GOLA GIRL
Gola Girl Strategy Manual Cara Connolly
Four P’s The Four P’s of marketing is a strategic tool used when marketing a good or service. The Four P’s are the categories within the marketing mix including Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. “The four P’s are constrained by internal and external factors in the overall business environment, and they interact significantly with one another”
Product
The products Gola Girl will offer are customised and intricately designed trainers that do not imitate original Gola Classic styles as with a revival of a once male dominated sports brand, we are now celebrating a new market of young females who choose to not follow the conventional crowd with a new line of exclusive trainers. Colours available include Pink, Yellow, Orange, Purple and Red and design of the trainers will vary for each trainer making each one unique meaning there is a trainer that stands out to each #GolaGirl. The trainers are made with Vegan friendly soft leather keeping environmental affects low on the environment but imitate real leather qualities such as durability.
Place Gola Girl will be placed in department stores across the globe. The use of a concession store will allow Gola Girl to operate what is stocked for the customers and the department store too will also be able to operate what products are sold to suit the target market of the store. Shopping malls too will be an ideal place for Gola Girl stores to be placed as many stores tend to gather and group together within age and price brands, known as an ‘adjacency’. Evidence of this is seen on high streets and in shopping malls where democratic stores are grouped close together. For Gola Girl, it will be placed near its new competitors to represent the product and price range of the brand before customers enter the store. Gola Girl stand-alone units will be available in major cities as smaller versions of the brand’s retail environment to give it the recognition from the capacity of a large city. The aim is to see how successful Gola Girl concessions and small high street stores are when launched before taking the next step and growing the brand with launching flagship stores.
Price
Gola previously charged an average of ÂŁ40-ÂŁ100 for Gola Classics. With the revival of the brand that is now Gola Girl, the pricing strategy will remain affordable as the target consumers are generally from Middle Class incomes and Gola was always successful when remaining fair with pricing of their products previously. The quality of Gola Girl trainers will be high whilst keeping prices reasonable and on par with their new competitors.
Promotion
Gola Girl will be promoted through many advertising techniques such as Billboards showing the latest Gola Girl campaign, A strong online platform through a relaunch of the online store and social media will engage consumers, Social media Gola Girl will use will target core market. With every Gola Girl campaign comes a new influential collaborative partner which keeps consumers engaged and excited for the next face of the new Gola Girl campaign.
Through the initial launch, limited edition trainers will be available through the collaboration with Grace Neutral however Gola Girl will drive sales through reducing prices in sales promotion in store for other trainers, to interest consumers who did not receive a limited-edition pair into getting another pair for a reduced price. This tactic delivers a quality-value proposition to customers that confirms low prices but good quality. Sales promotions will only be available in stores as opposed to online to attract consumers to Gola Girl stores where an exciting selling environment has been created.
Brand Narrative
The Old Brand Narrative; Plot- A British icon, Heritage, Built on Family values, Celebrating Great achievements. Hero- Genuine styled merchandise for those who choose to not follow the crowd. Platform- Associated with the biggest names and sporting events in sport history, predominantly in Britain. Premise- Holds a treasured place in sport history, emphasises and celebrates its British Heritage. Audience- Passionate fans and professional sports people, predominantly male
The New Brand Narrative; Plot- exciting, inspiring and including. Hero- ‘Tomorrow’s conventional female’embracing unique and unconventional Platform- #golagirl- a global movement bringing young females together from different cultures and societies. Premise- ‘everyday girl’- Empowering, positive, and moving, emphasising on acceptance. Audience- Young and powerful girls embracing their uniqueness
Collaborative Partner
For the Gola Girl campaign, A collaboration will take place with London based Tattoo artist and activist Grace Neutral. With over 600k followers on Instagram, the artist is known for her unconventional beauty and “striking images characterised by ornate tattoos, dramatic scarification and body modifications including a forked tongue and inked indigo eyes” She is well known for featuring in Viceland’s series ‘Needles and Pins’ which explored the journey of tattoo art from subculture to impacting the globe. Grace has collaborated previously with brands Motel and popular footwear brand Reebok Classic. She has also walked runway for Ashley Williams for the designer’s Spring/ Summer 2016 collection.
Gola Girl X Neutral collaboration will be popular amongst when launched to the new Asian market, due to her growing fanbase amongst Asia, especially in Japan as the artist wears tattoos inspired by Japanese Anime and admits her obsession with Japanese Anime director Hayao Miyazaki. Grace’s collaboration with Gola Girl will begin with a limited-edition collection with trainers customised and tattooed with ink with the artist’s own work which will be available to customers on a first come-first served basis when collection is launched. Following this, Batch-produced replicas of the artist’s “Gola Girl’s” will be available in Gola Girl stores online and in stores.
Following Gola Girl’s collaboration with Grace Neutral, Gola Girl plan partnerships with inspiring females across the globe including the UK, Asia, Europe, and USA to inspire and empower young females to join #GolaGirl on it’s Global Movement.
Defining The Brand
Gola was a globally recognised sports brand back in the 1960/1970’s however relaunching the brand now as a fashion footwear brand for females means the brand has now distanced itself from its heritage sportswear name. However, using ‘Gola’ in the brands new name ensures that although the brand has changed direction, it still has the backdrop of the brands heritage to ensure that when its launched globally, GolaGirl will be recognisable and associated with the success of the old brand as opposed to the decline Gola experienced. GolaGirl is empowering, fun, positive and a movement bringing young females together to face the social issues that females experience today. The brand definition will be clear throughout all campaigns, collaborations and even messaged clearly in stores so the consumers experience a positive retail experience.
Knowing The Customer
Young females face many pressures in society today, whether that be how they look, how they dress, what colour their hair is, how much they weigh or their interests and because of this most young female find shopping is an intimidating experience. We want to gain a personal relationship with our consumers, we want them to know that they are not alone, that it is okay to be different and that they are one of “our� #GolaGirls so they have one group they can relate and fit into and at the same time it empowers them amongst many other female consumers their age.
Reaching The Customer
Our target consumers are young, creative individuals that are up to date with today’s technology and social media savvy. GolaGirl aim to create both virtual and in store environments, it is essential that the virtual stores are just as inviting as in-store as it’s important for our customers to make positive comparisons as opposed to negative ones between both stores.
Gola Girl will be present on social media and regularly update target consumers on products, offers, campaigns etc. Alternatively, Gola Girl consumers can download the App on their smartphone where they can purchase or browse any time of day.
GolaGirl stores will be created to give the consumer an experience, it’s important that the consumers feel the message of the brand and it should be portrayed. Visual merchandising will be well thought out and represent the theme of the brand and highlight the brand’s latest campaign, GolaGirl is not just a ‘shoe shop’ and the in-store experience will leave the consumers positive in their purchases and keen to pay another visit.
Gola Girl
The aim of #GolaGirl is reaching out to young females who feel lost in a society that pressures young girls to look a certain way, Gola Girl promotes “Tomorrow’s New Conventional” and empowers females to come together and celebrate their uniqueness or what society condemn to be “flaws”. #GolaGirl hopes to be a global movement that breaks down the barriers of the “social norm”. With the help of inspiring female collaborative partners who have proven to express themselves and help others do so, we believe Gola Girl can make a positive influence on every girl and any girl.
“Tomorrow’s New
Conventional�
The Campaign Shoot
The Campaign Shoot represents your everyday girl who has the desire to be unique but feels restricted if she has not had the chance pf expression yet, through the current status of society today. For example, a girl who desires to have tattoos may be too young or it isn’t affordable to her, and the girl who desires to have a shaved head may be restricted through current work policies of uniform where it isn’t “acceptable”. Gola Girl is the campaign for the ‘everyday girl’ who has the passion to be different and stand up to pressures of society either now or in the future.