Month: February 2011

Some brands nowadays employ “fusioning”, the combination of 2 brands, in order to vamp up their sales. They try to create unique products using market penetration and/ or diversification strategies (target more sectors of the population and/ or even create new markets) for this “one of a kind” products.

In the case of 686, a outerwear company founded in 1992, in the season of 2005/06 launched a new clothing line called “Times Series” featuring two brands: Dragon Optics for men and Hello Kitty for women and girls. This was a great success since it was the first time that a outerwear clothing company would bring another named brand next to their logo. This does not stop here, this line was made to stay… Season after season 686 will team up with different companies to make great “limited edition” clothing.

Few seasons ago 686 teamed up with Levi’s to create the ultimate denim experience: A full waterproof Levi’s jacket. This line got sold out in most places, and because of that 686 saw the opportunity to do it again this season. This time they replicated more specific “686 x Levi’s” outerwear pants (the 515, 511 and a vintage); two types of denim jackets and a denim softshell. This year’s “Times line” was a bit more ample than the previous “686 x Levi’s” and is promising to be again another HIT.

Besides the Levi’s partnership, 686 also joined with New Balance Shoe Company this season. But this time this seasonally line extension became a sort of brand extension; the “686 x New Balance” is composed of snowboard boots,  street shoes and the regular outerwear.

It is pretty amazing how the fusion power of 2 named brands (in their own markets) into limited edition products, if done properly, can result in a superb fashionable and functional creation.  

Watch this ad first:

Now what do you think about it? Do you relate to the ad? Would you tell a friend about it?

This is the kind of strategy Guerrilla Marketing uses, a sort of psychological way of thinking. This kind of advertisement plays with our minds and helps us in some way to remember what we see, it builds an instant relationship or interaction with the viewer. Who does not relate to Star Wars? VW made a great link between the “force” and the features of the new car line, the perfect word of mouth.

For the carmaker this ad could have been a bit expensive, but there are many many cases that this kind of marketing tactic results very inexpensive. For example, a Dutch car insurance (http://www.vrijverzekerd.nl)  to build brand awareness launched a street campaign by placing static paper, with scratch marks and info about the company with discounts about their services on it, on cars around certain areas of their targeted cities.

 All cars with the static papers were filmed in order to capture the reaction of the cars’ owners when discovering the fake scratch on their cars. The campaign ended up having a great success thanks to all the reactions people had when looking at the videos on youtube. The best thing of all is that the marketing company charged them only 1000 euro for the campaign, and of course they regretted it.

Guerrilla Marketing is not something new, but since it’s strongly linked with technology it’s becoming more popular nowadays.

Surfing on the web looking for some research for my assignment I came across a girl’s only outdoor clothing company, Cilla, that started somewhere in Whistler 4 years ago… The main icon Cilla offers is the “Cilla’s Band” which is basically an interchangeable skirt attached to selected tops. This band works as a water repellent for your back (since snowboarders are resting a lot on their bottoms on the hill) and is also interchangeable with many colors and designs.

This company actually is a clear example of the Segmentation part of the STP. This brand uses a mix of demographic, psychographic, and product-related segmentation bases.

Pricilla Levac, the founder, is a well known professional snowboarder especially in Canada.

She focused her products on girls who snowboard and care about the environment at the beginning, but she saw more potential in her products than just snowboarding; and now they work for any type of activity (such as Yoga, hiking, and even skiing).

When she first started she segmented her product towards females of ages between 13 and up (demographic variables), who snowboard (psychographic variable), and look for a product which looks good and is waterproof (product-related variables).

Within the years Pricilla sought for more environmental fabrics, it is up to date that she manufactures her clothing with the latest eco-friendly materials. (www.cilla.ca/environment)

• Bamboo: is naturally “green”, fully sustainable, requires no pesticides, requires little irrigation, regenerates in 50 to 60 days and is fully biodegradable.
• Repreve: is yarn made from recycled material (mainly plastic bottles) and takes less energy to make than starting from scratch. It’s one of the most Earth-Friendly fabric ingredients in the world.
• ChitoSante: a fabric that is made from a natural biomass called “ChitoSan”. ChitoSan is made from crab and shrimp shells, it is absorbent, breathable, durable, fast dying and pilling resistent. Along with these benefits, ChitoSante has natural and durable anti-bacterial properties. It inhibits the growth of bacteria, stays fresh, hygienic, and odor resistant. 

Thanks to these eco-technology fabrics she was able to expand her psychographic segmentation with an ecological lifestyle variable.

The only down side of this company is that they only target females, I would love to have clothing with these kind of eco-tech features!

For more info about Cilla or Pricilla check her website: www.cilla.ca