Julia Hartz
Creative Brief for Caroline’s Boutique Background/Overview: Caroline’s Boutique is owned and was founded by Dale Augenstein. He began with the first Caroline’s Boutique, which is located in Hilton Head, South Carolina. He owns a restaurant as well, Steamer’s Seafood, also in Hilton Head. The idea for Caroline’s came from the inspiration of his niece, Caroline. The boutiques reflect Caroline’s favorite color, purple, and the atmosphere of the Bowling Green locations differ from the store in Hilton Head. Objective: The objective is to integrate an effective advertising campaign, by the creation of a more relatable and appealing design scheme to the target market. Maintaining a weekly updated blog, a Facebook page, and Twitter account, as well as other outlets such as newspaper and print, would further educate the public on the existence of this boutique. The main goal to focus on with Caroline’s Boutique is awareness. Both stores are located on the square in downtown Bowling Green, and not much advertising has been done to get the word out that Caroline’s has arrived. Promotions and merchandise are a definite part of the advertising plan. There are two locations of Caroline’s Boutique in Bowling Green. One location, at 916 State Street; the one that is focused on in this project, has a much younger target market than the other. The other store on the corner of the square, at 900 State Street, has a target market directed at mostly the missy and motherly ages with a much higher price point. An advertising campaign that catches the attention of a young target market as well as an old one would be ideal so that both age groups would be interested in shopping at both locations; however, for this project, the younger target market store will be focused on. 1. Target Audience: a) The age group focused on for the target market of the 916 boutique is a range from ages 16-‐35. b) The scheme of this design will be directed at this younger age group with popular designs such as the chevron pattern seen in the logo.
2. Merchandise a) Merchandise will be available for purchase at the store, as well as given away freely on certain occasions to promote the brand. This merchandise will include: -‐Tote bags -‐Beach towels -‐Buttons b) Reasoning -‐The tote bags were selected as an effective merchandising tool because they are popular with the targeted age group, especially those college students shopping at the boutique. -‐The beach towels will be sold especially right around high school and college spring break season, as well as the spring and summertime seasons. This will be an effective form of advertising because of the appealing design of the towels and the idea that beach towels are a necessity during vacation season. -‐The buttons were selected as a merchandising tool because of the popularity of these mostly among college girls. For this particular item, two variations were designed. One is the simple “Caroline’s Boutique” logo, which would be typically worn on backpacks, tote bags, and other items. The other is the “Caroline’s loves the Tops” button. This has a red chevron background and will be popular to wear at Western Kentucky University sporting events, as well as for everyday items such as backpacks and tote bags. Many sororities make these buttons for WKU games and events, so it is an effective way to advertise. 3. Brand Extension a) Although there are two separate Caroline’s Boutiques in Bowling Green, for the brand extension, a different route was decided on. This extension will be known as “Caroline’s for Kids,” and will be an extension of the company. b) “Caroline’s for Kids” will feature high-‐end children’s clothing, and will further continue to expand the target market. This boutique will be a separate store, but will also be located in Fountain Square in downtown Bowling Green. c) The thought behind “Caroline’s for Kids” is that the company of Caroline’s Boutiques will have something for everyone. Teens and college students can shop at the 916 store, while their mothers shop at the more mature and high-‐end 900 store, as well as “Caroline’s for Kids” for their younger children. Although there will be three separate locations, it will benefit the customer because it will still be viewed as a “one-‐stop shop” since all the locations will be in the same square.
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Caroline’s Boutique
Caroline’s is Boutique is now has two locations in Fountain Square in downtown Bowling Green, Ky!
now open!