Cover misterbomb misterbomb 2016/17
( 12 month promotional plan)
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contents
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intro
creative concept
consumer
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7 the story of steam 8 creative concept 11 adapting to the season 12 final ad and video
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14 our consumer 15 consumer decision process 16 brand onion 17 brand usp
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whats inside
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execution and plan
timeline
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the launch PR events collaborations misterbomb x spotify social media intnl shower cap day
30 execution timeline
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references
32 info references 33 figure references 34 appendix
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his is the 12 month promotional plan for the new aromatherapy steam-dissolving shower bomb brand, Misterbomb. Throughout the plan I will be discussing the creative concept of the brand and how the key brand message can be adapted to include new seasonal narratives, within the key sector purchasing hotspots: winter and summer. The timeline of events I will describe will take the brand beyond the launch and ensure success in its first year and beyond, through effective planning of how we will appeal to and connect with our target consumer.
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the story of steam Initial insight rbanisation - how does it affect a consumer’s lifestyle and consequently, their purchasing habits? This was the starting point for our research. We wanted to know the issues with living in smaller spaces and how these spaces could be utilised better.
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We looked to Lush, recognising the success of its marketing strategies and hence the success of the brand as a whole, and wanted to investigate how we can transfer these successful brand attributes into a model that can work for people who don’t have the room to accommodate a bath. We realised that there was a gap in the market particularly for student shower solutions, as similarly to some who live in cities, they too often don’t have the luxury of a bath. None of the university owned halls at NTU have baths, and 82% of those students we asked won’t have baths in their accommodation next year. The idea MisterBomb’s aim is to provide students living in university accommodation with a healing experience which simulates that of a bath. MisterBomb will provide students with an aromatherapy solution to the common scenarios experienced at university. The specially formulated steam dissolving shower bombs will help with relaxing and destressing, waking up in the morning, nursing a hangover, and getting ready to go out. In order to portray such contrasting scenarios we decided to produce a series of four print ads rather than just one.
Our initial creative concept was focussed on the story of steam. We looked into the relationship between mood and colour, coming from the widely recognised association between the colour green and jealousy, and how this can instanteously communicate our benefits and scenarios effectively. We decided to call the brand MisterBomb: a play on the story of steam and the mist component of our brand, and bomb: the shower bomb.
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creative concept “A brand is not a once and for all construction, but the aim of a constant effort to reconstruct the added value “ Kapferer 2008
According to Mintel, our younger student audience are the most influenced demographic when it comes to packaging and product appearance, so this needed to be a carefully thought out aspect of our brand. Our shower bombs will be produced in a cube shape for ease of manufacture, limiting wastage and costs, and making them easy to package. For freshness they’ll be individually wrapped, and for aesthetic purposes this will be in holographic paper. We chose a milk carton design as the shape is fun and easy to manufacture, and it is alternative to existing products on the market, making it standout and easily recognisable. Our research images centred around bright, upbeat colours and a ‘real’ outlook on life. We lwere drawn to images that were carefree and aesthetically pleasing whilst not being unrealistic or overly contrived.
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how to adapt this to the season T
he standard packaging has been kept simple and clean. However, in order to adapt this crisp and universal aesthetic to be more suitable to a particular time period or season, for example Christmas, I would like to interchange the designs featuring on the packaging and resulting advertising. Running an online competition for students studying graphic design and the arts would create a brilliant opportunity for lucky winners to collaborate and feature their designs alongside the name of a successful up and coming brand. It would have a positive outcome for students starting out in a competitive creative career world, as well as generating strong customer connections and building an overall brand personality that would be more relatable and likeable. The competition would be communicated over Twitter under the hashtag #mistercomp and publicised through the initial leaflets that will be distributed alongside the samples given in the Digin Uni welcome boxes given when students move into accommodation. In order to stay relevant we would also like to produce special limited edition shower bomb formulas at different times of year, such as ‘Christmas Spirit’ for Christmas time, to help those trying to get in the Christmas mood, and ‘Exam Cool’, available only in exam periods to help focus and relax during stressful times. It would also be a beneficial PR step to gain access to the student contact databases such as UniDays in order to feature in occasional email newsletters whilst promoting the competition opportunity and pricing special offers. It would also help us reach second and third year students who would not be recipients of the Digin boxes. In order to reach our audience out of term time I believe visiting festivals around the UK would enable us to connect and stay in touch with our consumer, and ensure we are there for all their shower related needs. I believe it would be a popular move to appear at festivals distributing free energising aromatherapy wet wipe samples that they could then come and buy more of at our stand. This would also help us reach an audience who are not necessarily students that we would not have branched out to otherwise. This move would get our brand name noticed and hopefully then lead to people finding our conventional products in store once they return home from the festival.
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the final video & photo ad 6
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ur final print ads are a series of four images which I believe portray the intended scenario well. Whilst the colours are not oversaturated or bold in any way the general mood of the portrait communicates the intended atmosphere effectively. It also means we can interchange these images with different bolder and pastel colours and they won’t clash or be overpowering. Our final video showed these portraits in motion: for example, the ‘wake up’ image features the model removing her hands from her face and opening her eyes, and the ‘hungover’ image with the model running her hands through her hair. We wanted to combine these moving images with the models drawing onto steamed up glass held in front of them, and we believe if we were to really launch our brand we would have the means in our budget to make this more authentic, and thus the video will flow better.
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the party girl (doesn’t have time for baths)
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who is our consumer? T
he lipstick effect – tough times mean consumers go for ‘trade down’ spending; forgoing extravagant purchases and instead opting for cheaper feel-good treats such as lipstick. This will be even more present in a prominently student target market. Being responsible for managing their own finances possibly for the first time, combined with a typically low disposable income will mean that finding less costly alternatives to their regular pick-me-ups will be an important part of this transition in lifestyle.
the restless (doesn’t like baths)
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For this reason it’s imperative our product is not only beneficial and of good quality, but also placed at the correct price point. This would be £4.99 for a carton of 9 shower bombs, which in comparison to other bath bomb prices is very affordable. We will target a primarily female audience, typically Generation Z, and most likely a student. They either won’t have access to a bath, won’t enjoy baths or won’t have time in a busy lifestyle to take baths, but will still enjoy pampering and treatments to make them feel good about themselves. They may struggle with typically student related problems such as tiredness, stress and hangovers.
the cramped (doesn’t have access to a bath) The Consumer Decision Process The process would begin with the recognition of a problem or need. For our consumer this could be a hangover. We hope that through research by their preferred methods (Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat), they would discover our brand as a solution to their problem, and consequently make a purchase. During post-purchase evaluation our product should be effective enough that the consumer feels they cannot go back to a time before our product, building a degree of strength in brand loyalty. strength in brand loyalty.
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problem awareness information search
evaluate the alternatives
purchase
Post-purchase evaluation
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“Brand is not what you say it is. It is what they say it is.� Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap, 2005 Our vision is to aid students in transforming their student shower into a beneficial experience worthy of bringing relaxing or positive emotions, similar to that of luxury bathing. We understand our consumer and the difficulties and excitement they may face at university, because the brand is the brainchild of students. All students should be able to enjoy their shower experience, whether they are hungover, waking up, getting ready for a night out, or relaxing. We look fun, bright, inviting and modern, and we endeavour for our message to be perceived as trustworthy and as though we understand our consumer. Our product is affordable, and we are down to earth, relatable and realistic when it comes to what our product can do. We understand it may not completely cure your hangover, but we do believe it will lighten your mood mood and start, or end, your day in the best way possible. and start, or end, your day in the best way possible.
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brand usp T
here is no similar product available on the UK high street. Whilst lush offers an admittedly pricey but natural and high quality product, they fail to cater fully to those who have minimal space, and their price point leaves something to be desired for those on a student budget. We wanted to create something that the purchaser would buy for themselves, not just receive as a gift. The benefits our product can provide should be available and affordable to be experienced on a weekly basis, not just a special occasion. Whilst products are individually available to have similar effects, such as caffeine tablets and coffee for waking up, and Kalms herbal pills and aromatherapy solutions for relaxing, no brands are currently providing these benefits in the format of an aromatherapy shower bomb. Often bath and shower products are branded for predominantly older women and stereotyped as being a boring necessity or unappreciated gift, but we want to change that.
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the launch “Word-of-mouth marketing isn’t about giving customers talking points, as if they were brand spokespeople. It’s about delivering an exceptional customer experience that makes customers want to recommend you.” – Deborah Eastman, date unknown
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he launch will take place in September in order to coincide with the beginning of the academic year and consequently the distribution of the Digin university welcome boxes. The sample product and accompanying leaflet detailing the #mistercomp competition and £1 off voucher will mean the target consumer becomes aware of our message and is primed to receive further communications. Their curiosity is piqued and they may discuss with their peers and progress into purchasing a full size version of the product. In 2015 more than 320,000 fresher students arrived at university to discover brands and products waiting for them in the Digin Welcome Box in their new room, I myself included in that figure. This equates to just under 75% of new students in the UK that we would be reaching. As the product is attractively packaged with the shower bomb cubes individually wrapped in holographic foil for optimum freshness, this creates peak prospects for earned media, as the ‘instagrammable’ product is photographed by satisfied customers for their feeds. 79% of students I asked said they believed they were more influenced to purchase products by photos posted on Instagram than advertising campaigns seen elsewhere. products by photos posted on Instagram than advertising campaigns seen elsewhere.
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PR plan W
e want to get our brand talked about. ‘Any press is good press’, so one of our plans would be to submit our promotional research findings to the papers, in anticipation that we will receive publicity similar to the “chocolate digestives are Britain’s favourite biscuit to dunk” spectacle. In our survery, 54% of students we asked said they have not bathed this year, choosing to shower instead. Our brand print ad may be placed correspondingly. It is typical that when students and topics relating to them appear in the press they are curious to find out as to why, so we have reason to believe that the recipient of this news story would largely consist of those falling into our target consumer group, which would of course be a brilliant way of gaining exposure for our brand.
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events A
s previously mentioned, it would be hugely beneficial to attend festivals across the summer in order to continually touch base with our consumer and gain new customers who wouldn’t come across our brand otherwise. Hygiene is a recurrently talked about topic when discussing festivals, so naturally our brand, if our product were to be adapted effectually, would have a logical place there. We will also of course appear at many fresher’s fairs across the country to coincide with the distribution of the Digin boxes.
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collaborating “Profits are more likely to be improved where the goal of business shifts from simply making money, to the creation of innovative and satisfying products and services, which improve customers’ lives (and creative improved profits as a result).” Fashion Promotion in Practice, 2016
In recent years, fine art and fashion collaborations have proliferated, perhaps best exemplified by Louis Vuitton under the stewardship of Marc Jacobs between 1997 and 2013. A collaboration between two such contrasting forms of creatives allows an outside look into what would work for the brand personality whilst tapping into the artist’s understanding of trends going on outside fashion. As previously mentioned, our first port of call would be to open a search for a student artist to collaborate with our brand in adapting our brand image to every season, and create limited edition packaging that communicated our seasonal narrative as well as being attractive and desirable. The fact that we would use a student creative would create an overall stronger connection with our target consumer, making the brand more likeable, down to earth and relatable. It will also give young and talented up and coming creatives an opportunity to shine early on in their career. shine early on in their career.
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SPOTIFY “My favourite quote about music comes from the 15th century Ottoman Empire and says it ‘unties the knots of the soul’.” Red Saunders, artist, unknown
For major non fashion brands, fashion collaborations are a simple and effective way of adding quirkiness and “cool”, while the fashion brand benefits from association with an internationally recognised brand and the challenge of being creative in a different industry. A great example of this would be Intel’s collaboration with Opening Ceremony, where they combined Open Ceremony’s attractive and sleek aesthetics with Intel’s sleek internal technology input to create ‘MICA’, My Intelligent Communication Accessory. Unlike this example, we would like to work with a brand already popular and well-known among our target audience. Spotify is a commercial music streaming, podcast and video service. It is easily accessible to all as it offers its service in two music streaming tiers: Spotify Free and Spotify Premium. Listening to music this way is becoming increasingly popular since CDs and downloaded music sales began to decline as a more flexible and affordable way of listening to a range of artists emerged. Spotify’s 50% student discount provided in association with UniDays makes it a very affordable service for those in education, and means as a result a large proportion of its users are of this age group. 30% of those I asked have a paid Spotify Premium subscription and 35% use the free version. I would like to use this customer base to our advantage by creating a waterproof music streaming device that would Bluetooth connect with your smartphone with the ability to load particular albums or playlists onto it before your shower. This would work as the 21st century version of a shower radio, an already popular phenomenon. The device would be branded in MisterBomb’s colours and brand aesthetic, and would feature the Spotify logo. To make this step out into gift territory all the more related to our brand and product, we would create four different Spotify playlists available to save by our consumer, focussing on songs suited to each of our four different scenarios: Relax, hungover, wake up, and getting ready for a night out. The selected songs would aid the consumer in transforming their mood for these occasions with correlating upbeat, relaxing or energising music.
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social media “Companies that don’t understand digital communities will die.” The Economist magazine (P.R Smith and Ze Zook, 2011)
Generation Z are digital natives – they hop effortlessly between digital and physical worlds and these two worlds are so heavily intertwined that it may sometimes be difficult to separate the two. For this reason their online identity is important to them. According to research carried out by retail and brand consultancy Fitch, they have a particular approach to shopping – preferring to discover things on Instagram and Pinterest first before committing to a purchase. We are living in an age where prior affirmation from ‘trusted’ and influential names is as important as the product itself. For this reason it is imperative we connect with our consumer through social media, as it is a platform our student audience will consistently be tapped in to. Growth in daily users of leading platforms Twitter and Facebook have plateaued. This raises the question: Has social media usage started to reach its saturation point? How can we still use thriving social media platforms to our promotional advantage? In its May 2016 Social and Media Networks report Mintel states that 42% of 16-24 year olds use their smartphones as their primary access point to social media. 38% of Instagram users and 33% of Snapchat users revisit the app multiple times a
day, because it offers more immediate and quickly consumable content, which can be accessed when taking a short break from everyday tasks such as revising or cleaning. This illuminates the fact our social media presence needs to be interesting and easily digestible for users on a phone. Snapchat is frequently used by social media enthusiasts to document their everyday activities, from their fancy lunch date to their evening out, so creating a suitable steamy snapchat filter to use in pinpoint university campus locations would be a brilliant step in spreading our overall brand message. Our own snapchat story could also be utilised to document particular events, new limited edition products and general fun relating to our brand. Instagram would be a key platform to make contact with our target audience looking to discover new brands to purchase. As previously mentioned this is the way our consumer prefers to shop, so providing aesthetically pleasing photos that would lead them to save or reblog would hugely benefit our sales figures.
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international shower cap day “Whether you are a dog, a cat, a lizard or a human. All shower cap photos are welcome.” www.showercapday.com
International Shower Cap Day, taking place each year on 25th May, is a tongue-in-cheek day to encourage people to share comical pictures of themselves and their pets wearing the not always flattering shower accessory. On this day we want to use our standing on Twitter and Instagram to communicate and connect with our audience through asking them to send us in their photos using the hashtags #internationalshowercapday and ‘#lookingbomb with #misterbomb’. The expectantly popular trend would raise awareness of our promotion in store, where for a week in May you can receive a free MisterBomb shower cap with every MisterBomb purchase. At the end of the week three winners with the most smile-inducing photos will be selected to receive MisterBomb prizes for their efforts. The move would help the brand engage in relationship marketing, giving the brand a friendlier and relatable image and helping us get to know our consumers.
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month 1
month 2
month 3
september
october
november
start of month - online teaser campaign and video.
spotify shower speaker adverts are released
beginning of month winner of #mistercomp is announced.
mid month - students recieve their samples in digin
design process starts for christmas packaging mid november misterbomb limited edition ‘christmas spirit’ bomb is released
a UniDays email goes out to all students with a reminder of #mistercomp
spotify shower speaker collab gift set launches in store
we appear at fresher fairs in all big cities
spotify misterbomb mood playlists are set live
month 7
month 8
month 9
march
april
may
exam chill limited edition shower bomb advert, packaging and ad designed by the spring #mistercomp winner is released online
limited edition ‘exam chill’ bomb is released
international shower cap day - 25th may heavy use of twitter and instagram hashtag week long free shower cap promotion in store and online
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month 4
month 5
month 6
december
January
february
1st dec - spotify christmas spirit misterbomb playlist is set live
the spring limited edition exam stress packaging #mistercomp begins, publicised on twitter reminder of this through UniDays mailing list
month 10
june festival season - we appear at festivals around the country with our energising hangover cure aromatherapy face wipes and wet wipes
month 12
july festival season - we appear at festivals around the country with our energising hangover cure aromatherapy face wipes and wet wipes
august festival season - we appear at festivals around the country with our energising hangover cure aromatherapy face wipes and wet wipes
INFORMATION REFERENCES Books Cope, J (2016). Fashion Promotion in Practice. London: Fairchild Books. Ingledew, J (2011). The A - Z of Visual Ideas: How to Solve any Creative Brief. London: Laurence King. Neumeier, M (2005). The Brand Gap. 2nd ed. London: New Riders. Posner, H (2015). Marketing Fashion: Strategy, Branding and Promotion. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King. Websites Cisnero, K. (2014). 10 Benefits of Social Media for Business. Available: https://blog. hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/. Last accessed 28th May 2015. Digin. (2015). Digin Box. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digin-box. Last accessed 31st May 2016. Snapchat. (Unknown). Geofilter Submission Guidelines. Available: https://support. snapchat.com/en-US/a/geofilter-guidelines. Last accessed 25th May 2016. The Dieline. (2015). Concepts We Wish Were Real. Available: http://www.thedieline. com/blog/2015/4/9/concepts-we-wish-were-real. Last accessed 20th May 2016. Unknown. (Unknown). International Shower Cap Day. Available: http://www.showercapday.com/. Last accessed 31st May 2016. Williams, C. (2014). How young viewers are abandoning television. Available: http:// www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/11146439/How-young-viewers-are-abandoning-television.html. Last accessed 25th May 2016. Journals Ballaben, S. (2016). Mintel, Infographic Overview. Social and Media Networks. Ballaben, S. (2016). Mintel, Executive Summary. Social and Media Networks. Libby, C. (2015). Mintel, Infographic Overview. Social Media: BPC. Libby, C. (2015). Mintel, Executive Summary. Social Media: BPC. Libby, C. (2015). Mintel, Databook. Social Media: BPC. Libby, C. (2014). Mintel, Executive Summary. Beauty and Personal Care Packaging Trends. Libby, C. (2016) Mintel, Executive Summary. Beauty Online Own work (2016) Fragrance Survey: primary research
FIGURE REFERENCES Fig 1 Wallipo. (Unknown). Hands on Glass. Available: http://wallippo.com/wallpaper/steamy-window-4b3f0daad471bc84fa26e0f998423881. Last accessed 23rd May 2016. Fig 2 Own work Fig 3 Bliqx. (2015). Steamy Window. Available: http://www.bliqx.net/steamy-windowphotography-caesar-lima/. Last accessed 20th May 2016. Fig 4, 5 Own work – mood board Fig 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Own work Fig 14 Google Images. (Unknown). Steam Landscape. Available: https://www. google.co.uk/search?q=steam+hands&espv=2&biw=1821&bih=857&site=webh p&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5mIyTw4rNAhUDDsAKHRAQAm 0Q_AUIBigB&dpr=0.75#tbs=isz:lt%2Cislt:4mp&tbm=isch&q=steam. Last accessed 25th May 2016. Fig 15, 16 Own work Fig 17 Digin. (2015). Digin Box. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ digin-box. Last accessed 25th May 2016. Fig 18 Own work Fig 19 Summer Breeze. (2015). Festival . Available: http://summer-breeze-festival. com/. Last accessed 20th May 2016. Fig 20 Google Images. (2015). Steam Heart. Available: https://www.google.co.uk/ search?q=steamy+heart&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi23sG2x4r NAhVKJMAKHSBPCmgQ_AUIBygB&biw=1821&bih=857&dpr=0.75#q=steamy+hear t&tbm=isch&tbs=isz:lt,islt:xga&imgrc=ihkpw. Last accessed 25th May 2016. Fig 21 Hard Rock. (2015). Singing in the Shower. Available: http://blog.hrhibiza. com/music-2/songs-to-sing-in-the-shower/. Last accessed 28th May 2015 Fig 22, 23 Own work Fig 24 Ballaben, S. (2016). Social and Media Networks Infographic Overview.Available: http://www.mintel.com/search-page?q=social+media+&sa=+. Last accessed 28th May 2015. Fig 25 Google Images. (2015). Dog in Shower Cap. Available: https://www.google. co.uk/search?q=steamy+heart&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2 3sG2x4rNAhVKJMAKHSBPCmgQ_AUIBygB&biw=1821&bih=857&dpr=0.75#tbs=i sz:lt%2Cislt:xga&tbm=isch&q=dog+in+shower+cap&imgr. Last accessed 28th May 2015. Fig 26 Lesley, S. (2015). Shower Caps. Available: https://uk.pinterest.com/ pin/66709638208219941/. Last accessed 28th May 2015 Fig 27 Google Images. (2015). Cat in Shower Cap. Available: https://www.google. co.uk/search?q=steamy+heart&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2 3sG2x4rNAhVKJMAKHSBPCmgQ_AUIBygB&biw=1821&bih=857&dpr=0.75#tbs=i sz:lt%2Cislt:xga&tbm=isch&q=dog+in+shower+cap&imgr. Last accessed 28th May 2015.
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REFERENCED SURVEY RESULTS MAY 2016 Do you think you are more influenced by Instagram to make purchases than other forms of advertising? 79% Yes 21% No Do you have a bath in your accommodation next year? 82% No 18% Yes When was the last time you bathed? Select the most accurate 54% I haven’t this year 20% 3 months ago 11% 2 months ago 10% 1 month ago 5% In the past week Select one of the options below regarding your use of Spotify 30% Paid Spotify subscription 35% Use the free version 35% Don’t use Spotify at all
Saskia Rimbaut / N0646378 / Fragrance Project Task 4 / Fash10106 / Creative Networks
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