Marshall amps and speakers have stood behind me on every continent in the world and I have never found anyone better to have at my back.” -Lenny Kilmister, Motorhead “Marshall is far the best there is and the only company I can trust to get the crushing tone I need.” Corey Beaulieu, Trivium Marshall Amplification is a market leader company within the amplification industry. It is an English brand, founded by drum shop owner and drummer Jim Marshall in 1962, London. According to the stories Jim was pushed into the amp industry by three of the main guitarist who were visiting his shop quite often, Ritchie Blackmore, Big Jim Sullivan and Pete Townshend. They told him that they are not satisfied with the current amplifications that are on the market now. The guitarists described the sound and the design they wanted so Jim listened to them and with some help he produced the first Marshall amplifier. Marshall’s reputation is based upon build and sound quality, due to that they become a well-known brand during that last decades followed by the most famous musicians
“What does a Marshall sound like – strength, warmth, commitment, beauty and destruction… all wrapped up in a giant f**kin’ wrecking ball!” –Zakk Wylde, Black Sabbath
design DNA User Marshall products can be found at home and on the main stage, their customers are either professionals or those whose aim is to emulate their icons. They have a wide product range for all abilities, from solid-state amps for beginners to full-size stage equipment for professionals, at several different price points, but still their amp stacks are the most critically acclaimed. They are one of the most reliable amplifiers on the market, the products represent power and rock. Who has ever tried it, there is a big chance that they are going to stuck with them. Staying loyal to the brand means, they join to the Marshallness, which is a focussed belief, inspired by raw passion, it represents the spirit of the brand and what defines them from the competitors. Some of the greatest musicians in history of rock has chosen Marshall and was more than satisfied. The amplifiers have never left them without satisfy on stage. “What does a Marshall sound like – strength, warmth, commitment, beauty and destruction… all wrapped up in a giant f**kin’ wrecking ball!” – Zakk Wylde- Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society. These quotes describe the perfect relationship between brand and customer, how the two sides are fulfilled with each other.
Product Marshall amplifiers are one of the most recognisable products in the music instrument manufacturing industry, one of the reasons for that is the well-made and classic design. The main characteristics are the black leather-effect covering with the contrasting white logo, the brass fascia and the machined dials. Other key components are the protective caps on the corners of their devices and the rubber handles are irreplaceable in order to stay faithful to the brand image. They use different types of a plastic-based fabric with a leather-grain effect, called Tolex. Which is perfectly suitable for amps that are often transported, as the material is highly hard-wearing. The company also uses, as I have already mentioned, brass to distinguish their products from their rivals. The mainly used black colour is utterly contrasts with brass that is another reason why they stuck with these details, it provides the brand with an identifiable aesthetic identity. Marshall usually uses not more than three main tones, to make products visually interesting, but not distracting. Black is the common colour, with brass and white as main accents. Although the colour ratio, and usage might change on some products, for instance some editions use white as the main base colour with some silver-grey or blue-red contrasts. To create maximum impact they, of course position the Marshall logo near-centre, and contrast with the base colour.
Culture The company’s growth from opening a drum shop, in 1960 in London, has been unstoppable. Jim Marshall, due to some friendly recommendation, started making the first Rock and Roll amplifiers in the world and became the dominant brand on the market. The main aim of Jim was to gratify, firstly his friends wishes and later the more and more new customers’ needs. The brand provides quality and inimitable Marshall feeling for their users.
Project goal
Marshall is currently enjoying the status one of the best amps producers that has been in the market for 53 years. The reputation is significant due to the launch of the new collection. Marshall is providing different than the ordinary, and different is always a good move.
Background THE HUMAN TOUCH Almost all Marshall valve amps and cabs are made in Britain at the Marshall production facility in Bletchley, where they have been making their amplifiers continuously since 1966. Every amp and cab made at Bletchley is made with passion and precision, with a human touch that’s rare in today’s manufacturing processes: precision wiring, speaker fitting and amp and cab covering are all done by human hands. It is this attention to detail that sets Marshall apart.
THE BIRTH OF AN ICON More than half a century ago, Jim Marshall, the founder of Marshall Amplification, began building amps in the back of his West London music shop. This was in response to the many conversations he had with Pete Townshend, Ritchie Blackmore and many other artists, about how they just could not find the sound they were looking for. They wanted a sound that was more powerful; more than that, they wanted ‘tone’, and they wanted it loud. Jim discovered that pushing the valves harder inside an amplifier would produce the sweet, harmonically complex tone that Townshend, Blackmore and others were looking for. He set to work with his team on what was to become the archetypal rock guitar amplifier: the JTM45. And with the JTM45 was born a revolution: the ‘Marshall Sound’.
THE SOUND OF ROCK Marshall Amplifiers have been, and are, used by many great guitarists, with the iconic ‘wall of Marshalls’ being the backdrop to uncountable live performances: Hendrix, The Who, Led Zeppelin, AD/DC and the list goes on. Having played a pivotal role in rock music’s sonic evolution over the past five decades, the Marshall sound has become the ‘sound of rock’, with the Marshall script logo and the ‘stack’ or half ‘stack’ being immediately recognisable the all over the world.
Design brief
Our aim with creating a fashion line for the company is to expand the growth within the company's current business concept and present Marshall as one of the most desirable brands on market, primarily to the women through the new collection. Currently, the company's range of products varies mostly in the acoustic engineering (amplification) sector. Expansion of the market is not necessary for the company, nevertheless a garment line would undoubtedly be a good move to attract present consumers to continue to be loyal to the brand as well as the new potential customers.
Target groups: Men and occasionally women of all age, music/sound enthusiasts whose income allows them to spend a higher amount of money on exceptional products, due to the price range customers become a part of an exclusive society. One of the most crucial virtue of Marshall is their high quality devices therefore they pay for the trustworthy conditions. As written in the Design DNA Marshall has all variety of products at different price points which allows them to have a wide range of customers; there are users who can afford or need a full stage equipment and there are users whose desire is to be a part of the society and experience the Marshall feeling at home with for instance buying a pair of headphones or more affordable products. Marshall is known as a ‘Prosumer’ brand with offering high end and professional products with an affordable price that gives hobbyists and professionals the possibility to practice on the same level with the same experience. Anyhow Marshall’s best sellers are the lower, affordable priced products that illustrates that amateur musicians hold a huge and main segment of the brand. Furthermore the company is also known for its unique Rock&Roll sound, power and energy which leads them to have professionals as main customers too, professionals who use their devices on stages in front of thousands. They are more like a living advertisement spreading the lifestyle, the ‘Marshallness’ and whole atmosphere of the company, instead of providing the biggest part of the brand’s income. Despite their wide selection of products the brand has been clearly targeting, and targets mostly the male part of the population with its masculine elements, such as: genre, colours, representative artists, attitude essence. Nevertheless, Marshall is evolving and will become a more unisex and womanised Marshall, as well as further concentrate on reaching out more to professional users and have them more than just advertisers in the future. Our prosumers are going to be different kind of woman, such as with higher income that want to express their personality through fashion, emphasize their character and style, strong minded women with determinant personalities that make Marshall's garment recognizable by wearing it, will become a part of Marshall Identity.
Brand character: The brand characterizes a groovy experience. The word “Marshallness“ is an expression that describes the company in a unique way which is possible in other ways, Marshallness is not just a word, it is the attitude, the character and a focused belief at the same time motivated by music and epic sound. Edgy and bold is woven into recognizable signature of rough enthusiasm and strong lifestyle. One of the most crucial virtues are high quality products whose performance keeps promise of high quality and giving a memorable experience.
Marshall values “HIGH FIDELITY, HIGH QUALITY” It is a family run business with historic heritage that maintains trustworthy and loyal customers. The aim is to build an intergenerational bridge between current consumers and prosumers, to incorporate all of the traditional values with modern aspects. High quality performance and competitive price, aesthetic feature-usage of leather and wood maintains the classical scent. Marshall’s reputation based on a mass cult that exist on the market for over 5 decades.
Distribution/sale channels Brand market can be described as a niche market, highly specialized in a specific area. Marshall would be the best described as a ‘B2C’, Business to Customer company, since they provide products and services directly to the customers. It has an exclusive distribution strategy due to it has limited locations of retail spaces. Currently Marshall only has self-owned retail stores across the United Kingdom, the USA and Canada, however they have some products all around the world in 65 different countries in reseller stores and they also offering online shopping worldwide. For sale channels we would use the already existing retail shops and the online shop. Our goal with launching these new products other than maintain the current shops is to open more self-owned retail stores in more countries, we are mainly concentrate on opening across Europe, principally in capitals and larger cities. In these shops we would use our stand as a sample, we would sell the garments in an industrial environment where the customers are able to buy fashion products and amplifiers at the same place. Since we are designing our clothes based on Marshall’s DNA the two different kind of products will easily fit next to each other in the shops. Furthermore we are interested in starting a custom order platform, where customers can be a part of the creating process with personalizing their chosen products.
Specification requirements We are launching accessories and garments in the first collection, inspired by Marshall’s unique amplifiers, considering the main characteristics of the products our requirements are just to stay loyal to the brand’s DNA. We have to focus on the technical elements.
Positioning Desired market position for Marshall with the new line is to get a reputation in the fashion industry as they have in the music industry. We wish to open new self-owned stores, in the first place across Europe where we can sell the already existing products and the new ones too. With the help of opening new stores and starting this totally unusual project for the brand our goal is to expand and gain more fame in every sense.
Competitors The Randall Amplification Company is regarded as a world leader in guitar amplification with support bands such as Good Charlotte, Nirvana and Metallica. Randall is one of the main competitors of our company. We also have to mention The Fender Musical Corporation, which is a huge name in the list of our competitors, this company can also be associated with all the things “Rock and Roll� and with iconic artists like Ricie Blackmore and Elvis Presley. To continue the row there is Gibson Guitar Corporation, another one of other big names in this field. In the end users have different favours for certain brands or products, but when we talk about amplification we can only say one name, which is Marshall. A world class amplification equipment that has sound and reliability. For our garment and accessories production competitors we can mention Diesel and Guess, since they have similar DNA as the Marshall Apparel fashion line.
Creative goals Produce collections that will aspire Marshall's DNA and will provide customers a different experience connected to the brand.
Message We are different from the others. We are the avant-garde.
Brand analysis
SEGMENTATION Geo-demographic Since the company was founded in the UK and still has its headquarter in Bletchley they are highly focused on the people of UK and of course to keep up with the Rock and Roll musicians they have targeted and set the distribution channels to the USA and Canada citizens as well. The new expanded area will be Europe, targeting capital cities residents with urban lifestyle. The customers can be single or in a relationship, mostly male, but also female users the newest line is inspired by for women. In terms of income our design are targeting upper middle class people with higher than average income.
Psychographic: Our consumers are music enthusiasts, always on the move, with strong intellect, nonreligious. “Marshall” rebel attitude identified with the iconic users such as The who, G’n’R, AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix and the list goes on. Large customer segment are lower and more affordable products. These are the greatest sellers, illustrating that the amateur enthusiasts or hobbyist musicians-runaway for success by raising awareness of the brand.
Behavioural: Rock & Roll is coming back to fashion and its way of behaviour. Nevertheless, the brand is trying to reflect contemporary genre and pop culture as well. It is a once in a longer period of time purchase due to the quality standards. Appealing story; it is a long tradition brand, prosumers can relate with Marshall's iconic consumers.
MARKETING MIX 4p's -mentioning the price customers perceive value for their money through quality products. The competitors price differential – product attributes vs. attributes of other products are value. -Place- exclusive (limited locations) distribution -Product-product life cycle- growth/maturity/decline -Promotion- blogger outreach, sponsorships (music videos, athletes...), advertising, word of mouth, celebrities
POSITIONING POP (point of parity) Marshall offers a great line of amplification and technology products along with the new line of clothes for women, expanding the brand and opening space for the new market penetration.
POD (point of difference) • • •
Desirability: High technology products, high end garments and technologically advanced accessories. Deliverability: Quality performance and price go along with the brand promises. Differentiating: Family business transitioning into international company, giving the sense of loyalty and trust among the customers, mass cult. Customization of garments & other products
Perceptual mapping
Buying FACTORS In cultural reference Marshall belongs to the mass cult-linked with iconic people in history of music. Mentioning the social factors environmental perception and acceptances is important. From personal aspects the understanding of the rock & roll lifestyle and personality are necessary. Psychological aspects are focusing on believes and attitude, which we can call ‘Marshallness’ in this case.
Brand extensions: Marshall's market is already founded and solid with exception of new garment collection launching.
CBBE MODEL RESONANCE Marshall Customers are loyal for decades and transfer their attachment to new generations (prosumers).
JUDGEMENTS High quality products creating the unique feeling of sound and appearance.
FEELINGS Feelings of belonging to a society inspired by a sound and driven by iconic music of past times.
PERFORMANCEE Every amp and cab made at Bletchley, UK is made with passion and precision, with a human touch that’s rare in today’s manufacturing processes: precision wiring, speaker fitting and amp and cab covering are all done by human hands. It is this attention to detail that sets Marshall apart from all the other manufacturers.
IMAGERY Long heritage of music appreciation shown through music videos now and then. People with life statement and attitude use Marshall.
SALIENCE One of the most known amplification system’s worldwide.
calculation
Stand description
• • • • • • •
Materials Wood Brick Light bulbs Mirror Glass with metal pipes World map with shelves
Stand process Our idea was to present Marshall Apparel in a unique and distinctive way. Marshall has a history in making customers satisfied, and always knows how to make something new and different. With the newest clothing line we want to show that Marshall has the capability to make music and sound wearable. The main inspiration aspired from the industrial style and its most vivid and visual features. The brand DNA is complemented and emphasized through the industrial installation placed along with gold Hollywood era. Together, both create a simultaneous glimpse of past and all of its beauty together with modern aspects. The main idea was to play with pure colours (black, white) and with earth tones. Gold shades are important for emphasizing some important parts and details. Materials are mostly natural and based on the wood, brick and glass. The usage of metal was important to define the style features even more. The lightning is placed one the one wall, to give an impression of the music studio. It is not too bright and still all the colours, materials, and shapes are clearly visible. With the usage of transparent wall and the mirror the retail space appears larger all the natural lightning penetrates better.
bibliography
-“History | Marshall Amps” (marshallamps.com) -“Marshall Amplification” (Wikipedia.org) -“The Marshall Story” (musiciansfriend.com) -“How the Marshall Amp Changed Rock&and the Meaning of 'Loud'” (The Atlantic, April 2012)
Ideation Group 14 Tereza Prochazkova (237544) Dina Mu탑ek (237490) Grete Kelder (237527) ESZTER NEMETH (238222) Robin Sparreboom (237562) Taavi Turk (237529)