DIPLOMA PROJECT PROPOSAL
I. THE DESIGN BRIEF Sea Buckthorn skincare products To conceptualize a brand of skin care products containing Sea Buckthorn extracts, and to then brand, package and advertise the same. Sea Buckthorn is a berry-‐bearing shrub found in the Himalayas and Arunachal Pradesh. It is rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Its use in the skin care industry rests on four main benefits it offers – anti-‐inflammatory, anti-‐bacterial, anti-‐aging and moisturizing. This project will concentrate on the age defying effects of Sea Buckthorn, and will position the brand as a pioneer in the organic age defying skin care market. There is a big opportunity in this segment of the market, as the intersection between organic and age defying has not yet been ventured into. Age defying products currently in the market operate on chemical. Competitors like Olay, Ponds and Lakme hold the highest market share in the age defying sector, while The Body Shop, Fabindia, Kiehl’s and Forest Essentials have made a big impact on Indian women and their preference for organic products. The Indian woman wants the best of both worlds, and this project will address this need.
This project has a three-‐fold challenge to address. Not only has it to compete with the established bigwigs in the skin care industry and revolutionize the scenario by being organic, but it also has to introduce a brand new ingredient to a population wary of experimenting on their skin. Sea Buckthorn also has a name that is easily interpreted to its detriment.
Aparna Badgandi
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DIPLOMA PROJECT PROPOSAL
This project is primarily of commercial value and locates itself in the wider context of the beauty industry and it’s advertising, aiming to start new trends. Current trends in beauty advertising in India include a fixation on external benefits and validation. Both the media and the message need a makeover in this regard. More recent and more successful efforts have focused on real women and the importance of self-‐esteem, evident by choice of models in advertisements and the practice of testimonial advertising. In India, the only successful advertising is that which respects the predominant cultural settings and that is the direction this project will take. Studies have shown that beginning an age defying skin regime at the age of 25 for all populaces, delays the ageing process and also lessens its effects when they do set in. From my own research I found that Indian women, however, do not like to admit to being old enough to start age defying treatment. The target audience chosen through some analytical methods is women between 25 and 35 from the upper middle and affluent economic classes. This project will aim to change the tone of voice and message of age defying product advertising, from condescending and accusatory to playful and positive. Women are likely to respond better to persuasion that doesn’t make them feel old, but encourages them to look their best for as long as possible.
Aparna Badgandi
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DIPLOMA PROJECT PROPOSAL
Position This project is in keeping with my practice and area of interest in design for persuasion, which is audience-‐centric and aims to mould public opinion and shape consumer behavior. To enter the cutthroat world of advertising is the intended career path, which has been reinforced over the last three semesters in the advertising lab and two internships in the industry. With the aforementioned experience and a background in psychology and consumer behavior, I believe I have the ability to use persuasion effectively to create impact. On a second level, design for business and identity goes hand in hand with and precedes persuasion and thus interests me also.
II. RESEARCH QUESTIONS •
An inquiry into the competitor brands and the market including Olay, Fabindia, L’Oreal, Forest Essentials, The Body Shop and Kiehl’s was conducted through secondary research techniques to assess their brand values, target audience, strategy, product range, pricing and position. Further, a brief study of the skin care market was conducted to find the market segment with the most promise wherein to locate this brand.
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With regard to the target audience, three main areas were identified for investigation – the consumers’ current skin care regimes to determine their needs and any competitors that may have been overlooked; their awareness of Sea Buckthorn and their reactions to the name and new ingredients; and their notions about age defying skin treatment. This was achieved through primary research comprising a survey of the target audience in order to gain an insight and strategy useful for branding and advertising. A second set of interviews was conducted to confirm the findings of the survey.
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Additional questions that are yet to be answered but have been identified as game changers relate more specifically to the psychology of the consumers – how to appeal to them; how to tackle their denial of the problem; how to contradict first impressions of the name Sea Buckthorn; how to introduce them to age defying treatments without making them feel old; and how to introduce organic age defying skin care products into a market that has almost no precedence of the same, and also prove more effective than the rest.
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Matrices, problem restatement, factor-‐issue and SWOT analyses of the research findings were some other techniques used to develop the brand, brand values, position and strategy.
The first hypothesis, confirmed through research, is that people haven’t heard of Sea Buckthorn and
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DIPLOMA PROJECT PROPOSAL
its benefits and some report that it sounds harsh/abrasive. This will be tackled through branding and packaging. The second hypothesis, confirmed through research, now serves as the unique insight into the target audience -‐ Women in the target group are reluctant to admit that they are old enough to begin age-‐defying skin treatments. This will form the basis of the branding and advertising campaign. III. APPROACH/PROCESS Research – Stage I : Secondary (Competitor analysis) Stage II : Primary (Survey of target audience) Strategy – Analytical methods to arrive at a brand and creative strategy and to gain a unique insight and single-‐minded proposition. Brand name, position, values – Mind-‐mapping and word association techniques to arrive at a brand name; and secondary research to arrive at brand values and position (involving a focus group of users to verify effectiveness of name and position). Branding manual (logo, collaterals) and packaging – Ideation and conceptualization, initial iterations, experimentation, material research, fabrication for testing, execution. Advertising campaign (creative units – print ads, social media, collaterals, PR) – Deciding on a tone of voice, ideation, initial iterations, exploration of styles (photography vs. illustrations, illustration styles, treatment of images, models vs. product shots, etc.), fixing on a style, execution across all media, focus groups and final execution based on results. Final branding, packaging & campaign – The final products tweaked and edited as per feedback from focus groups, reviews, peers, etc. Timeline
Aparna Badgandi
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DIPLOMA PROJECT PROPOSAL
IV. MATERIALS/RESOURCES Resources in terms of people have been used during the research process and will be used again for focus groups to verify findings and get feedback on creative work. This constitutes women between 25 and 35 from upper middle and affluent economic classes. As reference material, branding and advertising campaigns of existing brands; skin care market segmentation studies; and packaging materials case studies. Other resources for this project are primarily required during the packaging ideation and fabrication phase. This will involve buying and studying packaging of existing products and sourcing materials like plastic, foam and paper to experiment with. Test prints will be taken during various stages of the creative work, and eventually the final prints. Some costs may be incurred if a photo shoot is required – cost of photographer, sets and props and production costs; and similarly if a TV commercial is required. V. LEARNING OUTCOMES •
To understand market dynamics and industry economics and politics
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To learn how to position a brand
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To understand market and material economics and the logic behind pricing of products
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To understand competitor strategies and learn from their successes and failures
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To understand the target audience, their needs and how to appeal to them
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To master the branding process
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To be able to set a budget for advertising campaigns, or work within one
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To conceptualize ideas that can effectively be executed across multiple media
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To conceptualize a brand and advertising campaign to break the monotony of the current scenario
References : 1. http://www.slideshare.net/bizequation/skin-‐care-‐report 2. Indian Personal Care Industry; Gyan Research and Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2012 3. A Study on the Purchase Behavior and Cosmetic Consumption Pattern among Young; Females in Delhi and NCR; Journal of Social and Development Sciences Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 205-‐211, May 2013 (ISSN 2221-‐1152)
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