Reflective writing of my Final Major project.

I have found the last unit very challenging, but highly rewarding. I enjoyed being able to utilise all the skills and knowledge I had gained over the last 2 years of my foundation degree at the London College of fashion, and feeling able as an individual to undergo such a task.

Looking back over my final major project there are definitely some aspects I would change. Having never before undergone such an extensive report individually I struggled with time management, which is an aspect I have struggled on before. However I am proud of the work I have produced and feel it shows the skills and standard that I feel I am capable of.

The business plan I took on was to launch a fragrance for luxury brand Louis Vuitton. One of the most difficult aspects was to justify why Louis Vuitton has not yet released a fragrance being 157 years old, yet most of their competitors in the luxury market had already. Through research I was unable to find any reputable sources as to why they had not released a fragrance, but there was a large amount of discussion. So I then changed my research direction into me myself giving reasoning to why I think they should release a fragrance and backing this idea up with research I had collected on the fragrance market and competitors.

My next focus was to create an appropriate marketing plan in order to promote the product effectively. Using experience I had gained from previous marketing projects and even experience I gained from my work placement at a PR company I constructed a plan that I feel is appropriate for a limited edition fragrance for a luxury brand. I was lucky to find competitor financial information on both sales revenue and marketing spend which helped greatly when constructing both my sales forecast and budgeting my marketing plan. I do however feel if I was to budget again I would make the budget slightly smaller, as currently it would take a larger percentage of revenue than I wanted.

I am pleased with my overall report and the outcome of my business plan and advertisements. I would like to thank my tutors for their support throughout the term and guiding me to the ultimate outcome of my business plan.

Story Board for advertising campaign

Mood Board for Marketing Campaign

Press Release

To promote the Louis Vuitton perfume I have written a press release to be part of the press pack given out at the press event. I used the experience I gained during my work placement of dealing with press releases when writing my press release to promote the fragrance to fashion journalists.

Numbers

This week i have been focusing on budgets and sales forecast. I struggled with some aspects of the budget as it was difficult finding reputable sources that released their rate cards. I also constructed my Gant chart.

My finished Magazine advertisement

over this weekend i concentrated on finishing my filmed advert and my editorial advert for magazines, here is my finished version.

Market Segment

As Louis Vuitton is a luxury brand i decided it was appropriate to release the fragrance into the high quality and High cost segment of the market competing with the other luxury brands such as Dior, YSL, Gucci and Chloe.
I also constructed my market positioning map shown below, in order to view in comparison to other perfumes in the UK women's fragrance market by price and quality.

Event

In order to create a buzz around the limited edition fragrance i decided an event is the perfect way to attract the attention of both the world media and the rich and famous. Looking at Louis Vuitton's launch party for their new bond street store i decided this was a perfect venue to stage a Louis Vuitton party, especially as the perfume will be available in the Bond street store only and online in the UK

The store clearly has the ability to please the guest client-el that Louis Vuitton would want to attract for the launch judging by the success  of the store launch event.

Louis Vuitton Bond Street Launch:
http://www.redcarpet-fashionawards.com/2010/05/28/video-louis-vuitton-new-bond-street-maison-opening-launch-party/

Limited Edition

I decided that it would be best to make the Louis Vuitton travel fragrance limited edition as it would enable Louis Vuitton to test the market for a year and then by using the sales figures,revenues and profit or loss made throughout the period it can then be decided as to whether they would continue releasing fragrances in the future.

It also enables the brand to remain exclusive and high end instead of having an unlimited amount of availability.Due to seasonal demand i decided to make the year period start in December 2011 and finish in December 2012. This is because perfume sales are higher in December due  to the Christmas gift season, so there for the limited period can start and finish on a high.

  

Louis Vuitton Autumn/ Winter 2011

Sneak preview of Louis Vuitton's next advertising campaign.

http://uk.ykone.com/magazine/news/news-to-nibble-on-preview-of-louis-vuitton-campaign-fw-2011/

Customer Profile

I decided it was best to target Louis Vuittons existing target market of affluent professional women. Using the results from my questionnaire it was also clear that younger women are not willing to spend large amounts of money on designer perfumes unless it is a present or for special occasions,

Customer profile for perfume:

Mood Board for Marketing Campaign

Social Networking

Found a Louis Vuitton Twitter account for the UK which could be used for digital media within my project marketing plan.

http://twitter.com/#!/LouisVuitton_UK

Louis Vuitton Advertising Campaigns

Looking at previous advertising campaigns there is a running theme of vintage Hollywood glamour.The advertisements give the impression of a classic, chic luxury brand with an almost vintage feel. The advertisements also often use celebrities as models and famous super models.

Previous campaigns:

Primary Research

I decided the best way to find out from the public if there was a demand for a Louis Vuitton fragrance was to conduct a questionnaire. I decided on 100 participants to act as a sample for the UK women's market and drafted the questionnaire in order to prepare to conduct the research the following week

Also as a last minute idea i also decided to stage a focus group using friends and members of my family. This was done so more detailed research could be collected about the perfume industry.

I also researched online resource centre Mintel to gain some facts and figures of competitors for my project and forecasting.

Angelina Jolie

whilst researching my project it was announced that Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie was to become the new face of Louis Vuitton.I started to think about ideas to use the actress in my marketing campaign to launch the perfume

Article from Vogue:
http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/110426-angelina-jolie-for-louis-vuitton.aspx

Travel Fragrance

As Louis Vuitton specialise in producing luxury luggage and travel accessories i felt that it would be appropriate for Louis Vuitton to release a travel sized perfume. This would enable Louis Vuitton to stick to their brand values of producing luxury travel accessories, whilst also at the same time branching into something completely different and exciting that they have not yet ventured into.

Some travel sized perfumes i found:

Final Major Project

This blog will document my final major project of my foundation marketing and promotion degree at the London College of Fashion. For the project we have to create a new product for an existing brand and create an effective business plan in order to make that product successful. This includes marketing communications, budgets,primary and secondary research and sales forecasting.

For my project i have decided to launch a perfume for the luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Of all the high fashion luxury brands Louis Vuitton is one of the only brands that hasn't yet released a fragrance. There for i felt it would be interesting to research why and chose what i feel would be appropriate for them