Introduction to Assignment 2

Through Assignment 1, we identified and established what is Hang Ten's current brand positioning and values. With this knowledge, we wish to proceed to the next step in our Brand Management Process to help measure and interpret Hang Ten's current brand performance.


In order to do so, we need to explore what are customers' mind sets, which make up an integral portion of Hang Ten's brand value chain. Therefore, research needs to be carried out on our part in order to gain greater insights.


We will begin with Qualitative research such as Free Association, Brand Personality and lastly followed by Laddering Technique. By applying these techniques in the following order, we are able to gain a deeper level of understanding of consumers' perceptions and impressions of Hang Ten.


After conducting Qualitative research, we would then follow up with Quantitative research through the use of surveys which would help us verify what we have gathered earlier during our Qualitative research phase.

So stay tuned and look out for our upcoming posts detailing our findings from our research!

Free Association

To better understand Hang Ten's current position in consumers' minds and to uncover some preconceived notions about the brand, we engaged eight individuals aged 21 to 30 in an in-depth interview to uncover their deep-seated impressions and motivations about the brand.

We used three main techniques- Free Association, Brand Personality and Laddering. Although the interview methods differed, one thing was common: Hang Ten held similar positions in most of our respondents minds... but this perception was not a very positive one!

Free Association

Free association is a simple technique used to identify a range of possible brand associations a customers has when they think about a brand. The two main question we asked to elicit free association are:

" What do you think of when you hear the brand name Hang Ten?"

" What would you associate Hang Ten products with?"

The network of associations derived are depicted below. Words that are bigger and bolder were mentioned in higher frequency. 

Cheap, Boring & Unfashionable

The most frequently mentioned words associated with Hang Ten were "cheap", "boring" and "unfashionable". These associations carry negative connotations leading us to believe that customers overall do not have a positive evaluation of the Hang Ten brand. Many of their initial negative associations lead to even more negative associations resulting in why most respondents do not consider Hang Ten as a first choice in casual wear.

"Unfashionable" was not only mentioned in great frequency, but it was one of the first associations that many respondents had when asked about the brand. This indicates the relative strength of association of Hang Ten being an "unfashionable" brand. This poses a hard perception to change as in the laddering technique later used, we see how fashion and trendiness are very important considerations when selecting apparel.

Design

One of the recurring themes in the words associated with Hang Ten was design. The type of associations falling under design include "ugly", "outdated", "common", "square" and "low class".  All of which imply Hang Ten apparel as being aesthetically unappealing. The use of the word "common" and "boring" conveyed to us that people are not keen to look like one another. They are all looking for ways to diversify their look.

As a result, Hang Ten's approach in providing coloured polo-tees of the same pattern but different colours, although practical, is not well-received because no one wants to buy the same garment of the same design in ten different colours. Thus, there is a need for Hang Ten to diversify their product offerings.

Brand Personality

We next asked respondents to imagine if Hang Ten became a real person. Following this, we asked what Hang Ten's personality would be like? We did little probing unless they stopped talking. This was to ensure as much free flow as possible. Some probing questions were: Close to family? Favourite hobby? Like to go parties? What kind of job? Favourite sport? and many more. 

With these responses, we formulated an identity and decided to showcase it through the usage of Facebook. Please click the image below for the personality of Hang Ten. 

Laddering

Laddering

Through laddering, we explored some of the underlying motivations customers have when they purchase apparel. One of the main insights gained was with regards to clothes not simply being clothes but an expression of identity. This is similar to what we understood from the free association techniques but the insights delved deeper into the customer's feelings and judgment about Hang Ten.

"Clothes help me make a statement"

The common sentiment shared by our respondents was that clothes represented an important expression of their identity. They believe that clothing has come a long way from being just a need to protect one's modesty. For the younger generation, clothing is essential as it determines if one is part of the "in group" or "out group". As a result, design and trendiness is of upmost importance. Affordability and quality is often a bonus. Hence, we use Marslows Hierarchy of Needs to contextualize our findings.

After the laddering exercise, we realised that respondents see Hang Ten as fulfilling the two most basic Marslows needs; physiological and safety and security needs. This is because what respondents defined as Hang Ten's biggest value proposition is "value for money" clothing. When asked why they felt that way, they explained that the frequent sales promotions at Hang Ten outlets "cheapened" the clothing and made it unappealing.

Bearing in mind that Singapore is a relatively price-conscious society, we asked respondents if "value for money" is sufficient to make them a heavy or moderate user of Hang Ten but many were quick to say no. A few explained that having affordable clothing is good but they do not mind spending a bit more to get clothing that suits their personality and individual styles.


 Hang Ten, they felt, was too generic and they would not feel special wearing the design and so spending money on Hang Ten, even if it may be a sale, would not be worth it as they don't see themselves using the clothes often.

Hang Ten too casual for casual occasions

In the interview many agreed that Hang Ten falls under the casual clothing brand. So we asked respondents what kind of "casual occasions" do they see themselves wearing Hang Ten. Some of the responses were to the market, to bed, to the beach and maybe to get a quick bite from under the a hawker center.

When asked if they would wear it out to other casual events like shopping to school, casual Fridays at work or a friends birthday lunch, we received mixed responses. However, from the body language and hesitation in some of their responses, it is unlikely that they would deliberately buy a Hang Ten top to wear to these occasions. They felt it was too casual and lacked personality. 


When probed further as to why, since it is just a casual outing after all, some said that the clothes are not a good fit and that they can get something better for a cheaper price. Others changed their mind and said they may wear Hang Ten if it was convenient to find but these responses may be likely due to social desirability.

Hang Ten an "Aunty" brand

In the midst of the probing questions, we managed to elicit some responses as to who the respondents felt Hang Ten may be targeting. Many were believed that Hang Ten was not targeting them, but "Aunties" who were looking for a cheap buy, for children whose parents buy their clothes for them and for festive events like National Day. 


A few admitted that they buy Hang Ten Singapore-themed shirts due to its simple, understated designs. Since many of our respondents felt they did not fall into the target market, they thought it was alright that they were not fond of the Hang Ten brand. They were, however, sure that the "masses" and "heartlanders" who were less conscious of their appearance, liked the brand a fair bit.

Disconnect between brand positioning and customer perception

Laddering has led to interesting discoveries as it paints a very different image of Hang Ten as compared to the brands original positioning. The Hang Ten brand is actually positioned as a youthful brand. Their posters tell us that they aim to be trendy, fashionable and fun. Also, the "value for money" image is not necessarily true. 


Although Hang Ten has a number of sales, the clothing average SGD 35.90 for tops and SGD 59.90 for bottoms, making them comparable in price to other casual clothing brands like Giordano and Cotton On. It is thus interesting that respondents consider Hang Ten a "cheap" brand but Giordano and Cotton On as casual-cool.

Armed with these exploratory research findings and understanding, we proceeded to create a quantitative survey.

Quantitative Research

Following our qualitative research, we administered an online survey to 40 respondents from 27 to 30 August 2010 to further our understanding of how consumers perceive Hang Ten and to compare these findings with our initial implicit study of the brand on the basis of Brand Awareness, Image and Relationship.

Respondents’ Profile

Gender profile is equally spread as Hang Ten does not specifically target any gender. The younger group, 21 to 30 years old, forms the bulk of the respondents, followed by 31 to 40 years old. Hang Ten targets predominantly the younger crowd, and consequently, students or the newly employed, who are generally more prudent and thrifty since they are assumed to have lesser disposable income.

However, due to our team’s limited network and the short time period, most of the students surveyed are from Singapore Management University and might display similar characteristics associated with the institution, e.g. SMU students are less price-conscious, thus making results slightly skewed. But since Hang Ten’s targeted segment also consists of this group, they can provide greater insights to what Hang Ten is doing well, and reveal what the brand lacks to drive their decision and consumption.

Stay tuned!

Brand Awareness

First, we wanted to investigate the strength of Hang Ten in consumers’ memories to find out if Hang Ten was a brand that would come to mind in various situations and the ease with which it does given different cues. We asked our survey respondents a series of questions that covered Indirect and Direct Recognition, and Unaided and Aided Recall.

“Identify the brands of each logo.”
“Fill in the missing letters to identify the brands.”
“Write down any brand names that come to your mind.”
“When you think of casual clothing, write down the brand names that come to your mind.”

Hang Ten performs relatively high in terms of recognition. Consumers recognize the iconic two-feet logo and most are able to identify the brand name even with missing letters. It is clear that the recognizable brand name and logo will play an important and redefining role in Hang Ten’s future marketing and communications. We turn to Recall to further explore consumers’ cue retrieval.

Respondents were required to retrieve Hang Ten brand elements from memory. This proved to be a more demanding task for them, as Hang Ten did not appear in unaided recall. However, when cued with the product category, “casual clothing”, Hang Ten was Top-of-Mind 3 times and Top 3 recall 11 times out of 40 responses, making it the second highest recalled brand behind Giordano.

Hence, the association that respondents have from product attribute cue “casual clothing” with Hang Ten is relatively strong. Overall, Hang Ten is performing relatively well on awareness breadth but could improve in depth.

Brand Image

In order to tap into the STRENGTH, FAVOURABILITY and UNIQUENESS of brand associations, we asked our survey respondents to answer the following three questions:

“To what extent do you feel the following product characteristics are descriptive of Hang Ten?”

“How good or bad is it for Hang Ten to have the following product characteristics?”

“How unique is Hang Ten in terms of the following product characteristics?”

There were 7 attributes that our respondents had to rate - Trendy Designs, Quality of Apparels, Value for Money, Comfort of Apparels, Brand Reputation, Variety of Apparels and Convenience of Outlet Locations. 

If you have taken our survey (thanks!) you would have seen these questions. We hope you did not have too hard a time answering them!

Out of 40 respondents, the highest rated attribute that Hang Ten is strongest in is its convenience of outlet locations around Singapore. The second and third rated attribute are value for money and comfort of apparels. This shows that Hang Ten is quite successful in establishing its Points of Parity with its competitors.

However, trendy designs and variety of apparels were rated last as Hang Ten’s strengths. This clearly indicates a problem segment that needs to be addressed.

As for rating the brand attributes based on favourability - "how good will it be for Hang Ten to have these attributes", we see that respondents predictably gave high scores to all the attributes. Of them, trendy designs and comfort were the highest rated. Respondents were not so concerned about brand reputation and variety of apparels.

Finally, the factors that made Hang Ten stand out in its uniqueness are its value for money offerings and the convenience of outlets location. Once again, trendy designs and variety of apparels were rated last.

From the brand association results, we have identified areas where Hang Ten are strong in, and especially weak areas that have to be addressed. In particular, there is a mismatch between consumers’ expectations of trendy designs (evident in the Favourability result) and what Hang Ten offers; a gap that our team should address to build brand equity.

Brand Relationship

To evaluate the brand relationship that customers have with Hang Ten, we collected data regarding past purchase behavior and intended future purchases of 40 respondents. The following questions were asked.

“In the past 6 months, how many times have you purchased from Hang Ten, Giordano & Bossini?”

“How many times have these purchases been from Hang Ten?”

Here are the following results from the responses collected.

Past Purchase Behaviour

From the table above, we can identify the following major trends:

1) Most people buy casual clothing 2 to 3 times in 6 months (blue bars)

2) People only buy from Hang Ten an average of 1 to 2 times (green bars)

3) People who buy casual clothing 4 times in the past 6 months bought from Hang Ten 60% of the time, while those who bought casual clothing once in the past 6 months did not buy from Hang Ten at all.

Intended Future Purchases

We asked our respondents these questions next:

“In the next 6 months, how many times will you be purchasing from Hang Ten, Giordano & Bossini?”

How many times will these purchases be from Hang Ten?”

From the results, we observed:

1) Of the 7 people who said they will be making 1 purchase in the next 6 months, all of them said they would be buying from Hang Ten. This signifies a group of loyalists albeit small in size and makes few purchases.

2) Most people say they will be buying casual clothing 3-4 times in the next 6 months. We can accrue that to the poor economic climate and other factors such as increased competitors and inflation.

3) Across all groups, people will only buy from Hang Ten at most once in the next 6 months. This signifies a problem with intended purchase and loyalty.


With the collective results from our Qualitative and Quantitative studies, we are ready to embark on our next step- Identifying our brand challenge. Keep your mouse on this page! 

The Heat is On

The Competition

In the current casual apparel market, Hang Ten faces off against two other major competitors Bossini and Giordano, as well as other smaller or non-direct competitors such as Baleno, GAP and Esprit. 

 



Established in 1981 at Hong Kong, Giordano is one of the best known and established apparel retailers in the Asia Pacific region. As of January 2008, it employs more than 11,000 people and operates 1800 stores worldwide in 40 countries, truly a "World Without Strangers". 

Giordano owes its success to constant innovation and its resulting first-mover advantage. Combining quality and comfort at affordable prices, Giordano provides a wide range of fashion essentials for men, women and children. The brand emphasis is on simplicity of styles and clean lines with a minimalist attitude.

 



Headquartered in Hong Kong, Bossini launched its first retail outlet in 1987. Over the past two decades, it rapidly established an extensive international operating platform and distribution network and successfully expanded its business to 33 countries & regions around the globe, with its five core markets of Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Bossini's use of edgy and colorful images, as well as aggressive licensing agreements with motion picture characters such as from "Madagascar" and "The Smurfs", has earned it a certain standing among youths in the region. It's "Be Happy" slogan goes along perfectly with its position.

Points of Parity

Basic Product Offering
All three brands compete in the same product category - casual clothing for men, ladies and children. To add on, all brands use 100% cotton as the material for their core products.

Price Range
Giordano, Bossini and Hang Ten all offer mid-to-low pricing for similar products including basic pieces like polo tees and crew-neck tees with occasional seasonal discounts for festive events like National Day or Hari Raya. There is, however, a very slight price difference, with Hang Ten being the cheapest and Giordano the more expensive choice.

Distribution Channel
A quick market visit showed us that all three brands have similar outlet locations in both residential and city areas, with similarly friendly and helpful service staff. Online shops are not currently offered by any.

Points of Difference
Brand Origin
Both Giordano and Bossini are brands originating from Hong-Kong, while Hang Ten was  born in 1960 San Diego, California, as the world's first surf-wear brand.

Product Range
Other than casual clothing essentials, Hang Ten also  offers surf-wear and accessories for sale. In the US, Hang Ten also sells a range of sports apparel.

Discount Strategy
Another noticeable difference amongst the three brands are the promotions. All three brands offer regular storewide percentage discounts but Giordano and Bossini stand out by attracting customers with free items for their purchases (e.g. Bossini has a "Spend over $150 and get a Smurfs bag free" promotion).

Store Layout
Giordano stores are more organized, with their merchandize displayed on proper shelves. Bossini and Hang Ten often have large bargain bins outside the store entrance, presenting a more wholesale bargain store image in line with their value-for-money positioning. This, however, might seem haphazard to the passing customer.

Current Assessment

Hang Ten did not sufficiently emphasize its points of parity (e.g. 100% cotton material), thus resulting in it being perceived as inferior to the other brands. The emphasis on Hang Ten's lower prices further compounds this 'cheap' image.

Meanwhile, it failed to communicate and leverage its points of difference, especially in terms of brand origin and its product range, causing the misconception of Hang Ten being a local, strictly casual clothing brand.

Hang Ten in Singapore

Positioning

Hang Ten Singapore, with its We’re Hang Ten slogan currently positions itself as a value-for-money retailer of casual apparels. The current brand mantra can be summarised as: comfortable, affordable, simple.

Segmentation & Targeting 

Geographic
Hang Ten operates 29 retail stores throughout Singapore, with a higher concentration in heartland areas.

Hang Ten Singapore Outlets

Demographic
- Age group     : 20-40

- Nationality     : Singaporean

- Race             : Chinese

- Occupation   : Clerical, non-executive, students on budget

- Economic      : Middle to lower income 


Psychographic

- Values simplicity and comfort over branded goods.

- Financially-conscious

- Non-aspirational/non self-expressive; 

Consumer Profile 

The target audience likes good deals and do not splurge on luxury items often. They can be described as conservative, prudent and careful, and are ultimately quite comfortable with themselves. They do not see the need to extend their individual representation with loud or flashy brands.

The customers are geographically spread around Singapore, with a higher concentration in heartland areas like Tampines, Jurong East and Toa Payoh. 

Typical Hang Ten Consumer Profile

 

Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid

The Story Behind

1959: A Humble Beginning

Californian surfer Duke Boyd asked a seamstress, Doris Boeck to create a "board-short" capable of withstanding the rigors of surfing. The now-familiar two-feet logo was sewn to the bottom of the trunks. The symbol stands for the best move in surfing — to hang ten toes over the nose of a surfboard.

1962: Birth of an Industry
Finding the board-shorts popular among surfers, the Hang Ten label is then introduced to the consumer market for the first time. Consumers identify Hang Ten as a cool, California,  authentic, surf garment, and the American surfwear industry was born.

1967: Beyond Borders

Hang Ten licensed an overseas manufacturer for production and distribution in New Zealand, Japan and South Africa, becoming the first surf-wear label to establish itself in international markets.

Present Day:

Hang Ten operates store across the world in countries such as Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, Mexico, Malaysia, Pakistan and Taiwan. Hang Ten licensing expands to 72 countries with 400 stores worldwide and sales of over $720 million. Operation in Asia is largely controlled by Hang Ten Group Holdings Ltd., a Hong-Kong based company separate from the American entity.