The Mission, Vision and Current Position of Dockers Brand - Report Example

Brand Re-Positioning Project Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Analysis 3 Strategy 6 Implementation 9 Conclusion 12 References 14 Introduction Dockers is one of the renowned brands in global market operating in the clothing industry. During the year 1986, Levi Strauss & Company has introduced the brand. Over the years, this brand has offered quality garment products to worldwide customers and thus enlarged its customer base in comparison with its chief business market competitors. Levi Strauss and Co. has introduced this brand in order to capture the Khaki garments market. On the other hand, the company is also selling other accessories through the help of this brand. Over the years, the company has emphasized offering quality products to its customers worldwide in order to sustain its business in the global market (1Levi Strauss & Co., 2014). With this concern, the essay intends to analyse the mission, vision and current position of Dockers brand in the global market highlighting its strengths along with weaknesses and opportunities as well as threats. Moreover, various significant aspects like determining different potential future positioning options relating to the brand and implementing effective measures towards performing effective internal brand management and new product development activities would also be discussed in this essay. Analysis The term ‘Brand’ denotes an identification mark. In case of business operations, when a firm manufactures a particular type of product under a specific name, the concept is known as branding. It has been apparently observed that organisations use a particular name and design as a symbol in order to promote a brand. It can be asserted that branding is the most powerful tool through which an organisation can create identification for a specific product or service. In order to discuss about the key meanings and manifestations of Dockers brand, it has been apparently noted that tough and rugged jeans are the most significant garment products of this brand. In relation to identify the stakeholders of this brand, the employees, suppliers and most vitally the customers play imperative role in supporting the brand to became much renowned in global domain (1Levi Strauss & Co., 2014). In order to analyse the current product portfolio of Dockers brand, it can widely be seen that the brand offers trousers, t-shirts, jackets and sweaters among others to its worldwide customers. Besides these garment products, the other product portfolio of the brand encompass belt, leather goods, shoes, socks and tie among others. Specially mentioning, in relation to garment products, the brand has segmented its product items based on the preferences as well as likings of both men as well as women. Apart from this, the garment section is also segmented based on certain occasional purpose like meeting purpose, casual purpose, weekend fashion and night garments among others (2Levi Strauss & Co., 2014). In order to build effective brand equity, the brand i.e. Dockers has adopted along with implemented certain effective strategies. This can be justified with reference to the fact that the brand has used logos, spokespeople and packaging in order to enhance and develop brand loyalty among its huge global consumers. Based on the above analysis, the core values of the brand include quality, innovativeness, preserving business ethics and responsible towards community. In this regard, the mission as well as the vision of the brand is to grow its opportunities and ensure attaining superior profitability along with greater returns on investment (ROI) (Lewis, 2013). With regards to analyse the strengths along with the weaknesses of Dockers brand, it was found that this brand of Levi & Strauss Co. imposed strong impact on the market in terms of attracting huge figure of customers, which ultimately became the strength of the brand. Apart from this, the brand has a strong distribution channel and its financial strength is also comparatively better than that of its competitors. Moreover, it has also been recognised that through the application of innovative ideas, the brand succeeded in creating a diverse entity amid the customers as compared to its chief business market competitors. Amongst the above identified strengths, the Khaki garment section of the brand became globally recognised, resulting in supporting the company to attain extensive profitability. On the contrary, in order to analyse the weaknesses, it has been previewed that the brand has specially targeted the youths, whereas most of the competitors have targeted customers beyond the youths. Apart from this, Dockers brand has only chosen trouser market as its target market segment, whereas its several competitors have captured larger markets including trouser market as their respective target market segment (Lewis, 2013). Similarly, while analysing the opportunities as well as the threats of Dockers, it has been apparently observed that the casual wear market is growing steadily in the United Kingdom due to the modern fashion trend, which in turn is providing much opportunity for Dockers to flourish in the respective industry. Apart from this, changing customer behaviour specifically amid the young generation ones can also regarded as one of the prime opportunities of the brand to survive in this competitive landscape. On the contrary, in relation to threats, it can be affirmed that Dockers is currently facing the problems like prevalence of extreme business market competition and the issues erupting from the accessibility of substitute products (Lewis, 2013). In order to analyse the current brand position of Dockers, it can be apparently noted that the brand has mainly concentrated on its product quality and emphasised following the above stated core values in order to sustain in this competitive business market setting. It is worth mentioning in this similar concern that the brand has adopted reasonable pricing strategy and offered fashionable garment products in order to satisfy its consumers and stakeholders. Moreover, the brand Dockers has positioned itself as a competitor of American Multinational Gap Incorporation, which is operating in clothing market and recognised globally through its accessories retail operations. Furthermore, it has been also observed that through campaigning, advertising and participating in varied fashion shows, the brand Dockers is striving much hard to bring the khaki trend back in order to fulfil the expectations of social environmental (Lee, 2006). Strategy Based on the above analysis and observation, it can be asserted that Dockers brand need to emphasise adopting along with implementing potential future positioning options in order to mitigate the above identified weaknesses and cope up with the threats in upcoming years. Thus, in this similar context, it can be asserted that initially Dockers brand need to execute its marketing strategy passionately and intellectually in order to raise its brand image and drive future potentiality forward. In order to attain this objective, the brand needs to concentrate specifically on its men as well as women’s garment based products (Lewis, 2013). Simultaneously, it can also be affirmed that in order to address the above identified weaknesses as well as threats hampering the brand image of Dockers, the brand can segment its certain product ranges according to age group. During the market segmentation, the brand needs to divide its garment products and other accessories into couple of fragments like youth customers and aged individual customers or professional customers. Thus, based on this understanding, the Dockers brand needs to design its products and adopt effective marketing strategies in order to reinforce its position in global market as well as in local market of the UK (Lee, 2006). On the other hand, in order to form a highly valued brand position, it is required to establish a new brand image and improve brand loyally in front of the consumers and stakeholders for attracting and influencing them positively. Thus, in order to meet these objectives, the brand i.e. Dockers is required to apply innovative ideas into its diverse business procedures through applying better tools and techniques in terms of production. Apart from this, it can also be asserted that in order to reposition a brand image, the brand is required to stay focused on constantly delivering 100% effort in maintaining superior competitive position (Getman, n.d.). Specially mentioning, the above described potential future positioning options might help Dockers brand to address as well as mitigate the weaknesses along with the threats that it face while conducting its varied operational functions. Evidently, most of the larger multinational brands tend to offer quality products or services to their respective customers with the intention of accomplishing maximum profitability. By taking into concern this significant aspect, it can be asserted that the retail concept has attracted modern youth consumers in a massive manner and the introduction of e-commerce facility has also influenced the consumers to buy products from anywhere. Thus, it has become quite difficult for a particular brand to retain its customers for a longer time period (Adweek, 2014). With regards to the above analysis made, it can be affirmed that Dockers brand need to segment its customer base according to varied age groups. This might be owing to the reason that Dockers already imposed significant impact on the market due to its Khaki garment product through which the brand can ensure enlarging its professional as well as aged customer base particularly for formal and casual wearing purpose. It would be vital to mention that by applying innovative ideas in terms of production and practicing effective marketing strategies passionately and intellectually, the brand can ensure greater customers’ conformity and comfortability. Furthermore, according to the discussion, it can be affirmed that through consistently developing product quality and closely observing the current clothing trends, the brand can ensure its reposition in terms of brand equity and brand loyalty by a considerable extent (Varadarajan, et. al., 2006; Wong, 2014). This can be better understood with the help of the following strategic framework based on Dockers’ vision, mission and values. Fig.1: Strategic Framework for Brand Repositioning Based on Vision, Mission & Values Based on the above depicted strategic framework, it can be suggested that in order to reposition the brand image, Dockers require to set its vision along with mission and core values with a higher priority. Similarly, according to the elevation of the brand pyramid, the Dockers brand will need to provide extreme priority on mitigating quality issues, finding out economical solutions and bringing innovative ideas as well (Lewis, 2013). Implementation According to the above framed strategic framework, it has become more prominent that in order to reposition a brand, certain strategies need to be adopted for ensuring maximum profitability and long-term sustainability. In order to attain this objective, it is more important to establish a relation between a brand’s image and its market performance. The renowned Dockers brand is not an exception of this concept. It has been often observed that in case of product life-cycle, after a certain period of time, consumers lose their interests on a particular product. Consequently, the effect can be observed on the sales volume of that product, resulting in affecting the brand image of that product at large (Park, & et. al., 1986; Brüggenwirth, n.d.). In order to implement repositioning strategies of Dockers brand, it is required to develop new products relating to the brand. During the implementation of brand repositioning strategic framework, the initial responsibility of Dockers team of brand management is to evaluate the technologies available and the techniques of the production system. Apart from these aspects, it is also required to analyse the operational and functional competencies of the firm. Furthermore, it is also essential to clarify the benefits from the gathered input. At the same time, during the new product development, it is also quite essential to evaluate the effectiveness of the product and examine whether the newly developed product possess any short of negative influence or not (McKinsey & Company, 2001; Hauser & Dahan, 2007). It is worth mentioning that in terms of new product development, the UK marketing team of Levi & Strauss Co. looking after Dockers brand is required to keep direct communication with the customers. Over the years, it has been apparently noted that the approach of new product development is a highly complex task and extremely challenging process for an organisation. This might be owing to the reason that substantial amount of money is required to conduct the process effectively with effective utilisation of the varied accessible resources. Thus, it can be evidently affirmed that in order to reposition brand image, it is not only sufficient to develop a new product but also required to focus on the customers’ needs and benefits along with the cost efficiency factor (McKinsey & Company, 2001; Hauser & Dahan, 2007). Simultaneously, during the brand repositioning process, it is also required to evaluate the activities concerning internal brand management. This process is all about formulation, implementation and monitoring internal activities that are mainly performed for brand repositioning purpose. In order to attain that objective, it is required to identify the actual position through evaluating the performance of a particular brand. After identifying the actual brand position, there lays the requirement of comparing that position with the expected brand position. This particular activity will certainly help to understand the performance gap or the issue, which affected the brand image. During this circumstance, an organisation needs to establish an appropriate agenda for resolving the issue. At the same time, it is also essential to execute internal along with external assessment in order to study and evaluate favourable as well as unfavourable outcomes from the assessment. After diagnosing the internal as well as external assessment, it will be necessary to establish strategies in order to reposition the brand image (Nölke, n.d.). After establishing the strategies, the other requirement is to make actions according to the predetermined decisions. These actions involve resource allocation to running the system on a regular basis. During this stage, all the predetermined decisions need to be executed properly. Furthermore, the final stage is performance control. It would be vital to mention that this measuring approach through which efficiency and effectiveness of the brand can be judged. By taking into concern this significant aspect, Dockers brand can rebuild or reposition its brand image or identity through implementing internal activities of brand management and also developing new product effectively within stipulated time frame (McKinsey & Company, 2001; Nölke, n.d.). Conclusion Based on the above analysis and discussion, it has been quite prominent that Dockers brand is performing its varied operational functions in the business markets of the UK and also globally quite successfully. However, changing trends in fashion of the customers and the emergence of new entrants in the respective industry eventually triggered the need for adopting strategies regarding certain valuable aspects. These aspects comprise repositioning brand image, internal brand management and new product development. Thus, it can be affirmed that in order to reposition the Dockers brand image, Levi & Strauss Co. need to maintain the core values and business ethics properly. Apart from this, the company is also required to maintain the quality of products consistently with the incorporation of introducing innovative ideas and implementing advanced techniques in order to produce quality goods and conduct business operations efficiently. Through implementing these strategies, the company can reposition its Dockers brand image in the UK as well as in the global market. Moreover, these strategies will also help Dockers brand to attain superior competitive position over its chief business market competitors and survive in this competitive landscape with long-term sustainability. References Brüggenwirth, B., No Date. The CSR Brand Positioning Grid. Open. [Online] Available at: http://b-open.nl/Uploaded_Images/files/CSR%20Management%20models%20Ch17.pdf [Accessed June 16, 2014]. Adweek, 2014. Dockers Brings Back Khakis. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/dockers-brings-back-khakis-106748 [Accessed June 16, 2014]. Getman, P. L., No Date. Strategic Brand Positioning. Launch a Brand. [Online] Available at: https://microarts.com/launch/MicroArts-Launch-Strategic-Brand-Positioning.pdf [Accessed June 16, 2014]. Hauser, J. R. & Dahan, E. D., 2007. New Product Development. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [Online] Available at: http://web.mit.edu/hauser/www/Papers/Chapter%208%20Hauser_Dahan%20Book%20Chapter%20on%20New%20Products.pdf [Accessed June 16, 2014]. Lee, V., 2006. Levi Strauss & Co.’s Dockers. Creating a Sub-Brand, pp. 1-18. Lewis, S., 2013. The Dockers® Brand Names Adrienne Lofton Shaw as Chief Marketing Officer. Levi Strauss, p. 1. 1Levi Strauss & co, 2014. Dockers Alpha Collection. Levis’. [Online] Available at: http://www.dockers.com/GB/en_GB/ [Accessed June 16, 2014]. 2Levi Strauss & co, 2014. Dockers Alpha Collection. Levis’. [Online] Available at: http://www.dockers.com/GB/en_GB/category/men/clothing [Accessed June 16, 2014]. McKinsey & Company, 2001. 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