Positioning Statement
To self-confident and socially prominent women aged 18 to 40 who pay increased attention to self-expression with the help of various details of an image, Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel is a fresh scent that will highlight the unique features of their personalities and demonstrate their sophisticated taste in perfume (See Exhibit 1).
Target Audience
Size
Chanel is known as one of the largest companies producing a wide range of goods including jewelry, clothes, makeup products, skincare products, and perfume. In general, the target audience of Chanel includes both men and women. The target audience of the chosen product constitutes about forty percent of the customers of Chanel.
Stability
A great number of customers repurchase Chanel products due to their high quality. Younger customers who want to get good quality at a lower price are likely to try products offered by other brands such as MUFE, Hermes, or Dior. The product is a limited edition of the fragrance. Taking this fact into account together with a large amount of product which is not typical for the perfume, it is possible to conclude that the target audience for the product is rather stable. The target audience of the brand is likely to grow because the most recent beauty trends encourage young girls to use makeup products at an earlier age; also, male consumers start paying more attention to the use of skincare products.
Accessibility
The use of some common channels can turn out to be ineffective because the format of the scent bottle and its price make the limited edition of Coco Mademoiselle different from other products of the brand. The target audience for the product can be reached through a multi-channel approach that combines a range of traditional and modern options. When it comes to the traditional advertising channels, the emphasis must be put on using print advertisements in magazines. Importantly, it is necessary to choose only those magazines attracting people with high incomes such as Vogue, Elle, or Harper’s Bazaar.
It is also important to choose the TV channels focusing on programs for business women or people who love fashion. In terms of the non-traditional advertising channels, they include collaboration with famous “beauty gurus” or perfumery specialists whose blogs attract a wide range of women aged from 18 to 45 who can afford high-end products. Apart from that, the Internet provides brands with an opportunity to use contextual advertising that is rather effective.
Sufficiency
The sufficiency of the TA is based on their age, income level, and preferences. The chosen target in the positioning statement is sufficient; understanding that not every woman will need to buy such amount of product, specialists from the brand made the right decision to produce a smaller number of items. The product is likely to be bought only by brand-loyal customers having steady sources of income.
Attitude
The TA of the product is presented by wealthy women who stay loyal to the brand and are concerned about the quality of the product they use. Also, this group is attracted by unique products that are unavailable to others and demonstrate the social status of their owners.
Opinions
To create positive opinions about the product, it can be necessary to create more films featuring the perfume to make the TA associate the product with the luxurious life they dream about.
Motivations
The motivations of the TA to buy the product include the desire to differentiate themselves from other women, repurchase the product they liked, or make a gift to their friends or relatives.
The frame of Reference
Elaborate Likelihood Model
Marketing specialists emphasize the desire of the TA to get the product with a unique design and highlight their social status with its help. When it comes to the central route, the motivation of the TA is high due to the image of a successful woman they see in ads every day. The combination of verbal and visual information is used successfully: paired with the detailed description of the fragrance pyramid, the images of famous actresses strengthen the positive associations in the TA; despite that, the primary attention is paid to the visual means as the directors aim to express the fragrance through images. The type of marketing is left-brained – the fragrance does not belong to the number of essential products. Thus, elements enhancing emotional persuasion are widely used.
Risk Involvement Theory
The risk involved is high; the psychological risks are related to consumers’ willingness to buy a smaller amount of product or fears that they will be unable to use the product on a daily basis. In terms of functional risks, some customers may have quality concerns due to the negative feedback found on the Internet. The social risks are low due to the positive reputation of the brand. Financial and physical risks are irrelevant to the case due to the product type.
Perceptual map
Among the frequently mentioned analogs of the product, it is possible to single out Miss Dior and Prada Tendre that are sold at lower prices but are of lower quality according to the feedbacks from different websites (See Exhibit 2).
Frequency of communication & Media/message strategy
Online communication and the use of print ads can be regarded as the most appropriate for the TA, and seasonality should also be taken into account as the product is supposed to be used in summer. Also, the ads should appear more frequently before holidays as the purchasing power of the TA is increased.
Classical conditioning
Being exposed to the image of a successful woman who lives a happy life and attracts handsome men (used in the film, blog posts, and printed ads), the TA will have positive associations with the fragrance which may stimulate sales.
Unique Point of Difference
The unique features of the product include the design of the fragrance bottle and the amount of product. Stimulus generalization is used as specialists responsible for marketing strategy do not exaggerate the difference between various editions of the same product; all perfumes offered by Chanel are presented as the finishing touch in the image of a woman making her unique and attractive. To effectively communicate based on the features of the product, it is important to focus on advertising to brand loyal customers using the Internet.
Answering Questions
Behavioral issues influencing the sales include the low probability of impulse buying; more than that, even though some people are ready to spend $4000 on one product, the majority of customers would prefer to purchase a few different items, thinking that it would be annoying to use only one fragrance every day. Despite that, the item is valuable to the Chanel line as it helps to fulfill the needs of the wealthiest part of their target audience; to some extent, the presence of this fragrance demonstrates that Chanel is a luxurious brand even though some of their products are available to people with average incomes.
Operant conditioning is one of the components of the sale of the item because the TA is encouraged to purchase the product to become closer to the image of a rich woman who enjoys life and attracts men. Without that positive reinforcement, the strategy would be less successful due to the psychological characteristics of the TA.
