Linda Farrow Brand - Coursework Example

Marketing brand report Target Market The line that can describe Linda Farrow, the eyewear company is it is the most innovative “eyewear trendsetter”.A London based company found by fashion designer Linda Farrow, it has become one of the biggest names in the eyewear industry. Currently the target market of the brand consists of customers from the high-end market who have a fetish for sunglasses made by designers (Fury, 2013). The primary customer segment comprises the celebrities, people with high income and brand conscious customers. The brand is extremely popular among the people associated with the fashion industry and cultural pop icons. However, the competition from the rivals is very strong as there are other high-fashion, high-price line and the market segment of the customers is narrow as the people with wherewithal to buy the brand is limited. It has been observed that the global eyewear market has broadly three market range and market segments that can be targeted by the producers. The first group in the market range is the high-end market which comprises of the top percentage of the income group and the market segment corresponding to this group is called the luxury segment and pricing range of sunglasses and other accessories for this group is above 230 Euros. There is another market segment in the high-end income group and this is the premium group and the price range calibrated for this group is 130-230 Euros. The second segment in the market range comprises the mid-income group and the market segment for this income category is called the diffusion market segment and the price range suitable for this group is 75-130 Euros. The third and the last group in the market range is the lower-end group and this corresponds to two market segments called the masses and the discount segment. The pricing range that is devised for this group is less than 75 Euros and less than 30 Euros (Italia, 2013). As Linda Farrow is primarily a high fashion eyewear the ideal market segment for it is the premium market segment. Study made on the existing price range of the sunglasses made by Linda Farrow reveals that currently the price range of the sunglasses though the premium group is the primary target customer for the market, the company also sells sunglasses for the mid-income group. The company has strategically positioned itself in London according to a phenomenon that can be described as “London Syndrome” as described by Hollander (1970) (Fernie, Moore and Lawrie, 2011). The location in the capital city provided the company to access the customers with high discretionary income and this had allowed the company to successfully spread its market. The fashion market in UK is highly dynamic and the purchasing attitude of the people is driven by superior quality brands (Experian, 2014). The company has already collaborated with world renowned fashion designers and producing excusive design sunglasses to capture the high-fashion, high-price customers who prefer aspiring brands trying to create something new. The models created by the designers have been successful enough to create new styles which appeals to the fashion-segments largely. Brand Positioning The brand positioning strategy that is used by luxury brands can be of two types namely the broad and narrow level positioning. When the company wishes to establish a high-end, well crafted exclusive product line the brand positioning that is followed by luxury brand is the broad positioning strategy as it is more effective for them. The narrow positioning strategy relates to the specific and the unique positioning strategy of each brand. Brand identity becomes an integral part of the brand positioning of any brand (Hoffmann and Manière, 2011). Linda Farrow has been quite successful in creating its own brand identity by creating innovative designs which became a trademark for the company. The company has also used cultural pop icon Lady Gaga to be the brand ambassador of its models which contributed to the uniqueness of the product owing to the unique image of the pop star. Competitiveness is very high in the fashion industry and positioning of the brand becomes extremely important as it is brand positioning that drives consumer’s choice to buy any commodity through comparisons. There are two types of strategy that can be implemented by the luxury brands to position their product in the market namely the cost strategy, premium strategy or prestige strategy. The strategy that has been adopted by Linda Farrow seems like the prestige strategy as the brand has positioned itself as a high-fashion brand with high-price range. The price therefore reflects the quality and the brand value that the customers are willing to pay. Brand loyalty, brand equity and brand value are also important considerations that are taken into account by Linda Farrow to establish the image of its brand. The company has been relentless in the pursuit of innovation and has been successful in engaging the best designers to contribute in the products which have resulted in creating a variety of vintage glasses with an unprecedented range (Fury, 2013). The company has been able to keep up with the changes in the fashion industry and constantly come up with new products that enhanced its image as a trend setter. This makes the customers loyal to the brand as they have a preference towards using creative shades. This attachment with the brand is at an emotional level and might seem irrational to people who do not have a relationship with the product. Brand equity is the sum of all the unique characteristics that makes the product stands out among competitors (Hoffmann and Manière, 2011). The creation of a customer-focused value proposition becomes an important part of the marketing strategy for luxury brands by specifying the target segment, benefits, and prices offered by the company (koller). Linda Farrow has already followed this approach to make sure that the brand enjoys competitive advantage in the market. One of the fundamental routes to the success of retailers in a strict competitive environment is to make sure that most stylish merchandise is available at the stores at the correct time to ensure the sale to the customers (Kotler and Keller, 2009). Linda Farrow has also made use of the internet based selling platforms to ensure that the customers always get the timely delivery of the products without missing any opportunity. Marketing Communication Strategy The marketing communication strategy of the luxury and the fashion brands has to be significantly different from the general consumer goods as the target customers for this group is quite different. This is because the luxury brands communicate with their customers to create a dream for the customers they do not communicate to sell the product (Kapferer, 2012). For advertising, sale and promotional activities it has be remembered that the target customers for such luxury brands mostly commute in personal cars or through the tube rail to commute in and out of London (Okonkwo, 2007). This means that advertisements on the sides of buses and taxis and the train stations can be successful for the company. The company has been using these above mentioned modes to promote its range of products. Generally, the marketing communication mix consists of following components: direct marketing, personal selling, public relations and sponsorships (Okonkwo, 2007). Direct marketing relates to the interaction of the brand with the customer via stores or website. This method is not popular for luxury brands as the catalogue printing product information is not a common practice of this industry. Personal selling is an important mode of marketing for the luxury brands through channels like product preview or fashion show sales. This is the ideal strategy that has been adopted by Linda Farrow sunglasses. Public relations involve the efforts taken by the brand to improve its image and reputation in the public. This particularly becomes important for the fashion industry as the customer segments are highly aware about ethical considerations and looks for substance in the brands. It is a common consensus among luxury brands to use celebrities, models and society personalities to promote their products and make them appealing. In this regard, it can be said that the collaboration of the company with artistes like Lady Gaga and Beyonce has been extremely effective. Miss Gaga has been known in the fashion industry for her path breaking fashion and she has been one of the most commercially successful female recording artistes of all times. This has contributed to the edge of the brand as it always wanted to promote itself in a manner which contributes to its innovative image. It has been observed that opinion leadership is extremely important in building consumer’s preferences and influencing the actual purchasing behavior of the customers (Fill and Hughes, 2013). This attribute that has been actively followed by the company is the engagement of opinion leaders in the fashion industry has contributed to building the image of the brand. The collaboration with Jeremy Scott – Van Noten, Thee Row and Oscar de la Renta to name a few had catapulted the public image of the brand in the eyes of the fashion-conscious Londoners. This company had launched its own Spring Summer collection in 2008 and that had been an instant hit among the masses. The use of big names contributed to the identity of the brand and automatically added to the advantage of the company. Sponsorship is another important strategy as this provides financial support to the brand which improves the aspects of long term development. The company has been successful in garnering sponsorship from leading companies like Vodafone, American Express and other major brands like Elle. Targeting and Position From the ongoing study it can be deciphered that the chief customer segments of the brand consist of those who are at the higher end of the market. In order to attract new customer segments the luxury brands can use two alternate strategies: Accessible super premium and old luxury brand extensions (Pride and Ferrell, 2007). The former deals with the provision of goods to the upper-end of the market exclusively. This strategy will not be very useful for Linda Farrow as it is already quite successful in alluring the top end of the market. The luxury brand extension technique can be applied by the company to target new customers. This strategy involves offering existing products of the company at lower prices. This implies that the products which were initially available to affluent customers can now be purchased by less affluent customers. However if a luxury brand lowers its prices too much then it runs the risk of losing its brand quality and brand image. This is feasible as the production costs of the sunglasses are not very high and therefore the cost of it can be reduced to some extent while introducing them to the fashion conscious teenage market. Target Market The new target market for the company can be the teenagers of all those countries where it operates. The wherewithal of the teenagers is lower compared to the adults yet the sense of fashion in them is not low. This means if the company launches a new brand for the high school or college going teens. This can be achieved by introducing a range of relatively lower price sunglasses for the teenagers who will be able to purchase the shades of their prices are lowered to some extent. This way the company will be able to expand its range of profit without losing its brand image (Boone and Kurtz, 2010). The company can launch limited edition sunglasses for the teens at a discounted price which will allow the teenagers with modest incomes to purchase the brand. Brand Proposition Brand proposition refers to the unique selling proposition of the brand that will make the product unique. In fashion industry the brand of the company can be enhanced by the first mover advantage of the company. In this context the company can promote its new launch as the “first time ever” effort made by any major fashion label company to reach out to the teenagers and the college goers. This will allow the company to grab new attention among buyers who previously considered the brand out of reach. Brand Slogan Brand slogan refers to a catchphrase that is used by companies to attract the attention of the customers. The brand slogan must reflect the original purpose of the advertisement of the company. In this case the company is launching a new range of product for the teenagers and at the same time it wants to retain the brand aura it has created. To do so the appropriate slogan for the company can be ‘My new Shade’. Marketing Communication It has to be understood that luxury marketing communication is at the opposite end of the spectrum of demand marketing. The value of the brand will be greatly hampered if the communication of the brand with the existing customer base is adversely affected. As has been seen in the previous segment the marketing communication strategy for luxury brands involves strategies like product preview and sale through fashion shows. The overall structure of marketing communication of luxury brands is four layered (Kapferer, 2012). The top of the pyramid consists of the art shows, brand ambassadors, PR, Creators and so on. However, the current market segment that the company is seeking will not benefit from the conventional marketing strategy as the market segment is not appropriate for the type of advertisement. The second tier consists of the print advertising, press relations and websites. This is the ideal tier which the brand should use extensively to capture the new demography when they launch the product. The use of social media can therefore become an important channel of advertisement as these are very common among the teenagers. Use of popular social media like facebook and google plus, can contribute in capturing the new target segments. In order to create a formidable impact on the advertising campaign the company can modify its celebrity campaign to become more appealing. In this case the target customer of the brand is the teenagers in colleges. The third tier in the marketing communication is the celebrity advertising and online advertising. The celebrity advertising will however be less effective for this campaigning and in order increase the popularity among the teenagers the company can recruit teenagers from high schools or colleges to share the advertising campaign with the celebrity. This will hugely increase the appeal of the brand as the inclusion of ordinary teenagers will create enthusiasm among them and at the same time the company can retain its brand value by using the celebrities. The use of commoners in the advertisements will imply that the brand which was once not accessible to the buyers has now become more accessible and the celebrities will contribute to the brand image. The last tier in advertising is the mass media advertising and store promotion. The company must promote its new line of products extensively on television and radio channels apart from the internet based platform. The artistic communication of the brand with the customer segment will be the crucial point in its new strategy. The idea is not to let the customers have an image that the brand is reducing its price to increase sales. The idea is that it is the first time ever that a major fashion label is trying to increase its base by including customers who always had the dream to buy the product but never the means to do it. By doing this the company will only repeat the history it once created by including fashion designers who were not well known at that point but later reaped its profits based on that very strategic decision. Reference List Boone, L. E. and Kurtz, D. L., 2010. Contemporary business. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Experian, 2014. Fashion Segments. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 January 2014]. Fernie, J. and Moore, C. M. and Lawrie, A., 2011. A tale of two cities: Anexamination of fashion designerretailing within London and New York. Journal Of Product & Brand Management, 7(5), pp. 366-370. Fill, C. and Hughes, H., 2013. CIM coursebook marketing communications. London: Routledge. Fury, A., 2013. In the frame: Linda Farrow - brains behind sunglasses brand delving into our shady past. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 January 2014]. Hoffmann, J. and Manière, I. C., 2011. Luxury strategy in action. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Italia, 2013. Singapore: Market Report On Local Eyewear Industry. [pdf] Italia. Available at: [Accessed 20 January 2014]. Kapferer, J. N., 2012. The luxury strategy: break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Kotler, P. and Keller, K. L., 2009. Marketing management. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Okonkwo, U. 2007. Luxury fashion branding: Trends, tactics, techniques. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Pride, W. M. and Ferrell, O. C., 2007. Foundations of marketing. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Read More