Marketing Promotion of New Product-Gucci New Fragrance Essay Example

perfume presented in this report is “Sense of Rhodes”. The scent of “Sense of Rhodes” is very unique and special, awakening the inner desires of the sophisticated woman for fashion and adventure. Referring to the idea of a Brand Identity, which are the visible elements of a brand such as colors, design, logotype, name, and symbol, “Sense of Rhodes” will take on the shape of Mythical and ancient symbolisms been drawn from ancient Rhodes.

This may transform the product into a highly symbolic and mystical icon, which, combined with the expensive high-end finish in its container and packaging creates a status symbol for privileged customers to buy. In terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, the product fulfils mostly social and self-esteem needs, which are going to be analysed in depth further in the report. GUCCI “Sense of Rhodes” will be available in 30, 50, and 75 ml Eau de Perfume. 3. Identification and justification of target market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning is the heart of modern marketing” Philip Kotler, 1992.

The marketing concept calls for understanding customers and satisfying their needs better than the competition. But different customers have different needs, and it is rarely possible to satisfy all customers by treating them alike. The market will be divided into different homogeneous groups of consumers to create market segmentation. Rather than offer the same marketing mix to vastly different customers, market segmentation will make it possible for the firm to tailor the marketing mix for specific target markets, thus better satisfying customer needs.

The luxury goods market is directly correlated with the global economic conditions. Also, GDP has been one of the major factors affecting the market. Also,

the growing population of high net worth individuals and the increasing demand from the emerging economies is expected to boost the global market. GUCCI brand has been known to produce high-end luxury products. Whether it is shoes, bags, cosmetics or clothing, they all have "a symbol of status and wealth” of the brand image of a wealthy upper-class consumer favorite. It has an ageless quality but it’s obvious that GUCCI always satisfied specific needs on any age consumer.

Maslow’s Motivation theory in 1943, attempted to formulate a needs-based framework of human motivation and based upon his clinical experiences with people. These are the Self Esteem which is the need for recognition from other people and the Social Needs which is the need to be able to form satisfactory and support relations. Based on these needs, luxury product companies such as GUCCI built they Market Segmentation. The five main bases of segmentation are Geographic, Demographic, Geo-demographic, Psychographic, and Behavioural. For the perfume “Sense of Rhodes” all bases will be used except the Geo-demographic base.

Geographic Segmentation Geographic Segmentation is based on regional variables such as customer concentration, regional industrial growth rate, and international macroeconomic factors. Opportunities for “ Sense of Rhodes” abound especially in the emerging luxury markets in growing economies from Asia such as India and China. (source: PPR’s web site, Finance figures) While the income produced in the French and European markets has been reduced by 1%, the income from the Asian market has increased by 1. 4% and from the North and South America markets by 0. %. People who come from the Asian markets, recently amassed huge wealth due to the excellent performance of

their economy and would definitely want to try luxurious brands such as GUCCI. The opportunity exists in creating competitive advantage in different business segments. Demographic Segmentation Demographic segmentation is based on variables such as age, gender, family size, family lifecycle, income, occupation, education, social class and lifestyle. The main focus will be at the age, income, occupation, and social class of the customers. Age

For the particular perfume the target age that is predicted to use “Sense of Rhodes” it is between 30-50 years old. According to Key Fragrance Findings from ‘The Premium Market Report 2009/20010’ women from 30 to 50 years old buy fragrances because it makes them feel more attractive and know exactly what they want from a perfume but also shop according to the trend. The design, package, and promotion of “Sense of Rhodes” perfume will satisfy the wants of the particular target group. Income Another popular basis for segmentation is the income of the consumer.

GUCCI targets affluent clienteles offering high-end exclusive products. The target market of the new perfume “Sense of Rhodes” will be clienteles with high income that can afford the high price of this luxury product. Median Individual Income by Age Band, All Women, 2005/06(source: www. dsdni. gov. uk , ‘Individual Income by Age Band”) Indicatively, as we can see from the table above, women reach their upper level of income at the age of 30 which remains fairly stable until the age of 50 and then drops. This is also depicted in the graphs as follows: Median Total Individual

Median Total Individual Income by Age Band, All Women and All Men, 2005/06 Social Class Many Marketers believe that a consumers

“perceived” social class, influences their preferences for luxury products and in our case for GUCCI. So it is strongly recommended that the perfume should not address the masses but people within higher social classes or else said, an Elite target group. Psychographic Segmentation The variables that come into play when we speak of psychographic segmentation are primarily psychological in nature. The following variables could be said to be a part of the process of psychographic segmentation.

Those are interests, activities, opinions, behavioural patterns, habits and lifestyle. Using these factors as a base, a marketer can determine how a particular group of customers will respond to the launch of a new product. For the fragrance market, the habits and lifestyles of existing customers shall be analysed. Soon, this tactic will show that most of the customers use these kind of luxury fragrances, as status symbols. Understanding the usage of a particular perfume will provide the basis for the marketing of the new product.

Users who prefer to change their perfume on regular bases will be exposed to a mysterious kind of a scent that the new fragrance “Sense of Rhodes” provides, and people who use the GUCCI fragrances sparingly just for prestige purposes will enjoy the prestige that the particular brand and perfume has. Behavioural Segmentation Behavioural Segmentation refers to and answers the question as to why people purchase a product or service. It can be broken down into the benefit a Consumer seeks from purchasing a product. According to The Premium Market

Report 2009/2010, what women look for in a fragrance is the long lasting scent, the way it makes them feel more attractive, the comments that others

give them when they wear it, and the way that it changes their mood. GUCCI fragrance products enhance the customers overall lifestyle. Occasion, is another variable. It specifies when a product should be purchased. The demand for perfumes increases during Christmas, on Mother’s Day, and so on. Occasion segmentation aims to increase the ‘reason to buy factor’ and thus it increases sales.

Usage rate divides Clienteles into light, medium and heavy users. The objective of GUCCI for “Sense of Rhodes” perfume, should be to increase customer loyalty by attracting heavy users who will make a greater contribution to the Group’s sales. 4. Identification and rationale for brand positioning GUCCI’s strong heritage is built on key critical foundations of uncompromising quality, such as  An elite customer target who is willing to pay the high prices of the products,  Superior craftsmanship that is additionally made in Italy. Great value-adding attributes: GUCCI has already proven its outstanding growth potential in its main products categories and regions worldwide, through the creative and innovative appeal of its offering, underscored by the increased emphasis on communication policy and the development of exclusive goods. The rationale behind the consideration of the above attributes comes as a result of the existing GUCCI’s Brand positioning strategy, which appears to be focusing on establishing its products as high-end brands in their market by using premium branding strategies to sustain this particular brand image.

In order to attain this goal, GUCCI uses the Price / Quality positioning and by aiming at the high end of the market, they always use the combination of high price / high quality in positioning all of their products. In this sense, the

new GUCCI fragrance named “Senses of Rhodes” will also be positioned along the same lines as a high-end expensive and exquisite fragrance to become one of the top of its league. Using the concept of a positioning map with Price and quality being the two vertical axes, we can provide a positioning map that displays the position of the new GUCCI fragrance within its targeted market: High Quality

Low-Quality High Price Low Price Gucci’s “Sense of Rhodes” GUCCI’s “Senses of Rhodes” Positioning within a Price /Quality Positioning Map 5. Marketing Mix Strategies The definition that many marketers learn as they start out in the industry is: “Putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. ” The fragrance “Sense of Rhodes” fulfills the need to create a product that a particularly group of people want, put it on sale some place that those same people visit regularly, and price it at a level which matches the value they feel they get out of it; and all that at the appropriate time they want to buy.

That is how the Marketing Mix Strategy should be applied in order to achieve the maximum possible market penetration. However, a lot effort should be put into finding out what potential Clienteles want, and identify where they do their regular personal shopping. Then, it is crucial to figure out how to produce the item at a price that represents value to them, and get it all to come together at the right time. Marketing decisions generally, will fall into the following four controllable categories, the four categories that today are known as the 4 P's

of Marketing:  Product Price  Place (distribution)  Promotion Product The name of the fragrance “Sense of Rhodes” hides some mystery and passion. Minoas Jasmine, the base ingredient of the perfume is very rare and can only be found during the wet season in October and November each year, when the flower blossoms in the prairies of Lindos Island. The container of the perfume will be a deep purple coloured spray bottle with angles, caring the logo type “Sense of Rhodes” by GUCCI in 24 carat gold letters. A purple ribbon will also be tied up around the neck of the bottle having a thin gold seam line.

The bottle will be contained in a white box having on its front side the picture of the beautiful purple Minoas Jasmine flower, and all letters and whiting will be in gold colour. The Clientele that will honour the purchase of “Sense of Rhodes” will wear the perfume on very special occasions, not to exclude some other formal occasions were the scent of the perfume will attract the interest and comments from others. Price Like all products of GUCCI, “Sense of Rhodes” will have Premium Pricing to support the idea of a status symbol.

It is recommended that the 50ml perfume sells at a minimum price of? 150 pounds, ? 85 pounds more than the latest marketed fragrances “Flora” and “Gucci” by GUCCI. This increase in price will show the Clienteles that “Sense of Rhodes” is not a product that addresses the masses but the upper parts of the wealth pyramid. It is well understood that any decrease in the price may gain the company extra market share but an increase

will give GUCCI an extra profit margin. In any case the market strategy of Gucci Group over the years, is to go for an extra profit margin rather than an extra market share.

After a profitable period of time the sales of the fragrance could be sustained by creating promotion packages, combining “Sense of Rhodes” au de Perfume with “Sense of Rhodes” body lotion or shower gel, with the same scent. Such a promotion package will have a marginal increase in price, but still remain a good deal attracting the interest of the clienteles at a discount price. As mentioned before, target groups are different and “Sense of Rhodes” shall be considered a special perfume for special Clienteles.

Place (Distribution) “Sense of Rhodes” should be made available to Clienteles through specialised perfume shops, duty free shops and GUCCI boutiques all over the world and well known retail department stores such as Harrods or Selfridges’ in London, Galleries Lafayette in Paris or Tiffany’s in New York. Furthermore, a new e-commerce web page for the product will be created and will be embodied be in a prevailing position within the homepage of GUCCI’s’ main site, for online purchase. The fragrance it is going to be produced in

France were the main production centre is and brought in the UK. The distribution network that it is going to be used for the product to reach the Clienteles, as shown in the schematic bellow, will start from the Customs in the airport or port, where the products will be imported in from France. Customs Logistics Centre Wholesaler distributor Retailer Clientele After Customs Control, the Logistic Centre that have a contract with GUCCI,

will take over and transfer the products to GUCCI’s Exclusive Wholesale Distributor in London.

From there “Sense of Rhodes” will be distribute to contracted Retail stores and boutiques ready for Clienteles to purchase them. Promotion Taking into consideration that Christmas is the most appropriate time to place a product in the market, proper preparations, including product availability should be made in order to minimize risks and maximize success. The launch of “Sense of Rhodes” perfume will be made in September 2011 during the Fashion Week in Paris, at Ritz Hotel, to give GUCCI enough time before Christmas Holidays, to deploy a full promotion campaign and timely position the perfume in the market.

In this event editors, TV journalists and celebrities from the fashion, media and business world will be invited. Promotion shall be made by advertising the new perfume on Television and other electronic media with a special emphasis in the most popular women magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire or Elle, just to name a few. Preferably advertisements in these magazines should be located in the centre fold of the magazine and a theme should be created as a background to properly support the picture of the main theme which is the picture of perfume bottle.