Village Surf Shoppe Case Study

Village Surf Shoppe A Case Study Written by Jodeci Richards

Created for Dr. Brian Parker’s Media Planning class at The Florida State University, Spring 2013.

Village Surf Shoppe A Case Study Written by Jodeci Richards

Contents

Situation Analysis

Media Objectives and Strategies

Target Audience and Media Mix

Reach & Frequency

Scheduling & Timing

Media Budget

Geography

Sales Promotion

Appendix

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The Situation Analysis

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Situation Analysis

Marketing Objectives

Village Surf Shoppe, established in 1969, sells surfing accessories including surfboards, beachwear, and related products. Also offers surfing camps, rentals, and lessons. It’s located in Garden City, South Carolina (within the Myrtle Beach retail trade area). Because it’s been around for 44 years, it is an established name, however, Village Surf Shoppe is looking to increase sales by 20% using a budget of $200,000. To properly allot this budget, it’s necessary to understand that the shop’s peak selling period is April through September and that sales decline considerably during the winter months (as surfing is a seasonal sport).

Some marketing techniques that have been used in the past include: • Word-­‐of-­‐mouth • Guerilla marketing • Personal selling • Village Surf Shoppe stickers and t-­‐shits used for product awareness

Competition

There are competitors on both the local and national level for Village Surf Shoppe, which are all located in the South and North Carolina areas. Because the Village Surf Shoppe is similar to their competitors (it’s locally owned and offers lessons, rentals, clothing, and accessories), which is why they’re looking to expand into the inland market. They’re also using similar tactics, such as Internet and social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Foursquare). Its competitor’s are: • Waller Bear’s (local) • Surf City and Eternal Wave (local) • Ron Jon Surf Shop (national)

Creative History

Village Surf Shoppe rarely uses traditional adverting methods and their publicity is also limited to local news outlets and national surf magazines has used guerilla marketing as their primary marketing vehicle. To promote product awareness, they pass out stickers— which are often placed on car bumpers, skateboards, schoolbooks, etc.—and t-­‐shirts. The shop also hosts events, like sponsoring surf competitions.

Target Audience

Village Surf Shoppe’s main target audience is men and women ages 18-­‐24 who lead active, adventurous lifestyles. These men and women are also avid serious surfers and hardcore wave riders. They are heavy consumers of recorded music and they spend considerable amounts of time on the web. They have an income of less than $28,000. Those who frequent the shop like to hang out there, catch some waves, tell stories, and check out new surfboards.

Tourists and a growing inland market also comprise Village’s target audience. The inland market is will to drive 1-­‐3 hours to the ocean on a regular basis. Popular culture’s coverage of surfing has likely aided the growing market with TV programs like North Shore and

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Situation Analysis Summerland and Surf Girls. These programs have also attracted more females to the sport and more awareness in general.

Geography

The shop is regional—it’s located in Garden City, which is within the Myrtle Beach retail trade area. Village Surf Shoppe is a leading player in the surfing business near South Carolina’s Grand Strand. While local new outlets and national surf magazines have occasionally generated publicity, guerilla marketing holds potential in spot markets around the South Carolina area.

The inland market has much potential. Places included in this market are: • Columbia, South Carolina • Charleston, South Carolina • Charlotte, North Carolina

Timing

The Village Surf Shoppe is open from 10AM-­‐6PM. This aligns with the fact that the average surfer surfs early in the morning for 2.5 hours.1 Its peak selling period is April through September; sales decline considerably during the winter months. The peak time for surfing occurs in mid-­‐summer through the fall, which is also when there’s good “surf from hurricanes and from nor'easter weather systems.”2 Because of this, the campaign should launch before April to generate awareness for Village Surf Shoppe. Launching before April will potentially drive consumers to the store by peak selling time.

Even though it’s not during peak selling time, a holiday like Christmas can potentially influence product consumption.

Media Mix

Village Surf Shoppe uses guerilla marketing as its chief vehicle, but also it also uses the Internet as a vehicle. This is a good tactic as the target audience “spend[s] considerable time on the Web” and because “many surfers get information about surfing product and weather conditions on the Internet and regularly network with other surfers via e-­‐mail, blogs, and chat rooms.”3 The shop also has a Facebook page, which, in a way, serves as its central hub.

Based on the existing tactics (and because the surf shop is local), marketing with local advantages will work best and the following are the best media methods to implement: • Internet • Local TV spots • Guerilla • Local Magazines • Event marketing • Billboards • Radio

These methods will work for a high involvement product like surfboards with a simple message. Implementing more Internet strategies will help to increase Internet traffic and, in turn, increase store traffic and sales.

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Media Objectives and Strategies

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Media Objectives and Strategies

Target Audience & Media Mix Objective

Target Audience & Media Mix Strategy

Village Surf Shoppe’s growing audience consists of men and women ages 18-­‐24, who are serious, active, and adventurous people and surfers. This audience also “spend(s) considerable time on the Web,” which aligns with the fact that “many surfers get information about surfing product and weather conditions on the internet and regularly network with other surfers via e-­‐mail, blogs, and chat rooms.”3 Based on these factors, the target audience and media mix objectives for this campaign are to:

Increase sales by 20%, store traffic by 30%, and awareness by 40%, among South Carolinian18-­‐24-­‐year-­‐old surfers by reaching the market via Internet and mobile web marketing strategies and stronger event sponsorships.

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With 94% of 18-­‐29-­‐year-­‐olds using the Internet , 56% of all adults using their cell phones to access the Internet5, and 50% using their cell phones to send or receive email5, we felt that we needed a strong Internet presence. We will re-­‐launch our website March 10, 2013. The website will include:

• Our mission, company history, and location • A custom surfboard application that allows users to create and order their custom surfboard under our board brand, Perfection Boards • Options for browsing and ordering non-­‐custom boards and other merchandise • Registration and sign-­‐up for surf lessons and events

When we re-­‐launch the site, we’ll announce our “Create-­‐A-­‐Board” contest, in which participants will go onto our website, use our custom board application, and submit their board design (that must include our name, “Village Surf Shoppe”). We will then pick our favorite and produce two designed boards—one to hang over our entrance and another to give the winner. The contest will end May 10th. The site will be coupled with a mobile site with basic tabs for board customization, shopping, and registration and sign-­‐up.

We’ll be hosting two events, on June 25th and 27th, respectively.

• The Amateur Surf Competition—June 25th at the Village Surf Shoppe o Competitors will sign-­‐up and ride a mechanical surfboard—whoever stays on longest will win surf lessons. The competition will also be opened to avid surfers who will be placed in a different category and receive different prizes.

• The Village Surf Competition—June 27th o Winners will receive $250 in gift cards for merchandise from Village Surf Shoppe. The competition will be open to all skill levels.

Competitions will be publicized using local radio ads, our Facebook page, and our website.

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Media Objectives and Strategies

Reach & Frequency Objective

Our goal is to achieve 60% reach during the re-­‐launch month (March) using our Internet plans with an average site frequency of 3. Reach will range from about 55%-­‐80% during the course of the entire Web campaign (March 10th-­‐May 10th). The goal for the surf competitions is to get 15% of the area’s 18-­‐24-­‐year-­‐olds involved in the amateur competition (both amateur and experienced) and 25% of the area’s 18-­‐24-­‐year-­‐old experienced surfers to participate in the surf competition.

Reach & Frequency Strategy

Over the course of the entire campaign—from the site launch to the last competition— the most site traffic will occur from March to May and in June. We’ll use our existing social media platforms—mainly Facebook—to drive traffic more towards the site. Come mid-­‐May, we’ll publicize our surf competitions (and, in turn, our website) using local radio spots, our website, and Facebook.

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Media Objectives and Strategies

Scheduling & Timing Objective

The website re-­‐launch will begin March 10, 2013. The Create-­‐A-­‐Board contest will run from March 10th to May 10th—the winner will be announced on May 15th. Local radio spots for the competitions will begin on April 20th. The amateur competition will occur on June 25th from 11AM to 6PM. The experienced competition will happen on June 27th from 10AM to 6PM.

Scheduling & Timing Strategy

The Create-­‐A-­‐Board contest will continue to run until May to maintain website awareness. Local radio spots will sustain this continuance by driving those interested in the surf competitions to the website. Radio ads will run in the late afternoon—4PM—to 11PM, around the time people get off of work and are engaging in other activities for which they might use radio as “background noise”. The reach will dip in late March and early may, but by sustaining continued interest, we should still have an adequate reach.

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Media Objectives and Strategies

Media Budget Objective

Our $200,000 budget will be spent in the inland markets, Columbia, SC, Charleston, SC, and Charlotte, NC. It will also be spent in within the Myrtle Beach retail trade area.

Media Budget Strategy

We’re allocating our budget based on: • Inland markets • Local markets (the Myrtle Beach retail trade area) • Total 18-­‐24-­‐year-­‐olds in each market

The $200,000 will be allocated as follows: • $50,000 in web design fees and domain fees • $50,000 in costs related to competitions (food, drinks, promotional materials, announcers, prizes, DJs, and first responders) • $100,000 in radio

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Media Objectives and Strategies

Geography Objective

The main inland markets target Columbia, Charleston, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, for the competition radio spots as well as the Myrtle Beach retail trade area.

Geography Strategy

Based on Census data and findings provided by Media Flight Plan, we picked the following markets based on proximity, emerging inland markets, and population: • Columbia, South Carolina • Charleston, South Carolina • Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and surrounding area • Charlotte, North Carolina

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Media Objectives and Strategies

Sales Promotion Objective

Our ultimate goal is to increase store traffic and awareness among South Carolina’s 18-­‐ 24-­‐year-­‐olds by 30% and 40% respectively using the Internet and radio. Our Internet promotion goal: reach 8,000 likes on Facebook by driving our audience to our website and vice versa.

Sales Promotion Strategy

The main vehicle for promotion is the website and Create-­‐A-­‐Board contest that should generate interest in Village Surf Shoppe. To achieve this goal, we must reach at least 50% of our current Facebook following to begin to produce awareness. To do this, we’ll promote our Create-­‐A-­‐Board contest and invite people to create custom boards using the site. We’ll also generally let them know of the new site through status updates.

To increase foot traffic in the store, our main awareness generators will be the surf competitions. The amateur competition will serve as a vehicle to generate web traffic— as entrants must sign up and register via our site—but because the competition is held at the shop, it will drum up foot traffic. The experienced competition will be held on the nearest beach, however, we’ll be selling our merchandise during the competition and the prizes are only redeemable at Village Surf Shoppe. We’ll include other opportunities for audience members not participating in the competition to win redeemable prizes as well.

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Appendix

1. Wagner, G. S., Chad Nelsen, and Matt Walker. A Socioeconomic and Recreational Profile of Surfers in the United States. Rep. Surf-­‐First and the Surfrider Foundation, 2011. Web. Mar. 2013. <http://www.surfrider.org/images/uploads/ publications/surfrider_report_v13(1).pdf>.

2. "South Carolina." Surfline.com. Surfline/Wavetrak, Inc., 2012. Web. Mar. 2013. <http://www.surfline.com/travel/index.cfm?id=2152>)

3. Martin, Dennis G., and Robert D. Coons. Media Flight Plan 6: A Strategic Approach to Media Planning Theory and Practice. Provo, UT: Deer Creek Pub., 2011. Print.

4. Brenner, Joanna. "Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project." Pew Internet: Mobile. PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. Mar. 2013. <http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/February/Pew-­‐Internet-­‐ Mobile.aspx>.

5. Duggan, Maeve, and Lee Rainie. "Cell Phone Activities 2012." Cell Phone Activities.

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT, 25 Nov. 2012. Web. Mar. 2013. <http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Cell-­‐Activities/Main-­‐Findings.aspx>

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