Advertising campaign of an existing product/service on your choice - Essay Example

? Cath Kidston: Advertising Strategies By [Insert Presented to [Insert your [Insert Your s name] Table of Contents 1. Cath Kidston Cath Kidston is a UK based fashion brand which caters to the niche female market. The brand carries fashion accessories, bags, home improvement and fabric. The brand is known for distinctive floral designs which give out a fresh image of the brand and mainly attracts housewives, with a high household income. The brand itself is worth approximately ?75 million and has grown enormously over the past decade. With its unique designs and a diverse product range, Cath Kidston became successful and grew to its present state through internal and organic growth (Kidston, 1999). 2. Hong Kong Hong Kong, being the 9th largest economy in the world, offers a great opportunity for business (Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2011). By far, it can be termed as the most laissez faire economy in the world where the government does not restrict foreign property ownership. There are no restrictions on capital movement, resource mobility and it is also free from any sort of intervention from the Central government. Besides that, Hong Kong itself attracts businesses by giving them tax incentives, freedom of trade currency and most importantly, freedom to invest in any venture which the business decides. This leaves a good opportunity for Cath Kidston to enter the market and operate smoothly. Most businesses face barriers of entry in foreign markets in the form of quotas, embargoes, regulations etc. Hong Kong on the other hand, is very welcoming for businesses. It is just the matter of investment and market potential which will be a major concern for the business (Genzberger, 1994). As far as the demographics are concerned, Hong Kong has a population of about 7 million out of which, approximately 75% of the population belongs to the age group 15 – 65 years. Out of this 75%, almost 50% of the population is female and out of this 50%, 20% of the females belong to the upper income households with annual monthly income of $ 40,000 and above. Cath Kidston’s primary target market is women who are educated, most likely to be married and belong to the upper segment (Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2011). For the brand, Hong Kong’s demographics present a tricky scenario for Cath Kidston. This will be explained further in the paper as the proposed advertising strategies which the brand can adopt from, will be discussed. The fashion industry of Hong Kong is thriving with young designers who account for a major export of Hong Kong products to the markets of Europe. The market of Hong Kong also has a growing buying power as the trend shows that the Purchasing Power Parity of Hong Kong has risen to approximately $340 billion from about $180 billion from the year 2000. The inflation rate stands at approximately 5% (Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2008). 3. Brand Positioning Strategy: In order to mark its presence in the market, Cath Kidston must stand out amongst the clutter with a unique Brand Positioning Statement. Cath Kidston is positioned as a household fashion which mainly targets women who belong to the age-group 25 to 55 years (Kidston, 1999). These women are educated, married and most likely to be working women. Currently, the brand does not sport any tagline. However, it carries a wide product range which caters to almost all the needs of a woman. From fashion wear, accessories like key rings, notebooks, diaries to fabric and kitchen utensils, and from bathroom to bedding, Cath Kidston offers almost everything which would be used at home. The brand is moderately but fairly higher priced which positions it in the up market of UK. As mentioned above, Cath Kidston’s consumers in the UK are educated housewives who belong to the upper middle and upper class however to enter the market of Hong Kong, it will have to position itself in accordance with the market (Kidston, 1999). Cath Kidston, in order to enter Hong Kong’s up-beat markets, will need to see how competing brands have positioned themselves in the market (Kim et al, 2005). 3.1 Point of Parity: For Cath Kidston to position itself accurately in the market of Hong Kong, it needs to establish a definitive Point of Parity in the market. For a brand like Cath Kidston which has extremely diverse range of products in its portfolio, it becomes tricky as it cannot fit in any one category (Kidston, 1999). Eventually, the brand might end up competing with many different brands in different categories (Kim et al, 2005). Therefore the Point of Parity which Cath Kidston is to establish is that it is a brand of home furnishing. This Point of Parity would help Cath Kidston describe its category and market in which it is most likely to face competition. On the other hand, Cath Kidston is also a fashion brand (Kidston, 1999). Establishing a Point of Parity would give the brand a head start in the market of Hong Kong. 3.2 Point of Difference: As mentioned above, Cath Kidston is a fashion brand which carries a certain value which differentiates it from its competition. What have helped Cath Kidston become a brand are its unique floral designs in almost everything in which it deals along with a unique persona with which the brand has tailored its product line. This appeals the customers as they can buy a whole product line in the theme of their choice. Not only this, but the Cath Kidston stores carry a wide assortment of products (Kidston et al, 2005). It will be positioned as one single brand which provides superior quality in everything which Cath Kidston deals with. In the UK, Cath Kidston is known for its vintage designs in its product lines but in Kong Kong, to compliment the market and to cater to the value-seeking women of Hong Kong, Cath Kidston will be positioned differently as an upbeat and modern brand which will focus on quality (Kidston et al, 2005). In order to do this, the feel of the product line will have to be altered as well to suit the taste of the market. 4. Creative Strategy Cath Kidston’s primary colors of its theme are blue and pink. All over its stores, Cath Kidston follows this distinctive style mixed with its product range. Adopting the same strategy in Hong Kong would be a gamble as each brand has to be tailored as per the preferences of the consumers (Tam et al, 2005). Cath Kidston’s designs are usually kept simple yet bold. Even its floral designs which the brand is generally accepted and known for are not “fussy” as Cath Kidston herself claims (Kidston, 1999). The vibrant environment of Hong Kong would require the creative which will stand out amongst the clutter. Using the same subtle colors might not work as Hong Kong is known for its glitz and glamour and Cath Kidston’s current colors might not create the vibrancy which will be needed to make the brand exclusive and appealing to the right market (Tam et al, 2005). This does not mean that the essence to Cath Kidston should be killed by using more vibrant colors. However, the same colors are to be used but more boldness and sharpness must be added. The communication which will be sent out to the print, electronic and out-of-home media will feature the corporate brand with more prominence. Besides this, advertising the product line would just add to the clutter and not illuminate the brand’s point of difference. At its introductory stage, the brand of Cath Kidston will have to be built which will need more than just advertising the product line (Tellis, 2004). The consumers will need to know what value Cath Kidston carries. For this, the execution of advertisements will feature many adaptations which will advertise Cath Kidston’s brand resonance in the household and will carry the idea that Cath Kidston is one answer to everything what a woman needs in her home and outside and beats the rest with superior quality (Tellis, 2004; Genzberger, 1994). 5. Media Strategy: Cath Kidston will need to advertise heavily as it will be a new entrant in the market. A 360 degree marketing campaign will need to be rolled which will incorporate the electronic, print, out-of-home and digital media. Direct Mailing is very popular in Cath Kidston’s presence in the UK. With the global revolution in the Information Technology and especially the Social Media, Cath Kidston will have to mark its presence strongly in the latter besides owning a share of voice on other media as well. As Cath Kidston’s target market in Hong Kong is predominantly women who are career oriented, it will need to target those areas which get most access by its target market . Sponsoring shows on television which has the most viewership amongst the women, buying space in those publications which are popular amongst women, in-store promotions and using those out-of-home locations to advertise at (such as malls, departmental stores, retail outlets etc) (Young, 2010). Other than this, the Social Media is becoming or rather has become an important tool of advertising. It is an opportunity to directly connect with the consumers (Young, 2010). First thing Cath Kidston needs to do is to enter the social media by promoting a separate domain for Cath Kidston in Hong Kong. That done, it will create hype in the market directly as the social media will not only be interactive but Cath Kidston can also give its potential consumers a chance to participate through an online competition. As noted above, Cath Kidston receives a robust response from Direct Mail sales. Hong Kong is also a developed city which makes it viable for Cath Kidston to invest in the brand’s online presence. Approximately 5 million of the population has access to the internet and the graph shows an increasing trend. Therefore, when advertising on the internet, Cath Kidston will get most mileage out of its investment because of high exposure of the Hong Kong market to the internet (Young, 2010). 6. Target Market Analysis The target market of Cath Kidston in general is females belonging to the upper sector with high household earning. The target market is predominantly educated women and most likely to be married and working. The brand of Cath Kidston will have a different value for the market of Hong Kong. Working women would be the primary target market of the brand that would belong to the age group of 25 – 55 years. As mentioned above in the Hong Kong’s market segment, “Hong Kong has a population of about 7 million out of which, approximately 75% of the population belongs to the age group 15 – 65 years. Out of this 75%, almost 50% of the population is female and out of this 50%, 20% of the females belong to the upper income households with annual monthly income of $ 40,000 and above. Cath Kidston’s primary target market is women who are educated, most likely to be married and belong to the upper segment” (Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2011). The target market of Cath Kidston will be broken down to cater to the age group of women from 25 – 5 years. This would mean that the 75% of the population mentioned above, would be brought down to about 65% to exclude the people from 15 – 24 age group (Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2011). Women in Hong Kong are reported to be more powerful economically than in China and in Taiwan. They tend to excel more in their careers and make important household decisions. Besides this, Hong Kong women hold a stronger view in education and show a better inclination towards work. Secondly, they are less responsive to brand names and portray a more value-seeking behavior. However, they do show a willingness to spend a little extra on brand names as they are often perceived as status symbols. Predominantly, the women of Hong Kong would pick up good quality over a brand name at any given time. As far as Cath Kidston is concerned, the brand will have to give out an image of quality as its positioning and unique selling preposition. Moreover, women in Hong Kong are self-confident, work oriented and politically aware. As mentioned before, Cath Kidston’s core target market comprises of women who are independent to some extent, have the decision making power and have good earnings (Warner, 2013; Tam et al, 2005). The working woman would be the ideal target market because in Hong Kong, women tend to be more career-oriented, social and out-going. Ideally, considering the product line of Cath Kidston, the target market should have been women who prefer their homes and families over their career. However, the attitude of women in Hong Kong compliment a brand which would give them value for money and a decent brand image to go with their lifestyle (Tam et al, 2005). 7. Effectiveness of the Marketing Campaign Creating a unique brand positioning of Cath Kidston as a value-oriented, high quality brand for the up market of Hong Kong is necessary because the target market in Hong Kong, as explained, prefers high quality and is quite indifferent to the brands which are being portrayed as status symbols. Secondly, working women are chosen as the prime target consumers because they comprise of a major chunk of Hong Kong’s market and the women there, are more career driven. The creative strategy on the other hand would feature Cath Kidston’s logo revolving around the same color theme but would be presented in a bolder manner keeping in mind the imagery must carry the message of quality . Initially, the brand will be launched on the social media to create hype in the market. The effectiveness of this campaign could be gauged from the number of ‘Likes’ which Cath Kidston’s page for Facebook would get. Secondly, Twitter will also be used to promote the trends associated with the brand of Cath Kidston such as quality and brand image. As far as the feedback on Twitter is concerned, the number of following for tailored page will be checked (Young, 2010). Secondly, when the brand will be launched in the market of Hong Kong, it would be preceded by prior marketing promotions which will be carried out to create brand awareness. Cath Kidston will be launched through the platform of a flagship store at a prime location in Hong Kong. The store launch would be complimented by press and media coverage for which, a PR agency’s services will have to be obtained. The agency would make sure that all the right media is present at the launching ceremony. Followed by the launch, Cath Kidston is to continue its promotions which will not feature any sales promotions. This would be solely because the brand of Cath Kidston will maintain exclusivity in its brand and with appropriate and targeted pricing the store will attract just the right customers. Any sales promotion schemes and discount schemes would damage the brand image of exclusivity which Cath Kidston wants to carry. The marketing strategies would be gauged by the research and media monitoring. Targets for sales will be set and sales figures will be monitored regularly in order to gauge the responsiveness of the customers. Besides the sales figures, post-research of the marketing campaign will be carried out to keep a pulse-check on the perception of the brand, brand awareness and the market share of Cath Kidston amongst its competitors (Belch et al, 2001; Tellis, 2004; Tam et al, 2005). 8. References BELCH, G. E., & BELCH, M. A. (2001). Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective. Boston, Mass, Irwin/McGraw-Hill. HONG KONG TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL. (2011). Opportunities and challenges for Hong Kong's fashion design services industry. Hong Kong, Research Dept., Hong Kong Trade Development Council. KIDSTON, C. (1999). Vintage style: creating a complete look for your home. Boston, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company KIDSTON, C., & TRYDE, P. (2005). Cath Kidston in print. London, Quadrille KIM, W. C., & MAUBORGNE, R. (2005). Blue ocean strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Boston, Mass, Harvard Business School Press TAM, F., CHAN, T., CHU, P., LAI, T., & WANG, L. (2005). Opportunities and challenges: Hong Kong as Asia's fashion hub. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. 9, 221-231 TELLIS, G. J. (2004). Effective advertising: understanding when, how, and why advertising works. Thousand Oaks, Calif, Sage Publications YOUNG, A. (2010). Brand media strategy: integrated communications planning in the digital era. New York, Palgrave Macmillan. GENZBERGER, C. (1994). Hong Kong business: the portable encyclopedia for doing business with Hong Kong. San Rafael, Calif, World Trade Press. WARNER, M. (2013). Managing across diverse cultures in East Asia: issues and challenges in a changing globalized world. New York, Routledge. Read More