Competitor Analysis

In April 2009, Uniqlo, a Japanese casual wear retail chain opened its first store in Singapore as part of a franchise owned by Wing Tai Holdings and continue to expands to a total of 5 retail stores. Uniqlo debuted in Singapore with an integrated marketing campaign, “ Uniqlo surprises Singapore” to raise brand awareness and engage its target consumers through the infusion of Japanese culture in various touch points.

Large mural walls of Uniqlo were seen at various train stations, as well as online advertising website that brought the brand’s culture from Tokyo to Singapore.

Uniqlo Surprise

Uniqlo brought in the iconic “gacha gacha” vending machine online to dispense various Uniqlo surprises (vouchers, ringtones, wallpapers) daily to the users who visited that website. The brand successfully captured its target audiences and data collected through the web became a strong consumer database for Uniqlo Singapore. The brand also made strategic collaborations for T-shirt designs with brands, such as anime one-piece, Cath Kidston, Disney, which were well-like by  their target group.

Uniqlo Singapore has been leveraging social media platform such as facebook to continuously engage its target group with product updates, competitions and prizes to create buzz as well as brand loyalty. 

Recently, Uniqlo goes local globally and appointed local celebrities, such as Rebecca Lim and Pierre Png in Singapore to endorse its product to have a direct appeal to each country’s demographics and consumer reference.

References:

http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/12094

http://bus4411.blogspot.com/2009/03/uniqlos-unique-way.html

http://www.beauterunway.com/2011/05/uniqlo-singapore-vivocity-opens-t.html

http://www.uniqlo.com/sg/corp/pressrelease/2011/09/uniqlo_casts_local_celebs_for.html

http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=324

From the comparison above between Denizen and Uniqlo in terms of their 4 Ps (product, price, place and promotion), Uniqlo seems to be performing better than Denizen in many areas.

In terms of product, both Denizen and Uniqlo strives to provide good quality apparels to their customers. However, Denizen is lacking in variety in terms of product offerings and style of the jeans. Uniqlo is able to constantly push out new products and remain updated in terms of the designs of their t-shirts. In view of this, both Denizen and Uniqlo were able to make their apparels affordable to their customers. Yet, from our survey conducted previously, Uniqlo was perceived as more value-for-money as compared to Denizen. Both of their store outlets are equally distributed between the town and heartland areas with Denizen having more than twice the number of outlets than Uniqlo. Denizen took on a quick penetration as they took over the Levi’s Signature stores. Nonetheless, Uniqlo’s strategic penetration plan with ideal store location in malls, enabled them to be more prominent and viewed more favorable. Lastly, considering their promotions, Uniqlo has a more integrated marketing promotion as they constantly engage their customers through several platforms with localised and appealing content. On the other hand, Denizen’s marketing promotions seems more disconnected as there was little attempt to sustain the interest of the customers in Denizen.

In conclusion, Uniqlo has a overall more consistent and focused brand campaign by first building awareness, then communicating their brand image and performance, next to work on judgment and feelings and finally to obtain resonance (I.e. through CBBE) There was an effort to constantly innovate and renovate to remain relevant to the customers. Conversely, Denizen  infiltrated the market quickly but lack the marketing efforts to sustain salience and work on building positive brand image and feelings. In the end, they were placing too much emphasis on using price promotions to entice customers to patronise their store instead on building a relationship with them. The lack of communication (with the not integrated marketing platforms) further widens the gap.

Consumer & Industry Trends

Consumer Trends

With a higher disposable income to spare these days, most youths are seeking quality over price in their purchase.  Youth in Singapore are often seen wearing the latest trends as they are brand conscious. They have the tendency to be influence by their peers when making purchases.

Magazines catered to the youths are seen promoting latest fashion trends, celebrity news, restaurants that help shape the overall purchase habits.

Singapore is still strongly influence by a westernized culture but in the recent years,  Korean and Japanese fashion are gaining their presence in the country as Korea and Japanese dramas and music are becoming increasingly popular.

For the young adults who have entered the workforce and enjoy a  greater financial freedom , they started to own credit cards and are seen purchasing higher end fashion labels.

There has been an increasing trend in youths purchasing digital gadgets such as MP3 players, phones with data plans for web browsing , as for the teens, such spending have exploded in recent years and is expected to grow rapidly.

Youths are often seems using social media sites and playing online games with the prevalence of computers and internet in households these days. Other activities such as dining in restaurants like Pizza huts, Swensens are common for youths and these companies have since offer students discounts to capture this group of consumers.

Industry Trends for the Denim Industry

1.  Asia Pacific Spending Trends

Total jeans sales in Asia Pacific amounted to US$23 billion in 2010 with men’s jeans taking up 56% of the total market share[1]. In general, Asia Pacific trends in jean are more skewed towards the economy jeans segment, however, with the rising affluence of the middle class, most of them are willing to switch to high end designer labels or mid-priced but well established international brands. Hence, we do see a potential growth in the premium segment in jeans in Asia Pacific as people get more affluent. However, the most important cause for growth of jeans in Asia Pacific is due to westernization of Asian cultures and the growing acceptance of jeans over traditional costumes.

2. Economy Jeans

2/3 of the worlds’ jeans are economy jeans, contributing to 39% of the total market value of jeans[2]. Although the market share for economy jeans has been shrinking due to the switching of consumers to the premium jeans market, the decrease in unit price per jeans has hidden the fact that economy jeans segment is still growing.

Economy jeans are typically the entry point for many companies into emerging economies, with premium jeans more significant in developed countries. Asia Pacific has the largest market for economy jeans with India and China getting more and more receptive to western cultures and abandoning their traditional costumes.

3. Move towards Sustainability

With the emphasis on sustainability and being green by the general consumers, there is a growing concern on not just the environment friendliness of the cotton (organic cotton). Organic cotton is cotton grown without the use of harmful chemicals such as pesticides and fertilisers. However, companies are placing their attention beyond just the use of cotton, but extending the green idea of sustainability across all their operations, including manufacturing techniques, water use, dye impact, soil health, labour issues and fair trade. Across the industry, we see a trend for companies to do the right thing in an economically viable way and to make a difference in the environment.

4. Rising Raw Material Costs

Rising raw material costs is a huge concern for the industry[3]. Unfavourable weather conditions has caused cotton yield to decrease, shrinking supply in the market, driving price increase. As cotton prices continue to increase, it presents a huge squeeze on the margins on the various brands in their bid to keep their prices low to guard against competition. They may have to pass on the increase in prices to the end consumers who will go longer in terms of purchase and thus impacting volume sales.

5.  Move towards Online Shopping

Although internet retailing represents only 4% of the total market, the figure has doubled over 2005 to 2010 and it is likely to continue growing and is unlikely that the trend will change as internet access and download speed continues to grow, especially in the Asia Pacific region[4]. Internet retailing gives one distinctive advantage, and that is to reach remote places where it is hard to set up a store. Cult following on blogshops in Asia, indicating that there is still much growth in this area where large brands and retailers have not tapped into.  Furthermore, brands will be able to use the online retailing presence to enhance their brand value as social network marketing becomes an increasingly more important part of brand image. One flipside for online retail is that consumers in general are still concerned about fit, which may impede sales online. However, online store extends the brand presence across geographical differences, pushing the brands into the comfort of consumers’ home, thereby increasing store traffic when consumers want to try out a particular piece of denim they see online.

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[1] Adapted from Global Denim Trends: Will the growth fade away published by  Passport on August 2011

[2] Adapted from Global Jeans Market Sees Fruit of Economic Recovery but There Are Still Challenges Ahead published by Euromonitor in May 2011

[3] Adapted from Global Jeans Market Sees Fruit of Economic Recovery but There Are Still Challenges Ahead published by Euromonitor in May 2011

[4] Adapted from Global Denim Trends: Will the growth fade away published by  Passport on August 2011

Brand Campaign: Phase 3 & 4

Phase 3 of “What’s your cut?” Campaign – Institutional visits by D Truck

Objective of Campus Event

The purpose of the campus event is to generate word of mouth publicity among the targeted audience and to continue the hype that was created with usage of Jay Park and the Start Up campaign.

The campus event will be spread across 2 weeks, with the aim to visit 10 tertiary institutions in Singapore, namely all the polytechnics and universities. Each campus event will be expected to last a day each individual institution.

The event will be separated into different segments:

1. Teasers
2. Runway
3. Cut Selections
4. D-truck
5. Miscellaneous Events
1. Fashion Advisors
2. Billboards

Teasers

To increase the awareness of the event before the actual date, details of the event will be published in the second and third issue of magazine advertisements (Phase 1). Event details will also be published on the Denizen SG Facebook page. To further increase the hype before the actual event, stand-alone posters will be erected in schools and there will be liaising with the school’s management to allow teaser emails to be sent out to the student population a few days before the event.

Runway

A fashion runway show will be used to kick start the event. 6 Asian models (3 guys, 3 girls), each donning the different cuts of jeans that Denizen offers, along with Denizen tops. They will be gracing the runway in a fashion catwalk. Main idea of having this segment is to highlight that Denizen designs their jeans with the Asian body type in mind.

Cut Selection

Next part of the program will have the emcee take to the stage, interviewing a fashion advisor on the type of cuts suitable for each body type and how to utilize the various cuts to accentuate their contours and to hide their flaws. The key idea behind the catwalk is to educate students in campus of the various cuts available and which body type the cuts are suitable for.

D-Truck

A container truck, called D-truck (to tie in with the Denizen brand) will be used as a mobile platform which will be driven to the various schools. The container will transform into a photo studio with one side covered with a glass panel. Students participating in the event will be given advice by a professional fashion advisor on the cuts of jeans suitable for their body types. The idea of having a photo studio is to encourage participants to stop dreaming and start doing, which is in line with Denizen’s Manifesto marketing campaign. Participants will then take to the photo studio to have their pictures taken by a professional photographer. They can choose to take group or individual shots, individual shots will be then entered for Denizen’s Facebook competition. Individual shots taken will be uploaded on Facebook and the best looking student model for each school based on the number of likes clicked on the photo posted on Facebook will be chosen. The best model from each school will come together and compete for the top prize.

Knowing that students would be reluctant to go through the trouble of fitting on a pair of jeans and to take photos, a $40 voucher will be given to anyone who participates in the event. In order to generate the online hype during the course of the event, students participating in the event will be asked to “check in” at the event site through their Facebook account.

Side Events

Samples of jeans will also be displayed and fashion advisors will be stationed around the displays, to give students visiting the event personalized information on the cuts of jeans they are suitable for and at the same time, further strengthening the brand association that Denizen’s designs are specifically targeted at Asians.

Informational billboards with various fun facts about jeans and also the various designs will be set up around the event area to keep students occupied before or after the runway show. This will also serve as a contact point for students to read if fashion advisors are too busy advising others.

Event Layout

Phase 4 of “What’s your cut?” Campaign – Denizen’s Facebook Competition

Objective of the Facebook Photo Competition

Following the campus tour with the “D Truck”, there will be a photo contest via Facebook with the photos taken during the event. This is aimed to sustain the buzz that was generated during the campus tour as well as to drive traffic to Denizen Singapore’s Facebook. Denizen Singapore will be a new Facebook page just for her Singapore audience so as to provide more engaging, relevant and localised content.

Interaction via Facebook

The photos taken during the tour will be posted on Denizen Singapore Facebook and sorted according to the tertiary institution. For each photo posted, it will be tagged to indicate the cut and style of the jeans that they are wearing. Students will have to visit Denizen Singapore Facebook fan page to ‘Like’ it first before tagging themselves in their photo. They will then have to get their friends to ‘Like’ their photo. One student, from each institution, with the most number of ‘Likes’ for their photo will stand to win $100 Denizen voucher and $50 cash as prizes. In addition, this student will be one of the ten local ambassadors for Denizen. Taking all the tertiary institutions into consideration, an overall winner with the most ‘Likes’ for his/her photo will chosen. He/she will get to win $300 cash/voucher and a headphone set from Sony.

After obtaining the database of target audience through this event and post-event photo contest, we aim to engage them through Facebook posts indicating the latest jeans trends that are worn by celebrities as well as people off the street.

Brand Campaign: Introduction

Current Brand Challenge

As previously covered in Assignment 3, our alternative brand marketing campaign seeks to address the following challenges Denizen currently experiences. These issues need to be addressed immediately or there would not be a long-term strategy to even think about.

1.      Communicating the USP to the target group

2.      Integrating the marketing channels

3.      Building stronger brand association

However, before the real reworking of the marketing efforts can begin, Denizen needs to halt its current marketing promotions of discounts to retail price to increase trial rate. We believe that they should move on to building a favorable and unique image for their brand.

Campaign Introduction – “What’s your cut?”

Our campaign seeks to highlight Denizen’s USP, which is that they are a jeans specialty retailer and have a variety of cuts for jeans, to suit the Asian body type.

The mediums that we will use to solve the current tactical gaps are:

1.      Online (Facebook)

2.      Press (Magazine: 8 Days, I-Weekly)

3.      Event (What’s your cut?)

We aim to align the mediums to provide a consistent message for the campaign. Variable encoding hypothesis explains that any message we experience more than once in different contexts, and that the greater number of contexts, the better is the memory. Thus, we have decided to utilize these 3 different mediums to work together and forge our brand into the consumer’s mind. 

Strategic Gap Analysis