PH Seven brand & promotion launch report by Ania Kanwal

BRAND & PROMOTION LAUNCH

aNIA Kanwal n0499812 fashion communication and promotion CREATIVE NETWORKS module leader chris macdonald fash10106

contents 4. introduction 12. digital 16. launch event 21. public relations 24. conclusion 28. references Fig. 1

introduction

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“Branding is about building a relationship between consumer and brand. This is why knowledge and understanding of consumers is so vital. The more intimately a company understands its customers, the better able it is to develop products.”

- Posner. H, (2011) Marketing Fashion In our primary research, we conducted a survey to target our ideal consumer. We found that 70% had not heard of niche perfumery but would consider buying into it, 40% of people would spend £20-£30 on a niche fragrance, and 30% would spend more. We took this on board and created an affordable niche brand called PH Seven.

PH Seven is a niche, bespoke brand whose aim is to create a two-step perfume regime for people with dry skin with the purpose of the fragrance lasting longer on their skin by applying an oil based moisturiser to the application area before. This supports the citation we found from myperfume.com: â&#x20AC;&#x153;People with dry skin usually find their fragrance holding time shorter than those with oily skin because oily skin has more natural moisture to hold in the fragrance. PH levels in our bodies also vary slightly from person to person. Our individual levels of PH will determine how each ingredient in a fragrance will react.â&#x20AC;? Anon, (2014). MyPerfume.com. We named our brand PH Seven as that is the pH level for water which is neutral. Water makes a huge impact in our diet and especially our skin, which is why we decided to associate dry skin with hydration.

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The brand promise of PH Seven is to ensure the longevity of scent on the consumers skin. The essence and values of a brand are extremely important. As said by Posner, H. (2011) Marketing Fashion, page 139, “A brand’s essence describes the essential nature or core of a brand.” It is the heart of the brand and is what makes it connect together in order to be successful and trustworthy. As long as PH Seven has big brand values and are loyal, the consumers will respect its values and connect with them. The brand values of PH Seven are: To offer the best ingredients that will benefit the longevity of scent on your skin type at an affordable price; to always keep our brand promise and therefore create loyalty with our customers; to give a great passion for the product that we provide for our customers; and to be able to help all of our costumers with full product knowledge, explaining all the details about the products we sell. PH Seven’s fragrance products consist of a mildly scented oil based moisturising lotion and a perfume of the same scent (but stronger); both will be packaged in a luxury gold (on the outside) and black velvet (inside) gift box. There will be four different scents for the brand, as not everyone is attracted to the same scent. The scents will consist of: fresh (named Pomelo Fresh), floral (named Blossom), oriental (named Lily) and woody (named Willow). The lotion will be called ‘Plus one’ as it is an ‘add on’ almost, to hydrate the skin e.g. The woody package of the woody scent and moisturiser will be called ‘Willow’ and ‘Willow Plus One’. It is essential for the moisturiser to match the scent of the fragrance to ensure that the maximum amount of scent has been applied onto the skin in order for it to last longer and to not fade on the skin. The brand’s signature colours are relevant to their connotations: White and Black, to represent the constant war between you and your skin, and gold which tells consumers that the brand has an element of luxury and purity in and is not a clinical brand.

consumer

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“Uniqueness is defined as consumers’ desire to differentiate themselves from one another. The theory postulates that one’s sense of uniqueness is perceived by others and motivates and individual to acquire items that reflect a difference relative to others.”

- Uniqueness theory (Synder and Fromkin, 1977) – Bickle, C. M – Fashion Marketing: Theory, principles & practice, (2011) PH Seven is targeted at people of any gender (unisex) aged 21-27 who suffer from dry skin and find it difficult for fragrance to last on their skin. They are likely to be in a full time creative job with a reasonable income, as it is affordable by this market, and thought to be bought as a ‘payday treat’ or for the element of luxury. The target consumers are knowledgeable about bespoke or niche spending and are willing to try new products in order to appear unique to the mainstream world. E.g. In terms of fragrance, they would not like to purchase the likes of Chanel, Calvin Klein, or Jean Paul Gaultier as although they are the best sellers in the fragrance world, the consumers just would not feel different to everybody else.

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The strap line is ‘More than moisture’ – with the perfume being the ‘more’ aspect. It intrigues customers who have dry skin into thinking what this means and what the product actually is. The hypodermic needle theory suggests that the media “injects” information into the audience’s head making them a passive audience who just accept what they are receiving and make no conscious thought about it them selves. In this sense with niche perfumery, the consumers are active consumers as they make their own decision of what kind of scents and ingredients they prefer in a perfume.

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digital

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“Blogs are one of the fastest-growing areas of what has become known as consumer-generated media.”

- Posner, H. (2011) Marketing Fashion Considering PH Seven is a niche brand, there will be minimum advertising. The brand will gain its popularity and status via celebrity endorsement, social media and the ever-effective strategies: by word of mouth and bloggers. PH Seven will create pop up stores and exhibition launches for bloggers to attend. By doing this, the bloggers will blog and ‘vlog’ about the exhibitions and products to create traffic about PH Seven. Internet famous bloggers such as Tanya Burr and Zoella who have thousands of viewers will review the products, which will get people interested in the benefits of the concept and enlighten them into niche perfumery. People with dry skin may not even know about scent not lasting longer on their skin, but will hopefully be delighted that these bloggers have informed them about the facts and a product to solve this problem.

Fig. 9 Tanya Burr (blogger) at Benefit press event

“New technology is changing the face of fashion branding in a way that involves the customer as never before.” – (Hameide, K,K – Fashion branding Unraveled, page 222) PH Seven will use new technology to promote their brand and products via social media. They have their own Instagram account where they upload short 6-second teaser films for promotion, backstage and shoot images to engage the consumer’s attention and make them feel a part of the brand. They do not have Facebook, but use more recent media such as Twitter and Vine to reach their target audience and also use these platforms as a Q&A for people with enquiries, which supports this quote as the brand are involving and interacting with the customer themselves to offer maximum. This brand is all about using modern media, and not following the mainstream luxury

brands. PH Seven also has their own website which explains all about the brand and products and displays illustrations of how to apply the two-step fragrance regime. The products can be bought online and the brand will also launch promotions off the fragrances, such as ‘free delivery when you buy two fragrance packages or more’ or ‘get 50% off all 100ml bottles. Limited time offer – Use this code at checkout morethanmoisture’. Other forms of digital promotion include a partnership with Glossybox, a brand where people pay £10 a month to receive a box of five small samples of beauty products from other brands. This is an effective way of getting consumers to try different products, which they would not normally purchase. Consumers would try out the fragrance and ‘plus one’ moisturiser and if they like it, they would purchase the full package.

launch

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The launch event of a brand has to be of a key importance in order to promote themselves and get their ‘name’ out to the press and social media such as bloggers and magazines, even if it is a niche brand. The process of a product launch enables the brand to grow and strengthen while they can in it’s early days when just starting out, such as PH Seven. The Launch of PH Seven’s “More than Moisture” concept aims to boost sales and get people talking about the innovative, informative new concept of fragrance longevity due to moisture. There will be promotion launches in department stores such as Liberty London and Selfridges. Here is an example of a promotion launch: The Future laboratory has teamed up with Selfridges stores all across the country for two months to create a niche fragrance lab next to the mass fragrance department. The lab asks consumers to fill out a survey on the iPad and smell various items such as books and explain what memory they associate it with. The customer is then taken into a booth to summarise their personality and then a perfume is created associated with their personality. This makes the fragrances much more personal to the consumer and they leave the lab feeling that they have their own unique fragrance and no one else has the same. PH Seven

will set up pop up stores in Selfridges in London, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester and Liberty London for bloggers, press and consumers to attend. The stores will be set up next to the Selfridges Future Lab/niche perfumery stands, and next to the Niche perfumery in Liberty. In these pop up stores, there will be skin care experts who will inform new and curious consumers about the brand, their products and how they will benefit the people with dry skin, and also how they are different to other fragrance brands. The decor in these stores will be exciting but classy with the colour scheme of white, black and gold throughout. The exciting part being the visual merchandising as life like water droplets with PH Seven’s campaign ad and behind the scenes footage showing on a screen. The purpose of this is to engage the new consumers and bloggers visiting the pop up stores in feeling a part of the brand, and to feel in a comfortable environment. There will be a calm and happy music playlist playing in the background while the experts speak to the customers with music such as ‘Black and Gold’ by Sam Sparro and ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams. For consumers who are interested in the fragrance, free 10ml gift samples will be given to them, which will hopefully promote it in a way that is more personal to the customer and have them coming back to the stores to purchase the full package.

special EVENT LOCATION

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For PH Sevenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special event for the press, I researched relevant venues and hotels to hold it in and came across a brand called Temple Spa. It is a niche company that aims to look after your skin and body and sells products for troubled skin and remedies to aid this, and even diet plans to keep your body healthy. Temple Spa have a promotion on their website to win a Luxury spa break at Alexander Hotels which are luxury boutique hotels near London. I thought that this is a brilliant collaboration for their brand and gives customers a taste of luxury and relaxation - which is what their brand is all about.

For the event I have chosen the Alexander Hotel in Sussex. It is perfect for PH Seven to have their press event as the décor and elegance of this spa hotel accords the luxuriousness of PH Seven as a brand. By having the event at a spa hotel, it will increase credibility of the brand and strengthen its values as the message will become clear to consumers that the brand is to care for their fragrance needs by addressing their dry skin and that PH Seven is a remedy for that and their luxurious lifestyle. At the event, the atmosphere will be busy, yet calm and classy. The visuals communicated at the event will again be white, black and gold with a stunning gold water fountain as the main feature of the event. There will be a few big tables in the event called the ‘More than Moisture Lab’ where there will be many skin experts explaining to everyone there about the brand and the products just like the pop up stores, giving demonstrations on the two-step regime and allowing the bloggers, people from the press and celebrities invited to try each scent on their skin and decide their preference. The labs will be decorated with lilies to represent our oriental scent ‘Lily’ and bright citrus fruits to represent our fresh scent ‘Pomelo Fresh’ and decorated with Willow and Blossom trees to represent our woody and floral scents: ‘Willow’ and ‘Blossom’. The music played will be the same as that in the pop up stores creating a relaxed, happy environment in the background of the event. The food served will be large tables beautifully decorated with fruit sculptures and a healthy buffet selection will be placed on the tables with food from all around the world such as fruits, prawns, fish, Thai pineapple stacks, noodle dishes, pizza, quiches, cheese boards, chicken wings, salads, cakes and non conventional flavour ice creams such as mango, papaya etc. This food selection I have chosen creates an exciting atmosphere to the event and makes it more ‘extraordinary’ to go with the beautiful decorations of the venue. In relation to PH Seven, the healthy food represents that we are taking care of the condition of the skin but also incorporating the origins of the fragrance elements and scents, by conveying it via the different types of food. The drinks that will be served on displays and to people entering the event will be many different flavours of water – as PH Seven promotes moisture for dry skin but will also serve champagne, white, red or rose wine, and a selection of juices.

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public relations

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Considering that PH Seven are a niche brand, it would be most appropriate to use in-house PR as it would be easy to control press and what gets out in the media about the brand as our preferred way of communication is mainly word of mouth, instore promotion launches, social media and recommendation. For the special event however, I have decided to appoint a PR company. I researched suitable agencies relevant to PH Seven and came across Bottle PR. They are a company that are based in the UK and have been around for 8 years. On their website, it states that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bottle is a public relations consultancy that devises highly focused, bespoke communications strategiesâ&#x20AC;? - Bottle PR, (2013) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which is exactly what PH Seven are looking for as they are a bespoke brand and Bottle PR will respect the niche values of PH Seven.

Fig. 16 Bottle PR website

Bottle PR would ensure a cost-effective way of getting our launch event out to the press and also get everyone talking about our brand. As PH Seven is a niche brand, we did not want celebrity endorsement to become the main focus of the brand and advertising due to the thought of celebrity press devaluing the brand, which is the case for most brands that do use celebrity endorsements. Skincare experts and celebrities, magazine editors and niche fragrance brand owners will be invited to the event. Our selection of guests ranges from Skincare experts from Simple, the editors of Women’s Health magazine and Men’s Health magazine, Jo Malone, brands such as Harrods, Liberty, Selfridges, Creed perfume, Bobbi Brown, and Renée Rouleau – a celebrity skincare expert. We will also invite top skin care and spa hotels so that we can gain feedback from industry experts, which will again increase the brand credibility. Bottle PR will still ensure that PH Seven’s campaign adverts feature in independent magazines and zines such as Oyster and Russh for the reason that it will attract new consumers of our target market; people who are interested in niche magazines and niche perfumery and hence do not follow the mainstream market.

conclusion

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To conclude, our launch of PH Seven will be futuristically successful due to the constant buzz of social media which us as a brand will communicate regularly, and the press releases in the independent magazines will increase the hype of this new fragrance concept. This will ensure that PH Seven will become a trustworthy, successful brand which abides by the brand values and will hence gain customer loyalty. As PH Seven increases its reputation, it will most certainly be able to run their own niche perfumery store outside of London which will be advertised where the products are sold: In Liberty, Selfridges, Space NK, Harrods and Spas. The existing customers will be informed about the new store and it will be promoted via POS in the stores where the fragrances are sold. The word will also spread via PH Seven’s own preferred promotion strategies (social media and word of mouth), and also by their clever, deceiving tagline to intrigue the market: ‘More than moisture’. Leading on from this, in PH Seven’s own store there will be a fragrance and moisturiser re-fill station where the customers can re-fill their bottles (for cheaper) so there is no need to pay for the packaging again. PH Seven will also expand in more scents for their collection as they expand in the market. Conclusively, I think that there is a positive future for PH Seven to grow as a niche fragrance brand for dry skin.

references

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Anon, (2014). MyPerfume.com : MyPerfume. [online] Myperfume.com. Available at: http://myperfume.com/pages.php?pageid=1 [Accessed 27 May. 2014] Brooke, S. (2014). The Luxury Channel – How Niche Fragrances Are Gaining A Firm Following: By Simon Brooke. [online] Theluxurychannel.com. Available at: http://theluxurychannel.com/magazine/how-niche-fragrances-are-gaining-a-firm-following/ [Accessed 26 May. 2014]. Bottle PR, (2013). Consumer PR Services to Reach Everyday People | BOTTLE PR Agency, Oxfordshire. [online] BOTTLE. Available at: http://www.bottlepr.co.uk/home/about/consumer-brands/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2014]. New technology - Hameide, K. (2011). Fashion branding unraveled. 1st ed. New York: Fairchild Books. [Accessed 26 May 2014] Posner, H. (2011) Marketing Fashion, page 135 [Accessed 25 May. 2014] Posner. H, (2011) Marketing Fashion, page 139 [Accessed 25 May. 2014] Posner, H. (2011) Marketing Fashion, Page 168 [Accessed 28 May. 2104] Uniqueness Theory - Bickle, C. M – Fashion Marketing: Theory, principles & practice, (2011) [Accessed 26 May 2014]

bibliography

Anon, (2014). The science of smell: Bottle up your personality at Selfridges Fragrance Lab. [online] TNT Magazine. Available at: http://www.tntmagazine.com/london/insiders-london/the-science-of-smell-bottle-up-your-personality-at-selfridgesfragrance-lab [Accessed 26 May. 2014] Anon, (2014). MyPerfume.com : MyPerfume FAQ. [online] Myperfume.com. Available at: http://myperfume.com/pages. php?pageid=1 [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. Bottle PR, (2013). Consumer PR Services to Reach Everyday People | BOTTLE PR Agency, Oxfordshire. [online] BOTTLE. Available at: http://www.bottlepr.co.uk/home/about/consumer-brands/ [Accessed 27 May. 2014] Bottle PR, (2013). Consumer PR Services to Reach Everyday People | BOTTLE PR Agency, Oxfordshire. [online] BOTTLE. Available at: http://www.bottlepr.co.uk/home/about/consumer-brands/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2014] Brooke, S. (2014). The Luxury Channel – How Niche Fragrances Are Gaining A Firm Following: By Simon Brooke. [online] Theluxurychannel.com. Available at: http://theluxurychannel.com/magazine/how-niche-fragrances-are-gaining-a-firm-following/ [Accessed 26 May. 2014]. Commoditygoods.com, (2014). Premium Perfume & Cologne Online - Fragrance for every occassion | Commodity. [online] Available at: https://www.commoditygoods.com/collection/women [Accessed 28 May. 2014] Hameide, K. (2011). Fashion branding unraveled. 1st ed. New York: Fairchild Books. Limited, B. (2014). Perfume | For Women, For Men, Unisex Perfume | Beauty | Liberty.co.uk. [online] Liberty.co.uk. Available at: http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/categorylist/dept/beauty_perfume [Accessed 26 May. 2014] Temple Spa. (2014). About Temple Spa Luxury UK Skin Care Product Specialists. [online] Templespa.com. Available at: http://www.templespa.com/about-us [Accessed 29 May. 2014]. Temple Spa. (2014). Dry Skin Care Treatments, Skin Care Tips and Advice.. [online] Templespa.com. Available at: http:// www.templespa.com/skincare-problem-solution/dry-patches-skin [Accessed 29 May. 2014]. Thefuturelaboratory.com, (2014). The Future Laboratory. [online] Available at: http://thefuturelaboratory.com/uk/ [Accessed 25 May. 2014]. Posner, H. (2011). Marketing fashion. 1st ed. London: Laurence King.

illustrations Front cover (Own image) [Accessed on 16 May 2014] Figure 1. Contents page image – Available (online) at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/440508407275029395/ [Accessed on 1 Jun. 2014] Figure 2. Gold Chain – Available at http://www.pinterest.com [Accessed on 1. Jun] Figure 3. (Own image) – [Accessed on 16 May 2014] Figure 4. B/w water woman – Available at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/246783254551893053/ [Accessed on 2. Jun.] Figure 5. Model Available at http://pinterest.com [Accessed on 2. Jun.] Figure 6. Consumer model Available at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/514043744940987516/ [Accessed on 2. Jun.] Figure 7. Creative room – Available at http://www.freundevonfreunden.com/interviews/iris-alonzo/ via http://www. pinterest.com/pin/146155950381104794/ [Accessed on 2. Jun 2014] Figure 8. Gold woman Available at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/372602569143400507/ [Accessed on 3. Jun] Figure 9. Tanya Burr – Available at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/363173157422685402/ [Accessed on 2. Jun.] Figure 10. Launch – Available at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/291256300874412488/ [Accessed on 3. Jun.] Figure 11. Alexander Hotel – Available at http://www.droomshotels.com/hotels/277-alexander-house-hotel-and-utopia-spa/ [Accessed on 3. Jun.] Figure 12. Alexandra Hotel – Available at http://www.swindonalexandrahouse.co.uk [Accessed on 3. Jun.] Figure 13. Alexander Hotel – Available at http://www.findyourperfectvenue.com/Alexander-House-Hotel-Utopia-Spa [Accessed on 3. Jun.] Figure 14. Own manipulated image [Accessed on 3. Jun.] Figure 15. Available at – http://www.pinterest.com [Accessed on 3. Jun.] Figure 16. Bottle PR Webpage (about) – Available at http://www.bottlepr.co.uk/about/ [Accessed on 2. Jun.] Figure. 17. Gold leaf woman – Available at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/514043744940987515/ [Accessed on 3.Jun.]

appendix

ph seven more than moisture