PPD

Personal Reflective Statement

Writing this business plan has been a real challenge, as I have learned that it takes more than an idea to launch a successful business.  The initial idea to come up with vodka as a brand extension seemed logical, as I believed that fashion is connected to lifestyles and that includes socialising and drinking. Dsquared2 produce a range clothing range that targets the eighteen to thirty five age group. This age group is generally made up of singles and younger couples that don’t have the responsibility of families or mortgages but do have expendable income to enjoy. 

My initial research revealed that vodka drinkers are a very good fit with Dsquared2’s existing target market, due to the demographics of vodka drinkers and their existing customer base.  Research on brand extensions revealed the advantages or launching a new product under a brand umbrella or even brand ‘halo’.  The cost of launching a new product under an existing brand is much less expensive than launching a new product under a new brand.  Research has indicated to the cost of successfully launching a new brand can be as much as $1 Billion which is out of the budget of many organisations.  I discovered this was the reason companies would merge with or take over existing companies just to buy the brands which are extremely valuable.  Given that Dsquared2 is a successful brand that targets the 18-35 yrs target market segment there was an increased prospect of success with the launch of a private label vodka.  Dsquared2 provides the fashionable clothing for consumers who spend their time spending their expendable income on vodka, so it seems logical to provide the vodka along with the clothing.  I believed there could be real synergy to the products if the promotional mix that formed part of the integrated marketing communications campaign was pitched right.

Porter’s (1980) five forces enabled me to consider the competition that Dsquared2 would be up against if it entered the market and the marketing budget available to Smirnoff which was 20% of £1.2 billion was incredible.  I now understand why alcohol is so expensive to buy when it is ridiculously cheap to manufacture, it all comes down to the costs involved in promoting the products and getting consumers to align with the brand and making it part of their personality.  Brands are powerful influencers of consumer behavior and that is why companies must continually invest in their brands.  Investing in brands increases brand equity which makes the brand more valuable to the owner and more influential to the consumers who associates themselves with the brand.  I was intrigued to find out more about the influence of brands on consumers through the research that I conducted on symbolic consumerism and understand why it is vital that marketeers understand their target market to avoid wasting campaign budgets.  Since completing this project I have started to pay more attention to TV advertisements to identify trigger points being used in the marketing activities of major organisations.