LOUISE LEE - FASHION COMMUNICATION & PROMOTION - N0497353 - CREATIVE NETWORKS - FASH10106
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STRATEGIC PROPOSAL BRAND LAUNCH & PROMOTION
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CONTENTS
14-16/ PRE STORE LAUNCH ACTIVITY
6-7/ INTRO
8-10/ PR
11-13/ LIBERTY FRAGRANCE LAUNCH
17-19/ STORE LAUNCH EVENT
20-24/ MAINTAINING YEARLY PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY 25/
CONCLUSION
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INTRO The Mixology perfumer is based on niche fragrance and the offering of a personal, creative experience. From different notes being combined by the consumer to create a customised fragrance, to the emphasis on colour and the concept around paint and art. Mixology saturates a distinct gap in the unisex market. Our unique selling point relies on the consumer empowerment offering the ultimate experience as “in a highly competitive marketplace, brand managers and marketers must find ways to augment products and services with emotional meaning and experiential dimensions� (Marketing Fashion, 2011, Posner). We will offer this experience in the three Mixology stores that will open in locations around London. The mixology perfumer wants to create connection with the consumer and awareness of the brand and stores whilst maintaining longevity. In order to make this a success we will make use of the following strategic proposal for the initial launch and first years promotional activity.
Mixology paint tin fragrance bottles, 2014, CAD Mockups
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PR CONCEPT Regardless of the creation of an advertising image that featured in our group presentation, I do not feel that an elaborate advertising concept or print image would be cost practical or fit the brands identity. I feel that any form of conventional advertising such as paying for space in magazines isn’t feasible for the brand. Money saved will be invested into the fragrance and store itself.
Fig. 1 Le Labo Rose fragrance, 2014
The success of a retail brand who do not feel the need to advertise to create attention are mass market brand Zara. Mark Tungate speaks of the brand that “prides itself of having spent hardly a penny on conventional advertising throughout its history” (Fashion brands: branding style from Armani to Zara, 2011, Mark Tungate), stating they would “rather concentrate on our offering in terms of design, prices, rapid turnaround stock and the store experience”. As we are niche focused the mixology perfumer will make use of a unique and contemporary concept of advertising through word of mouth. In relation to this Mixology’s main competitors and brands that we aspire to be similar to focus on this word of mouth strategy to advertise.
case study 1
Le Labo (Fig. 1) is a niche perfumer’s laboratory that offers hand made fragrances. They are an example of a brand that use no form on advertising in order to promote their brand. Instead they rely on their popularity from the small boutique stores. In an interview with True To Me Too founder of the brand Edouard Roschi states “people will just agree with you and word of mouth will just play out, you don’t need to manipulate someone into telling them that wearing a scent will make you look like Charlize Theron or whatever”. The success of this niche perfumery is shown with celebrity devotees including Karl Lagerfield, Sarah Jessica Parker and Marc Jacobs regardless of the fact they do not pay for celebrity endorsement. The Le Labo website even states, “We believe celebrities should pay full price”. One could argue that Le Labo can no longer pride itself on being at the forefront of niche fragrance as its high demand for consumers was shown when a store representative of both luxury stores Harrods and Liberty told me “it is one of our most popular fragrances”.
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In order to build popularity for the Mixology brand, we will employ Frank PR (Fig. 2) who are a wellknown public relations agency situated in London who create a buzz around word of mouth promotion. Working to back up our marketing concept they will generate ‘talkability’ with a ‘down-to-earth and honest approach to PR’ something that relates back to our brand values. In order to help us create talkability they will focus on the word of mouth theory through the use of the web; helping us gain a wide leverage over social network sites such as Instagram, online blogs and YouTube. These all relate back to our target consumer as these communications will reach them, as this is what they are interested in.
Website and YouTube bloggers that we will invite to our launch event and collaborate with include The Londoner, ellamentsofstyle, theunisexmode and londontheinside. All of which we feel fit into our ideal consumer profile and are popular meaning we will get wide ‘talkability’ about our products and store, with trustworthy opinions that our consumer can relate to. “Blogs are one of the fastestgrowing areas of what has become known as consumergenerated media”, (Posner, Fashion Marketing, 2011). All of which are situated in London and have a cult following of 20-30 year olds. Through our PR agency we will get in contact with these bloggers so they can promote our launch
and send them our products which they will talk about on their personal blog. With wide audiences we will get the coverage we need and for little cost. These bloggers will take form as our very own brand ambassadors. We are not interested in using celebrities to endorse our products as that can cost a considerable sum and have no relevance to our brand identity. However in the future spontaneous or unexpected celebrity interest can be often likely to occur (refer to case study 1).
(Oscar Wilde, Liberty.co.uk)
Fig. 2 Frank PR Agency Logo
“Liberty is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper”
FRAGRANCE LAUNCH The release date of our three signature scents will be in August 2014 at Liberty London. We have chosen to launch the signature fragrances before the launch of our stores as we want to generate interest around our brand first. Liberty have an established consumer base of consumers that fall into the AB or ABC1 sectors and often chose Liberty as a store to buy the niche, often higher priced fragrance they interest in. We feel the older sector of our consumer base who would fall into the ABC1 sector would shop at our scent launch in Liberty however the main store launch in October will be target ABC1 and more so the younger sector of our consumers who fall into the C1 C2 bands who may not be likely to shop at Liberty. The liberty fragrance launch will work effectively to introduce the brand and generate a consumer base that will be further interested in visiting our shop when it launches.
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Apologue Studio is a company that work with clients all over the world to create immersive storytelling environments in retail spaces. Apologue Studio will be employed to create a digital paint wall for consumers to engage with at the Liberty launch. This will be in collaboration with Liberty who will supply the budget for this installation. Apologue Studio are the company who supplied the two, custom twenty feet digital graffiti art walls for the grand opening of the SoHo Chanel Store (Fig. 3/4). A digital paint palette and interface projected on screens allowed budding artists to select colours and nozzle widths using a Chanel branded digital spray can. Eight screens embedded in the exterior store hoarding provided the canvas and allowed guests to paint with light. Taking inspiration from this art influenced installation; the Liberty store will have a similar art wall that can be digitally painted on with mixology branded paintbrushes to reflect the fragrance painting products.
Consumers can engage in this experience that will create interest around the product and throughout the launch day. All of the artwork created on the screens will be made use as a backdrop behind the mixology perfume stand that will be situated in the Liberty beauty hall. This installation will fit in with the Mixology perfumers art and paint aesthetic but also enhance the idea of experience that the Mixology perfumer offers in its indepndant stores. I think the digital art wall will also work well to benefit the Liberty store as it is innovative and creative; Consumers will feel a desired interest for the experience that our brand offers leading up to the main shop launch. Photographs and screenshots of consumer’s artwork will be uploaded onto the Mixology instagram and the digital art wall will live stream onto one of the Liberty window displays.
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Fig. 3 Apologue Studio Digital art wall at Chanel Store opening in SoHo. 2014
Fig. 4 Sharing digital art wall experience through social media at Chanel store opening, 2014
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PRE STORE LAUNCH
Following the launch of our signature products in Liberty in August, the Mixology stores will launch an opening event party at the end of the month in October. This gives two months for the product in Liberty to gain a loyal clientele base. All promoting activity of the new stores will be done in these two months online and through word of mouth. Our brand ambassadors, the bloggers, will all be blog about the opening event and will be sent invitations to our store launch in October.
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Fig. 5
Moniker Projects is an arts based company representing leading artists and emerging talents working within this niche sector of the contemporary art world. They have a wealth of experience working with organisations on art-led collaborations, installations, and curated projects. I was particularly inspired by a project they done with artist David Shillinglaw at the Village Underground in London. The artist painted a mural (Fig. 5) that stood for two weeks to further increase the rapidly growing profile of the young Monikerrepresented artist. The style of this bold, bright work standing out in the dull street would attract lots of attention and could work well as a promotional tool. Taking inspiration from this street art, the Mixology perfumer will
Mural painted by artist David Shillinglaw, 2013
employ the Moniker Projects Company to create a street art installation in London to promote the shop launch party. A David Shillinglaw styled painting will provide the location, date and shop launch information along with the Mixology logo and an image of the paint-tin fragrance bottle. This street art will also encourage viewers to take a ‘selfie’ infront of the artwork and to post it on instagram with the hashtag #mixologyselfie. This image that people will post will be shared through social media, the hashtagging will share the content with more people and generate more followers inspired by (Case study 2). The Mixology consumer uses their smart phone in everyday life sharing content on social network and Instagram meaning this concept will work well to promote the
store launch and perform well with out word of mouth strategy. Our consumer also admires street art and paintings so this would naturally interest them. The mural that Moniker Projects will create for Mixology will stand for just 2 weeks starting on 1st October until the 15th October, which is the day of the store launch. The mural will be at the village underground in Shoreditch a place consumers would be likely to hang out and close to where the store will be situated. This twoweek period will create a buzz before the launch, something that will get people talking in the run up as to produce hype before the launch date meaning more people will know about the event and attend.
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STORE LAUNCH PARTY
Fig. 6 Selfie pictures taken and uploaded to social network sites with hashtag to raise awareness, 2014
case study 2
Most famously Cancer Research UK recently generated £8m in donations within just six days because of a campaign that took the social media work by storm and had millions of women posting pictures of themselves wearing no makeup and using the hashtag #nomakeupselfie. (Fig.6 ) This shows how the successful selfie PR stunt went viral gaining worldwide recognition for the cost of nothing. The measures of this success inspires the Mixology Perfumer to create something similar, obviously on a vastly smaller scale using the Street Art as the background for people to take a selfie with that will be posted on social network sites.
The chosen day for the store launch party being the 15th October 2014. This is because it is the day before the ‘Moniker Art Fair’ an annual flagship event that attracts some of the most renowned and talked about artists. Mixology will collaborate with the Moniker art fair; it is something our consumer would be interested in participating in. Free entry to the art fair will be presented with every purchase at the store launch. The shop launch party will be at our main store in Shoreditch. The store design that my group and me decided on in the presentation playing on the art class aesthetic will provide an
innovative, creative space for invitees and consumers to enjoy their first taste of the mixology experience. Before the launch event invites will be sent out to the brand ambassadors who are the bloggers mentioned on page (10), writers, PRs and editors from magazines such as i-D, ARTnews, Juxtapoz, Used, Stylist and Time Out magazine; a range of magazines that target our consumer. Also on attendance will be the rising, unsigned band called ‘Bang Bangs’. (Fig. 7) They will be playing a selection of their alternative/indie songs. This live music will create an upbeat, fun atmosphere for the guests to enjoy.
Fig. 7 Live music from the band ‘Bang Bangs’,
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case study 3
Fig. 8 Branded aprons, 2014 Own mock up on Photoshop
Upon arrival to the store the attendees will be presented with a mixology branded apron (Fig. 8) to wear as a fun, branding element. There will be a photo booth inside the store taking Mixology branded pictures of guests that they can digitally send to their smart phones and post directly to their social media platforms. Everyone who has received a personal invite to the shop launch party will enjoy the launch party in privacy without the public from 12pm until 3pm. This is because they will be the key influencers after the launch writing reviews and opinions that will be shared online. We want to leave a positive impression, to do this we need to think about our brand touchpoints. “There can be between 30-100 brand touchpoints, but it would be impossible for a company to focus on all of these effectively” (Fashion Marketing, 2011, Posner). In order to create effective interaction between our brand and consumers we will put emphasis on the touchpoints we consider to be the most important in relation to our brand identity. The experience in store will be extra special for the consumer leaving a lasting impression. The personalized service will be outlined by our well-trained staff that will make the experience easy and enjoyable. After 3pm the general public will have access to the shop opening. Attendees can take part mixing their own fragrances at the workbenches to create their own personal fragrances. Everyone who purchases at the shop launch will receive £10 off on any refillable purchase meaning consumers will have reason to come back to the shop and act on another purchase.
Marc Jacobs launched a popup shop for perfume ‘Daisy’ in Manhattan.(Fig) Using an unusual marketing strategy, the concept of the store was to use photos and messages with the hashtag #MJDaisyChain that were sent to consumers social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter and instagram. Customers who stopped into the ‘tweet shop’ and posted online then visit the front counter to receive their Marc Jacobs branded free gift. Marc Jacobs used this strategy to promote their new fragrance and create viral social content online. Although Erika Morphy explains “brands continue to throw themselves into the social media marketing abyss in the blind belief that it pays off” she also states “for many brands it does, depending on how they define success”. (forbes.com, 2014)
Fig. 9 Daisy Marc Jacobs Tweet Shop, 2014
I feel this marketing concept could be successful for the Mixology Perfumer as we are a small niche brand. Having taken inspiration from this idea with the use of the street art mural ‘selfies’ that were shared online. Sharers of the #mixologyselfie will be rewarded at the store launch with small samples of Mixologys signature scents. This will be promoted over the social network sites so people who have shared the images will attend the launch and collect their sample scents. This will work hand in hand generating more shares of the promotional artwork on social network sites attracting wider viewing and creating a desire for consumers to attend the event. Following on from the store opening launch party at the Shoreditch store the other two stores situated in Camden and Marylebone will also be opening the following day.
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MAINTAINING PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY Once all three stores are ready and open for business the Mixology perfumer will be able to provide consumers with the ultimate personal perfume experience. With this strategic proposal Mixology will build on its popularity over time eventually gaining a cult following. This cult following will not come immediately like it does with mass-market brands, but to gain this cult following the Mixology perfumer needs to stay desirable. In order to maintain this Mixology will to keep up activity months after establishment. They will also use Frank PR agency to create an online PR stunt involving video and response.
NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH
May 2015 will see the launch of a product that combines the original concept of paint and fragrance in a literal way: The fragranced body paint. This product will be launched months after the store launch as the brand will be more established at this point with a large consumer base. This product is a lot more experimental and will launch at the start of summer just before festival season. At festivals people often wear brightly colours body paint on their face and skin. The unique fragrance element to the paint will work well at as a festival product because people get very sweaty and smelly due to dirty conditions and camping. This product will attract festivalgoers who are passionate about music and art. This is something that our consumer can relate to. The different primary coloured body paint can be mixed together to create new secondary colours sticking to the mixing concept of our brand. Each paint will be scented with a different fragrance.
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VIDEO PR STUNT
Fig. 10 Screenshot of Promotional video uploaded on Youtube, 2014, Own mockup
Fig. 11 Mixology App for smartphone, 2014, Own mockup created on Photoshop
The launch of this product will be promoted on our wellestablished instagram, youtube and through our brand ambassador’s online blogs. On our instagram page and YouTube account we will promote the product with a short video clip, which we made and featured in our group presentation (Fig. 10) The video will be a short home movie inspired clip featuring the body paint on the models skin. It will be fun and upbeat with music, something consumers can relate to. We will use this video to launch a competition around the new product, also in order to promote the new product. To enter the competition consumers can download our Mixology app for smartphone (Fig. 11) which has a video generator device on it. Consumers can record a short clip of themselves featuring the body paint, add music and share through their social media platforms encouraging friends to do the same. This competition will last for the month of June encouraging people to get involved and engage in a fun way. The most creative video will be the winner; announced via the instagram page at the end of June, winners will receive 4 weekend tickets to Lovebox festival in July.
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Fig.
Festival body paint, 2013 Own photography
12 Lovebox Festival, 2013
Mixology will have a pop up stall over the weekend at Lovebox Festival (Fig. 12) selling both signature fragrances and new body paint product. I feel Lovebox festival is the perfect event to sell our new product as it is in the heart of London and attracts a consumer base of 1830 year olds who are creative, enjoy music and social places and very expressive with fashion and their lifestyle. This is a place our consumers and brand ambassadors would be likely to attend. Although we are a niche focused brand I feel the new product concept works for our brand because it enhances the element of paint, expressiveness and creativity. The promotional activity for the new product works because it highlights the word of mouth strategy and is personal to the consumer.
CONCLUSION Using this marketing strategy The Mixology brand will slowly develop into a brand that have a passionate loyal clientele. The mixology perfumer will be well established in London as it roots into the heart of the city giving its consumers quality products, experiences and attention from all aspects. Mixology will sustain its success and recognition over the first 12 months since first establishing and will continue to do so in the future.
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REFERENCES Text Books Posner, H. (2011). Fashion Marketing. 1st ed. Laurence King, Pages: p.128. p.146, p.168, Tungate, M. (2012). Fashion Brands: Brand styling from Armani to Zara. 1st ed. Kogan Page, p.51.
Websites Apologuestudio.com, (2014). apologue: About. [online] Available at: http://www. apologuestudio.com/about [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. Frankpr.it, (2014). Frank PR | Where PR = Public Reactions™. [online] Available at: http://www. frankpr.it [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. herworldPLUS, (2014). Cult fragrance brand Le Labo opens in Singapore. [online] Available at: http://www.herworldplus. com/beauty/updates/cultfragrance-brand-le-laboopens-in-singapore#. U4O55pRdWQa [Accessed 26 May. 2014]. Lelabofragrances.com, (2014). About Us | Le Labo. [online] Available at: http://lelabofragrances. com/us_en/about [Accessed 26 May. 2014]. Limited, B. (2014). Quotes about Liberty. [online] Liberty.co.uk. Available at: http://www.liberty. co.uk/quotes/article/fcpcontent [Accessed 27 May. 2014].
Images Marketingmagazine. co.uk, (2014). Selfiecentred marketing: why the clock is ticking for brands eyeing the #selfie phenomenon. [online] Available at: http:// www.marketingmagazine. co.uk/article/1289499/ selfie-centred-marketingwhy-clock-ticking-brandseyeing-selfie-phenomenon [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. Mashable, (2014). Marc Jacobs Pop-Up Shop Takes Tweets, Instagrams for Payment. [online] Available at: http://mashable. com/2014/02/06/marc-jacobstweet-store/ [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. Monikerprojects.com, (2014). About | Moniker Projects. [online] Available at: http:// monikerprojects.com/about/ [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. Monikerprojects.com, (2014). David Shillinglaw mural for Village Underground | Moniker Projects. [online] Available at: http:// monikerprojects.com/ david-shillinglaw-muralfor-village-underground/ [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. Morphy, E. (2014). Marc Jacobs Trades Social Media Mentions For Gifts In New Pop Up Store. [online] Forbes. Available at: http:// www.forbes.com/sites/ erikamorphy/2014/02/09/ marc-jacobs-trades-socialmedia-mentions-for-giftsin-new-pop-up-store/ [Accessed 27 May. 2014].
Tangibleinteraction. com, (2014). Chanel, NYC - Digital Graffiti Wall | Tangible Interaction. [online] Available at: http://www. tangibleinteraction.com/ projects/digital-graffitiwall-for-chanel [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. Tangibleinteraction. com, (2014). Chanel, NYC - Digital Graffiti Wall | Tangible Interaction. [online] Available at: http://www. tangibleinteraction.com/ projects/digital-graffitiwall-for-chanel [Accessed 27 May. 2014]. True To Me Too, (2014). True To Me Too - Edouard Roschi - Le Labo Perfume - Fragrance. [online] Available at: http://truetometoo.com/ profiles/edouard-roschi/#. U4O0qJRdWQb [Accessed 26 May. 2014].
Fig 1 Le Labo (n,d) Le labo rose fragrance, (image online) http:// lelabofragrances.com/us_en/ shop/fine-fragrances/rose31.html (Accessed: 30 May 2014) Fig 2 Frank PR (n.d.) Frank PR Agency Logo, (image online) http://www. frankpr.it (Accessed 30 May 2014) Fig 5 Chanel Digital Wall, (2014) (image online) http://www. tangibleinteraction.com/ projects/digital-graffitiwall-for-chanel (Accessed 30 May 2014) Fig 4 Chanel Digital Wall (2014) (image online) http://www.crowdactivation. com/digital-graffiti-wall (Accessed 30 May 2014) Fig 5 Mural painted by artist David Shillinglaw, (2013) Moniker Project website (image online) http://monikerprojects.com/ david-shillinglaw-muralfor-village-underground/ (Accessed 30 May 2014) Fig 6 Cancer Research Selfie (2014) (image online) http://www.theguardian. com/science/sifting-theevidence/2014/mar/27/canone-nomakeupselfie-make-a (Accessed 30 may 2014) Fig 7 Live Music from the Bang Bangs (n,d) (image online) https://myspace. com/bangbangs (Accessed 30 may 2014)
Fig8 Apron image (n,d) (image online) Image of apron used to mockup my own image on Photoshop http:// www.zazzle.com/aprons (Accessed 20 May 2014) Fig 9 Daisy Tweet shop (2014) (image online) http://www.moodiereport. com/document.php?doc_ id=38357 (Accessed 20 May 2014) Fig 10 Screenshot Promotional Video uploaded on Youtube, (2014) (Own image) Fig 11 Mixology App for Smartphone (2014) Own Mockup created on photoshop Fig 12 Lovebox Festival, (2013) (online image) http://www.factmag.com/tag/ lovebox/ (Accessed 20 May 2014)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS
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BLOGGERS MENTIONED com/yes-project-prizes/ http://mashable. com/2014/02/06/marc-jacobstweet-store/ http://www. tangibleinteraction.com/ projects http://www.apologuestudio. com/sephora-concept http://www. brooklynstreetart.com/ theblog/2011/11/16/ shoreditch-part-ii-londonstreet-art-dispatch/#. U4SqKxblfzI http://monikerprojects.com/ moniker-artfair-2012/ http://www.liberty.co.uk/ quotes/article/fcp-content http://www.visitlondon. com/things-to-do/ event/27710675-frieze-artfair-at-regents-park http://www.unsigned.com/ bangbangs http://www.wordofmouthpr. com/ Apologuestudio.com Marketingmagazine.co.uk Tangibleinteraction.com
http://www.thelondoner.me http://www.elementsofstyleblog.com http://theunisexmode.tumblr.com http://londontheinside.com
MAGAZINES MENTIONED i-D Magazine ARTnews Magazine Juxtapoz Magazine Used Magazine Stylist Magazine Time Out Magazine
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