Bijou

SOLUTION AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

TEAM 3EMA M. ROGOBETE

THE REPORTMAY 2012 3rd Semester Bachelor Project

MARKET ANALYSIS

AND INSIGHT

INTRODUCTION

y project will concentrate on the launching of a handmade jewelry company that I have planned to create in the near future, on the digital market.

The following report will focus on approaching to a solution that will help me launch the products, define the position on the market, in relation to other players of the same kind and create the brands’ visual identity.

The target audience is very broad, even though the products are mostly for women of the age from 15 to 80, men are also in the target, as they are also likely to buy the products as gifts for their mothers, sisters, friends, wives or girlfriends, etc. I have chosen to work on this project firstly as I have been specifically inspired by my internship, where my task was to create a new identity for a fashion company. In this case I will emphasize the experience I have gained during my studies in e-Concept Devel-opment. Secondly, I consider it to be appropriate and relevant of the courses I have chosen to take during my 2nd semester (design, e-media technologies and communication).

In conclusion, I will use this project to improve my experience in a design-oriented mission that

INTRODUCTION

2 THE REPORT MAY 2012

M It started out as a hobby that I had for many years – to create jewelry for my own and for friends, family and acquaintances, from parts of the jewelry I own but not use anymore.

Therefore I have decided to use them as recycled materials. The products are made of mineral stones and vintage/recycled beads.

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CONTENTS

MAY 2012 THE REPORT 3

INTRODUCTION

4-6 PROJECT GOAL and PROBLEM AREA

7 POSITIONING

8-10 MARKET SEGMENTATION

11-15 COMPETITORS ANALYSIS

24-27 WEBSITE CONCEPT

16-20 COMMUNICATION PLAN

22-23 LOGO DEVELOPMENT

21 CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

ANALYSIS

SOLUTION

28-29 NEWSLETTER

29-30 STATIONERY PACK

31 FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

32-33 CONCLUSION

GOALTo efficiently communicate company’s message in order to gain brand recognition and attract customers in less than 6 months.

INTRODUCTION


INTRODUCTION


Problem Area

M y project will focus on showing the various ways I will be communicating my mes-sage to potential customers through online media, and also indicating how it would be possible to gain brand recognition through the opportunities offered by the digital world.

The biggest challenge is to define a visual identity that will remain in peoples’ minds, best represent the brand and have the stamp of the products that I will try to sell.

Taking advantage of the big impact that the In-ternet market and social media has nowadays on buyers in Denmark and all over the world, I have decided to set up an online catalog and define a visual identity for clients to have ac-cess to.

Enabling them to view the products online I will make thus certain that the potential cus-tomers will be able to easily distinguish and recognize the brand throughout the Internet and on the physical market.

Poblem Formulation

The overall question that is set to answer in this project is how to efficiently create a brand that will have an impact on its customers and target audience; through what methods can a company create brand recognition on the Internet market?

• How does a small company reach its target group and what are the possibilities? • How can the company attract custom-ers through brand awareness?

Constrains

The project is constrained by the very small budget provided by the company.

Hypothesis• The existing target group is most likely to use the Internet and social media platforms to communicate or stay updated. • Corporate visual identity plays a signifi-cant role in the way an organization presents itself to the market. • A logo provides an organization with vis-ibility and “recognizability”. It is of vital impor-tance that people know that the organization exists and remember its name and core busi-ness at the right time. • If the company uses social media to cre-ate its brand awareness, people will be able to recognize the brand more easily and will attract customers.• Offering an experience along with the product will help reaching the goal and make customers come back.


Positioning

I will compete in the jewelry market. The relevant buyers are mostly middle class women between age 20s-40sThe main attributes of the products are:

• Culture based products (Romanian) • Quality (The jewels are mostly made of silver and amber, gems, mineral semiprecious stones, moonstones, etc.) • Uniqueness (The products I will sell are unique in Denmark, and the suppliers are unique as well)

The mind share of my products is the fact that the brand name will be an obvious way of tell-ing what I am selling.

Inspirational examples: One of the most suc-cessful firms to have achieved pervasive mind share is Hoover, whose name has been synon-ymous with vacuum cleaner in the UK for many decades. Similarly, the term “googling”, describing the act of online searching, was derived from the Internet search engine Google, however since Google remains the world’s most popular

search engine it remains to be seen if the term will become generic for all searches.In order to position the target audience I de-cided to make use of The Minerva model by AC Nielsen, which is one of the most used segmentation models in Scandinavia.

The Minerva model “Snapshot” sorts people on the basis of 100 life values - values that rarely are changed and which mostly are deeply rooted in the personality of the individual.

The Minerva model sorts people into four seg-ments based on the axes traditional/modern and idealistic/materialistic.

Green: Primarily idealistic and modern peo-ple with a small preponderance of females and public employees. A typical green person is a female managing clerk in her mid-thirties who buys organic food. Green people are typically interested in culture more often have degrees in humanities than in business.


Blue: Primarily pragmatic and modern peo-ple with a preponderance of males and private employees. A typical blue person is a male yuppie in his mid-thirties who is doing well. Blue persons typically read business papers and more often have degrees in business than in humanities.

Violet: Primarily pragmatic and traditional people with a preponderance of males and skilled laborers. A typical violet person is a crafts-man and washes his own car every Sunday. Violet persons typically read tabloid newspapers.

Rose: Primarily idealistic and traditional people with a small preponderance of women and skilled laborers. A typical rose person is a hairdresser and loves romance. Rose persons typically read tabloids and weekly magazines.

Grey: The middle group that takes a bit from the four others and hence always is a bit diffuse- even for itself.

My target audience is positioned between the green and rose areas, more towards the green because it is best fitting in the category

defined mostly by women that are interested in culture, arts and arts craft, which is mainly what I am selling.

Segmentation

Market segmentation is the heart of a stra-tegic marketing as it forms the basis through which I can understand the market and thus can better customize the offer to the segments I want to reach and develop strategies to fulfill the targeted consumers needs better than the competitors.

The sector of interest is basically the whole population that has access to Internet and likes the products offered.

The segmentation can be done in many ways but this will be based on few relevant variables regarding the geographic and demographic characteristics of the population country, age, gender, education, and nationality.

GEOGRAPHICALLY- Europe - Denmark

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Denmarkhas a mixed market capitalist economy and a large welfare state, ranks as having the world’s highest level of income equality.

Denmark has the best business climate in the world, according to the U.S. business magazine Forbes. From 2008 to 2010, surveys ranked Denmark as “the happiest place in the world” based on standards on health, welfare and education.

ECONOMICALLY:Denmark is one of the most competitive economies in the world according to world Economic Forum 2008 report, IDM and The Economist. According to rankings by OECD, Denmark has the freest financial market in the EU.


Denmark has a company tax rate of 25% and a special time limited tax regime for expatri-ates. The Danish taxation system is both broad based (25% vat) and has the world’s highest income tax.

Denmark has ranked as the world’s 11th most free economy, out of 162 countries, in an index created by the Wall Street Journal and Herit-age Foundation, the Index of Economic Free-dom 2008.

The Danish market is considered the optimum starting point for the company, this is due to the fact that it constitutes its’ domestic marketand the owner has general knowledge about it.The EU is the world’s second largest jewelry market, after the USA. Women for themselves make the majority of purchases.

White metals, platinum, precious stones, dia-monds and pearls are popular, and yellow gold is popular again. However, consumers have been cautious in their spending on precious jewelry.Compared to other EU countries, the Danes are quite curious about the country of origin, material used and recycling in the production process. There is more interest in smaller sup-pliers from interesting countries where relative-ly little is known.

Jewelry and watches market accounted for 6.8% of the clothing; accessories and luxury goods sector value in Denmark in 2009. The market increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% between 2002 and 2007.

DEMOGRAPHICGender: Male/ FemaleThe target market is mostly constituted of female customers but also men that would buy jewelry as a gift.Age: 20-70It is certain that there is an interest in jewelry in every age group, and the focus will be on the 20-40 ages. Marital status: All Having in mind the age of the target group the potential customers can be single or in a relationship. Income: Middle to High

The income can vary a lot and it is quite rel-evant in this case due to the fact that the prod-ucts provided are affordable (150 Dkk for a pair of earrings)

Nationality: Danish, all nationalitiesAll nationalities that have access to Internet aretaken in consideration. It is howsoever most likely that the main segment that will purchase the products will be made in Denmark.

EDUCATION: Any, basic knowledge of InternetToday it is common to have Internet access almost everywhere (school, home, and job, net-cafes, in the train, in hotels and even in public areas like in a park) in Denmark.

Most people born within the last 20-25 years in Denmark will also have been introduced to the Internet in primary school. People with higher education will in almost every case have used the Internet extensively.

Also in the last 10 years more and more ser-vices (taxes, banking, ticket reservation, news etc.) have been made available on the Internet, and it is now quite normal to deal with money over the Internet. In addition, in 2011 over 2.8 million of Denmark’s 5.5 million people have an account on Facebook.

This means that 51.67 percent of the country’s total population is engaged in social networking on the site.


TOWS Matrix

External Opportunities (O) •The internet market is in continuous growth. •Possibility to create a strong brand name on the internet •Opportunity to achieve experience in the business field. •To create awareness of my products.

• To attract a specific target audience because of the unique selling point of the jewelry- that of being made of recycled jewels.

External Threats (T)

•The existing competitors are already offering online facilities.

•More experienced competitors on market.

•New entrants on market.

Internal Strengths (S)

•Web-based catalog: the products catalog will be accessible for anyone in the world.

•The origin of the jewels is from recycled jewelry but also new.

•The jewels are made with real semi precious stones.

•The design of the jewels is simple and unique.

SO ( Maxi-Maxi ) Strategies that use strengths to maximize opportunities

•Create an attractive web catalog that will be easily accessed by anyone interested, as the internet market is in continuous growth.

•Take inspirations from the simple and unique design of the jewels to create a strong image on the internet market that will best represent the brand. ▪ Use the fact that the

jewelries are made of recycled jewels to attract customers that are eco-friendly.

ST ( Maxi-Mini ) Strategies that use strengths to minimize threats.

•Having an exclusive supplier of the jewels, the company will overcome the fact that other similar companies will enter the market.

•By having a unique design of the jewels and visual identity the brand will try to overcome the fact that other companies offer greater online facilities.

Internal Weaknesses (W)

•New in business

•Limited financial resources

•No brand awareness

•Struggle the competition in the business

•Competitors might have greater financial resources

•No experience in the business field

•Similar companies have the advantage that customers can buy online their products.

•Easy market to be accessed by new entrants.

WO (Mini – Maxi ) Strategies that minimize weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities.

•Since the company has limited financial resources it will take advantage of the continuous growth of the internet market that is offering many cheap or free ways to advertise. •The company will take advantage of the fact that it is newly introduced on market, to create a strong brand name on the internet market.

WT (Mini – Mini ) Strategies that minimize weaknesses and avoid threats.

•Gain brand awareness in order to avoid the threat of new entrants.

•Achieve experience in the business field to facilitate avoiding the new participants on the market.

After conducting the TOWS analysis through a TOWS matrix, the conclusion is that there are many ways in which

weaknesses and threats can be minimized by emphasizing the strengths and taking advan-tage of the opportunities. The company will try to overcome the fact that it has limited financial

resources by taking advantage of the continu-ous growth of the Internet and social media market. Another helpful factor for the company to avoid threats would be the fact that it will try to take advantage of the opportunity to create a strong brand name on the Internet and gain experience in the business field


A website that promotes jewelry

designed in Denmark and sold online. Their unique

selling point is that you can create your own jewelry.

COMPETITORSThere are many players within the jewelry industry in Denmark.The type of competition on the jewelry market is monopolistic- there is a large number of dealers where each of them has a small share on the market; however none of them is able to lead the market. I will be trying to reach niche market in the jewelry industry and namely those customers that are interested in chic jewelry and

differentiate their gems of the available offer on the market.I will be trying to reach niche market in the jewelry industry and namely those customers that are interested in chic jewelry and differentiate their gems of the available offer on the market.There are already a few companies on the market that offer customers similar products. Among them, there’s:


Online as well as physical store; very well known in

Denmark and Europe

online catalogue that offers overview of vin-tage jewelry and sells online and in stores

around Denmark

Pilgrim and Pandora are two of the most well known jewelry brands in Denmark and Scandinavia. Although their selling point is notsimilar to mine and they are not directly competitors product wise, it is a good strategy to take them as example brand wise. On the other hand, they can be thoughtas competitors in the big picture, as they are selling jewelry and customers canprefer to buy their products because of their already existingbrand recognition that they have gained throughout the years of being

on the market. Affordable prices and good quality, together with a good advertising plan gained these brands the key to success. An online store makes it very easy for customers to compare different offers from the competitors just in a short time, making easy the best decision. The increasing number of online shops is explained by the low investment capital demanded to start such a business. The digital market has flexible and law entry and exit barriers. This leads to a fiercely rivalry on the market.


An online catalogue that

offers vintage and retro jewelry at affordable

prices

Online vintage shop with interior and lifestyle in a romantic and a little raw Scandinavian / French - a large selection of products in beauty

brands. Some products are brought from abroad

- new and used.


THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTSIn the last few years the new entrants on the digital market and more specifi-cally in social media, has been quite numerous.

The market is very attractive because of the high and still growing demand of jewelry among customers. The positive development of the mar-ket and increasing number of players are due to the fact that people tend to buy more and more online due to the lack of time and attractiveness of the prices.Another reason might be the easiness to compare different offers of com-petitors. just in a short time and easily make the best decision. The digital market has flexible and law entry and exit barriers. This leads to a fiercely rivalry on the market.

Two motivators drive the customers who might purchase the products. First, the female customers who find the design interesting and represents them may buy jewelry for personal use. This category can find other substi-tutes in other cheaper jewelry shops that may have more appealing designs and be in a way unique since we can see these customers need to distin-guish themselves through their jewelry or clothing.

Another fact disclosed by research findings is that these products are seen as a perfect gift item. In this case the spectrum of gifts is very large and one can easily find another thing for purchasing and the same or even lower price level.

SUBSTITUTES

COMPETTITVE RIVALRY


The suppliers consist of:

• Small, local businesses in Romania that sell mineral stones and silver products;• My own jewelry and friends;• Second-hand jewelry from peo-ple that want to sell or donate jewels they don’t use anymore.

The products are bought from these stores and imported by me.From the suppliers perspective the jewelry market is very attractive since the suppliers are very numerous and the prices and offers are very com-petitive. The switching costs from one supplier to another are not restrain-ing because there is no contract for determined periods, so the supplier’s power is limited to nonexistent.

SUPPLIERS

The buyers have a strong power re-garding the purchase from an online store.Customers can easily switch from one shop to another. A lack of differentiation in services and inability of offering high quality of products would put in danger the existence of the web shop in the long run since the segment of custom-ers who are demanding high quality/ innovative is increasing steadily and very fast. Therefore, the success on this seg-ment would be a focus on differentia-tion through quality and originality.

Only a cost based strategy will make the bargaining power of customers high and actually will drive out the company from the market.

BUYERS BARGAINING POWER

COMPETTITVE RIVALRY


COMMUNICATION PLAN

Service design is a relatively new discipline that asks some fundamen-tal questions: what should the customer experience be like? What should the em-ployee experience be like? How does a company remain true to its brand, to its core business assets and stay relevant to customers?Design is a highly pragmatic discipline. That is why it is of such interest to busi-ness: it gets results. But if at its heart lies the idea of experience, then, as this supplement shows, the methods and ideas behind service design can equally be applied to the public sector. We reveal how service methods can help design expe-riences that are more efficient and more effective.

“

”

After understanding better the target audi-ences characteristics with the help of the Miner-va model (The products are positioned between the green and rose areas, more towards the green because the target audience is best fitting in the category defined mostly by women that are inter-ested in culture, arts and arts craft, which is what I am mainly selling.), I have come to some de-ductions that will increase the experience of the buyers.Having this in mind, one of the communication strategies will be that I have to distinguish the brand from other similar brands on the market

PRODUCT

My store new in the business of selling handmade jewelry sold in Denmark. The products offered are especially handcrafted silver jewelry with pre-cious stones and gems and also handmade molded materials and painted. The uniqueness of the products is their origin and craftsmanship. Attention in detail is what characterizes every piece of jewelry. The source and handcraft is carried out on the products themselves, with their beautiful gemstones, fine lines and at the same time

THE 4

P’s

through design and through the service offered to the customers when buying the product.The purpose of this is to define exactly what is the experience going to be, and then work back to establish how I can navigate the con-straints I have – and essentially deliver that.This will mainly focus on:• Quality and design of products• Innovative packaging of products that would charm the customers and thus making them loyal.

decorative motifs but also the story behind each jewelry that has parts who have been owned by someone in the past, and has participated togeth-er with the previous owner in different occasions. I have tried to reflect this beautiful fluid naturalness in products but at the same time keep it simple because of it being sold in Denmark, which is renowned for its minimalistic design.

Keeping a focus only on the products is facilitated by a more simplistic de-sign and can make the message clearer. Because the company is both about the products and services I will be discussing what services are offered on the promotional plan.


The company being new on the Internet relies heavily on its clients for the promotional plan. Because the “business” has not been official-ly around for a while, it relies on the potential customers it could acquire by promoting the products through friends and acquaintances.

Since the incorporation of different social me-dia such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, I can easily say that it would have a big impact on making the online shop known. I will create a Pinterest and Facebook account I can keep the customers updated about different prod-ucts coming in or even special offers.

From the extended research I have found out what other shopping websites do with their own Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter accounts and I will be doing similar campaigns of promoting new products or new campaigns through the Facebook page and Pinterest accounts. What is now called social optimiza-tion in viral marketing is separated into two categories:(a) Social media features added to the content itself, including: RSS feeds, social news and sharing buttons, user rating and polling tools, and incorporating third-party community functionalities like images and videos(b) Promotional activities in social media aside from the content being promoted, including: blogging, commenting on other blogs, par-ticipating in discussion groups, and posting status updates on social networking profiles.

By understanding how social media and so-cial networking functions I can easily use it to my advantage as most companies have been doing for a long time. A good example is big shopping sites such as Asos.com and Cdon.com who on their site incorporate different tools such social media, for example Asos.com offers its clients the opportunity to get a preview of special campaign if they sign up for their Facebook account. While Cdon.com offers its customers a 50kr discount if they Like It on Facebook. The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral market-ing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create viral messages that appeal to this seg-ment of the population and have a highprobability of being taken by another com-petitor.• Two thirds of the world’s Internet popu-lation now visits a social network or blog site weekly• 220+ million people visit the top 25 social networks each month • Facebook alone has 900+ million active users • Social media Internet traffic has ex-ceeded adult entertainment sites • Time spent visiting Social media sites now exceeds time spent emailing • 52% of people who find news online forward it on through social networks, email, or posts. • 59% of adults polled state that they use their cell phone to remain connected with their social network.Because of statistics such as these, compa-nies – big or small – have seen to it that viral marketing services are integrated into their company.33Because the cost per impression is typically much lower in comparison to other forms of media, businesses have been able to reach a very large buying audience at a lower cost when compared to other forms of available media.

PROMOTION


Forty-two per cent of businesses not selling online told us that increased consumer confi-dence would make them more likely to.Furthermore, 79 per cent of internet users we surveyed were very concerned about the risks to the security of their payment details from online shopping. Indeed the estimate that 3.4million people were prepared to use the inter-net, but not willing to shop online because of a lack of trust or fears about personal secu-rity. Their missed savings could amount to between £175 million and £350 million each year. Although online shoppers seem to gain confidence over time, even experienced ones remained worried about their financial security and privacy.

Through the Nielsen survey I have learned how online shopping generally functions which lead me to an understanding of what type of audience and how they behave when it comes to online shopping. The survey also gave me an indication of how internet shop-ping is conducted and how I can use this information to my benefit in order to market the online shop.

After analyzing the market and the possibili-ties I will face by entering the field of digital marketing I have concluded that security is the most important factor that I have to keep in mind when making the site. By providing my clients with a sense of security I can be sure that they will be coming back.

To ensure that under Customer service on the Website I have listed all the different laws that apply to protect the customers and also the company, by offering that information I can overcome any problems that may oc-cur of misinterpretation in the future between the company and my customers. I have also decided to use Pay Pal as the paying method because is a method trusted by millions of people around the world and the Company itself guarantees security. In early 2006, Pay-Pal introduced an optional security key as an additional precaution against fraud.

PLACE

In order to understand more about the envi-ronment that I will be doing business in, I have decided to research how online shopping is conducted. The Nielsen Company has recorded what consumers around the world are behaving when it comes to online shopping, according to the company over 85% of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase, which in turn is up to 40% from two years ago and more than half of the internet users are regular online shoppers making online shoppers at least once a month.

The Nielsen Company started its first survey into online shopping habits 2 years ago and it concluded at the time that only 10% of the world’s online population had made purchases over the Internet. Within the space of 2 years the number has gone up with approximately 40%. This online shopping popularity is a global phenomenon, the number of internet consum-ers buying books over the internet has in-creased with over seven percent in the past 2 years but the clothing, accessories and shoes category has experienced the highest increase by far in the two year category-from 20% to 36%.

Although internet sales have been increasing for years, this does not necessarily mean that they are growing as much as they might. The latest reliable figures, from 2009, suggest that online sales were still only three per cent of all retail sales, and only six per cent of business-es were selling online to households.

I have found that there are many reasons why businesses and shoppers might not want to use the internet to buy and sell, including lack of internet access, products not being appro-priate, or simply no desire to use it. However, some were being deterred by concerns about using the internet to buy, and although many people were willing to shop online, most had fears about doing so. Confidence and trust are important to the suc-cess of internet shopping.


A user account tied to a security key has a modified login process: the account holder enters their login ID and password, as normal, but is then prompted to press the button on the security key and enter the six-digit number generated by it. This two-factor authentication is intended to make account compromise by a malicious third party without access to the physical security key difficult, although it does not prevent so-called Man in the Browser (MITB) attacks. However, the user (or malicious third party) can alternatively authenticate by providing the credit card or bank account number listed on their account. Thus, the Pay-Pal’s implementation does not offer the security of true two-factor authentication. Because of that I believe that the consumers will be assured of the level of security that can be offered to them in the website.

PRICE

Before the product is developed, the market-ing strategy is formulated, including target market selection and product positioning. There usually is a tradeoff between product quality and price, so price is an important variable in positioning. To set the specific price level that achieves their pricing objectives, managers may make use of several pricing methods.These methods include:• Cost-plus pricing - set the price at the production cost plus a certain profit margin.• Target return pricing - set the price to achieve a target return- on-investment.• Value-based pricing - base the price on the effective value to the customer relative to alternative products.• Psychological pricing - base the price on factors such as signals of product quality, popular price points, and what the consumer perceives to be fair. After having considered the different aspects such as income levels in Denmark, target audience specification for the online shop, production prices and importation fee, I have come to the conclusion that I need to keep the prices level to what the Danish audience is used to. From other companies that I have researched such as Pilgrim I have found out that the prices when it comes to real jewelry

are quite steep when in contrast with other countries. In order to ensure that the client makes a profit from the online shop we have to consider also what level of pricing will eventually bring this outcome. In comparison with other stores online I believe that I have maintained a reasonable level of prices, such as most of stores in the similar design-quality range.As above mentioned there are certain methods to use pricing in the company’s advantage, I have chosen to use value-based pricing which enables me to base the price on the value that the customer attaches to the products. In order to reach all audiences I have decided to have the pricing range in the middle, not too cheap not too expensive.The other method I have decided to use is the Target return pricing, which means that in order to reach my target audience and have them returning, I will need to use several price discounts. Such as listed below:• Quantity discount - offered to customers who purchase in large quantities.• Cumulative quantity discount - a discount that increases as the cumulative quantity increases. Cumulative discounts may be offered to resellers who purchase large quantities over time but who do not wish to place large individual orders.• Seasonal discount - based on the time that the purchase is made and designed to reduce seasonal variation in sales. For example, the travel industry offers much lower off-season rates. Such discounts do not have to be based on time of the year; they also can be based on day of the week or time of the day, such as pricing offered by long distance and wireless service providers.• Cash discount - extended to customers who pay their bill before a specified date.• Trade discount - a functional discount offered to channel members for performing their roles. For example, a trade discount may be offered to a small retailer who may not purchase in quantity but nonetheless performs the important retail function.• Promotional discount - a short-term discounted price offered to stimulate sales. In this case I have decided to make use of promotional discount, which will offer all new


customers free delivery while returning customers will enjoy 20% off from their overall purchases.

I will also be offering seasonal discounts which will allow for certain holidays such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day Easter and so on which the holidays are most known for giving gifts, so I will be following on the lead of the other online stores where they give seasonal discounts and offer a lot of purchasing opportunities. By doing that I hope to achieve client return, which will in turn enable me to use those clients as ambassadors to their friends and acquaintances.

3. Social mediaI will also try to reach out my network on Fa-cebook and Twitter.

2. Interest

This is one of the most challenging stages: When the attention of the target audience is captured, it is necessary to engage with them enough so that they’ll want to spend their precious time understanding the message in more detail.The use of bullets and subheadings, and breaking up the text will make the important points stand out. The newsletters will be very short and simple, mostly by using images that can communicate the message in a quick but effective way.

3. Desire

The Interest and Desire parts of AIDA go hand-in-hand: As I will build the reader’s inter-est, I will also help them understand how what I’m offering can make their life better. The main way of doing this is by trying to appeal to their personal needs and wants.So, rather than simply saying, “My products are beautiful and precious”, I will explain to the audience what’s in it for them: “My prod-ucts will enhance your beauty”

4. Action

Finally, I will be very clear about what action I want my readers to take; for example, “Visit www. My jewelry store. Com now for more in-formation”, or “Visit my Pinterest profile to see more” rather than just leaving people to work out what to do for themselves.On the website, I will use a simple and direct message “Look. Check. Buy. And then buy more. “.

AIDA Model1. Attention/Attract

In the media-filled world, one needs to be bright and straight to grab people’s atten-tion. Using strong words, or a picture that will catch the reader’s eye will make them stop and read what is coming next.

An attractive slogan or a tagline is part of the key to success.

Strategies that I will use to grab peoples at-tention will be:

1. SloganA strong slogan is the fingerprint of business achievement. An ad slogan should be:•Strategical. It should correspond to the mis-sion and vision of the company.• Memorable. • Original and remarkable. • Concise.

2. Newsletters.Having most people suffering from e-mail spam overload, newsletter e-mails need sub-ject lines that will urge receivers to open them and read the contents. For this reason, the subject line has to be concise and alluring.


ROUGHBOARD

The roughboard visually illustrates the direction of style that I am pursuing and represents in-spirational elements that will be present in the design solution. I have taken few examples from fashion companies’ logos (fashion magazines or jewelry brands as well as fashion brands.) and elements that best define the products that represent the brand.

After analyzing the market and possibilities offered by the media these days and after tak-ing a look into internal and external factors, I have come to the conclusion that creating a visual identity will help the brand in its goal of communicating its message and gaining

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

brand recognition. The first step in order to define what the solution of this project will be, I have created a roughboard that will help in the process of defining the mood of the design.


THE LOGOIf a company wants to acquire brand awareness, creating a logo is a very important point.The aim of my logo is to gain visual recognition. I have decided that a logotype is the most appropriate option for visually communicating my message to the target audience, as I found out in the analysis part of the project in the Positioning section.

The letter “O” within the logo is represented by a circle, which is an ancient and universal sym-bol of unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, female power, and the sun. Inside of the letter O there is a kaleidoscopic wheel, constituted from tiny geometrical elements that resemble mineral stones and gems that are representative for the design of the jewelry that I am selling.


The logotype will be embodied by a word that stands for what I am selling and is self-explanatory: BIJOU. The word bijou means a small, exquisitely wrought trinket. The word comes from the Breton language- a derivation of French.

The golden rule of branding is that a logo must be describable. That is, like Nike’s ‘swoosh’ or McDonald’s ‘golden arches’, there’s a simplicity and uniqueness that can be conveyed by description. Clear colourways and easily explainable shapes mean the logo will be more memorable, which, after all, is its purpose.

I have decided to use a sans serif tall and slim font because of its’ simplicity and classic black look, that will last in time throughout fashion trends. Present research found that, as branches grow and become more international, their logos be-come more symbolic and less iconic. The iconicity and symbolism of a sign depends on the cultural convention and are on that ground in relation with each other. If the cultural convention has greater influence on the sign, the signs get more symbolic value.

My logo is a more iconic and less symbolic because it is similar to the shape of the object depict-ed and is thus instantly recognizable. The symbols, on the other hand, may have no visible resemblance of the object at all. Their meaning has to be learned.

The colors used in the logo are:

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#000000

#f6006e

#fcca46

#353535

#dbdbdb

#ffffff

Typography: The font used for the logo is called Steelfish regular. Steelfish license is free to be used in commercial projects.


THE WEBSITEIn order to attract customers, companies use websites to communicate their message.

The use of semiotics in this case is essential. Nowadays a website is not just a collection of text; it is a conglomerate of images, multime-dia, interactive features, animated graphics, and sounds.

The marketing world in particular quickly embraced the Internet as an ideal medium for reaching beyond domestic markets in order to distribute products to foreign markets.

To make sure that I will create a well structured website I have started out by making some wireframe sketches.

HOME

ABOUT

COLLECTION

SHOP

CONTACT

very picture is a message” (Roland Barthes.“The Photographic Message.New York: Hill, 1977)

Only by embedding in a concrete discourse situation can the photograph yield a clear semiotic outcome.The pictures found on my front page are mainly product pictures. A decorative object made of different used objects that had a different use before represents one of the pictures. The message is the fact that the jewels are made of recycled materials or recycled jewels.

The connotation of the world we live in is historically and culturally shaped. We find in our gestures, attitudes, expressions, colors or effects endowed with certain meanings by practice of our society.

That is why the details of the website have been selected taking into consideration all those features mentioned above, where the attention has been focused on the perception of the potential customer.

“EThe reason for using photography for the web site is that it is a continuous message. A picture has always a hidden message and an obvious one for the target audience. The evident one is the message that is easily understood by every culture and the hidden one differs from culture to culture. Roland Barthes is referring to a denotative function of the photograph and a second function, which has a culturally determined meaning . This is what is called connotation. Connotation is not necessarily graspable at the level of the message itself, but it is read connected more or less consciously by the public that consumes it to a traditional stock of signs. The connotation of an image is at once invisible and active, clear and implicit. In the real world it is difficult to make a separation between denotation and connotation.


“When you’re creating a site, your job is to get rid of the question marks. ”

Only by embedding in a concrete discourse situation can the photograph yield a clear se-miotic outcome.The pictures found on my front page are mainly product pictures. A decorative object made of different used objects that had a different use before represents one of the pictures. The message is the fact that the jewels are made of recycled materials or recycled jewels.

“…every question mark adds to our cognitive workload, distracting our attention from the task at hand. The distractions may be slight but they add up… ”

Using a differential color to emphasize the page the user is currently on right now will make things more clear and simple for the user. Another convention used is the fact that the BIJOU logo is part of the global navigation that appears on every page of the website.It is conventionally placed in the top left side of the page and it is linked to the home page.

The connotation of the world we live in is his-torically and culturally shaped. We find in our gestures, attitudes, expressions, colors or effects endowed with certain mean-ings by practice of our society.

That is why the details of the website have been selected taking into consideration all those features mentioned above, where the attention has been focused on the perception of the potential customer.

In this way, the users know that they can go back to where they started at any time. In this case, the website has a very simple navigation hierarchy with only one level depth, but in other more complex websites where the users can get “lost”, the presence of the home button in the global navigation is essential.


Steve, Krug- “Don’t make me think”

Steve, Krug- “Don’t make me think”

”BIJOU, the new vintage you!“Bijou’s tagline: “Bijou, the new vintage you” which suggests the renewal of the customers appearance by the vintage products. The usage of an oxymoron in this sentence brings an emphasis on the two opposite words “new” and “vintage” which attracts the attention of the readers.

COLORS AND FONTS

Color is a magical element that gives feeling and emotion to art, design, and advertising. By understanding color meaning, (or the psychology of color) the designer can choose the right color to support and emphasize the design. The website has a color scheme that includes mostly black and white, which are widely used to depict opposites. Visually, white and black offer the highest possible con-trast. In western culture, white and black traditionally symbolize the di-chotomy of good and evil,

metaphorically related to light and darkness and day and night White, which stands for cleanliness, and simplicity is an optimal back-ground color for a rather heavy content. Like black, white goes well with almost any color, which favors the different colors in the product pictures. In most cases white is seen as a neutral background color.Black has been used for the navigation text and content text throughout the website.Fuchsia has been used to emphasise the navigation.

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NEWSLETTER

The newsletter contains Bijou’s tagline: “Bijou, the new vintage you” which has been explained in the Tagline section within the UX section.

Colors used in the newsletter are similar to the ones on the website, the fonts are different – restricted by the newsletter platform used at www.mailchimp.com.

The newsletter has a picture that illustrates a surprised- girl; the expression on her face signifies the excitement at finding out about the new collection from Bijou.

Links to Facebook , Pinterest and “Share with a friend” by e-mail button are provided for the readers,making it very simple for them to check out the collection and share them with their friends.

The process of creating the newsletter has followed a set of rules:

1. The sender is easy to identify 2. The address is simple to read (avoid num-bers and alphanumeric combinations) 3. The domain is related to the company sending the newsletter 4. The address is not too long and can be read all in the inbox 5. The display name is easy to identify 6. Option to see the newsletter on a browser 7. Option to unsubscribe 8. Opt-in Option (when forward from a friend) 9. Can be seen without images and still makes sense 10. Links (Images are clickable, and other “pos-sible links” are present) 11. Links are valid (they direct to a real page) 12. Text is informative and invites to follow up on the web 12. The length of the newsletter is “enough” 13. Look and feel relates to the main site


The subscribe form will be included in the contact section of the website.It is very simple and short, the users only have to fill in their Name and e-mail adress. The picture used is the same as in the newsletter, this time only focusing on the mouth, which in this case is the main expression that communicates the surprise.

STATIONERY PACKI have designed the stationery pack using the logo and the elements from the illustration within it.


In the future I will be using Facebook’s marketplace and create Ads were it will be showing on people’s profiles, but for now because the company hasn’t got a lot of money to spend on marketing it will be con-centrating its efforts mostly on promoting itself through its customers and every pos-sible free social media capacity it can use; such as using Tweeter to announce arrivals of new things, or Facebook to give out promotional discounts and vouchers to those who rec-ommends us to friends. Another way I can use social media for free is creating in the future a blog where I can maintain and through that blog and the diverse social me-dia we can reach a wider variety of people. Also using a blog can create a sense of security for the potential consumers by use of recommendations to our site from previous costumers.Another future plan is to build a Pinterest profile from where I will keep followers updated with all new styles and collections. Pinterest is a pin board-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, and more. Users can browse other pin boards for inspiration, ‘re-pin’ images to their own collections and/or ‘like’ photos. Pinterest’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting”

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT


CONCLUSION


uring this analysis of the internal and external factors that are affecting the company and the brand, I have thus answered the 3 major problem areas. In order to overcome the problem of getting the brand known I have come to the conclusion that a visualD

identity, a logo, a website, etc. will gain brand awareness and help in the process of gaining customers and the cheapest and best way is to use different forms of social media and newsletters.

I will make use of my already growing network to establish myself in the market and create brand awareness for my company in the area of Copenhagen to start with. Because I am dealing with the internet and the online shoppers are faced with many different possibilities I will have to distinguish myself from the potential competitors in order to draw clientele.

In addition to that I don’t only have to face competition on an online level but also on physical level, where shoppers prefer to shop from a real store. In order to achieve this differentiation from the competitors I need to create a strong affiliation with quality and prices. In order to achieve that I will try to create a website that reflects the duality of cultures and also enhance the product quality.

Throughout the website I will facilitate the client’s interaction. Making a shopping website means that I have to take into consideration certain facts that the consumers are expecting to find, things like shopping carts and fast and easy navigation of the website with access to search bars in order to find products easier. In order to visually communicate my message through the digital and physical world I will create a logo and visual identity that represents the products and values of the company.


Bijou

Documents

Transcript of Bijou