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Raoul & Massimo Dutti Brand Analysis Report
Prepared For: Desmond Sim, Gilles Bernadou Prepared By: FM4A Mayshella Clara Wongso (11786), Ng Shi Hui (12838), Teo Jia En (12565) & Bini Yao Qiong (11621)
DE1215 Basic Business Principles for the Fashion Industry LASALLE College of the Arts
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 Contents 1.
Project Brief
2.
Executive Summary
3.
History / Background
4.
Targeting group and segmentation
5.0 Marketing Mix 5.1. Product & Consumer 5.2. Price & Cost 5.3. Place & Convenience 5.4. Promotion & Communication 5.5 5th P 6.
Conclusion
7.
References
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 1. Project Brief: Analysis report of your chosen brands strategies. Select one successful, international fashion brand/company and one successful, local (Singapore) fashion brand/company within the same category (e.g high fashion with another high fashion company or hair acc with another hair acc company etc.) You will then compare and contrast their marketing and PR strategies and efforts, paying attention to the Marketing Mix employed by both companies. In your analysis, show your understanding of the principles of marketing by also discussing how the international company can learn about marketing in Singapore from the local company; and how the local fashion company can learn to market to a larger international market from the international fashion company. Group Work: 15 min presentation. One
document
of
between
4000-5000
words,
due
week
15.
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2. Executive Summary Our group chose to analyze local brand Raoul and internationally successful brand Massimo Dutti within the local Singaporean context. The retail industry shapes the environment where Singaporeans live, work and play. In year 2008, the retail industryʼs 20,000 establishments generated about $35 billion in retail sales and employed some 100,000 workers. Unsurprisingly, our research finding shows that our selected brands are improving progressively in terms of sales and revenue. Both brands cater to working business professionals but Raoul has a stronger focus on simple and chic business wear while Massimo Dutti focuses on casual and smart formal wear.
Raoulʼs strength lies in her strategic target segmentation, marketing positioning and promotion. Raoul has seen success in targeting working professionals who have spending power and looking for quality fashionable products that are affordable and have a prestige branding. Despite being a local brand they have successfully marketed themselves as a premium brand because they took on a French name and a European marketing approach. Raoul follows the European fashion seasons and introduces the collection each season with much hype and anticipation by their customers.
Massimo Duttiʼs strength lies in her quality yet affordable products and has been relying on word of mouth promotion because of the popularity of their products. By cutting down on advertising and promotion costs, Massimo Dutti can translate these costs into better quality fabrics and designs according to market trends for their customers and thereby earning higher profits.
This paper seeks to analyze Raoul and Massimo Duttiʼs marketing strategies in the local Singaporean context, the success and failures of these strategies and provides recommendations for what can be improved to further increase their global presence.
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3. History / Background
Since its inception in 2002, the homegrown brand of FJ Benjamin has grown from strength to strength. Created by husband and wife team Douglas and Odile Benjamin, it began as a menʼs shirt label and in response to changing customer needs, evolved into a complete ready to wear collection for men and women in 2008, including accessories and timepieces. The Raoul brand was conceived when Benjamin was in London years ago. The company had always been franchising and representing brands from other companies. Benjaminʼs father was a strong believer that they needed to have their own brand. In 2003 they bought some shirts from some expensive stores and after three to four months Benjamin was wearing shirt and the cuffs were fraying, buttons coming off. With a desire to produce long lasting and high quality shirts, they decided to develop a menʼs shirt label. Raoul is the French name for Ralph. Raoul was launched through stores in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The first store combining both ranges opened its doors in 2007 and a flagship in the classic Paragon shopping centre on Orchard Rd in 2009. With 21 standalone boutiques and shop-inshop concepts to-date in prime retail locations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and most recently, Australia, Raoul has made a significant impact on the fashion scene in Asia with its mandate to create affordable luxury products without compromising on stylish design and good quality for todayʼs discerning customer. Today Raoul lines sit alongside high end labels in US, European and UK department stores, including Harrods and Matches.
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Massimo Dutti was founded in 1985 and acquired by Inditex in 1991. Today it has more than 525 stores in over 50 countries. The brand originally focused on menʼs fashions, yet 1992 saw the launch of its collections for women, ranging from über-urban to casual lines, enabling Massimo Dutti to consolidate its position as a rapidly expanding name on both the Spanish and international markets with a staff that currently exceeds 4,000. In 2003 Massimo Dutti launched its kids fashion range under the name Massimo Dutti Boys & Girls. This line is gradually being introduced into those stores that are large enough for this specific space in various countries. Since September 2006, Massimo Dutti has been designing, distributing and selling the following lines: Women: Womenʼs wear, Accessories, Soft, Fragrances Men: Menʼs wear, Accessories, Soft, Personal Tailoring, Fragrances Boys & Girls Baby Total dedication, top quality materials and a clever mix of textures and styles are the keystones of the Massimo Dutti world and reflected in all its collections. Taking its own unique creative concept as the base, Massimo Dutti designs for urban, elegant and contemporary customers. Customers that are not only looking for the very latest trends, but are also loyal to our label and share our pride in its values. Collection after collection, Massimo Dutti seeks to transmit its own personal style yet which reflects the fashion trends that dominate the international catwalks. Massimo Dutti stores, always situated in prime city locations, represent a designer space created for customer comfort, where personalised help and advice is seen as the essential basis of customer service.
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4. Targeting group and segmentation Raoul The aspirers The main target audience is men in their 20s to late 30s who are professionals in their job scope or running their own business. They are nonnarcissists, and they live for others rather than themselves. Therefore personal image is important in how they bring themselves forward to the rest. Being health conscious also make them aware of having a healthy lifestyle. And they are always keeping up with trends. Benjamin describes the range as “good fashion at an affordable price point”. “We like the phrase ʻelevated essentialsʼ.” Therefore, we derive that the aspirers make up the biggest percentile of the consumers who buy Raoul products. Massimo Dutti New Age family-oriented The Spanish brand is targeted at young married men and women in their late 20s to early 40s. They are professionals in their job scope or white-collar workers who earn more than $3000 /month. They are not status conscious and feel that free time is more important than money. They believe in spending quality time with the family. Also they believe in being environmental friendly and use a lot of green products. They are not sensitive to promotions and prefer to stick to brands, which they are used to. Massimo Dutti designs for urban, elegant and contemporary customers. Customers that are not only looking for the very latest trends, but are also loyal to our label and share our pride in its values. Thus this group of new age family-orientated is their main target group of customer.
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5.0 Marketing Mix Raoul emphasizes on promotion with a European style with seasonal runways and trends as well as good quality products with a focus on clean and formal office executive style. Raoulʼs choices of locations are all located in prime high-end locations with ease of convenience. Massimo Dutti emphasizes on good quality products with a focus on trendy lifestyle casual wear. Similarly the choices of store locations are very prominent along high traffic areas such as along Orchard Road. By comparison, their promotion is not as aggressive as Raoul as they depend on word of mouth promotion. Their campaigns are only featured on their website and facebook locally. They have limited online coverage and they are not featured on print in Singapore. Although it carries products with the highest price range within the Inditex group, it is still relative affordable for working professionals, particularly so given the quality of the clothes.
5.1 Product & Consumer Raoul Raoul is noted for providing itsʼ customers good quality fabric and perfect fitting cuts with reasonable price range of fashion products. It was originally focused on menʼs fashion but it has expanded to ladies fashion and handbags. Raoul design is aimed to be simple, clean, and chic. Their design is easy for everyday fashion and their simplicity makes great style to match with many outfits. The price point is not overly expensive. The sophisticated designs aim to be like a breath of fresh air. For their Menswear Fall Winter 2011, Raoul is inspired by the “strict uniformity of Pam Am flight attendants, a touch of 70ʼs swagger, fused with the minimalist aesthetic of the 90ʼs, and you have the spirit of the FW11 Raoul
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Menʼs collection.” The style is described as “Minimalist era, sporty boxy precision cut tech jackets – free of superfluous details. Understated elegance, clean lines and refined tailoring, classic styles with subtly arresting details that catches oneʼs eye.” Colours used are matt and even. Key colors are cognac, putty, maroon and navy, often contrasted alongside bright color blocks or with receding neutrals that come in black, grey and bitter brown. Even the choice of colours used convey a sense of luxury with names like “cognac, maroon and navy” which are often associated with upper-class European style. Fabrications for this season are specially selected for luxury and comfort. Examples are, fine worsted wool for suiting and jackets, also used in causal combinations of canvas or moleskin with leather for sports jackets. Herringbone, double-faced, light weight cashmere for an overcoat with a leather collar. Military rib, high quality silk cotton knit and Merino wool knit crew neck sweaters. For their bags and accessories, Raoul introduced leather briefcases and bags featuring various carrying style options, organizational features and different sizes to combine daytime essentials with modern styles. Shoes are polished and sophisticated this season – heavy, shiny box calf leather lace up shoes and loafers in cognac, brown and black. These bags are clearly designed with the working professional in mind. In addition to the target segmentation from before, Raoul consumer is someone extreme and career minded yet a fun-loving individual. He wants no frills and a no confusion approach to everything he does. He is aged between 25 – 40 years old. He is strong, liberation and enjoying life. Raoul consumer loves classy and smart design with good prices.
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Massimo Dutti Massimo Dutti provides itsʼ consumers practical, comfortable and high quality fashion products. It was originally focused on menʼs fashion but it has since expanded its product range to include clothes for women and children and accessories Massimo Dutti combines classic and current styles using the latest fabrics to make clothing. Subtle textures, 100% natural fibres and innovative combinations result in an impeccable image providing maximum comfort. Massimo Dutti customers are from age range of 25 – 50 years old. He is working as a professional. He is appreciating high quality textiles and classic design. He is independent, urban, cosmopolitan, modern, chic and living in the city atmosphere. Massimo Dutti and Raoul have many similarities. For their designs, they use good quality fabrics, classic silhouettes with a touch of modernity and are comfortable for wear. They also target working professionals although Raoul is focused on younger working professionals.
Figure 1 & 2: Comparing Raoulʼs formal business wear & Massimo Dutti casual formal wear
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5.2 Price & Cost Raoul Men:
Female:
Jacket / Blazer S$269 Shirt S$109 Pants S$159 Shoe S$229 Suit&Pants:S$799+$299
Top/Blouse S$199 Business Shirt S$99 Pants S$199 Shoe S$269 Bag S$329 Evening gown S$499-$699
Massimo Dutti Men:
Female:
Socks S$16.90 Cufflinks, Bracelet, Keychains S$54.90 Shirt S$115 Pants S$149 Shoes S$179 Jackets S$275 Watches S$275 Blazer S$490 Real leather jacket S$850 Bag S$650
Earring S$29.90 Scarves S$79.90 Wallet S$79-115 Shirt S$115 Bag S$275 Sundress S$275
Raoulʼs and Massimo Duttiʼs product prices are very similar. Between both male and female business shirts and pants the prices are mostly with a difference between SGD $6 - $15. Hence they are very competitive in terms of pricing. From this prices, it can be said that in terms of pricing Raoul and Massimo Dutti are close competitors and their target customers are likely to frequent between the two stores to look and compare between the styles. By comparison, Massimo Duttiʼs products for men are higher than Raoulʼs. Massimo Duttiʼs blazer is approximately SGD $200 more and their standard menʼs shirt is SGD $6 more. From this, it can be seen that Massimo Dutti believes that their target male customers are willing to pay more for good
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 quality products. From our studies, it is a well-implemented strategy as most men do not shop as often as women and when they are shopping, they are willing and likely to pay more for quality products. From the range of products, Massimo Dutti also offers more lifestyle products such as sundress, leather jacket, accessories and socks which are not found in Raoul. As busy professionals seek convenience in shopping, it is likely that working professionals will favour Massimo Dutti to purchase their fashion needs. Raoul therefore has to work on her appeal to the working professionals in terms promoting their trendy and fashionable fashion wear.
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5.3 Place & Convenience Distribution strategy Both Raoul and Massimo Dutti uses direct selling distribution strategy in their local stores. Via this strategy, the brands are able to ensure a focused and well-communicated message of their brand values and ideals. Employeesʼ training and grooming can be controlled to assist the customer in selection and purchase of the items. The brands are also solely responsible for the quality of clothes and service provided. Raoul however uses a selective distribution method overseas; where they distribute their products to select up scale departmental stores such a Harrods and Matches in London. These selected departmental stores are able to project an image that is consistent with Raoulʼs luxurious image and they also provide clientele that fits the demographics of Raoulʼs target audience. FJ Benjamin plans to enter markets in the United States and Europe by first selling its collection through department stores or multi-label speciality stores, so as to get a better gauge of the demand in different markets before committing to opening its own stores. Location & Convenience Locally, Raoulʼs stores are located at Paragon, Rafflesʼs City, Takashimaya, Suntec and The Shoppes at the Marina Bay Sands while Massimo Duttiʼs stores are located at Ion, Liat Tower, Ngee Ann City, Marina Square. Both Raoul and Massimo Dutti place their stores in prime areas of Singapore such as upscale districts like Orchard and Cityhall. This is a well-planned strategy as these areas have high traffic flow and successful targets business executive who works within or near the areas. The shopping centres where the stores are located in are very accessible. If any one of the car parks is full, they have other alternatives to park cars at the neighbouring shopping centre.
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Massimo Duttiʼs stores are often located close in vicinity to the other brands under their mother company, Inditexʼs umbrella. This allows families to easily navigate the stores of the various brands and explore the choices available for them. For example, parents can be shopping at Massimo Dutti while sons can be shopping at Pull n Bear and daughters can be shopping at Bershka all within the shopping mall ION Orchard. This strategy also allows for Inditex management ease and convenience in managing their various stores and sales personnel. Middlemen involvement FJ Benjamin has the creative license to create and manufacture its clothes for its brands Paint 8, GUESS Kids. However, despite intensive research online and in-store enquires, Raoul personnel are unwilling to reveal further details of where exactly their clothes are produced. Their in-store personnel reveals that Raoul manufacturers its clothing in Asia but do not reveal which countries in the large continent of Asia. Our analysis is that Raoul does not want to compromise their products which are marketed with a European style which comes with a premium price and reveal that they are produced at low cost which we deduce in the worldʼs greatest producing country, China. Massimo Dutti is known to have their own factories in Spain to produce their products. This allows for quality control and ability to keep cost of operation low due to the large quantities of production. Expansion Plans Both Raoul and Massimo Dutti have set their sights on tapping into Chinaʼs booming affluent middle-income group. Massimo Dutti has opened their first store in China, Beijing in 2009. Raoul however plans to open itʼs first Raoul stores in China in the autumn of 2012, and would likely start out by opening its own stores first as its distribution channels are not as sophisticated.
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5.4 Promotion & Communication Advertising Campaign
Figures 3 &4: Raoul advertising campaign & Massimo Dutti advertising campaign. Both Raoul and Massimo Dutti have their own campaigns, using top models. This reveals that both brands desire to present their brand as a premium class brand. Raoul advertisement campaigns and products appear in local and international magazines and newspaper. Locally Raoul advertises in magazines such as Female, Harpers Bazaar and Cleo. Internationally Raoulʼs products are featured in magazines such as, The Times UK, Vogue, InStyle, Oprah Magazine and Redbook. Raoul has received mention in two famous fashion website, Style.com and Vogue.com. This means that the fashion industry has been noticing the Raoul brand. As for Massimo Dutti, their advertisement campaigns only appear in international magazines like Vogue, Grazia and Femenina China. But their products do appear in some local magazine. It is interesting that Massimo Dutti relies on word of mouth and their store placements to promote their brand and that they do not adopt the strategy of advertising in local editorial. Social Media Both brands use social media to connect to their target audience. Raoulʼs Facebook and website are well maintained. Raoul updates every new season and instantly update magazine mentions about Raoul on their Facebook and
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on Twitter via their PR partner, Ogan Dalla PR firm (ODAPR). Massimo Dutti also have their own website and Facebook, but they use Twitter in Spanish, hence not applicable in the local context. Massimo Duttiʼs Facebook page is usually used for promoting their look book and also promoting their upcoming event. Unsurprisingly Raoul is gaining greater brand awareness locally because of their focused promotion efforts. Runway Raoul does regular runway promotions. They have previously presented their runway collections in Milan and New York. They have also presented their runway collection in Asiaʼs First Men Fashion Week in Singapore. From our research, Massimo Dutti only presented their show twice in Thailand and Singapore, and they do not usually take part in events. Usually their events are held in their own store, such as Vogue Fashion Night Out in celebrating 25 years of Massimo Dutti. Public Relations
Figures 5 & 6: Emmy Rossum featuring Raoul Spring Summer 2011 collection in Conan OʼBryant Show Raoul PR agent uses the same tactic similar to most high-end brand, in sending their items with compliments for celebrities to wear so that the public and fans of celebrities will be curious about what brand is and find out more about the brand. In Raoul case, they chose new rising star Emmy Rossum. She has been seen wearing Raoul dresses in two different occasions. This is
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a successful and well-implemented strategy as celebrities are always under the spotlight. It is a win-win situation, where the brand can be famous and the celebrities receive sponsorship. Collaboration Raoul approached knitwear expert Tom Scott to produce collections for Autumn/Winter 2010 and Spring Summer 2011. With prices roughly ranging US$100 to US$150, they cost a fraction of what one would normally pay for something from Tom Scott. Douglas Benjamin, CEO of FJ Benjamin reveals that, “prior to this, there were already a few designers who wanted to work with us. However, as we were launching in America last year, for our first capsule collection, we wanted to collaborate with a designer who was already well known there. This in turn went a long way towards helping us break into the new market.” Mr Benjamin adds that another benefit of capsule collections is the ability to produce products that the label might not otherwise be able to do. He says, “Another reason as to why Tom Scott was chosen was that knitwear was not something that Raoul specialized in so it fit really well into our existing portfolio”. Memberʼs Card
Figure 7: Massimo Dutti Affinity Card By comparison, Massimo Dutti does not take part in these Public Relations activities. They have an Affinity Card, a card that can make payment at all stores of the eight commercial formats of the Inditex Group such as Zara,
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Uterque, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarious, Oysho and Zara Homme, in Spain, Portugal, Greece, which comprise a network of upwards of 1,600 points of sale throughout Spain. However this strategy is not implemented locally. Inditex should consider this strategy and adopt it locally. Window Display
Figure 4 & 5: Raoul and Massimo Dutti store in Takashimaya Orchard Window display is important to convey the image of the brand. Every little detail from the lighting, mannequin, and the chosen product will affect the look or image on how the brand is perceived. Raoulʼs window display is too plain. It does not give the high end, premium image that they desire to be perceived. Compare to Massimo Dutti, they are successful as they use the warm lighting and product placement, which looks expensive. Store Interior The store interior is also important. Raoulʼs store interior is very bright and minimalist, far more effective than the window display. Whereas Massimo Dutti uses warm lighting creating a cozy atmosphere, giving a strong Spanish lifestyle vibe.
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Figures 8 & 9: Raoul & Massimo Dutti Store Interior Stepping into the Raoulʼs store, their staffs are very friendly. They smile and great customers upon entrance. And they also will tell you promote the newest collection and their best seller. Massimo Duttiʼs staff pales by comparison, as they are not as friendly as Raoulʼs staff, although they are very helpful upon request. Raoulʼs store has things not found in Massimo Dutti. A look book that is full with images from latest runway, an album full with Raoulʼs collection that appear in local and international magazines, and a computer for customers that want to check on Raoulʼs website. All this facility provided enables the customer to easily find the product that they want makes it effective and easier for staff to promote the products. Massimo Dutti does not have all of this, but they have a email newsletter. By comparison, Raoulʼs magazine clippings are more effective than Massimo Duttiʼs newsletter as customers are more likely to be swayed by credible magazine features rather than in-store enewsletter.
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5.5 5th P Raoul 5th point is market positioning. Raoul started from menswear but branched into women-wear because of the demand coming from their clients. They are successful because of their accurate segmentation, which is luxury for middle income. Additionally, they do offer good quality for good value, which makes them a popular choice among professionals and office executives locally. Massimo Duttiʼs 5th point is people, in knowing & meeting needs the needs of their clients. This is because they believe in efficient & personalised customer service and strives to have a staff personnel picking up phone enquiries from customers and hence the ability to act quickly upon these enquiries, complaints and requests. Coupled with their fashionable and good quality products, they have succeeded in earning the customerʼs trust. 6. Conclusion Raoul is a young brand that is aggressively marketing itself internationally to break into the American and in the near future, Chinese market. Raoul can possibly learn from Massimo Dutti to branch out into other sister labels, such as Bershka for younger women and Pull & Bear for younger men. This is to meet the needs of the different target markets especially as the younger customers mature to be more family oriented and are looking for products for their family members.
Massimo Dutti will no doubt retain her powerful market positioning by continuing the excellent job she is doing. To expand her market share, she can consider taking a more active approach in promotion and connecting with younger, tech-savvy and affluent customers by increasing emphasis on new media marketing.
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7. References Lee, Y.S., 2009. Raising the Standards of Singaporeʼs Retail Sector, Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore, [Online]. 8 September 2009. Available at: http://app.mti.gov.sg/default.asp?id=148&articleID=19781 [Accessed 29 March 2011] Raoul References Raoul Singapore Born Global Brand [Online] Available at: http://www.insideretailing.com.au/Latest/tabid/53/ID/9822/Raoul-Singaporeborn-global-brand.aspx [Accessed March 2011] INTERVIEW-Singapore's FJ Benjamin plans to take brand global [Online] Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/29/fjbenjaminidUSL3E6MT02B20101129?pageNumber=2 [Accessed March 2011] FJ Benjamin to take Raoul global [Online] Available at: http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Story/A1Story20101130-249919.html [Accessed March 2011] Raoul in New York [Online] Available at: http://www.divaasia.com/article/5724 [Accessed March 2011] Raoul Women Press Release [Online] Available at: http://www.fjbenjamin.com/pdf/pr_raoul2006_255117.pdf [Accessed March 2011] Massimo Dutti Reference Massimo Dutti Website [Online] Available at: http://www.massimodutti.com/nt-more/md-03.php# [Accessed March 2011] Massimo Dutti Concept [Online] Available at: http://www.inditex.es/en/who_we_are/concepts/massimo_dutti[Accessed March 2011] Massimo Dutti Style [Online] Available at: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article36331 39.ece [Accessed March 2011] Massimo Dutti [Online] Available at: http://www.luxemag.org/fashion-designers/massimo-dutti.html[Accessed March 2011]
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Image References Figure 1: Raoulʼs formal business wear & [Online] Available at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RAOUL/88575579285 [Accessed 1 November 2010] Figure 2: Massimo Dutti casual formal wear [Online] Available at: http://www.facebook.com/MassimoDuttiOfficial [Accessed 1 November 2010] Figure 3 &4: Raoul advertising campaign & Massimo Dutti advertising campaign. http://www.facebook.com/pages/RAOUL/88575579285 [Accessed & http://www.facebook.com/MassimoDuttiOfficial [Accessed 1 November 2010] Figures 5 & 6: Emmy Rossum featuring Raoul Spring Summer 2011 collection in Conan OʼBryant Show [Online] Available at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RAOUL/88575579285 [Accessed 1 November 2010] Figure 7: Raoul store in Takashimaya Orchard. Taken by Mayshella. Figure 8 & 9: Massimo Dutti store in Takashimaya Orchard. Taken by Mayshella.