Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress Report the Two Questions are A) You MUST also include a description of the justification for this new direction ñ why does it make business sense for this company to go in this new direction
- B) This part of the deliverable must include a specific report on decisions you’ve made in terms of your target market initial Description Paper ñ Ray-Ban Prescription Glasses
Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress Reason for Selection
When selecting Ray-Banís prescription glasses, specifically with the blue light filter, our group began with individualís interests. After comparing interests, we created a short list of potential markets to serve which included gamers. Thinking of products we had seen recently, Colson mentioned the idea of marketing blue light filtering Ray-Bans to gamers and office workers. After we came up with this, we looked into their parent company which google reported as Luxottica, a company based in Milan, Italy. Because it is publicly traded, we were also able to find financial statements for the parent company. Beyond this, our group has some knowledge of other providers of this product and the ways they advertise, offering us a decent starting point.
Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress and Detailed Description of Product
Ray-Bans prescription lenses come in a variety of types and styles. If one clicks on the ëcustomizeí button, you can select between the style, frame, lenses, temple tips (the bit behind your ears), size and engraving. The basic aviator it started our group on ran $193. Their products are subdivided into eyeglasses and sunglasses, and then further into menís and womenís styles. You can select the blue light filter on either and it will become available going forward from April. The prices on Ray-Ban products is high, reflecting their branding, the eyeglasses on their front page run from $140 to $178. This product is sold online (where a shopper can provide their prescription and receive the product 5 business days later), at LensCrafters, a fellow subsidiary of Luxottica, and at outlets like Sunglass Hut.
Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress and Ray-Ban Company Overview
Ray-Ban is a very large international company and has recently opened a new retail offering in China, centering on a brand experience for customers. As part of the Luxottica family of visual products, they have manufacturing centers in China, Northeastern Italy, and Brazil and have specific campaigns for Ray-Ban in those nations. Ray-Ban is also directly mentioned in the Luxottica financials as having direct global deliveries to its clients. In their financial statements, Luxottica also identifies Ray-Ban as ìone of the worldís leading eyewear brandsî and discusses the crystal lens technology that helps give Ray-Ban a competitive advantage.
Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress Advantages as part of Luxottica:
They also benefit from the growth of Luxotticaís other products, including Oakley, a sports sunglass provider, and EyeMed, which provides vision care. With the 2012 acquisition of Lens Crafters, Luxottica also positioned Ray-Ban very well in the eye-glasses space. This growth in all sectors of Luxotticaís business paired with the strength and recognizability of Ray-Banís brand lead Ray-Ban to account for approximately 27% of Luxotticaís sales. This puts the sales of Ray-Ban globally at about $1.7 billion (taking Luxotticaís gross profit, figuring 27%, and then converting Euros to USD).
How successful has the company been in terms of marketing metrics?
Ray ban is a classic brand that has evolved over decades, it was first introduced in 1937 and its main purpose was to make it easier for the pilot to fly and it protected their eyes from harmful UV rays. Now its market is targeted to the youth, celebrities, adults and they have varying designs that suit any outfit. Ray ban has positioned itself in the market in a solid way and it competes with the other expensive brands, The two main marketing strategies Ray Ban uses are ì to have an impact on the audience based on their motivational factors, and to use the history of the brand to build its current imageî. The brands fit in a budget as well as a luxurious market, and the brand has a consistent loyalty it carries with its products as consumers continue to purchase their sunglasses.
Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress New IMC Direction
Discussion of Brand and Target:
Ray-Banís brand, as defined by their parent company, is ìTimeless style, authenticity, and freedom of expression.î In addition, our group perceives Ray-Ban as high quality, expensive, and expressive of an outdoors lifestyle (which matches the Ray-Ban origins with Aviators). We are planning to take the Ray-Ban brand into the direction of office workers, who operate in a location that is often viewed as diametrically opposed to freedom of expression, reflected in company dress codes and the like. Because of this, our campaign will focus on the ìTimeless Styleî section of their brand promise, bringing in ìAuthenticityî if we need to.
Reason for New Target Market:
Office workers represent a significant chance for growth, with higher incomes than blue-collar workers and a tendency to feel some need to express themselves. In addition, office workers are spending more and more time in front of screens. According to a study by AcuVue and published in CBS Boston, this amounts to 1,700 hours, about 2 full months, in front of a computer for the average worker. Add in video games, phones, television, and the like and this number increases. So there is a need in the office worker segment for lenses that filter blue light out to reduce eye strain.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the median wage for a US worker in the 4th quarter of 2017 was about $900 a week (which is about $45,000 a year). At $150 a pair, these Ray-Ban glasses are expensive, but not outside the reach of most workerís wallets. GlassesUSA has on their website glasses that are more reasonable in the $89 range. However, at $150 Ray-Ban is still priced within the affordable range, and we believe that the brandís value to consumers will easily cover the difference.
Having found the need and the ability to fulfill it, we took one last step to ensure the market size. In the United States alone, some 156.69 million people were employed full time in 2018. Assuming that only 10% of these people buy, thatís a single-country market of fifteen (15) million individuals. Given Ray-Bans recent expansion into China and existing marketing in other foreign markets, there is clearly a market.
Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress Market/Industry Analysis
Market performance last 3 years:
Eyewear maker Luxottica, owner of Ray Bans has been dominating the market for the last three years and it reported a jump in its net profit by 12% raising it to a staggering 970 million euros (Business of Fashion). About 57% of the total sales come from the U.S alone, the eyewear industry is starting to grow among consumers and demand is rising and Ray Ban is set at an affordable price, remains to attract loyal and new consumers that demand new eyewear glasses. Adjusting to the consumer’s needs and providing variety and styling gives it a major advantage over high-end competitors because it offers the same benefits but with the fraction of the price. Overall, the market has stagnated in recent years dropping from $1,811.8 million in 2016, and with no new market growth between 2017 and 2018 both years having a total revenue of approximately $1,796.7 million (IBISWorld).
Advertising and Marketing Communications Progress Market trends
Some new trends in this market focus on athletic purposes for new sunglasses products. For example, in Germany, a company ìrecently launched new innovative athletic sunglasses with additional features such as the heart rate monitoring and a stopwatch in the peripheral vision of the sunglassesî(Wood, 2018). More companies are selling sunglasses online instead of the conventional brick and mortor store to cut operational costs…
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