CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background To The Internship

“Running a successful fashion label requires around 90 percent business acumen and only about 10 percent artistic ability” (Meadows 2009, 7). To work in the industry you need to be ambitious, self-motivated, creative, energetic and passionate about fashion and possess working knowledge about marketing and business. (Posner 2015, 207.) Fashion is fundamentally a commercial business producing and selling products, even though for designers, fashion enthusiasts and fashion students it might feel very glamorous and exciting way to make a living (Posner 2015, 207).

When we use the word fashion, it is the behavior and actions that have been approved by majority of people. Use of fashion may refer to the dances we dance, the words we use and the clothing we wear, as well as how we make our hair and spend our free time. It can start from a small group of friends or from as big as an entire country, but the point is, that the group of people adopts the style, and more than one person uses it. (Yurchisin& Johnson 2010, 1.).

In this context, a successful fashion brand does not mean the amount of sales or amount of people who recognize the brand, instead the success comes from being found, worn and talked about by only those, who matter the most to the business – the real, loyal customers. To build a successful brand, it is important to understand that branding and marketing are two concepts that are linked and need each other’s support.

Brand for a fashion label brings out its certain types of characters and marketing is its voice. Businesses fail, when they don’t tie these two together, as you can create an amazing brand, but what is the point, if you cannot reach the audience? While reading this final report, it will guide you through the reasons and components on how brands are created, using the most common theories and frameworks.

As soon as the brand is created, we move to the second part of the thesis, which helps us understand the meaning of marketing research and strategies, which are applied to the brand and marketing plan. Finally, the used tools and theoretical frameworks will be put into practice to the label this project was conducted for, for further understanding on how branding and marketing are tied and used in real life.

This will clarify which components are important for a fashion label and help anyone from a start-up or established brand to write a marketing plan using all the information gathered from topics mentioned above.

Branding: In general, brand represents promises that consumers expect from a product or a company by the people behind the brand and the way they deliver the promise (Pringe& Gordon 2001, 3). People use brands and fashion to make statements about themselves and how they want to be viewed by others.

When finding a label that speaks the same language and dresses in style preferred by the customer, it will more likely make sales and build its own customer base. (Posner2015, 146). Ralph Lauren attracts certain type of people, with more or less similar interests, hobbies, (American) lifestyle and social status. It is not only the clothes that create the style, because fashion and trends change constantly, but the brand message remains the same. Most of the people associate Polo brand with horse riding and bourgeois lifestyle.

But branding is not only the name and logo, or the clothes designed for the label in particular style – it holds much deeper meaning and content behind it.“Great brands don’t let you down; they are part of your life and are more thansimply functional products” (Hall 2012, 49). Branding will help the label to differentiate itself from other labels alike and make it easier for a customer to recognise what is the brand message, values and to whom it should appeal.

Branded products and services have added value, which have been deliberately designed for customers for recognition, association, opportunities and meaningfulness (Baines, Fill & Page. 2013, 219). When shopping and wearing branded products, they not only fit differently, but they make the entire experience unique from the very moment you think about the brand and deciding what type of garment you might considering of buying and why.

Even if you don’t particularly search for a new piece of clothing, you might feel your self-image needs updating, when the easiest way to update, is by buying something new to wear. Depending on the state of mood of the consumer, their buying decision might depend on the message the brand stands for. Consumers like brands, because they help people to identify their preferred products, reduce the amount of time spent making decisions, reduce levels of perceived risk and improve the quality of shopping experience (Baines et al. 2013, 220).

1.1.1 How to brand?

Start-ups and small fashion labels have an advantage to offer more experience through the label than big corporate businesses, since they can have more contact with the clients and suppliers. With this in mind, it is more likely, that people involved with the brand live and breathe the life of the label, rather than have anonymous employees running the business without knowing their customers and co-workers within the organization by name. (Craven 2005, 98). Brand experience can be brought up with branding process, by creating a personality to the product, service or organization, using consistency in design and in product/service information, giving certain type of feeling, appearance and competitive advantage.

Branding, is where customer feels connected in emotional state, and brand – is something that people remember by name. (Hall 2012, 47). There are several key elements that need to be considered and carefully gone through while creating a brand identity. Hall (2012) presents them as brand ingredients, but Pringle and Gordon (2001) have stated that there is more to a brand through feelings and behavior. List of brand ingredients by Richard Hall (2012, 48):

• A unique name
• A personality
• A logo
• A designed identity
• A potential reputation
• A provenance
• Emotional meaning to the owner and customer
• Consistency
• Producer pride
• Availability

Value greater than an unbranded product. With a strong brand, marketing and identity walk hand-in-hand. One needs another not only for a survival, but for attracting customers and keeping them (turning them into loyal customers).

 Brand ingredients

Name: Before you even start, you might need to come up with several names, and end up using two names for your label: 1. Brand label/mark/identifier and 2. Trade name. Brand names provide information about content, taste, durability, quality, price and performance (Baines et al. 2013, 219). A good name is memorable, easy to pronounce, simple yet clever and unique, and should be available for registration and protection. It is most visible attribute to any fashion label (Meadows 2009, 39). Particularly in fashion industry, it is almost obvious to use your own name as the brand name, because you are the creator and you make the style, for example Michael Kors or MinnaParikka, but the problem is that YOU LOSE your name to the brand and your name starts to belong to the brand. Another problem might occur, when creating a trademark. Do you want your name trademarked? Is it even possible to trademark?

There are clever ways to create a trademark from your name, for example DKNY that stands for Donna Karan New York, but even Donna has faced challenges regarding her name, since the name is used to refer to the label and people working for the label, and not actually her (Bobila 2015). Also, since people love stories, giving an interesting story about the name or how it was created is essential in nowadays branding. The story behind the name Marimekko is eventually quite boring in comparison, that Google was created by a miss-spell by its creators.

Logo: Fashion and logos have a very fascinating concept, because the brand name or “signature”/logo is displayed on garments one way or another, how Louis Vuitton uses its LV logo. It is either hidden or shown on a label (example back of your neck), stitched or printed somewhere on the garment or made into a pattern. It can also be added on buttons or zipper pulls and other accessories on the garment. The way to display the logo or the name is almost endless and new ways are constantly being developed.

First of all, before you make your final decision on a logo, you need to know your target group and how they behave. Do they want to show people the labels they wear? For example, people cover themselves from head to toe with clothes that scream the brand name, such as Louis Vuitton, Adidas, Ralph Lauren (have you noticed the Polo-logo has grown in the past years?) and so on. You can recognize these brands from miles away and their customers love to show off the labels for various reasons. Or are your customers keeping a lower profile on the brands they wear? Even so, you can design your logo to serve with many purposes. It can be the name in particular font, a symbol, a stamp, a sign or a picture. In the end, it doesn’t even need to be associated with the name, but it should make sense to the consumers why it’s used and the story behind it. It is highly recommended, that your logo is designed with help of a graphic designer for making it unique and right the first time. A graphic designer can help to pick the right colors, shape and size of the logo and overall feel of the design.

Designed identity: Fashion labels have different identities, even though they might sell their garments to the same target groups. This identity is something that makes these labels different from one another, and recognizable by the customers, Brand identity includes company values and attributes, emotions, personality and passions, as well as purpose of existence.

1.2 Aim And Objectives Of The Report

The main objective of the given Thesis is to detect the main challenges of digital marketing communication for online fashion stores (product providers). It will be implemented by the methods of using literature, existing sources, surveys and reports, as well as interviewing people. It is important to formulate the detected challenges correctly and clearly, as well as to describe them in details.

Also, it aims on finding out the ways of preventing the risks listed in the Thesis and explaining those using examples and comparisons. The advices for organizational communicators, marketing online fashion stores, are to help them to develop their marketing skills and gain some knowledge of digital communication, as well as get aware of the possible risks and the ways of preventing them.

1.3 Operational Definitions Of Terms

 1.3.1 Marketing

What is marketing?  Marketing is an exchange process. It is the communication between the company and the customer, and its purpose is to generate a diversity of assets for both parties (Posner 2015, s. 34). Communication increases brand value and creates impressions, and half of the brand value consists of the way it communicates (Sounio 2010, 84).

Marketing is about seeing the business through customers’ eyes (Craven 2005, 15). It is the most visible function in any organisations, and because of the marketing, people make their decisions and make their opinion on products and brands/labels. It is often considered, that marketing is only advertising and sellers work, but in reality, it is much more than that. (Bergström & Leppänen 2002, 7). Marketing is about finding exactly whom to sell to, and why and how they want to buy. It includes product development, examining and identifying customers’ needs and demands, managing customer relationships and satisfying customer needs. (Craven 2005, 86).

1.3.2 Product

Products are used to meet and satisfy customer needs. Consider which are the most important factors and characteristics of the product from your customer’s point of view; what makes them commit to the purchase? How do they serve current and future customers, what is the feel and look of the product, how it is presented and what its packaging is, and which rational and emotional features it includes (Mortimer et al. 2009, 16)? 10-20% of the garments should be experimental eye catchers and show stoppers, getting you the wanted attention from media and public. Otherwise most of the collection should concentrate on the most wanted items, such as jeans, t-shirts, jackets or other basic models that are easy to purchase. Swedish model is to sell one product properly to gain competitive advantage, before moving to the next step. (Sounio 2010, 169). For apparel, product relates to product design, style, fit, sizing, quality, fashion level as well as performance and function (Posner 2015, s. 41) and packaging is one of the most important aspects of a brand (image 29), since it is the first moment when consumer interacts with the product (Chasser & Wolfe 2010, 56).

1.3.3 Place

What is the actual place of the stores (and products within the department stores) and warehouses, as well as how and where they are distributed in order for customers to be able to access them at a time and place that is most convenient to them (Baines et al. 2013, 372). If you are an ecommerce shop, it is most obvious that your products are on your website, but you should also consider partnering with other ecommerce stores, opening a showroom or using product and editorial images on different platforms, such as Pinterest or Etsy, forums and so on. Think about where your customers are, where they go, which websites they visit and which apps or games they play in order to place your products correctly and being available when needed.

1.3.4 Price

A typical customer is no longer entirely loyal to one fashion store and will search for the best price from their favorite fashion labels (Agins 1999, 166). Dividing products into price pyramid can make your label affordable to much broader target group, increase sales and divide your collection into a smarter and more cost effective structure.

At the bottom of the price pyramid are the basics, casual and accessory items that cost less than other products and are the biggest part of the collection. This includes socks, underwear and sunglasses, as well as t-shirts, shirts, basic jeans and so on. Most of the items stay the same after season and may change in color. Next level of the pyramid is the trend/mainstream clothing that has a higher price and less products available than the bottom part of the pyramid. This part can include jackets, trend items and seasonal clothing.

Apparel in this section changes every season and should follow the current trends. The top of the pyramid should be used for eye catching items that are most expensive. It should contain only couple of items from the entire collection. As an example, looks at the brand CanadianGoose that is specialized in outdoor wear (jackets).

They have many products available for under 500€ (basic jackets, vests, accessories, pants), still broad but narrower product range between 500-1000 €, and only few items over 1000 € for which they are most known for (parkas). This type of price structure was developed by luxury brands, when introducing affordable brand items for the consumers, which want to own something made by them. This is also the reason why luxury brands have their own fragrances (Agins 1999). Prices should also include a sales plan (e.g. -20% off) and a price strategy for each season.

 1.3.5 Promotion

Promotion is the way you communicate and present your products and services to the target audience (Baines et al. 2013, 372). Is it going to be advertised? Are you going to send newsletters or distribute leaflets? When choosing promotion platforms, it’s recommended to create a one year marketing calendar, on every seasonal hot-point – what is the most interesting thing happening at that time? Most of the marketing campaigns kick-start right before the big event when competition is toughest (Sounio 2010, 39).

Choose the best time when to start the promotion and follow the trends and habits of your customers. If you use fashion editors and bloggers in your promotion, remember to invite them in good advance (Sounio 2010, 39). Also decide for how long ad campaign or a promotion will last, so there won’t be any overlaps with the existing ones. PR is nowadays in the centre of marketing. Reputation wasn’t as important before, compared to today. Public relations communicate positivity and facts about the brand story, products and people, and hide and harbors any negative news and press releases.