Culture Clash Boxfresh promotional strategy Elizabeth Fisher U1258143
Executive Summery. This report will cover the plan for Boxfresh’s new promotional strategy for their Autumn Winter 2014 campaign, running from July 1st to January 1st. Its aim is to increase both the brands sales and recognition within a secondary target audience, the German consumer base via a number of promotional tactics. The concept of the campaign is of clashing a number of cultures, entitled ‘Culture Clash’ combining both art and music to create an interesting and memorable campaign. The strategy will focus on ways to attract consumer attention such as street art, art movements and festivals but also on more direct ways to be able to increase sales. The tactics that will be employed are advertising, sponsorship, branching out into department stores and a digital campaign. A strong PR strategy will run with each element of the promotional strategy.
Contents: Introduction Background Rationale Aims & Objectives Strategic approach Marketing tactics Assessment Conclusion Refrences Appendices
Introduction.
This report is for the Autumn Winter 2014 Boxfresh promotional strategy, most specifically within the German marketplace, which will be launched at the start of July. This strategy is going to run for 6 months before being replaced with the Spring Summer campaign. There will be a clear message that runs through the entire campaign, that our existing customer base will understand and be able to easily follow but will also help with building a more international customer base. For this to be as effective as possible, a variety of different marketing tools will be implimented such as strong digital campaign running alongside the new advertising campaign. The message of the campaign will be that combining cultures has a positive and fun effect, this is demonstrated by the advertising being highly artistic, whilst showing it’s also youthful and quirky. The use of sponsorship will pay a large role within many sections of the campaign and will be fulfilled by the Berlin art collective KLUB7; including a series of adverts and window displays.
Background and Rationale.
Boxfresh first came to life with a market stall in Camden, in 1989 with a range of vintage t-shirts overprinted with contemporary graphics. These t-shirts were picked up almost instantly and became a staple amongst musicians and creatives across the capital. By the early 90’s the brand begun selling across the whole UK and was quickly establishing itself as one of the UK’s favourite lifestyle brands, producing a wide range of both footwear and clothing. The first ever store opened in Covent Garden in 1992. Its huge collection meant Boxfresh and quickly outgrew its London home and by 1995 began licensing in the US, setting up in Laguna Beach, California; the home of American streetwear. Currently being sold in 2,000 stores spanning 35 countries, Boxfresh has truly become an International icon of UK street wear. Boxfresh are also a brand that pride themselves on being highly involved with their customer base and get involved with creating a number of projects that involve their audience outside of just their products.
Aim & Objectives. The plan is to increase Boxfresh brand recognition and sales whilst creating a sense of brand loyalty. To increase the recognition of the brand in the German consumer market by 20% during the run of this campaign. One of the main focuses will be moving the brand out of just stand-alone stores. Brand loyalty needs to remain strong with the established consumer group whilst gaining a new secondary customer base. This will be through the theme used in the campaign, being one that the audience are already be familiar with. To increase the brands sales performance, a strong advertising campaign will be used across both print and digital media, as this will allow for the highest coverage for multiple consumer groups. The difference of sales can be monitored by the change in how often the website is viewed and correlation to purchases made.
Strategic Approach. Culture Clash. The message of this campaign is about how when you combine cultures the possibilties are endless. It will be a highly artistic campaign, which will have strong themes of culture running throughout. The visuals will be strong, as they will be created with bold colours. They’ll be full of whimsy, highly liberating and related to each consumer market. This strategy will cover not only a print advertising campaign, but also a digital campaign, sponsorship with KLUB 7 and branching out into department stores. The whole campaign will be introduced with a digital teaser campaign of KLUB 7 creating the graffiti style designs, both on the streets and for the store with behind the scenes footage of the campaign being shot.
Marketing Tactics.
Overview For Boxfresh to effectively improve their recognition within the German marketplace without alienating their international market base, they need to focus on ideals that are key to the brand ethos, whilst still tailoring specifics to the German consumer. This demonstrates a strong sense of continuity within the world wide promotional strategy, whilst improving on a specific marketplace. This promotional strategy for Boxfresh’s A/W 2014 collection is going to be tailored to raise awareness of the Boxfresh brand within the German marketplace, and therefore increase the sales. It will explain what promotional tactics will be most effective both internationally and then specifically in Germany, and how each tactic will relevant to the target demographic. The tactics that will be employed to increase their German consumer base are a number of promotional tactics such as; sponsorship, visual merchandising and advertising campaigns. Within each tactic, a digital campaign will run alongside, taking full advantage of how the global youth are living their lives through social media platforms.
Consumer Similar to the British demographic that’s been a highly successful consumer base, the German marketplace has three unique customer profiles that need to be targeted to raise the overall recognition. These three consumer groups are: The Experimentalist, The Practical Man & The Individualist.
The Experimentalist isn’t afraid to make a bold statement with their fashion choices, for example wearing bold patterns, representing their strong personality. The Practical man is much more conformist, allowing himself to almost blend into his surroundings by wearing a subtle colour palette. The Individualist sits in between these two; wearing simplistic clothing but twisting and re-creating them to allow their personality to really stand out. Due to the range in the consumer markets this means the promotional strategy will have to target multiple audiences at the same time, without compromising the desired impact. The most effective way to reach such diverse target markets is to find a link between them all, which in the German consumer groups is their shared interest in culture; both artistically and musically. This is an ideal Boxfresh is already comfortable with, as music already plays a large part within previous marketing strategies, such as the ‘Before Monday Comes’ campaign.
Culture Culture plays a huge part within the existing Boxfresh promotional strategies, it’s key to continue this, so as not to confuse the current consumer base whilst bringing in a larger demographic. Music and art plays a huge role in how to interest the German consumer, most notably in Berlin and Munich. Focusing in on these two major cities is key as this is where the desire for ‘sneakers’ is most important. The majority of German consumers believe that Boxfresh is a shoe brand; therefore it’s important to keep the emphasis on the shoes and slowly re-introduce clothing to the consumers so as to not confuse them about the brand, whilst still being able to redefine what Boxfresh is.
Within the culture sector in Germany, and more specifically Berlin, art plays a larger role in attracting and appealing to the demographic. It’s vital to not only be involved within the German fashion scene, such as ‘BREAD & BUTTER’; a festival held in Berlin that celebrates all areas of fashion culture from around the globe, but also to become involved in music and art festivals. There are a huge number of art & music events such as ‘International Dixieland Festival’ in Dresden and ‘Videonale’ which showcases and celebrates the emergence of video within the contemporary art scene. This will be greatly beneficial to Boxfresh within Germany as it appeals to the tailored consumer groups by a key element that pulls them together at the same time. The audience across all three of the consumer groups are in their late teens to mid 30s & be keen festival goers, therefore are highly likely to attend the events mentioned above. This will introduce the brand in a subtle way that will make them feel more familiar with Boxfresh. By creating a sense of familiarity it allows the consumer to feel as though they understand who Boxfresh is and be able to imagine the brand in their own wardrobe & have a greater trust of the brand.
Advertising The advertising will obviously play a large role within the promotion of the new A/W’15 collection; it will be a subtler, more artistic approach to advertising. Continuing on from the controversial Zapatista-style campaign in London, the adverts will have a street art feel about them.
The adverts will have a strong graffiti feel to them, grabbing the attention of the multiple consumer groups across the whole Boxfresh marketplace as it has a strong youthful vibe. The most effective way to tailor the advertising to each marketplace is to include city landscapes within the designs; Big Ben for England, The Reichstag for Germany, Victoria Park for Hong Kong and Sydney Opera House for Australia. This allows each consumer group to feel more connected with the advertising campaign itself, therefore making them feel more connected with the brand. Increasing their probability of the consumers visiting the stores and subsequently shopping from Boxfresh. In the German marketplace specifically, the advertising campaign will contain a mix of graffiti posters in clear shopping areas, such as Alexandraplatz in Berlin, MyZeil in Frankfurt & Neuperlach in Munich and genuine graffiti murals, by KLUB7. The billboard posters within train stops will instantly attract the target audiences attention due to them already having shopping on their minds with locations being the bases for the biggest shopping areas in their respective cities. The graffiti style advertising will stand out within the train stations against the bold open spaces within the tube stops making both customers and general passers-by stop and stare. In Berlin in particular, most buildings within the ‘art district’ have paintings and decorations on any plain surfaces and getting the Art Group KLUB7 to design them, it will instantly build interest for Boxfresh. Not only will the graffiti adverts entice customers, but the adverts will be sought after as KLUB7 are a highly respected and interesting art collective. Currently working with a strong range of clients including Hugo Boss, Maybelline and Berlin Fashion Week. The graffiti adverts-come-paintings will be highly detailed, sticking with KLUB7’s design aesthetic but also relate to the larger advertising campaign and combining elements of Berlin landmarks; combining elements of The Berlin Wall, The Reich-
stag, The Brandenburg Gate and The Kaiser-Wilelm-Gedächtniskrche. Having art collectives that not only the German marketplace respects, but also the art scene world over, it implies an outside opinion of the Boxfresh brand being one of high-value and important to the fashion scene as a whole. This creates more trust in the customers minds, as it isn’t just Boxfresh advertising themselves but a third-party willing to put their name on the line. When more trust is created for a brand, it sticks in the customers mind making it much more likely they will buy from that brand. If they have shopped there before, it will turn them into a greater returning customer, or will visit the store for the first time; online or physically.
Partnership Using semi-local art collectives allows for each marketplace to have highly tailored pieces of artwork, as they have first hand knowledge of that location. This goes a long way to making each demographic feel highly valued as individual consumers and important as a whole demographic group. From making the customers feel as though they are as important to Boxfresh as Boxfresh is to them, it makes them more likely to become returning customers and bring in high revenue for the store. The partnership with KLUB7, will continue to make strong, bold and bright statements with the store window designs. When the advertising campaign first launches, the store in Münzstraße shall reflect and mirror the graffiti cityscape created. The window display however will use a collection of bolder and brighter colours in order to attract shoppers walking past. Placed in a high shopping area with a number of similar stores around, it’s vitally important that the window display really stand out to gain the attention of those that won’t previously know of the store. Continuing on from the initial window display when the campaign is launched, once it has been out for 2 months, KLUB 7 will return and put a secondary and then tertiary layer onto it, adding in more and more locations that will have a strong and significant meaning to the consumer group.
The bright colours will act as a nice change, as due to the Autumn/Winter season, the shoes sold within the store will be a much more muted and subtle colour palette. The juxtaposition will demonstrate that even though the colour palette might be subtle and muted the brand isn’t. Showing audiences that no matter what time of year it is, Boxfresh is a fun, young and innovative brand that has no issue with making a bold statement, like the majority of it’s demographic world-wide.
Department stores To really expand within the German demographic, Boxfresh needs to branch out into department stores in large cities such as KaDeWe in Berlin. This is key within the German marketplace, as they don’t tend to return to the same brands just due to the name itself but instead the quality and therefore are more likely to shop from a department store where they can buy entire outfits in one easy location. This is an ideal in how the majority of German consumers shop, due to them taking life in general rather seriously, and other than the experimentalist they don’t put that much time into going out shopping. As the average salary in Germany is a larger than that in the UK, it gives them a greater disposable income to be able to spend on new clothing. Due to this their department stores have a larger range of luxury and high-end brands, allowing Boxfresh to be placed alongside these will instantly give the brand a more luxurious feel. This in turn will speak to the German consumer, as they are willing to pay high price points for pieces they feel will last through more than one season, which you come to expect from a higher profile brand. By placing the Boxfresh brand in department stores it allows for expansion of pieces sold in to the German demographic; returning to selling clothing as well as shoes.
At the moment, the German marketplace believe Boxfresh to be a shoe brand and this will be a successful way to redefine what the brand is truly about without confusing the consumers. Boxfresh originally spent decade selling clothing in the German marketplace, and by placing the brand within department stores it will once again spark a strong interest in their style of clothing. Therefore filling a niche that at the moment is lacking for KaDeWe especially, this being designs that have bright bold colours, making a statement with just one piece, especially with polo’s, instantly grabbing consumers attention as they walk through the store. Placing Boxfresh clothing and shoes in department stores it also allows for customers to see how versatile the pieces truly are. The in-store mannequins wearing numerous brands together will show how you are able to dress down the polo’s but also dress up the chinos for example. Demonstrating a number of ways to wear each piece will interest all three of the consumer profiles as it will allow them to see how they can place the item into their personal wardrobes. This ideal will be most effective to the practical man, as they don’t take many risks with their clothing and this will be an easy demonstration on how to add a twist to a look without making too much of a bold statement.
Assessment & Conclusion.
Measuring the success of the promotional strategy will be by how much the brands sales have increased within the German marketplace. This will be the overall sale increase not just the pieces that feature within the department stores. This will combine the improvement of sales in store, online and in department stores. While the overall sales with determine how successful the campaign as a complete set was, once broken down into each section, the adverts, the sponsorship and the window designs, we can then assess which was the most successful, and bought in the highest amount of revenue. By working out which was the most successful element it will help to figure out which promotional tactic attracted the new consumers in the most positive way. This is then something we can continue season on season to constantly achieve a rising profit margin. The best way to effectively determine how great of an impact KLUB7 had to the consumer group isn’t by monitoring the advertising campaign, but instead focusing on their exhibitions and co-promotions. We will monitor the direct impact that they have on our sales, by focusing on the items that were encorporated into the advertising designs. The advertising campaign is quite simple with how it marries the brand and the customers together. As the culture theme is already well known within the stores demographic, they will have a greater interest into how it will be portrayed in image only by a clothing store. From the series being separated into locations, it allowed for each consumer marketplace to feel highly important, and discover which demographic was most effected and attracted to the campaign.
KLUB7 will attract to our customer base as they are a highly respected art collective that represent a fresh, hancrafted style of urban and indoor scapes to life. Each of the members have developed a signature from illustration to typography, and will monitor which artists style has had the biggest impact on the audience during this first campaign, and continue to focus artwork with that member.
Refrences.
Asos.com. (n.d.). Boxfresh | Shop for t-shirts, jumpers and trainers | ASOS. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.asos.com/Men/A-To-Z-Of-Brands/Boxfresh/Cat/pgecategory.aspx?cid=5462 [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Boxfresh E-commerce. (n.d.). [online] Retrieved from: http://www.boxfresh.com [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Boxfresh posts its autumn ad campaign. (2007). [online] 3rd november. Retrieved from: http://www.drapersonline.com/news/boxfresh-posts-its-autumn-adcampaign/216405.article#.U0Atmdy24uk [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Facebook. (n.d.). Boxfresh. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/boxfresh [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Instagram.com. (2014). boxfresh on Instagram. [online] Retrieved from: http://instagram.com/boxfresh [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Spacehijackers.org. (n.d.). Boxfresh Zapatista Campaign. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.spacehijackers.org/html/projects/boxfreshres.html [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Spacehijackers.org. (n.d.). Box Fresh Zapatista Rip Off. [online] Retrieved from: http:// www.spacehijackers.org/html/projects/boxfresh.html [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Timeout.com. (2014). Things to Do in Berlin – Read Reviews and Find Contact Information – Time Out Berlin. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.timeout.com/berlin/en/ things-to-do [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Visitberlin.de. (2013). Berlin - Preview 2014 - visitBerlin.de EN. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.visitberlin.de/en/experience/events/preview-2014 [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014]. Wikipedia. (n.d.). Boxfresh. [online] Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxfresh [Accessed: 5 Apr 2014].
Appendices. Customer profile. Whilst Boxfresh aim to create pieces that suit the lifestyles of every man; selling a range of products to suit a number of varied occasions, they still have a specific consumer they cater to more than the others. This target consumer group is fashion concious males from 15+, that take pride in their appearance whilst being up to date with trends. They have a small income as they are typically still students holding only part-time jobs. This audience is attracted to the brand due to the relaxed street style therefore making it attractive everyday clothing. Not only are they drawn to the silhouettes but also the bold colours and memorable motifs. As young males, the ideal way to target this consumer group is through a digital campaign rather than print; as they would spend most of their time on their smartphones. The ideal consumer is highly interested in the music scene, most notably dance music, and is therefore attracted to the brand by their sponsorship of events such as The Boileroom.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Well made products, that are highly contemporary pieces whilst still making sure they are customer appropiate
Whilst the brand focuses on making their clothing contemporary they don’t spend enough time making sure the products are durable.
Sales are constantly growing, which is enabling the ‘young’ brand to grow enormously, with the loyalty growing alongside with it.
It’s main competitors are brands such as Zara and Lacoste, that have a large customer following as they are strong everyday style brands.
Turning into a worldwide brand, Since it’s famed for its shoe designs promoting ‘typical UK Street style’. many potential consumers forget that they aren’t a shoe brand but instead clothing.
Opportunities
While expanding the brand oversees it could become a market leader within an international marketplace, gaining an even better profit margin.
Threats
With the rise of affluent spending, consumers might go on to a higher price range, going for a sense of luxury.
Their competative brands have Building a wider demographic within a greater loyal audience, making international markets, consumers it more difficult to make them the are returning to affluent shopping. most exciting. Creating a greater range of pieces to sell a more affordable collection to mirror against each demographic group and their price brackets.
The expansion into foreign marketplaces, the brand could devalue their image of being such a heritage brand.
Competitors.