DANIELA MADURO. FASM 430. DANIEL GREEN
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction The Story Research Inspiration Target Market Location Retail Space The Community Launch Plan Marketing Strategy Ethical Brand Final Thoughts Website Sources
After concluding my career in Fashion Marketing I decided to transform my own brand Margarita Mia into a lifestyle brand that primarily empowers underprivileged women as professionals. Margarita Mia wants for these individuals to become successful in both their personal and professional lives.
The purpose of this project is to create a business model that reflects Margarita Mia's belief and aesthetic. Through in depth research in regards to location, demographic, a marketing plan and other logistics, Margarita Mia has established a successful business plan that will bring profit to the table and at the same time help these women become the best versions of themselves by offering them appropriate resources and spaces..
¿QUIEN ES MARGARITA?
"It
may in fact be utterly impossible to be successful without helping others to become successful"..� Maya Angelou
A little bit about Margarita Mia; it means "My Margarita." It is a Honduran brand named after my maternal grandmother, one of the strongest and most beautiful woman I've ever met in my entire life. She has been one of my greatest inspiration and she is constantly reminding me that I can do anything that I put my mind, heart and soul to..
The impact that I want to create in Margarita Mia is the same that she has in my life. I want to empower and make women believe that they can make a living with their God given talent.. These women who I want to help are called "The Lencas" from my hometown Honduras. This space will offer a variety of products and services including apparel, artisan and beauty products. The location will provide a coffee/juice bar, because great things can start or be solved with a cup of joe. Lastly, there will be an area for events in which motivational speakers will come periodically throughout the month to give motivational talks.Margarita Mia wants to pave the road for these amazing women to create a name for themselves. .We are a community that will empower and encourage one another to thrive. .
MISSION Our mission is to create a space in which we empower and support Honduran women. We want to provide a platform for these women to share their craftmanship and lifestyle goals in order to help them ensure a successful future.
MUJER INDIGENA The Lencas are Indians of the Northern highlands of Honduras and El Salvador who are culturally between the Maya and the North and circum-Caribbean people such as the Kuna to the South.The aboriginal culture of the Lenca has virtually disappeared and it is not well known. Today the pattern of organization of Lenca villages varies greatly from town to town. Land is owned by the village and distributed among individuals for farming. Crafts include pottery and basketry; the weaving of the cloth is slowly disappearing due to lack of resources and modern culture influences.
IT'S A LIFESTYLE
According to the Lifestyle Brands: "A guide to Aspirational Marketing," a lifestyle brand is a company that markets its products or services to embody the interests, attitudes and opinions of a group or a culture. Lifestyle brands seek to inspire, guide, and motivate people with the goal of their products contributing to the definition of the consumer's way of life.
AN AMERICANO Now a days, the retail industry has been suffering, consumers are now demanding an authentic and personalized experienced. By tapping into the cultured customer's lifestyle interests such as beauty products, books, coffee, juices and pastries they force these customers to spend more time within their shop and for their visit to prolonge. These spaces create a perfect hangout zone in which friends can meet up to spend an afternoon of shopping and eating. This strategy also adds value to the brand and definitely makes customers return either for a great cup of coffee or for one of your pieces from your latest Spring/Summer 2018 collection..
OR
Margarita Mia's coffee/juice bar will serve as a place in which customers can interact with one another or the artisans and also an area in which these women can schedule interviews or meetings with professionals. According to WGSN, brands such as the London boutique “ The Goodhood Store has a cafe in its basement and also serves coffee, juices and small bites. Finally, fashion brand Mardou & Dean also features a cafe, a seating area, a gallery place and an outdoor meeting place where shoppers are served coffee while browsing newspapers and lifestyle magazines. .
A GREEN JUICE?
LET'S WORK Retailers are now creating workshop areas for heightened customer involvement. According to WGSN, When purchasing is combined with an interacion, shoppers are more likely to share that experience and engage with the brand again. It is essential to consider using culture as currency by offering art & fashion focused initiatives like in-store creative workshops to lure customers into the store.. Margarita Mia will offer workshops and events in which all of the proceeds will go to the organization. These workshops will provide customers to establish personal experiences with these hard-working Indigenous women.
TOGETHER
A CAUSE FASHION FOR Fashion has a great power within society. The textile and clothing industry is the second largest employer after agriculture in the developing world, and a large percentage of this workforce are women. Research shows that empowering and investing in women has a cumulative bonus: women are likely to spend their income on their children and families, on education, health & nutrition bringing long term positive changes and prosperity to communities.
Fashion brands who have already joined this initiative are the following: FashionABLE which help women leave the sex industry while giving them a source of employment, Naja Lingerie is an eco-conscious lingerie line which primarily employs single mothers or female heads of households. There are other many fashion companies who are contributing in empowering women and defending their rights, Margarita Mia is proud to be a part of this community..
A MODERN LIFESTYLE BRAND: INSPIRATION
Launched in the fall of 2008 out of Gwyneth Paltrow's kitchen as a homespun weekly newsletter, Paltrow aim was to create a place in which she could give her travel recommendations, healthy recipes and latest shopping discoveries to friends as well as learn from other experts in these areas.
GOOP As stated in Goop.com, "We are a lifestyle brand with its roots in content across six key pillars: Wellness, Travel, Food, Beauty, Style, and Work; within those pillars, we curate and sell a tightly-edited array of products that adhere to our brand values, and we also make our own goods. We have created a luxurious, high-performance skincare line made from organic ingredients; a regimen-based vitamin program to address the acute needs of modern women; a gorgeous line of fragrances, crafted from entirely natural and powerful components; and a limited-edition range of fashion essentials, all made in Italy's finest mills and factories".
THE GOOP LAB
The shop is located in the charming Brentwood Country Mart neighbors.It is an affluent and family oriented section of LA Since Goop is a lifestyle brand and carries from fashion to beauty products, the store has a room�with its own distinct focus. This beautiful space was designed by Robin Williams who focused on a familiar narrative..�. You enter through a greenhouse and from there you make your way into a dream kitchen, fully functional to host events and cooking demos. To the right of the kitchen, there will be a gorgeous bathroom with a 360 degree vanity..There's also a section dedicated to a smattering of less-than-conventional wellness products, from Moon Juice adaptogens to probiotic supplements to healing crystals..
The back of the store hosts an elegant living space including a daybed, a bar cart, a French antique mantle, a chandelier and a pair of mid-century chairs. A selection of clothing from Goop and other brands hangs from a branch-shaped, bronze rods cast from real tree branches..
Goop is almost 10 years old and it has come pretty far, With at least $10 million in venture capital raised last year, the company is taking its evolution seriously and it is constantly updating their products and services.
LAB
The target audience that Margarita Mia aims to reach is from the ages of 21 up to 40. We are aware that these are very distinct age range groups but since we offer a wide variety of fashion and beauty products as well as a coffee and juice bar we are well aware that this may interest a variety of women. Our aeshthetic and products are timeless and sophisticated therefore.they may benefit and be useful for a 24 year old working women as well as a 38 year old mother of two.
THE MARGARITA MIA GIRL
CLEO DAY
AGE: 23 GENDER: Female MARITAL & FAMILY STATUS: In a relationship INCOME: $30k OCCUPATION: Works at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles EDUCATION: B.A. in Anthropology from UCLA REGIONAL DATA: Los Angeles, California. PERSONALITY: Cleo is curious, witty, outgoing and ambitious. ACTIVITIES: She constantly attends community service events in L.A. In her free time she enjoys painting classes and reading a good book in a coffee shop. She also likes going on romantic dates with her boyfriend. She attends yoga classes four times a week and loves to go to the movies with her friends on the weekends.
AGE: 37 GENDER: Female MARITAL & FAMILY STATUS: Married with two kids, the perfect pair; Leo & Angellica. INCOME: Husbands annual income : $70k. He has his own marketing business. OCCUPATION: Housewife EDUCATION: B.F.A. in Fashion Marketing from FIDM REGIONAL DATA: Los Angeles, California. PERSONALITY: She supports local talent, is goal driven, energetic, open-minded and an extrovert.
ELLE FLYNN
ACTIVITIES: Elle loves going out to brunch with her friends, she attends hot pilates, visits museums and is a goop fanatic. She is always on the lookout for vintage and lifestyle stores in order to remodel her home. She is into healthy food and living choices.
CITY OF LOS ANGELES Los Angeles is located in the center of Southern California. L.A.’s is the cultural, financial and commercial center of Southern California which makes it the second most populous city in the U.S. with a population of 3,976,322 habitants. The weather in Los Angeles is hot and humid which makes it enjoyable for sunny summer days at the beach. The economy of Los Angeles is driven by international trade, entertainment, aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion and tourism. The culture of Los Angeles has always been rich with art and the city has always been known for supporting and encouraging diversity. According to the dailynews.com 48.3 million tourists visited L.A. in 2017 which means there is a high foot traffic, meaning that it can create brand awareness and recognition for Margarita Mia.
Margarita Mia will be located in the hip & historic downtown Los Angeles. DTLA has become a viable location for retail due to the affordable prices and high level of pedestrian traffic. This area of town is up and coming and offers big-city excitement with restaurants and cultural attractions...
DOWNTOWN L.A.
MARGARITA MIA'S RETAIL SPACE INSPIRATION
MARGARITA MIA'S RETAIL SPACE The space will be divided into three diverse areas; the apparel beauty & crafts section will display hand-made products by the Lencas. I will take a big role in helping these women design these products.. Next, there will be a coffe and juice bar offering local Honduran produces. These customers can also linger and relax while reading a magazine or having a conversation with a loved one..
Finally, their will be a designated workshop area in which different events will be scheduled throughout the month. This will help customers mantain a personal relationship with the Lencas. In this workshop area motivational speakers and outside help will come often to the store in order to encourage women to opt a successful career path.These unique features will provide a experimental and interactive retail space to customers. Margarita Mia will offer both products and services to their consumers.
This is a space in which artists and creative minds are being supported and encouraged.
RESTROOMS
RESTROOMS
CONFERENCE ROOM
COFFEE & JUICE BAR
DRESSING ROOM
MARGARITA MIA FLOOR PLAN BOUTIQUE
HOW WILL There will be five women in charge of creating the apparel products and other five women will be dedicated to creating crafts and beauty products since creating these textiles and products take time and dedication therefore we need a well-prepared work force to produce these items in an effective time manner. These women will be in Margarita Mia for a period of 6 months, then they will go off on their own and then other 10 women will join our family and so on and so forth.
25%
of the sales will be used for operating expenses in the store while the remaining 75% of the sales will be given to the artisans. This will help them expand their work abilities, support their families and have the opportunity to invest in a wide variety of raw materials. There will be both product revenue as well as service sales such as the coffee/juice bar and workshops and conferences given in the space.
IT OPERATE?
THE COMMUNITY
THE WING: The Wing is a network of co-working and community spaces designed for women. The Wing's mission is the professional, civic, social, and economic advancement of women through community. They believe that the act as coming together as women creates new opportunities, ideas and conversations that lead women to greater mobility and prosperity for womankind. The Wing has four spaces which are located in Flatiron, Soho & Dumbo in New York and in D.C. The Wing hosts events such as book clubs, trivia nights and other happenings. They also have an e-commerce branch offering their products such as apparel, goods, hats and totes. They are of great inspiration to our brand since they have established an exemplary space that empowers women. .
“NO MAN'S LAND�
EmpowHer LA is a California-based empowerment company for women. They focus on community building, connectivity, entrepreneurship, fun and inspiration with the goal of encouraging women to step into their personal power. EmpowHer is all about self-discovery, getting you out of your element and helping you realize your dreams. They offer one-on-one coaching, women's community groups as well as experimental events, retreats, inspirational speakers and supporting female entrepreneurs..
EMPOWHER LOS ANGELES
Lean In is a community of trailblazing women of the greater Los Angeles area to come together and discuss issues related to life, career, and leadership. This organization is associated with LeanIn.org. Their mission is to empower women to achieve their highest ambitions. Lean In has circles which are an opportunity to find groups of people who will hold you accountable and help you grow. This organization also hosts chapter events in which they offer workshops, trainings, dinners, happy hours, group workouts etc so that women in Los Angeles can connect and learn together..
LEAN IN
LOS ANGELES
DISCOVERING MARGARITA MIA Today, entering this highly saturated market with a great proposal is tough, especially if you are trying to establish and maintain a successful business. We are also living in a competitve world in which the main focus now a days in retail is knowing how to market your product and catering to your consumers needs. Since we target both the Honduran as well as the American consumer it is pivotal to establish a distinct marketing strategy in order to gain recognition amongst both target audiences and the industry as well.
HONDURAN'S ARE SOCIAL CREATURES Honduran's are lead by social events which means that in order for your busiiness or product to thrive you must throw a great party with samples of your product. in order for your product to be popular amongst the society. Word of mouth is extremely important and once a friend tells another about your product, then it starts gaining recognition and people start promoting the products through their social media.
In order for my brand to gain recognition in my home town i will host an event throughout the day with traditional food, coffee and juices from our produces. I will have a few garments and products displayed in order for guests to shop. One special surprise will be having one of our Indigenous women as our guest speaker. Fashion Influencers such as Mari Bardaji, Rosyl Mejia and Loany Ham will be invited in order to promote the event through social media. Friends, Family & the Press will also be a part of this big day.
THE AMERICAN DREAM Being successful in the U.S. is a bit more challenging than in Honduras since competition is constantly increasing. I do have several methods that will help Margarita Mia become recognized in the industry.First, it is important for the brand to be popular amongst the Californians. After the launch event we will rent a bus for a week with a few of the Indigenous ladies and take them to high foot traffic areas such as Art's District, Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood & Venice Beach in order to get the brand's name out there. The mobile bus will have it's door open and an interactive experience will be provided in which these Indigenous ladies will actually be sewing swatches to give out to the public in order to create buzz. A few of the products displayed in the store will be in sale as well as food and beverages from our coffee/juice bar. We will bring the in-store experience throughout L.A. to motivate people to actually go into our space. Pamphlets will also be given with our social media account information and location. After the brand becomes recognized in L.A,. a pop up shop tour will be planned in cities such as Miami, Chicago, Seattle, New York and all over the U..S. in order to expand our customer base. Meanwhile to expand our followers, we will be sending out products and partnering with fashion influencers such as Arielle Charnas, Camila Coelho, Aimee Song, Paola Alberdi and Brittany Xavier. I believe that by using these methods and influencers it will be easier to create a cult of followers.
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LAUNCH PLAN Margarita Mia's launch event will be an interactive experience in which guests can network with the indigenous women & the local Honduran products. The event will take place in the space at 2 p.m this upcoming September 20th, 2018. Since this will be an exclusive event, the guests will have the opportunity to learn the basics of weaving colorful textiles, the how-to's of making a delicious green smothie or a traditional Honduran pastry It will be sort of a "mini wellness summit"�; a day planned with fun activities in order to get to know the brand as well as one another. The special guests invited to the event will be those such as Yara Shahidi a young actress and activist, Pia Arrobio creative director at LPA. the goop, the wing, lean in and empowher family..The team at Man Repeller, Sophia Amaroruso, the press and women empowerment magazines such as Hoot Magazine, The Siren, Bazaar, Marie Claire and Vogue. Finally friends and family of both the artisans as well as mine will be invited to this gathering.
1 st C M A R G A R I TA M I A A I R L I N E FROM HONDURAS DAT E
09.21.18
S E AT
1A
TO TIME
MM A
LAS
S
LOS ANGELES 2.00 PM
CO M PA N Y M M A
COME SHARE AND MEET OUR LOCAL HONDURAN TALENT. GET READY FOR A DAY FILLED WITH COLORFUL TEXTILES, DELICIOUS HONDURAN FOOD & SURPRISE GUEST SPEAKERS.
L.A. 09.21.18 11249.1A
MARKETING STRATEGY
WEBSITE
Since the idea for Margarita Mia is to expand it's customer base world-wide, it is pivotal to have an e-commerce in order to make it convenient and accessible to those consumers who can't physically visit the store. The website will have the following; an about page explaining the story behind our brand, it will also have a page dedicated to the artists being featured in Margarita MIa.This page will provide a picture and a background story in order for customers to get to know the ladies that are creating their products. There will be a section called " shop" for you to purchase our latest items. Lastly, their will be a tab for events in which will inform you on the upcoming guest speakers and talks. .Content will be highly curated; videos as well as photographs will be constantly updated.. .
SOCIAL MEDIA
The three social media platforms that are essential for the brand to gain recognition are Instagram, Snapchat & Facebook. These all serve a purpose. In Instagram we will post content such as videos and pictures of the store, it's product and people. It will be a great way to showcase the brands ambiance and lifestyle. We also believe it is important to collaborate with influencers and re-post pictures of customers wearing our products. This will be done through posts or our Instagram stories. Instagram will also provide a link to our website.Snapchat will be used to show a glimpse of our events and activities to motivate customers into purchasing tickets for the next upcoming event. Since our customer base is very broad, we know that 30 year old women are still active and using Facebook. We will be posting the dates of our events, as well as pictures and videos. Facebook is an informative platform that can be of great use for our brand. Overall these channels will expand our customer base even more and inform our consumers of the latest news in Margarita Mia.
INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK
AN ETHICAL BRAND
"Social Responsibility is the idea that businesses should balance profit-making activities with activities that benefit society; it involves developing businesses with a positive relationship to the society in which they operate." - Investopedia
Margarita Mia believes that social responsibility is essential to our companies motto. By focusing on issues other than making profit we create a stronger relationship with our employees, artisans, customers and enviornment. We want to be known as an ethical and positive brand that is willing to help others have a better future. We want for our Margarita Mia family to understand that their work and purchases are helping many people, not only these women, but their families and children to get the education and resources they deserve. We will make social responsibility a priority in our company because we are aware that without it, it is impossible for us to be a successful brand.
Margarita Mia is an organization with family oriented values, we believe it is important and rewarding to strengthen one anothers abilities in order to help each member lead a successful life. These co-working and community spaces will make these women feel at home and at the same time make them live prosper lives therefore it will be easier for them to create amazing products. At Margarita Mia we believe it is important to come together as a community to empower one another, to share thoughts, feelings and ideas because we are all an important piece of the puzzle and without one another this puzzle can't be completed.
FINAL THOUGHTS
WEBSITE
www.danielacmaduro.com
SOURCES 1. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lenca 2. http://www.agroup.com/blog/what-is-a-lifestyle-brand/ 3. https://www.wgsn.com/content/search/#/coffee%2520and%2520green%2520juice%2520bar%2520in%2520stores 4. https://www.wgsn.com/content/search/#/workshop%2520retail 5. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/fashion-brands-empowering-women-developing-countries 6. https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/news/g4345/fashion-brands-that-benefit-the-world-give-back/?slide=13 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXJy-tdRloI 8. https://goop.com 9. https://fashionista.com/2017/09/goop-gwyneth-paltrow-store 10. http://fashiondistrict.org/where-fashion-meets-art/ 11. https://www.empowherla.com/about 12. https://www.leaninlosangeles.org/chapterevents 13. https://www.the-wing.com 14. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/041015/why-social-responsibility-important-business.asp 15. https://www.downtownla.com/images/reports/BID.RetailReport15.ALLopt.pdf
THANK YOU
A special Thank You to Waleska Sandoval for her collaboration.