Name: Giovanna Southwell Student Number: Q10143645 Faculty: FCIS Level of study: 4 Course title: BA (Hons) Public Relations and Communication Unit title: Marketing Fundamentals (CCA103) Assignment title: Marketing Plan Assignment tutor: Tim McClellan Word count: 2000 words
Current situation (secondary research) Who are the company? •
Trapstar London
Trapstar is a London conceived street wear lifestyle-clothing brand that believes there is a star trapped with in everyone. Which means it takes certain courage with in ourselves for the star to be released. Trapstar was created from underground inner city sub culture. Influenced by iconic cinema, photography, music and contemporary art all the way to military references. Trapstar remains true by not following the clichés and regulations of fashion. The brand has become an ambassador/spokesman for the new era of forward thinking creative minds. Known to transcend the ethos of the brand through themed collections, which come in the form of clothing. But is also heavily related to music, photography and art.
What new product/service we’ll be introducing We’ll be introducing a kids clothing line for Trapstar London as they currently only have pieces for men & women. How many branches There’s currently only one branch at the moment, located on Portobello road. However you can purchase their stuff online. When did they begin? The brand Trapstar London was established early in 2008 by a young man named Mikey Trapstar, who wanted to mix inner city sub culture with high fashion. USP USP stands for “unique selling point” a unique selling point is a distinct and appealing idea that sets a company, business or practice favorably apart. Trapstar London’s unique selling point are the fact that they have celebrities endorsed to their company, which allows the company gain a lot of coverage in the press. Another unique selling point that Trapstar London has is that the their products get packaged in a pizza box with their logo on the cover stating that the item in the box is a Trapstar piece. In other words the customer leaves the store with a piece of Trapstar London. Structure of company
Customers Trapstar customers range from underground to high fashion males and females, as the brand was created from underground inner city sub culture. The age groups range from 18-late 20’s both in the UK and internationally, which means they have a really large audience. The customers all enjoy music and hip hop culture. They also have a lot of celebrity customers from artists to models which gains the company a lot of press coverage. Celebrities include: Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Cara Delavigne, Rita Ora, Piff Gang and many more. Potential Customers As the new line will be for kids ranging from the ages of 1-12 years old the new potential customers will be of that age range. We’d probably approach celebrity kids, as it’ll allow the new line to be promoted and then influence underground inner sub culture parents to purchase pieces for their children. Competitors The current competitors for Trapstar London are clothing lines such as Boy London, Dope Chef and Shade London. The main competitors for Trapstar London will be once we introduce a kids range are high street stores that sell kids clothes similar to the products they already sell, for example: printed Jumpers, Sweaters & T-shirts Pestle Analysis Political and Legal Issues Politics don’t play a big part in the clothing industry however there are labor laws because of the use of sweatshops that some companies use. Workers and young people can be overworked and if issues like that are released to the press it can create a negative public image on a company. However Trapstar London don’t condone hard labor towards employees, as the company would like to keep a positive public image. Economical Economic factors can have both negative and positive factors on a clothing company depending on the economical state of the country. The UK is currently in the recession period, which could cause less people to purchase particular items as they have less disposable income. As Trapstar London is
an independent company this could cause the kids clothing lines items to be sold significantly lower than the original planned price to ensure customers. Social Society and culture have an effect on what consumers (customers) value and what is considered "popular". When it comes to the clothing industry, there are many factors that are important including fashion trends and purchasing power. Trends are constantly changing, which forces retailers and designers of clothing to keep up with “what’s in”. A lot of the current trends were set by young teens this means Trapstar London has to keep up with what’s in by using technology and looking at young peoples fashion blogs and “outfits of the day”. This gives Trapstar London the advantage to produce popular items that will attract the young fashion youth of today. Technological Technology plays a big part in Trapstar London’s promotional tactics. Having on-line access has changed the way customers find out about clothing lines and the way that consumers shop, reason being why Trapstar London focuses a lot more on publicizing the brand and products using social networks and social media such as: Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo and many more. Environmental Trapstar London support the environmental factors by using environmentallyfriendly packaging materials instead of plastic bags to package items when sending to customers the Trapstar Piece boxes can be recycled. SWOT Analysis •
Strengths -
Celebrity Endorsement
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Always in the media
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Exclusively online and has one store (can be seen as a weakness as a lot of the customers prefer rare clothing)
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Very popular street brand that’s made it’s way into high fashion
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Weaknesses -
Has one store (can be seen as a weakness as some people prefer to buy stuff in store so they can try stuff on rather than buying online)
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Competitors such as Boy London, Dope Chef and Shade London attract the same buyers.
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Doesn’t sell children clothes
Opportunities -
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Become one of the first underground urban clothing lines that has a kids range
Threats -
Other urban brands such as Boy London, Dope Chef and Shade London also all the new upcoming urban brands coming from freelance stylists
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High street stores
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Fashion bloggers launching clothing lines
Marketing Objectives •
Launch Trapstar London kids clothing line online by August 1 st 2013
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Promo shoots to be done and sent out to blogs by June 30 th 2013
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Send out sample pieces to Tyga & Chyna for their baby, Wiz Khalifa & Amber rose for their baby and Kanye West & Kim Kardashian for their baby early July around the 5th 2013.
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Have the line in store by August 30th 2013
Marketing Strategies •
Send out sample pieces to celebrity couples that have newborn babies and young kids.
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Support the make a children’s foundation by designing an accessory that raises awareness about the charity and also sponsoring an event (make a wish foundation is a charity for kids) in exchange for publicity
I’ve placed Trapstar London in between High Priced and Perceived High Quality simply because the prices for the items sold are very high however the quality of the items are of high standards. The same goes to Dope Chef and BOY London who are two of Trapstar London’s biggest threats. When the kids collection comes out I’d like the collection to move to low priced but high quality simply because it’s a kids collection and those aspects are most suitable.
The Marketing Mix (Product positioning use other models from Marcella slides… Product One definition for product is: “anything that can be offered to a market for attention or consumption a need or want’”
The products that Trapstar London produces range from high quality sweaters, T-shirts, to leather jackets and limited desirable items. The Trapstar London brand has tangible products as once you order something online or purchase an item from the store you receive a pack of Trapstar stickers. In marketing the word “tangible” refers to things that are physical, that is items that can be touched, seen, heard or smelled.” The packaging for Trapstar London products is seen as unique if purchased within the store simply because all items get folded neatly into a pizza delivery box with the Trapstar London logo and slogan placed on it. This could also come under the companies USP. The customer ends up with the product known as a Trapstar piece and a box to collect or store other items in.
People
Trapstar London have particular celebrities endorsed to their brand, from both the UK and USA these particular celebrities are usually artists, stylists, models or producers that came from or are still in the inner city sub culture. Artists such as Rihanna and Piff Gang, models such as Cara Delavigne and Jourdan Dunn can be seen sporting the gear. Although some of the people that wear the brand gain a lot of negative press in the media the brand still stands in a positive light. The Trapstar London employees are usually young males and females that are also interested in the hip hop music scene or fashion they represent the brand by wearing the clothes and attending all Trapstar London events showing their loyalty to the company. On the relationship ladder of loyalty the Trapstar employees we’ll be seen as advocates and the customers will be seen as a “purchaser” unless they are a company or celebrity they’ll be seen as a client.
Place There are three common distribution strategies: Intensive Distribution, Exclusive Distribution and selective distribution. Trapstar London would come under Exclusive Distribution; Exclusive distribution involves limiting distribution to a single outlet. The product is usually high priced and requires the intermediary (who has experience of handling similar products, credible and is known by the target audience) to place much detail in its sell. An example would be the sale of vehicles through exclusive dealers. Price The Trapstar Kids collection will be lower than the normal collection but will still fit in the premium priced category simply because the collection will be limited. Premium pricing is used when there is uniqueness about the product or service or the company distributing the products has a substantial competitive advantage that exists. Examples of this are luxury and innovative items. The current collection that is out on the Trapstar London online store has Jumpers and T-shirts priced £30-£65 therefore to keep the kids collection in the premium priced category the t-shirts will be price £20 and the jumpers £55 which is only a £10 difference from the men and women collection. Process- distribution Once placing an order with Trapstar London from the online store customers should expect to receive their items within 5-10 days unless they choose to receive their items using express delivery in that case a customer should expect to receive their item within 1-3 days. Promotion
To promote the Trapstar London kids collection we’ll be relying on social media networks, events, broadcast media and celebrity kids. Sample pieces will be given to celebrity parents who have recently had newborns and are in the media eye for example Kim Kardashian and Kanye West would be one of the ideal couples. Sample pieces will also be given to teen celebrities such as Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, Becky G simply because using celebrity power, fame, money and popularity is a good way to gain recognition for products and stores. Also, for the first week once the collection hits the store we’ll have a 20% discount for customers. This entices customers to purchase items, as the collection will not sell for any cheaper the following weeks. Customers will be notified of these offers via popular Trapstar London Dj’s at events and on air at radio stations that support the brand. Examples of DJ’s are: DJ Semtex from BBC 1xtra and DJ Motive who is Piff Gangs official DJ. Physical Environment Trapstar London currently has one flagship store; the job of a consumer space is to “lure” and to identify the retailer as well as to project the brand. Saying this it would be good to expand the Trapstar brand by opening a new store in which the new kids collection will be showcased in the windows. Mary Portas says ‘shop windows welcome visitors to a town or city, playing the role of host – the smiling face that greets the passer by’. – Mary Portas (2000) p.37 The current Trapstar London store relies on sight to draw customers in as the shop is situated in a small shopping centre in west London.
The outside of the Trapstar London flagship store
Trapstar London Survey 2013
Q1. How old are you? 16-18
19-21
22-25
26+
Q2. What is your gender? Male / Female Q3. Do you have any siblings? Yes / No Q4. If yes, Trapstar London were to launch a children’s line would you purchase it for your siblings? Yes / No Q5. Do you wear Trapstar London or have you ever purchased an item from the flagship store? Yes / No Q6. Do you listen to hip-hop music?
Yes / No Q7. What is your view on the current Trapstar London collection? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Thank you for completing this survey. Results
Bibliography BOOKS PORTAS M. (2000). Windows, the art of Retail London: Thames and Hudson WEB PAGES https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trapstar/41798906904 - April 22nd 2013 http://iamatrapstar.com/ - April 30th 2013 http://www.complex.com/style/2013/02/20-london-fashion-insiders-youshould-know/mikey-trapstar - 9th May 2013