Question+5

 **Lululemon Our Market **

 Our primary target customer is a sophisticated and educated woman who understands the importance of an active, healthy lifestyle. She is increasingly tasked with the dual responsibilities of career and family and is constantly challenged to balance her work, life and health. We believe she pursues exercise to achieve physical fitness and inner peace.

 As women have continued to embrace a variety of fitness and athletic activities, including yoga, we believe other athletic apparel companies are not effectively addressing their unique style, fit and performance needs. We believe we have been able to help address this void in the marketplace by incorporating style along with comfort and functionality into our products. Although we were founded to address the unique needs of women, we are also successfully designing products for men who also appreciate the technical rigor and premium quality of our products. We also believe longer-term growth in athletic participation will be reinforced as the aging Baby Boomer generation focuses more on longevity. In addition, we believe consumer purchase decisions are driven by both an actual need for functional products and a desire to create a particular lifestyle perception. As such, we believe the credibility and authenticity of our brand expands our potential market beyond just athletes to those who desire to lead an active, healthy, and balanced life.   []     Link to PDF; lululemon marketing plan phase 3   https://wiki.usask.ca/.../**Lululemon**+**Marketing**+**Plan**+**Phase**+**3**.docx **B**.The positioning strategy and branding ** lululemon: **


 * Positioning **

Lululemon is currently positioned as a high quality, exclusive, yoga and sporting apparel company. In many ways Lululemon is over-positioned as a strictly female company, which is why in 2010 they will use multi-branding to address the male market. In using the proposed promotion strategy and advertisements, Lululemon will not change their current position significantly, but instead further differentiate themselves from competition in already established values



It would be a mistake for Lululemon to try to adopt lower prices having traditionally differentiated their products using more-for-more differentiation. By continuing to position them self as high-quality, high-price clothing, Lululemon can gain more customer loyalty, and ensure that they do not lose their image of superior quality.



Lululemon will continue to uphold the highest quality standards for it’s products and position the male brand as high-priced, high quality clothing. Both brands will differentiate themselves from their main competition by catering to the yoga/exercise market, as compared to competitors addressing the daily-life fashion market, and the sporting apparel market.


 * Branding Strategy: **

Lululemon is currently branded as a high quality and prestigious brand. The company should still be positioned as such, but will become much more distinct. Currently, Hoopla is a competitor; especially since the clothing styles and branding are so similar. To differentiate itself, Lululemon will alter the logo that they place on their clothing. The waistband or the hem of the clothing will feature a small inspirational message plus the Lululemon logo. Some of these messages include “dance, sing, floss, and travel” and “breathe deeply”. This characteristic will make Lululemon stand out, as well as add a unique component to each item. This uniqueness will appeal to the target market. In addition, a new brand will be implemented under Lululemon in 2010 for men’s wear. The name of this brand is Outer Muscle. The logo is derived from the lower case Greek symbol theta, which will coincide nicely with the Greek Lululemon logo omega. Theta represents a mathematical tool associate with angle, so Outer Muscle’s slogan will be “Get the perfect angle on your work-out”. This brand will be targeting educated and active men in the same age category as Lululemon’s target market. Outer Muscle will also be positioned as high priced, high quality, and trendy. The branding strategy used is multi-branding because a new brand is being developed with existing products. Now, the men’s wear and women’s wear will be separated. = victoria’s secret =

Brand and Positioning.

While women were spending more than ever on bras, price was still driving the category with brand loyalty flagging, according to the NDP Group. Most consumers had a favorite brand, but aggressively sought out deals (38%). Other influences included comfort, fit, style, reputation, and quality. While Playtex had the most brand loyalty among consumers influenced by fit, and Bestform among consumers who are influenced by price, Victoria’s Secret had the greatest brand loyalty among consumers who purchased for style. Victoria’s Secret was an aspirational brand. With sexy supermodels, top-notch photographers, and bold advertising, it combined mass-market access with prestige products.

An average Victoria’s Secret bra priced in the $20-$30 range, which was significantly higher than the high single digit range for bras sold at other retailers. By far the most recognized intimate apparel brand, it held 15% of a $12 billion lingerie market, and 20% of the $4.5 billion retail bra market. In the 1980s, Victoria’s Secret Direct extended its brand into new categories such as swimwear and clothing, although its core beginnings in bras and panties still accounted for close to 50% of Direct sales and were emblematic of Victoria’s Secret brand image.

VictoriasSecret.com

Victoria’s Secret engaged in multiple brand-building activities, including its annual fashion show launched in 1995. It employed the same photography and promotions between its sales channels to ensure a consistent brand image. As a result, brand loyalty grew from 18% in 1996 to 35% in 2000.

Advertising and targeted marketing expenses were 4-5% of divisional sales, at approximately $120 million. Sub-brands—like Miracle Bra, Second Skin Satin, and Body By Victoria—were also an important part of the company’s brand strategy. As Sharen Turney, President of Victoria’s Secret Direct, said, “Other companies are proud if their entire portfolio has $100 million in sales. That would represent a sub-brand to us.”

The Limited, Inc. viewed Victoria’s Secret as a “360-degree” brand, using a comprehensive marketing strategy to connect its retail, catalogue, and web sales. When Leslie Wexner bought Victoria’s Secret, he sought to make it “stand [out] as an integrated world-class brand. Across all channels—catalogue, stores, Internet—the same products are launched at the same time, in exactly the same way, with the same quality, and same positioning.

http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/2002-6-0014.pdf