Levis - Brand and Its Audience - Research Paper Example

Levis - Brand and Its Audience About the brand: Marketing has derived its influences from innumerable fields of life such as social sciences, psychology, sociology and economics. It is a unique amalgamation of various fronts of life. Anthropology has been impacting marketing for quite some time though the influence is comparatively smaller in scale. Research conducted by marketing analysts has chalked out these activities. Its association with advertisement has co-joined with creative arts too. Today marketing variables have incorporated creative arts too for marketing the product. The Marketing literature is no more constant and is infamous for its rapidly changing nature. There have been a multitude of marketing definitions connoted by various institutes. The Chartered Institute of Marketing is one such marketing premise and it explains marketing in terms of customer needs and the efforts undertaken to satiate them. This is normally achieved by transforming and adapting the product completely in accordance with the needs of the customers. Another organization goes on to define marketing as a process closely related to management which is aimed at identifying and assessing customer needs efficiently while some others claim that marketing is more about getting the right goods at the right time to the right people. It may be one of the oldest of all activities of man yet the phenomenon remains as recent as ever. Against the basic essence of the marketing concept is the selling concept. The basic premise of companies pursuing this concept lies in their over-capacity which they aim to utilize to T. Such companies normally give little or no regard to what the customers of a particular niche aspire for. Rather they make and produce what they want and aim to sell it accordingly. Sales on a large scale basis and to promote the products accordingly are the basic approach adopted by such companies. The idea is to get through with the sale while customer bugs stand only secondary. Thus this approach has a short term pre-conceived target plan and does not seek to work on building long term profitable relationships with customers. Such companies have seen to be at major loss when customer focused companies seek to increase in the same market. For a new brand to find bases in a different zone, and for its products to sell successfully as a part of targeting its companies key long term goals and acquiring shareholder profitability accordingly there are innumerable number of consumer oriented behavior principles that must be fully grasped and implemented accordingly. For instance a firm like Levis and Strauss which has tried its hands at both marketing and selling concept and ended up figuring that only the marketing concept could work best abroad and in India in particular. Levis’s 501 had created ma lot of hype recently and were claimed by many to be the fastest moving brand which was present in the store at that point in time. Probably because, it brought the old classic way of buttoning rather than zipping it up back in vogue. Levis is known to have an iconic status across the globe and this particular kind of jeans came into being on 1873 and has maintained its vail ever since. It was the young Bavarian immigrant, Levi Strauss who discovered the need for rugged long lasting trousers on his trip to New York from San Francisco to sell some certain dry fruits. Levi ended up patenting cotton lower waist trousers which became a legend in their own right. Levi’s thus hit off with a marketing oriented approach only. It was their discovery of the shrouding trouser requirements in San Francisco, a customer need and he sought to address their needs. However this did not end here and Levis incorporated amazing creative’s to re-enforce and re-habilitate brand equity. Some of the most prominent ones are the Clayman series of the 1996, the Slim Jeans ads and the cutting “dangerously low” jeans add campaigns. To endorse their brands, Levi’s used famous Indian Celebrities like Shahrukh khan and Bipasha Basu. Levis launched its low waist jeans in 2003 and this was yet another milestone in the life cycle of the brand. It brought low waist jeans back in vogue and had a contemporary look associated with it. This brand appealed more to the hip-hop generation of that time and age as they rushed in to buy them. The youngsters were distancing themselves from denims to khakis and other forms of casual wear by then. Low waist jeans ended up answering and attending to the requirements of both the categories and the brand came back into reckoning. The advertisement approach that was adopted by Levi’s was mega and on a grand scale. Some 15 super models were used to endorse the product and soon the brand was tagged as “cool”. In their bid to make their product line stronger Levi’s adopted the downward stretch. Their next milestone approach was the signature range which they introduced at the lower meeker end of the price point and it ended up opening a huge market for the brand. Levi’s moved ahead with their range of Casual wear by introducing Dockers’ too in the process. Marketing and Communication’s strategy at Levi’s: Typically, all marketing environments require management departments to keep changing their decisions in accordance with the changing environment. Decisions are re-evaluated and re-speculated over. One should realize that at times even the slightest of changes can have the hugest of impacts on the overall strategy of an organization’s business. The environment broadly speaking falls under three major genres. The economic, political/legal, technological and social/cultural are the three major genre’s in this regard. Even though an organization may look into each one of the above individually, one must realize that they can overlap with each other. There are in numerable number of factors that impact the economic environment. The affect of each of these factors stands co-related on the marketing strategies that a business may follow. At Levis and Straus similar economic, environmental and sociological factors affect various decision. When Levis sought to expand its consumer base in Pakistan it had to keep in perspective the sociological and political factors influencing it products here. Considering the political turmoil cities way up on the north are subjected to, Levis chose not to open its branches up there. However, more branches were re-opened down Karachi where the situation is comparatively better and the consumers have better living standards. However on the whole, Levis specializes and appeals more to the males here because of the social restrictions applied on girls that bars them from wearing jeans. Majority of the female crowd follows the routine Shalwar kameez in this part of the world. Market segmentation seeks to differentiate between various segments of a market and addresses to the needs and requirements of each market. In this way they make products and introduce services which are specifically meant for that particular segment of the market only. There are various approaches that can be applied in the segmentation of market. Amongst the most effective one of these is the rifle approach as opposed to the shot gun approach. In the shot gun approach the marketing efforts are scattered across where as in the rifle approach marketing strategy is focused on those buyers that they perceive have the greatest chance of satiating. Before the segmentation approach companies went ahead to improve their marketing efforts through the following ways Mass marketing – this involves mass production, mass distribution and mass promotion of a single product for all buys. Product variety marketing - a seller mass produces various products each customized in different ways and forms. These include modifying features, styles qualities and sizes- which were designed to account for the customer needs for change Brand positioning across the world: Market segmentation, targeting and positioning are the three major approaches which are applied by the marketing departments in their endeavors to achieve organizational goals. Of the three steps mentioned above segmentation is the first one to take on. In market segmentation, segment variables are identified and the market is segment accordingly. In targeting the effectiveness of each segment is evaluated and target segments are selected and in market positioning a differential advantage for each segment is evaluated. Levi’s can use its lower waist jeans for the Indian market again as mentioned in the aforementioned paragraphs. The Indian population boasts about the greatest number of youth ever. If the jeans are profiled accordingly and priced low enough to address the needs of less extravagant consumers Of India, the product can definitely do well and succeed over there. This will enhance the profits of Levis, provide more opportunities for growth and development and retain customers as their buying patterns changes over time. Thus the Indian market will attend to each of the three segmentation criterion associated with marketing i.e. it is definable, reachable and profitable. (Nexbitt, 2007) Another milestone by Levi’s was their “Anti-Fit” style jeans which was yet another integration through to it’s’ product line by Levi’s to address consumer needs. Fashion industry today has become terribly competitive especially when incomes have become increasingly disposable. Recreational shopping is on the rise and competition intense. Various examples can be drawn in this regard to prove that the companies that have established a stronger and clearer brand command a larger share of the market today than their counterparts whose image are either unworthy and are tagged as old-fashioned, and unattached to be strong and clear. Establishing and maintaining the powerful appeal for the “Anti Fit” range of jeans was the crux of the marketing strategy that was applied by Levis in their bid to break through the competitive and be successful in getting that necessary “competitive edge” in their market for designer jeans. Making and nurturing the right brand image is heavily dependent on keeping tag of the various mindsets, beliefs, values and aspirations of the contemporary well-received and informed consumer. At the same Levis’ way of branding ensures that the consumer conceives it to be in tune with their way of thinking and takes tab of similar values. This approach is central to Levi’s way through to marketing success. Integration: Marketing mix is a unique combination of the product, the price, the place and the promotion strategy adopted. Product involves addressing the qualitative aspect of it, the features, the styling, the packaging, the sizing and the warranty based aspects of the market mix. Pricing includes the list prices, the credit terms, modes of payments, and the discounts offered. Similarly the marketing mix also has to do with the place the product is supposedly marketed, the channels of marketing, coverage and locations. Levi’s has helped create a competitive edge over its counterparts through its creative image based campaigns that highlight a brand of hip, street smart, urbane sensibility. Its 501 blues campaigns has projected a cutting sharp dynamic image of its product and helped revive its image across the globe. In 1988, Spike Lee spots were seen on the button-fly jeans that featured real people such as guys from Brooklyn who would speak in backward tone for the mere fun of it and the theme that was projected said “is your fly buttoned” Levi’s was an indoctrination, a writ to today’s hip society. People perceived it to be cool and hence used to don them to become cool. By females, they were worn as a mark of rebellion and a feminist style statement. Girls used to feel proud of their skin tight Sergio Valentes (the girl pants) and boys of their red-label zip-front Levi’s(boy pants). They were more of a symbol of class, of identity and of a measure of who one was and what he/she aspired to see them as in the society. The brand is enduring for two primary reasons and is synonymous to quality. Levis has successfully cashed in on its marketing campaigns and ended up mass producing jeans of considerable value. Originality, individuality and comfort have been the three striking features of Levi’s. In the words of Steve Goldstein who is the VP for marketing and research department of Levi “Every rip has a story. That’s why the advertising has been much more about the wearer than the product”. The brand has proven to be a success more so because Levi’s has always been successful and devising and figuring out a way to package its products such that it held its appeal to the younger generations. It was award for its achievement in brand advertising and design communications in a ceremony held at the Art Directors Club recently. The 150 year-old company was highlighted through an exhibition including television, print advertisements, testimonials written by customers and the world’s oldest pair of Levi’s jeans. Levi’s was specifically chosen because of its popularity in the blue jeans arena as said by the ADC director Myrna Davis “It’s a very satisfying product”. There is technically no other product which is this evasive and pervasive and holds this strong an image in the public. At the same time, it can address all kinds of people, the rich and the poor. (JWT, 2007) Evaluation of their communication’s strategy and recommendations: While advertising the Anti Fit product Levis had to make it a point that its message was not just clear and well received by the intended audience but it was set across in the desired manner. Marketing Gurus like Evans , Moutinho and Van Raaji are of the view that the more one understands of the perceptual process in general and the concerned target market, the greater are the chances of ensuring that the receivers of the message will decode and decipher in the intended manner only. The whole concept of branding can have different kind of important effects on the way consumer thinks of product characteristics and attributes. Studies have demonstrated that customers more often than not are unable to tell the basic differences between various brands but labels and their associations has definitely impacted their evaluations. This shows that customer’s imagination of his products can be derived from the marketing effort alone; wherein brand images and brand labels has impacted different modes of evaluations. This demonstrates that a customer’s way of thinking for a productive can be derived from the marketing effort alone as well. Brand image and Brand differentiation could be the sole guide of the customer to perceive and achieve unparalleled satisfaction. This is of particularly high value to the brands that are more often than not associated with the stylized market such as the jeans market. Ergo pursuing and moving ahead with the right marketing campaign holds a lot of appeal to the target audience and is comparatively more differentiated. When shopping an buying, jeans, consumers are normally more likely to buy a brand product, he deems fit than going ahead and adopting the brand image that he is not aware of. Hence Brand awareness is an important prerequisite to this kind of purchase. On the international front, marketers have to keep tab of the potential of a particular product in a particular market and watch out for the opportunities and threats imbibed within the organization. International marketing involves rather more complex environments. There are innumerable number of reasons as to why an organization may choose to go global. The most basic one being to increase profits and help the firm grow, to improvise and increase efficiencies and reduce protective barriers in target national market. It’s always a good idea to expand especially when the market at home is saturated and there is little scope for development. Most organization look out for economies of scale as they expand internationally. The product life cycle stands in its preliminary stages in the national market so it’s always a good idea to go ahead and expand internationally. It could also help move beyond territorial boundaries and help overcome them. Levi’s is an example of this whereby it has setup firms all over Asia, Europe and strives to export in harmony rather than exporting against territorial pressures. Works Cited JWT. (2007, April 15). Marketing Practice. Retrieved Jan 28, 2009, from http://marketingpractice.blogspot.com/2007/04/levis-orginal-icon.html Nexbitt, A. (2007). Social Marketing Case Study. Retrieved Jan 28, 2009, from http://www.digitalpodcast.com/podcastnews/2008/04/22/social-marketing-case-study-levis-project-501/ Roytke, J. (n.d.). Levi's Marketing Strategy. Retrieved 01 28, 2009, from http://www.itcfonts.com/Ulc/IndexofPrintedUlc/Levis.htm Read More