion week by storm this season as she debuted her model career at London Fashion Week walking for Giles Deacon. 16
Return on Investment Return on investment (ROI) is a performance measure used to determine the success of an investment. ROI is used to measure the success of social media campaigns under four basic aspects. Firstly is the measure of engagement; the most essential aspect of determining whether a social media campaign was successful or not is to measure how many Twitter followers were gained, how many Facebook likes were received and how many Instagram followers were gained. Measure of engagement can be analysed slightly more in depth by calculating how many tweets were favourited, how many tweets were retweeted, how many shared the post on Facebook and how many peopled re-grammed on Instagram. Tracking the measure of engagement of social media campaigns allows companies and brands to compare analytics from different campaigns and determine social media trends. Another way of measuring social media ROI is by evaluating click through rate (CTR); click through rate is a term used to measure the amount of clicks on a specific advertisement or a link. This can apply to advertising on social media, for example, how many people clicked on the Facebook advertisement, this would be a click through rate. This enables brands to analyse how successful the campaign was and again can compare to other click through rates for other campaigns to determine trends. This can also be applied to emails; when brands email subscribers and provide a link, how many of them subscribers clicked on the link. Analysing email CTR enables a more specific rate; brands will send out emails to their subscribers, therefore they know how many emails were sent, out of them emails they can establish how many of them clicked on the link in the emails, therefore, they can distinguish a solid percentage. However, with social media advertising, brands cannot determine how many people viewed their advertisement, only the amount of people who clicked on the advertisement can be measured.
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Return on Investment One of the hardest measures of success of ROI is measuring the influence and impact the campaign had. Some apps have been developed to help brands actuate a percentage of how influential they are, one example is Klout. Klout is a website and mobile app which suggests original, unseen content for brands to share to their audience, it also aims to create content for brands that strike up a conversation with followers and finally tracks the influence and impact of social media posts to generate a ‘Klout score’. Another difficult measure of success is measuring sentiment and brand reputation; this is the conversation,views and opinions surrounding a brand. Although, difficult, it is easier to measure than influence; websites and apps have been set up, designed to measure sentiment and reputation, Brandwatch is one of them. It is measured through tracking social media conversations; what people are saying about the brand and what type of people are saying it. This is crucial to any brand, Kickers need to ensure their new social media strategy is effective and positive and need to measure sentiment surrounding the brand. It is imperative that Kickers know what type of people their campaign is impacting on, therefore, for future campaigns, Kickers can refer back to their previous social media analytics and tailor their campaigns accordingly. It is essential Kickers compile their social media analytics into a performance dashboard to regulate their social media performance in real time. This will enable the brand to distinguish a concise, tight strategy and understand what works for them and their audience.
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“Spend some time and money to make sure your branding is there first, being strategic and authentic to what you are doing. Once you have that, the ROI will follow.� Dace Morris, Head of Communications and Commerce at Rogue
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Responsive Design Responsive design is a must for any online platform or website; this refers to a website providing seamless and optimum viewing experience on any device, whether it’s a phone, a laptop or a tablet. This means having one code for all devices, in turn saving money and time for the brand. It also means the brand’s representation will be consistent as well as allowing seamless user experience. For brands who are making the move to redesign their website, it makes perfect sense for them to utilise responsive design rather than having a code for each device, and obviously technology is growing rapidly and new devices will come into fruition gradually. It is seen as an investment, and as said previously, it is more efficient and saves time and money. Kickers is a brand that already utilises responsive design and giving their consumers a seamless user experience whichever device they are on.
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Dr Martens Dr Martens is a British heritage brand infamous for its leather boots and shoes which were the product of a Northampton family shoemakers and a German air cushioned sole company. They joined forces to produce the Dr Martens shoe which was first produced on 1st April 1960. They were produced in a decade were subcultures and tribes were few and far between but soon became known as the subculture shoe, spanning across a multitude of tribes, donning the feet of an array of subcultures; punks, skinheads, psychobilly and more. Dr Martens are an iconic British hardwearing brand of leather shoes; the silhouette of the shoe barely changes but the countless collaborations are what is keeping the brand fresh with the likes of model Agyness Deyn collaborating, trainer designer Ronnie Fieg, Yohji Yamamoto and many more. Dr Martens does offer its customers a customisation service, this was discovered after visiting their flapship store on Carnaby Street, London. Upstairs, at the back of the store they had their bespoke service where customers can design their own boot or shoe, by appointment only. This aspect of the brand was easily missable and is not promoted online, not even on their website, nor is there an option to book an appointment online. Dr Martens have an ongoing online and in-store campaign, #standforsomething which has been promoted since Autumn/Winter 2013. The #standforsomething campaign aims to celebrate “free-thinking individuals; from first timers to those who have been with us forever,� (Dr Martens: 2013). Before the campaign was fully released, online video teasers were produced and promoted on their website to entice the viewer and to create a buzz. Once the campaign was released, a full video was promoted online featuring street scouted Dr Marten’s fans talking about what they stand for. Accompanying the campaign was a five gig tour in Autumn 2013; five bands were selected by Dr Martens to play five intimate venues across the UK. This gave emerging music talent a platform to showcase themselves and also re-established Dr Martens as a brand associated with music.
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The campaign is still ongoing, particularly through their Facebook page; Facebook fans are encouraged to design their own Dr Martens boot to illustrate what they stand for and two designs will be chosen and will be made into actual boots. This enforces consumer engagement and allows users to share their designs on their own Facebook page. Before the user designs the boot, they are prompted to agree to the terms and conditions and are advised that Dr Martens will receive information about their Facebook profile, their friend list, date of birth, email address and the city in which they live in. This data capture enables Dr Martens to target the user with emails, newsletters, and also gain information as to what they ‘like’ on their Facebook; Dr Martens can then tailor promotions and emails to them due to knowing this beneficial information about the user. Dr Martens have social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube and are well established on all. This is due to the brand posting regular, relevant content and implementing a well revised strategy across all platforms. With this in place, the followers and likes ensue as fans know they are going to see interesting, relevant and consistent content. 22
Clarks Originals Clarks Originals is an offspring from Clarks main shoe line, offering iconic styles and reinterpreted designs. Clarks first came to fruition in 1825 , starting in the shoe business by making slippers. Some could argue that Clarks mainline can be compared to Kickers; a place where parents buy their children’s school shoes, however, their Clarks Originals line is marketed towards a cooler demographic. Clarks Originals offer five different shoe styles, which are then interpreted into new, fresh designs. Their price point is virtually the same as Kickers. Clarks Originals does not have it’s own dedicated store but the range is sold in Clarks shops and stockists such as Schuh and Debenhams. It did have a pop up shop in 2011 ; they took over a floor at the Clarks store at Picadilly in London for 13 days showcasing their campaign and emerging music talent with performances throughout the launch. The campaign images featured models who have an association with music such as Josh Beech and Cara Delevingne. In January 2014, Clarks Originals teamed up with menswear retailer, Oi Polloi where they subtly reworked the classic Originals Wallabee shoe, the Wallabee Ridge. Oi Polloi was born and bred in Manchester in 2002, aiming to stock good quality menswear brands, their stock is now sold worldwide online and they have their original shop in Manchester. This meant the collaboration was made available internationally, giving Clarks Originals global recognition and reach. Clarks Originals celebrate talent across numerous creative industries, known as Originals Pioneers, by commissioning them to create something inspired by Clarks Originals. Previous commissions include Nathan Flutebox Lee, a musician, who created a film and musical piece, and Anna Lomax, art director and set designer, who created a media installation. This portrays Clarks Originals as a brand that supports creative talent, giving the pioneers exposure, as well as increasing their own brand reputation as being associated with music, art, film; not just shoes. Originals Pioneers has longevity and the brand can continue carefully selecting relevant creatives to reimagine their brand through an art form. Clarks Originals are currently utilising Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, not Instagram, however, Clarks mainline brand are on Instagram and there is some overlap with posting about Clarks Originals. Clarks Originals are the most successful on their Facebook page and have over 20,000 likes, which can be seen as a good number due to Originals being a spin off from the mainline Clarks brand. It would be beneficial for Clarks Originals to push their social media presence further into having their own standalone Instagram feed, it is brand relevant, and is one of the most used social media sites with over 200 million daily users.
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Superga Superga is an Italian footwear brand specialising in casual, comfortable shoes in a small range of silhouettes but with a huge variety of colours. The brand first emerged in 1911 producing tennis shoes, which is still their best seller today; the Classic 2750. In 2010, Superga endorsed Alexa Chung as the face of the brand; sales soared and press coverage was massive. This opened new retail avenues for the brand generating stockists such as Office and Schuh. They also gained exclusive press in Stylist magazine and secured a feature in Draper’s magazine to reach out to stockists as well as a behind the scenes story on vogue.com. Superga have changed the face of the brand since Alexa, endorsing Rita Ora and more recently, model of the moment Suki Waterhouse. This shows that the brand know who is the best brand ambassador for them and it also keeps the brand relevant and of the time. Superga shoes have an average price of £45 and have three standalone shops in the UK; Carnaby Street, Covent Garden and Camden Lock, as well as being stocked in Office, Schuh, ASOS and more. Superga have also collaborated with British fashion designer, House of Holland and produced a range of limited edition shoes and two limited edition dresses to match. More recently, the footwear brand have teamed up with Chiara Ferragni, author of fashion blog, The Blonde Salad, to produce two new styles of shoe. The brand have also partnered with Fashion Targets Breast Cancer to produce a limited edition pink version of their classic 2750 shoe, were 30% of the proceeds will go to the charity. This collaboration confirms that Superga are culturally aware and have an understanding that consumers will be receptive to this. Superga are on the four main social media platforms; Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Their YouTube channel appears to be abandoned, alike Kickers, they only have 114 subscribers, 4 videos uploaded and the last video upload was 8 months ago. Superga should consider deleting this altogether or revising a strategy specific for their YouTube platform. Their YouTube channel is promoted on their website, and shows bad practice that it is not regularly updated when it is still promoted. The brand is the most followed on their Facebook page with over 27,000 likes; on their page they post about new styles, campaigns and competitions.
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Converse Converse started out as a rubber company in America in 1908 and later began selling shoes made to be worn on courts. They are an iconic footwear brand and have barely adapted the silhouettes of their shoes since they were first made. Converse are known for being a versatile shoe, available in a variety of colours. Their best selling shoe is named after Chuck Taylor, a professional basketball player and salesman, Taylor used to sell the shoes at his basketball schools; the Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars. The brand do also sell clothing and accessories but are most recognised for their footwear. They have also introduced a customisation service, Custom Converse, allowing customers to personalise and change the colour of ten parts of the shoe. Converse do not have a standalone shop in the UK but have an array of stockists from retail shops such as Schuh and Office to online retailers such as ASOS. A standard pair of classic Converse All Stars will cost in the region of £45, similar price range to Superga. This is due to the fabric of the shoe, they are both a canvas shoe whereas Kickers, Clarks and Dr Martens are traditionally manufactured using quality leather fabric, therefore, are more expensive. Converse have collaborated with artists, musicians, designs and other creatives countless times, e.g. Black Sabbath, AC/DC, The Simpsons, the list is endless. This season sees the launch of Converse All Star Chuck ‘70s collection; a bright, colourful, retro collection of the classic All Star Chuck Taylors. The collection also sees the return of two of the first ever prints to be on the classic shoe, a zebra stripe and a camouflage print. The campaign for the launch of this collection is titled Sneaker Clash, which refers to “using colour to disrupt and clash against grey world.” (Converse, 2014). As part of the campaign, Converse commissioned two London street artists to create London’s biggest mural on The Old Vinyl Factory. These aforementioned collaborations, campaigns and commissions reinforces Converse’s association with the creative industry, not just fashion and footwear. In terms of social media, Converse currently utilises Facebook, with over 39 million likes, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+. Converse is the most established on social media, compared to Kickers other competitors, this is due to the brand being established the longest, having a clear social media strategy, posting regular content across all platforms and having the most retailers and stockists.
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The Strategy Don’t Toe the Line, Make Your Own. A simple, snappy phrase, illustrating the customisation service by stating ‘make your own’ yet also sending the message to start your own trend, don’t follow other people, ‘don’t toe the line’. The slogan is stating that once the consumer purchases a pair of customised Kickers, people will follow them, they will start their own trend. The slogan is also a play on words, referring to ‘toe’, it relates to a foot and this then assigns the relation to a shoe. It embodies what Kickers strives to be, unique, original and have the confidence and ability to stand out. Kickers offers quality, iconic, versatile leather shoes which were once the shoe to have, rumour has it their old shop on Kings Road in London used to have queues of people outside waiting to buy a pair of Kickers shoes. Kickers has lost this coolness, this music heritage and richness and needs to refer back to its musical roots in order for them to be considered as a fashionable, stylish brand. Their promotional campaigns are not consistent and they do not produce a campaign every season, and when they do produce a campaign, it is failing to entice new customers. Kickers Amplified will have one illustrated image as part of a campaign, to illustrate the customisation service and promote it. The shop will be promoted through online websites such as Urban Junkies and Le Cool, as well as fashion and music blogs. A press release will be sent to gain pre-press coverage and to generate a buzz about the launch of the store and service. The website will be revised and will focus more on the style and look aimed at the new target consumer and will feature a blog called ‘Off the Record’. Kickers does currently have a blog section but it has been abandoned and did not post regular content. The blog name reinforces the music association and also refers to the exciting content that will be featured. Kickers will delete their YouTube account and will replace it with a Spotify account, sharing weekly playlists on their blog. Kickers Care will be set up on Facebook with a dedicated customer service team behind it, rather than customers posting queries and complaints on their main Facebook page. Their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will post relevant, regular content regarding music, fashion, style and events, and will have a clear voice.
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The Campaign
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The Marketing Mix Product Kickers Amplified juxtaposes fashion and music together through an innovative retail space and bespoke customisation service. The new service and store will be in collaboration with Polydor Records to revert back to what Kickers was originally known for, an iconic brand with rich musical history. The store will also have a Joe and the Juice, a juice and coffee bar, although people may just come into Kickers Amplified to enjoy the juice bar, they will still be exposed to Kickers Amplified’s retail environment and products, therefore increasing footfall and potential sales. The store will feature iBeacons, as mentioned previously in this report; these will be placed carefully around the store to ensure full reach and will target consumers smart phones with consumer specific offers. Data capture will form an important part of Kickers new strategy, in order to understand their consumer and generate specific content for that consumer. Upon using the in store iPads for the customisation service, consumers will be asked to enter their email address, date of birth, hometown and the option to subscribe to Kickers promotions. This will increase Kickers consumer database and the more technology there is within the store, the more data and information can be captured on consumers. In turn, this increases targeting, it can be specifically tailored to the consumer and will be highly effective.
Place Kickers Amplified will be accessible to all via kickers.co.uk and the concept store will be launched on Curtain Road, Shoreditch, London. From researching the area, Curtain Road is situated in a cool, vibrant area, frequented by hipsters and students. The road itself is a destination for going out eating and drinking and has very few retail shops, however, it is seconds away from one of London College of Fashion’s campuses and is minutes away from Brick Lane and the up and coming Redchurch Street. Kickers Amplified will have the influx from London College of Fashion’s students with the store having a Joe and the Juice and once they are in the store, the students will also be immersed in the Kickers Amplified hub.
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The Marketing Mix Promotion Kickers Amplified will be promoted through features on music blogs, fashion blogs, music magazines, fashion magazines, newspapers and through social media. There will also be promotional cards at point of sale in the shop with the campaign image and also inviting consumers to follow the brand on social media platforms. Stickers will also be given at point of sale as a novelty gift for buying into the brand, along with a promotional postcard promoting Kickers social media and the campaign. Artists from Polydor Records will also do ‘Instagram Takeovers’, the artist will takeover Kickers Instagram for a certain length of time, giving the audience a sneak snippet of their lives, whilst also promoting the brand. This then generates followers from the artist’s Instagram to follow Kickers Instagram page.
Price Customised Kickers will be priced at £90 per pair, just £15 more than the cost for an original pair of Kickers Kick Hi boots. This price point was developed after researching other customisation services within the same market, e.g., Nike’s Free Fly Knit trainers are priced at £110 when purchased as standard, upon customisation, the price increases to £155. For Kickers to have the bespoke service, it would entail dyeing leather, rubber, laces and thread; there is only five parts of the shoe which are changeable. Nike offers countless changes and the ability to personalise the shoe with name stitching but this isn’t suitable for Kickers, it needs to remain iconic and simple.
People Kickers Amplified is targeted at 18-23 year old male and female fashion enthusiasts and music lovers. This group will also fall under Generation D, the Digital Generation, their main source of communication is social media and are technology savvy. Kickers Amplified will engage with this specific demographic through social media, in addition to the physical retail space. This demographic will be targeted with consumer specific promotions via iBeacons within the store. They are the driving force behind the brand and Kickers Amplified must ensure they continue to use innovative digital technologies in order to be at the forefront of the industry and be ahead of their Generation D consumers. 32
The Marketing Mix Process Kickers Amplified, the shop and the customisation service aims to be as seamless and as simple as possible, so that users are able to use the service quickly and effectively. They will also have the option to subscribe to Off the Record blog for exclusive news and updates, as well as having the opportunity to attend the in store gigs from Polydor Records artists. On the release of a new single, album or a new signing to the record label, artists from Polydor Records will perform in store gigs throughout the year. This be allocated on a ticket basis, free of charge, through an application service on Kickers website. Consumers who purchase a pair of Kick Hi’s through Kickers Amplified will also be entered into the draw.
Physical Evidence The need for Kickers Amplified is evidenced through research, particularly from a Mintel report on Youth Fashion from December 2013. Mintel found there is a need for “Exciting stores, large fitting rooms, innovative websites, on-trend garments and exclusive collaborations with popular musicians and celebrities are among the factors that will help retailers stand out from the crowd.� (Mintel, 2013), Kickers Amplified aims to fulfil this need from young consumers. The success of Kickers Amplified and Off the Record blog will be measured in several ways. Press coverage will be measured as this determines an increase in brand awareness, website visits, sales, footfall, social media following/interaction, blog subscribers. In order for Kickers Amplified to officially be launched, a web designer will need to be hired to put the customisation service in to practice. It needs to be seamless, visually appealing and simple to use; this will also be readily available on iPads throughout the store for consumers to undertake the customisation service. The service will be integrated into Kickers current UK website.
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Media Coverage Examples
Magazines/Newsletters
Music Blogs
Fashion Blogs
i-D Dazed and Confused Q Magazine Clash Magazine Drapers Records Urban Junkies Le Cool NME Magazine Rolling Stone
Pitchfork.com Consequenceofsound.net The Guardian’s Music Blog NME Music Blog Rolling Stone Music Blog
Style Bubble Hypebeast i-D Online It’s a LDN Thing Yin&Yang I Want You to Know
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Store Plan
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Examples
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Kickers Off the Record
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Kickers Care As part of Kickers new promotional and social media strategy, Kickers Care will be created; a platform on Facebook for customers to voice their queries and complaints. A dedicated team trained in customer service who are knowledgeable of their role and the brand will be behind Kickers Care. The reason for choosing Facebook as the customer service platform is because Twitter restricts the character limit to 140 characters per tweet and it would be difficult for a customer to express their complaint or query in 140 characters.
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Spotify As mentioned previously in this document, Kickers will delete their YouTube account and focus more on setting up and maintaining a Spotify account, called Kickers Amplified. Spotify is a social music sharing platform, free of charge, playlists and users can be followed and subscribed to and can be used on a laptop, tablet or phone. Kickers will post weekly playlists to give users an insight into what they are listening to in Kickers HQ. The playlists will also feature music from Polydor Records artists.
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The Guardian Fashion Blog
Kickers Amplified Iconic footwear brand Kickers have teamed up with Polydor Records to launch their new concept store and customisation service, Kickers Amplified. Read more
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The Launch Kickers Amplified launch night will be for press and industry only on Tuesday 27th May from 6pm-8pm and will have a festival theme. Five bands from Polydor Records will play a twenty minute set each. Ellie Goulding, The Maccabees, The 1975, White Lies and Spector will be the artists playing for the launch night. This will generate press coverage to entice consumers to visit the store once opened to the public. Artists will perform in the store once a month and will also perform in store on the release of a new album, single or new signing to the label. Entry for in store gigs will be made via an application form online and also through purchase of a Kickers Amplified shoe. The tickets will be chosen at random from applications and each winner will receive two tickets, free of charge. The tickets will not be able to be sold on. -Kickers Amplified will launch in collaboration with Polydor Records on Curtain Road, Shoreditch on Tuesday 27th May 2014 -The opening hours for the store will be Monday-Saturday 10am-7pm -Kickers will also launch their new blog (Off the Record) and website on Tuesday 27th May 2014 -Consumers will be able to attend in store gigs throughout the year, application process on the website and automatic entry with purchase of Kickers Amplified shoes -The press release for the launch of the store will be sent out on Tuesday 29th April 2014 -Kickers will focus more on innovative technologies by using iBeacons in their store to target consumers with tailored promotions -Kickers will focus on their social media platforms by posting consistent, relevant information, closing down their YouTube channel and setting up a Spotify account -Kickers will centre their new strategy on data capture, when consumers purchase in store, staff will ask them for their e-mail address to give them an e-receipt, therefore they will be automatically entered into Kickers database to send promotions and newsletters -Kickers Amplified will use Instagram takeovers as part of their social media strategy, using artists from Polydor Records to takeover their Instagram at certain points throughout the year, such as at festivals and gigs 42
The Results
The two main aims of Kickers Amplified are to increase brand awareness, especially to a younger demographic and to increase consumer engagement. The success will be measured in three specific areas. Brand awareness will be measured through analysing press coverage on a weekly basis in terms of the number of mentions, the amount of coverage in each publication/website and the quality of coverage. Kickers will use Klout, a website and mobile app, previously mentioned in this report as a tool to measure engagement and sentiment, the reputation surrounding the brand on social media. This tool will compile social media analytics giving Kickers an understanding of what type of people are talking about the brand and ultimately, what they are saying. Sales will be measured on a weekly basis, both in store and online. Applications to the competition will also be counted as this shows an increase in brand awareness. Footfall will be measured through iBeacons in the store as it will be able to detect how many consumers enter the store with a smart phone. In terms of Off the Record, comments, shares and subscribers will be measured on a weekly basis to analyse consumer engagement. The same will also be measured through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify. 43
Bibliography adidas.com ameechristian.co.uk apetogentleman.com/life/clarks-originals-launches-spring-summer-11-campaign-launch/ Brand Essense, Neil Gains, 2014 brandwatch.com cargocollective.com/nickbooton centdegres.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/KICKERS_CENTDEGRES.GB_2.pdf christophershannon.co.uk clarks.co.uk clarksoriginals.com clashmusic.com/fashion/kickers-a-kick-hi-story converse.com dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/9498/1/clarks-originals-pop-up-store drmartens.com drapersonline.com/news/footwear/shopwatch/kickers-rue-du-four-paris/5031112.article hypebeast.com 44
i-d.vice.com I’m With the Brand, Rob Walker, 2008 joejuice.com kenzo.com kickers.co.uk kickers.com klout.com lazyoaf.com Marketing Fashion, Harriet Posner, 2011 marketingweek.co.uk/kickers-appoints-naked-as-it-ramps-up-marketing-effort/2001541.article mintel.com nike.com nme.com oipolloi.com polydor.co.uk qthemusic.com retaildesignblog.net/2013/05/14/pop-up-stores-the-art-of-knit-by-united-colors-of-benetton-new-york-2/ rollingstone.com 45
serlinassociates.com/news/2013/09/kickin-it-with-with-valerie-phillips/ simoneludeman.com Smart Retail, Richard Hammond, 2011 spotify.com telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10561607/Why-this-Shoreditchification-of-London-must-stop.html telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10571976/In-defence-of-the-Shoreditchification-of-London.html the-broken-arm.com thedrum.com/news/2012/12/06/how-dr-martens-increased-brand-awareness-and-buying-consideration-integrated thefeelgoodrevolution.co.uk/#div10 theguardian.com/music/musicblog theguardian.com/media-network/marketing-agencies-association-partner-zone/ibeacons-shopping-2014 theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/aug/15/social-data-stupid-personalisation-clever theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/23/redchurch-street-fashion-shopping-london theoneoff.com/work/browse/project/kickersis tntmagazine.com/london/area-guide/live-in-shoreditch-ec2-londons-hip-and-trendy-haven topshop.com vogue.it/en/people-are-talking-about/obsession-of-the-day/2010/11/concept-stores Wally Olins: The Brand Handbook, 2008 46