Hollister Brand Space, the Way how Brandscape Integrates into Brand Communication Strategy - Case Study Example

Places and Spaces for Hollister Introduction Brand or product placement can be defined as an advertising method in which the corporate name, brand name, signs and packages are positioned intentionally in television programs and motion pictures (Wiles & Danielova, 2009). Brand placement can take the form of mentioning the brand during high ranking dialogues such as business conferences, displays of corporate logo on billboards and vehicles and actual use of the brand by a person. Commercials can be designed to run concurrently with a particular program such as the manner in which Ramses Condoms commercials run concurrently with a film such as Lethal Weapon 2 (Balasubramanian, 1994). The main objective of product placement is to ensure that consumers notice the product because not all product placements are unobtrusive or subtle. Brand or product placements offer several advantages to the marketers. First, they provide a competition-free environment where messages on a particular brand are run without competing messages from other brands (Cristel, 2002). Second, the brand placement messages are run over the life of the film which means that the costs of brand placement reduce drastically to mere pennies by the end of the film or video or program along which the brand placement is concurrently run. Third, it is easier to reach the unreachable customers because films, videos and programs can be selected in order to reach a wide range of customers. Hollister is a lifestyle brand which takes into consideration the aspirations and values of the culture or a group customer aged 14-18 years. It is imperative to note that based on experiences, background (subculture, social class, nationality and ethnicity) and choices every individual is bestowed with an identity and thus Hollister’s lifestyle brand serves to convince the potential customers drawn from different identities that their level of identity is likely to be supplemented, strengthened or reinforced if such customers associate themselves publicly with the Hollister brand (David, 2007). In this regard, Hollister’s brand placement and space is vital in ensuring that the potential customers get to notice the company’s products. The purpose of this report is to build or create a brand space or brand place for Hollister brand. Among the things that will be explored under Hollister brand space or brand placement include the various elements that constitute the place such as fabrics, colours, odours, layouts and other design elements that make up the brand. Vision The vision of Hollister brand place and space is to ensure that the company’s products brands are noticed by the customers in all market segments particularly the markets where the company’s products are not yet noticed. Towards achieving this vision the objective is to ensure that the company’s sales hit 1 billion by the end of 2011. The other objective embedded in the above vision is to increase the company’s brand placements to over 100,000 by the end of 2011. Additionally, increasing brand awareness to less than 25 segments is also another objective aimed at enhancing the achievement of the above vision because the under 25 market segments are likely to notice and try the brands because they are fond of watching movies and films. Hollister’s Brand Place (Daye, 2008) The various elements that constitute this place include layouts which inform the potential customers of what to find in the store even before they step into the store. For example, as the customer climbs the stairs he or she faces signs with names of different designs written on them such as “Hermes”, Loubotin and “Channel” designs (David, 2007). This is aimed at increasing the excitement of the customers before they step into the real store. In this brand place, another element that constitutes this place includes different materials that make customers feel the touch of what different designs are made of. Such materials include different quality of fur used to make different designer clothes that comes with different colours. The fur is displayed at the entrance of Hollister’s brand place. The other element that constitutes this place includes different types of refined leather that make customers feel the touch of what their belts, shoes and handbags are made of (Daye, 2008). (Daye, 2008). This is an element of different design materials that constitute Hollister’s brand place. It also constitutes the possible colours and the fabrics elements in Hollister’s brand place. Hollister brand space (Daye, 2008). (Gobe, 2001). Some of the elements that constitute this brand space include different types of fine jewellery costumes, sunglasses and a wide range of design of women wears that can be searched using the internet that customer can get once in this space. In this brand space another element that constitutes this space include the different types of fabrics such as natural fabrics and synthetic fabrics. Examples include cotton, bamboo, leather, canvas, wool, Ramie, Satin, Hemp, Coir, Silk, Sateen, Nylon, Rayon, Latex, Acetate and Polyester fabrics (Gobe, 2001). How the above “brandscape” integrates into brand communication strategy The above “brandscape” enhances the customers’ notice of the different types of design materials, fabrics, colours and the design elements available in the brand place. This is done by enhancing design sensibilities through the eyes of the customers. The design names on the stairs of the store helps to create the first impression and information about what customers are to expect once they step into the design stores (Gobe, 2001). Hence, by using their eyes customers are able to visualize the different types of designer clothes available in the stores. The design materials that constitutes one of the elements in the “brandscape” integrates into the brand communication strategy by serving as the first-hand information that customers gather about the quality and the type of designer clothes they expect to see and buy from Hollister stores (Lindstrom, 2005). This is particularly important because designer clothes are varied and comes in a wide range of designs and the designer materials that constitute the element of the “brandscape” serves as an open communication strategy about what the customers are likely to expect in terms of the clothes they desire (Raza, 2008). The above “brandscape” is also characterised by different colours which serves also as an open communication strategy to the customers about the different colours of the design clothes they are likely to get in the store. The above “brandscape” integrates into the overall brand communication strategy by providing the key information the customers require in order to make key purchase decisions of Hollister’s lifestyle brands. Touch In order to create a totalized experience on Hollister brand placement, touch is an important ingredient and element that we must not ignore. In this perspective, all the touch-points must be exploited to ensure that Hollister brand placement is noticed by the customers in almost every place they turn to. The objective is to ensure that every “captive” audience is marshalled into Hollister’s brand. In this regard, some of the touch-points for Hollister brand placement include print media and radio where consumers can read all about the life style brands offered by Hollister (Raza, 2008). The print media include style magazines and other mostly read magazines across the population particularly the magazines that target the young generation with a clear instinct on fashion (Russell & Barbara, 2006). The other touch point for Hollister brand placement include public places such as recreation parks where real style brands can be displayed and customers allowed to touch in order to feel the quality of the design materials used to make the style brands from Hollister. Touch is one of the human being’s senses and making use of the touch sense is imperative to leave memorable feelings among the potential customers. By recalling or remembering the texture of the style brands from Hollister the customers can easily purchase Hollister’s brands without any slight confusion from other competitors. Hence, the touch for our Hollister brand should be fine, soft and high quality texture for all our designer clothes (Russell & Barbara, 2006). This kind of texture would distinguish Hollister style brands from the other competitors. Sight Sight is also another sense in a human being that Hollister style brands should make use. The objective is to create and popularize the Hollister style brands in the minds of the potential customers. The sight of the company’s brand should be attractive and different from other competitors. Since, Hollister is a style brand company dealing with designer clothes, the choice of colours that suit all segments of the market such as women, men, youths and the children is vital. Pink and red are the most desirable colours for Hollister style brands meant for women (Russell & Barbara, 2006). Black and white are the most desirable colours for designer clothes meant for men while a mixture of green, blue and red are also desirable foe the young generations. Since, sight creates the visual brand choosing colours not yet offered by other designer clothes is important in enhancing Hollister’s brand place and space (Russell & Michael, 2005). The above colours selected for the style brands for Hollister Company will enhance the visibility of Hollister’s style brands in-store as well as disassociating the company’s brands from other competitors (Russell & Michael, 2005). The unique colours that will contribute towards Hollister’s visual brand include Red, Pink, White, Black, Green and Blue. Such colours will make the identity of the Hollister’s style brands across the media and in any other touch points. Taste Hollister’s style brands must be positioned as brands with a different and distinct taste. Taste is one of the senses in human beings which mean that making use of the sense of taste can help to distinguish Hollister’s brands from its competitors (Ringer & Thibodeau, 2008). Although, the designer products produced by Hollister Co. are not edible, it will be important to consider the sense of taste for Hollister brands because taste will give Hollister a distinct identity from the rest of the competitors (Ringer & Thibodeau, 2008). In this regard, the taste for Hollister brands should be fine and soft. The objective is to make consumers comfortable in Hollister designer wears such as feeling softness when the designer wear touches the consumer’s skin. In addition, the taste of Hollister’s brands will be felt through the cooling and warming experiences the customers will have after wearing Hollister clothes (Siva et al., 2006). Hollister brand should therefore be light to provide the cooling effect during the hot seasons and made of a thick texture to provide a warming experience during the cold seasons. In addition, a fresh and pleasant odour should characterize all Hollister brands in order to provide customers with more distinguishing features of Hollister brands from the rest. The objective of integrating taste in Hollister’s brand even though it is not edible is to build a firm customer loyalty towards the company’s brand (Siva et al., 2006). Taste should be integrated by taking into consideration the positive experiences Hollister customers will likely remain with after using the products from the company. Smell Just like other senses common in human beings smell is also another sense that a company such as Hollister should capitalize on in order to strategically position its brand in the market. Hollister’s brand placement and space is also dependent upon smell of its style brand. The sense of smell can be utilized and evoked for brands that are non-edible just like the Hollister style brand (Siva et al., 2006). The sense of smell makes use of the odour produced by a product. A good odour evokes the consumers’ olfactory nerves leaving lasting memories about the product in the mind of the consumers for a long time (Siva et al., 2006). Hollister style brand will therefore make use of the consumers’ smell of smell by developing products with a sweet aroma that does not have a negative effect in the health of the customers. The sense of smell will also be used in television advertisements by creating and developing television advertisements that reveal the good aroma in Hollister style brands and how the sweet aroma makes the customers feel vital and vibrant when they wear Hollister style brands (Wiles & Danielova, 2009). The aroma in Hollister style brands should be identifiable in order to distinguish Hollister brands from other brands in the market. A pleasant aroma of Hollister products is vital because it will help to create customer loyalty to the style brand. However, the choice of the aroma should be done in a way that it evokes the sense of smell of the customer which means that it should not be too strong or too weak. Hear The sense of hearing is evoked by the sound that falls into the ears of the listeners. In this perspective, the sense of hearing is vital because customers make decision depending on what they hear. This means that a particular sonic tune should be incorporated into Hollister advertisements in the television and radio channels. The sonic tune should attract customers closer rather than driving them away. Since, Hollister has different brands meant for both the female and the male market segments t is important to incorporate sonic tunes accompanied by sweet female and male voices in advertisements (Wiles & Danielova, 2009). In all Hollister commercials a separate identity of Hollister style brands should be created through the use of instrumental music that is close to the nature and basic with instruments such as tabla n sittar used to emphasize Hollister’s product aura. A catchy music should accompany Hollister’s commercials. The music should not take the place of advertisements but should be heard in the background. The objective of sense of hearing in creating the brand space and place fir Hollister brand is to draw customers nearer to the advertisements every time the tonic music is played in order to ensure that Hollister brands gets noticed by a wide range of customers (Wiles & Danielova, 2009). In this regard, the tonic music should be appealing to a diverse audience. The instrumental music should demonstrate the sense of vitality and life to the listeners. It should evoke the feeling of joy and freshness whenever a customer wears Hollister style brands (Wiles & Danielova, 2009). Hence, the sound used in the instrumental music to evoke the sense of hearing in Hollister customers should leave long lasting memories making the product identifiable by all the customers. Summary As stated there above, the main objective of product or brand placement is to ensure that customers notice the product and build their loyalty towards the product or the brand. In this regard, companies should strive to ensure that their products are noticed by the customer by developing and creating unique means of appealing to the customers. The use of the five human senses that include smell, hearing, taste, touch and sight are vital in enhancing the closeness of the customers to Hollister products. Sight or vision comprises of what the customers see. A fine and well deigned brand can be seen by the customers. Touch involves what customers feel when they touch the brand. A high quality yet soft and smooth brand is attractive to the customers. Smell comprises of the odour produced by the products and a good odour is attractive to the customers. The sense of hearing is evoked by the sound produced during television commercials which either drives away or draws customers closer to the television to watch the advertisement and thus making the brand get noticed. Hence, brand placement involves a wide range of issues that goes beyond the physical location of the companies’ stores but also the psychological aspects as means of drawing customers closer to the company’s brand. Conclusion Brand placement is an important marketing aspect that every profit making company such as Hollister should utilize in order to drive sales forward. Brand placement enhances the closeness of the customers to the brand and every technique should be utilized to increase the appeal of the brand to the customers. The sense of touch, sight, sound (hearing), smell and taste should be used to evoke customers feelings and attitude towards the brand as is the case with Hollister style brand. References Balasubramanian, K. (1994). "Beyond Advertising and Publicity: Hybrid Messages and Public Policy Issues". Journal of Advertising. 23 (4), 29–46. Cristel, R. (2002). "Investigating the Effectiveness of Product Placements in Television Shows: The Role of Modality and Plot Connection Congruence on Brand Memory and Attitude". Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (3), 306–318. David, H. (2007). Branding: Brand placement and space. (New York, Sage Publishers) Daye, D. (2008). 10 keys to aligning organizations and brand promises. Branding Strategy Insider. (Oxford, Oxford University Publishers). Gobe, M. (2001). Emotional branding. New York, Allworth Press. Lindstrom, M. (2005). Brand sense: Build powerful brands through touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. (New York, Free Press). Raza, S. (2008). 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From http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:BvNQiC1vOYgJ:www.versegroup.com/downloads/VerseGroup_breakthroughapproach.pdf+brand+placement:+touch,+smell,+sound,+taste&hl=sw&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShGm_DnPvZ45xgGZAMPguqryEVF1XaL295aEx17dzBR6hby3qyg8T036hAXoMjbELuYnSP2bKL4rfTtOFcK-5r6meisvGE9ofKI28cltLZWM7T6p1XFf6o6CyQUuKMSWNi3UoNM&sig=AHIEtbRiqOSVFThkDtUkYLf6XJmi5GHfSw Siva, K, et al. (2006). "Audience Response to Product Placements: An Integrative Framework and Future Research Agenda". Journal of Advertising. 35 (3), 115–141. Wiles, M. & Danielova, A. (2009). "The Worth of Product Placement in Successful Films: An event Study Analysis". Journal of Marketing 73 (4): 44–63. Read More