LAKME FASHION WEEK GROUP 17

INTRODUCTION:

Lakme stands for the Indian interpretation of beauty in otherwise western dominated cosmetics

category. Lakme finds its name from the French opera Lakmé, which is the French form of Lakshmi who is

renowned for her beauty. JRD Tata started the company on personally been requested to do so by the then

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952. Lakme hence has shaped and defined the Indian contemporary

context of Beauty. Lakme, in spite of having a rich history, is still young, driven by innovation.

Lakme Fashion Week is another instance symbolizing Lakme’s role in Indian fashion and grooming context. Lakme Fashion Week is the premiere fashion event of India. Lakme, being what it is to Indian beauty,

is at the heart of Lakme Fashion Week. Lakme Fashion Week has helped Lakme further its brand image.

Though the awareness is still restricted to parts of certain cities. This project is aimed at taking Lakme Fashion

Week (and hence Lakme) to consumers, beyond cities, in a cost efficient and a cost effective manner.

OBJECTIVE:

To come up with ideas and an integrated plan that can help take Lakm Fashion Week wider in a relevant, impactful and cost effective way, and hence help Lakm strengthen its credentials as an innovative brand that brings the fashion and beauty trends to India.

METHODOLOGY:

Before getting into the Integrated Marketing Communications strategy, we try to understand what

Brand Lakme is. We spoke to Lakme’s consumers (22 participants, Age Group: 22-26, Metropolitan Cities, Post

Graduate Students) to understand Lakme’s brand Identity.

BRAND PERSONALITY OF LAKME - BRAND IDENTITY PRISM

Represented like the image below.

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COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING

L’Oreal India fashion Week

Lakme Fashion Week

Wills Fashion Week

Amazon India Fashion Week

Wills sponsored India fashion week from 2006-2014, Amazon sponsored in 2015.

UNDERSTANDING THE TARGET GROUP

Considering the target group of females mainly ranging from the age group of 15-45, the identified

driving factors of purchase are price, brand, quality, ingredients, promotion and advertising, packaging, and

store location. Survey helps measuring the importance of the factors as below: Factor Quality Brand Price Availability Promotion Packaging Ingredients

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Awareness of the Lakme Fashion Week among the target group is quite high with 27 out of 30

respondents aware of the Lakme Fashion Week. However, the readiness of respondents to buy Lakme

products based on Lakme Fashion Week is low. Only 10 % of the respondents aware of Lakme Fashion Week

were ready to buy Lakme products because of Lakme fashion week however only after gaining information

and reviews about the product

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BUYING BEHAVIOUR

In order to gauge the buying behaviour for cosmetics a survey across 30 respondents was carried out. All the

respondents were females ranging across different age groups with different education backgrounds and

varied purchasing power.

Some snippets of the survey are as follows:

Key insights from the survey that help in understanding the buying behaviour for cosmetic products:

Quality is the most major factor affecting the purchase decision followed by Brand, Price and Promotions &

Advertising. Also availability is also one of the important factor affecting the purchase decision. Amongst the

Factors that Influence Purchase

Decision for CosmeticsPrice

Brand

Quality

Ingredients

Promotions &

AdvertisingAdvertisement

Shop Display

Friends

Magazines

Doctor/Expert

Shopkeeper Suggestion

Impulse Buy

Factors influencing choice of Brand of

Cosmetic

Awareness of Lakme Fashion Week

among TG

Respondents Aware of Lakme Fashion Week

Respondents Unaware of Lakme Fashion

Week

Influence of Lakme Fashion Week on

Purchasing Decision

LFW able to influence purchase

LFW not able to influence purchase

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factors influencing the choice of brand in cosmetics doctors/experts, advertisements and friends are the key

influencers. Probability to explore new brands is higher among the age group below 25 as compared to those

above 25.

UNDERSTANDING RETAIL STORES –PRODUCT PLACEMENT AND POS PROMOTIONS

Lakme offers products as well as services. Lakme has a gamut of

products catering to the skin care and makeup categories. Its products are

available at Hypermarkets, Super markets, Departmental stores and

Chemists/Druggists. Lakme distribution is merged with Hindustan

Unilever and has more than 3000 distributors across the country.

Lakme offers services in the form of salons. Lakme intends to take the

store count to 520 stores across India by 2016. Almost 75 percent of the

salons are franchised and the rest are company owned. The growth will

include both franchise stores as well

company owned. Depending on the size of

the salon the investment in a Lakme salon

varies between Rs 30-45 lakhs. The

operating breakeven period is 6-8 months

and the capital is recovered in 3-4 years.

Internet promotions are the most recent

form of sales promotions. It is becoming increasingly popular because of

the large use of Internet. Lakme offers its wide range of skin and hair products as well as salons through

websites. Offers on products and salon treatments are widely available on the online channels

IDEAS AND INTEGRATION

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EVENTS:

Lakme Fashion Week, conceived and created with a vision to Redefine the future of fashion and Integrate India into the global fashion world , is the considered the premier fashion event conducted in India.

It is undoubtedly one of the few well-known platforms in India celebrating and promoting the glitz and glamor

of the country. Glittery lights, haute couture and what not, LFW has been one platform that has always added

immense value for the models, designers and the brands. Presently, the LFW is a bi-annual event – held in

February and August – only in the city of Mumbai with the top names in the fashion and showbiz industry along

with the Bollywood industry, all part of it. The passion for fashion is a common element in all those

participating and attending the LFW, making it an increasingly popular platform for all stakeholders to

network and familiarize with the latest trends in the industry.

However, here in lies the problem with the popularity of LFW. LFW, since its inception, has been

promoted and believed to be an event for only the so-called fashionistas of India. With Lakme’s ambition to leverage LFW to increase and improve Lakme’s reach and success, it is highly important for them to alter the

image of the show in the minds of the general public or typically those who have the potential of becoming

their target customers as an event that is held and applicable for them too. For this they may also have to

undertake steps that extend their reach to these customers, increase their involvement with the event and the

brand at large and then advertise the brand and quality that Lakme is.

The idea that we believe Lakme should invest in is to conduct two tiers of the fashion shows that they

have. While the LFW is the primary bi-annual event that must continue, Lakme can also have a secondary tier

of these fashion weeks held at a comparatively smaller level across all the targeted Tier 1 and 2 cities of the

country. These secondary fashion events will have a lot of contests and games and competitions held in

popular locations, aimed at attracting young and interested. Held frequently across the year, this would

improve Lakme’s connect with its target segment; not only helping it’s on the spot sales and brand

engagement, but also the brand recall by the customers. The way in which we leverage LFW in regards with

these secondary events is by giving passes for the Fashion Week to the winners of the contests and

competitions, few of which are listed below. This would definitely create the required buzz and pull for the

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secondary events, since passes for the general public into the LFW is an extreme rarity and would hence prove

as a perfect incentive for the crowds.

Some of the initiatives that we believe should be taken up in the secondary events are as follows:

1. Mini ramp walk competitions for interested and enthusiastic men and women – This can be conducted

in all secondary events in a multiple elimination round-wise format. To promote Lakme, contestants can be

told to use Lakme products available for them backstage while they dress up

2. Designing outfits and apparel competition – Contestants participate to design outfits for the grand

LFW. The Winner’s outfit will be worn by a model and special mention of the same will be done

3. Guess the Lakme products Competition – This for the general masses to compete and the one who is

able to guess the most number right wins a hamper containing an assortment of Lakme products

4. The Makeover challenge – A competition to show the best makeover in two hours using the limited

Lakme products available. The Winner Team will be given a chance to visit the backstage of the LFW to see

the live scenes of some of the best beauticians and stylists working on the on-stage models

5. Most innovative Product Challenge – A panel of esteemed judges can adjudge the Winner of most

innovative product that can be added to the Lakme assortment of products. The Winner can be given passes

to the LFW plus a hamper of Lakme products

6 Conduct certain talks and styling tip sessions through well-known artists or celebrities on different

aspects of fashion and trends

7. Give away Lakme gift hampers containing Lakme products along with a small booklet of Lakme

Fashion Week highlighting the key features of the upcoming LFW to make youngsters aware

8. Introduce tie-ups with colleges in few cities to set-up a mentorship program in association with Lakme

to train and guide budding models and fashion enthusiasts in different domains to get them ready for industry

and attract the best talents to Lakme and particularly participate in LFW

9. Use event as a platform to Garner some feedback on trial of new products that Lakme plans to launch

in the near future

Presently LFW is conducted in Mumbai only. While they manage to invite celebrities and eminent

popular figures and showcase talent from across the country, Lakme is hardly able to create its presence and

awareness through the LFW in other parts of the country. We suggest that the primary bi-annual event of LFW

be held in such a way that one of those is kept fixed in India while the other one is held in different cities in

India – whichever is attractive and viable – on a rotational basis to increase Lakme’s geographic reach through increased marketing and advertising of the event.

UTILIZING DIGITAL TOUCH POINTS:

MOBILE APP

A mobile app should be developed especially for the promotions of Lakme Fashion Week (LFW). Like

the apps built for yearly events such as various sports tournaments - Tennis, IPL etc., this app will serve as a

throughout the year promotion platform for LFW culminating towards the event week.

Features the app can have:

o Contests related to Lakme products

Identify the correct lipstick shade

Identify the product name

Try your make-up online and select the best product which suits you

o Live updates during the event week

Iii. Photo & Video Gallery

o Trivia about Fashion trends around the world

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o Podcasts from famous fashion designers

o E-Wallet option to buy Lakme products online through the points won in the above contests

o App specific discounts to encourage usage of the E-wallet option of the app

o Integration with Facebook and Twitter to follow LFW specific posts and tweets

LIVE STREAMING

The star attractions of LFW should be streamed live through social networking websites as well as

fashion blogs.

GAMIFICATION

We realize that the Lakme Fashion Week is a biannual event. The buzz around the event is thus seasonal

and not throughout the year. Lakme should thus work towards keeping the consumers on their toes

throughout the year with respect to Lakme Fashion Week. We should encourage the consumers to be engaged

with Lakme throughout the years. Loyalty programs are highly targeted, but they are hardly capable of

incentivizing further purchases and brand engagement. The consumer should find himself to be a part of the

brand’s journey to own up to it. We should thus come up with yearlong programme where we incentivize the consumers to write review our products. This is where Gamification goes long way in driving brand

engagement. Consumers would earn points for writing reviews (both positive and negative) and for their

purchases. The technical infrastructure can be integrated into the mobile app discussed earlier. But, as

opposed to traditional loyalty programme points, these points would not exchange against further purchases.

In fact these points will not have any monetary value at all. These points can get the consumers to attend

Lakme Fashion Week or beforehand information regarding brand’s new launches, news regarding the brand

itself not available to the public. This will get the consumers involved in the Lakme’s brand story and thus drive high brand engagement.

SHOP SENSE

Insight: Be it lipsticks, Mascara, make up or anything else,

women and girls generally would want to know how she looks

before making the purchase.

Concept: Using Shop-Sense technology, we can create an

application whereby women can actually see how they would

look post applying the particular Lakme product. They would be

able to see dynamic lipstick color changes, mascara effect and so

on. We will make this application available at Lakme owned

retail outlets and Lakme Salons in the initial phase. There after

we would let the application be available for download on

Playstore and iStore.

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Advantages: It aids our consumers in decision-making. It helps them decide what would be the best for them.

Additionally, it will also enable to push newer products as well as complimentary products as it is often

observed that when shopping through mobile applications, people tend to make that impulse purchase

CONTESTS DURING THE LFW EVENT

Events like Fresh Face of the campus, Beauty queen of the college etc. can be organized across colleges

and the winners can be given a chance to volunteer with the LFW team to help in the preparations of the event.

This will give them a holistic experience of the event and result in huge WOM publicity. Their experience can

be recorded and later be showcased through a new TV show.

TV ADS

In terms of the television ads that Lakme invests in, we believe that Lakme can leverage on the LFW.

The advertisement can talk about the life and effort of a model - touching upon the emotional side of the

customer while also promoting the profession of becoming a model or a professional in the fashion industry.

The ad would essentially talk about how Lakme as a brand is providing a platform for budding enthusiast in

the industry while portraying the journey of the professional right from the beginning of his/her association

with the brand or the industry. To touch upon the emotional and sensitive quotient of the viewer or customer

is key to connect with them.

Alternatively, Lakme could also have a dedicated weekly show on a MTV or Channel V telecasting the stories

of different models and also capturing moments from backstage happenings and events.

The above changes should be a good start for Lakme to leverage the LFW to reach out to far larger audience

and incentivize them through its grandeur to becoming loyal Lakme product users and associating themselves

with the brand for further use.

PRODUCT REVIEW STORIES

Background:

Lakme has a wide customer base, which it caters to through a plethora of products. Generally they end up

writing reviews on beauty websites or magazines, which have a limited, reach.

Concept:

Video Reviews: - My Lakme’ Makeover story. Instead of parading models in front of television sets advocating

Lakme products, we reach out to the end consumer and ask them to send in their video entry with their story

about how Lakme product(s) have helped her get over a nagging skin issue. The best entries are shown on

television and due credit to the consumer sending the review is given. This is analogous to the Maggi concept

where the customers sent in their video entries with their Maggi stories and the role it plays in their lives. Nestle

employed a similar strategy when it came to the re-launch of Maggi noodles post the lead fiasco.

Advantages:

The key advantage of this form of advertisement is that helps reach out to a wider audience and gives a feeling

that the product is for women who want to look good, overcome skin issues rather than associate an elitist feel

with the product.

Secondly, primarily focusing on product reviews of the products launched in the preceding Lakme

Fashion Week, we give our consumers a reason to eagerly look forward to the next edition of LFW and the

product launch associated with it

ADVERTISEMENTS –GROWTH STORY/JOURNEY OF A MODEL – LAKME’S ROLE IN CHANGING

OUTLOOK TOWARDS MODELLING

Every year, Lakme auditions hundreds of aspiring models from across the country and presents

them the opportunity to participate in their biggest fashion event – Lakme Fashion Week. It is this initiative

by Lakme that needs to be highlighted and thus encourage more participation.

For this we suggest promotional advertisements busting the myths related to modelling like being skinny

and having a pretty face is all you need to become a top model . These advertisements could be in the form of in-stream ads or promotional advertisements on television to be run for a month before the actual event.

The advertisement content could be on the lines of-

It feels really good when people see you in print or television ads and congratulate you for your success. But out of the number of aspiring models with clear skin and lean figure -- only a handful are chosen to walk

for what is known as the country’s biggest and most-talked-about fashion event. Why?

It takes a lot more than just good looks and passion to survive in the industry. It has to be a combination of

a lot of deciding factors -- the right attitude and the right gait.

Modelling is a highly challenging profession. Behind all the glitz and glamour, there is a lot of hard work and

perseverance involved.

How confident you are on the ramp is all that matters. Do you have the features and the confidence that

will complement the brand they endorse?

This is where grooming yourself plays an extremely crucial role and Lakme Fashion Week offers you this

exclusive opportunity

Towards the end of promotion, glimpses of the grooming session should also be telecasted thus educating

the target group and encouraging higher participation.