Introduction to Assignment 5

Assignment 5 aims to identify the economic value of the Hang Ten brand to the business by measuring the extent to which the brand helps to drive sales in the respective market segments.

To gain a complete understanding of the brand's value, we employed a 5-stage valuation process. These are:

Stage 1: Identify Hang Ten Singapore's consumer segments based on current sales contribution.

Stage 2: Estimate each segment's expected growth in the near future based on the proposed changes in Hang Ten's marketing program, described in Assignment 4.

Stage 3: Determine how much each segment's purchase decisions are affected by brand-name (as compared to other factors such as price) using the RBI (role-of-branding index) measure.

Stage 4: Evaluate Hang Ten's brand strength through the Brand Strength Analysis to calculate the discount rate on the Hang Ten brand.

Stage 5: Based on each segment's size, expected growth, RBI and Hang Ten's discount rate, we finally calculate future brand earnings per consumer segment, which gives us Hang Ten's current brand value.

Follow the links above to find out Hang Ten's current brand value!

Stage 1: NOPAT & % of Sales by Segment

In stage 1 of the brand valuation process, there are two key pieces of information that we derived, the Net Operating Profits After Taxes (NOPAT) and the percentage of sales by segment. These numbers form the basis of calculating Hang Ten's financial value.  

NOPAT

Hang Ten's NOPAT was taken from Hang Ten Group Holdings Limited Annual Report 2011 at SGD 2 276 820 (HKD 12.6 million).

% of Sales by Segment

Four key segments were identified as seen in the table. Identifying these segments were a result of both the quantitative and observatory research conducted by our team over the course of the past few assignments. From this research we uncovered the interests and motivations of these different groups as well as their buying pattern in-store. Subsequently, we extrapolated these consumption patterns into % of sales estimation.

Price-conscious individuals: This group formed the highest sales segment. Based on observatory research they were the group most seen in Hang Ten stores and this was no surprise as their motivations match Hang Tens promotion strategy.

Working adults who value simplicity and comfort: The second highest sales segment was identified based on their appearance and demeanor. They often gravitated to a more expensive collection than the first segment which indicated their higher spending power.

Youths looking for casual apparel: The youth segment is one of the smallest seen in store. Past research as indicated Hang Ten is not a strong brand for them and purchase intentions is dismal.

Events-specific purchases: While the events-specific segment may be smallest in absolute terms, this was due to the minimal number of events supported by Hang Ten. The main event was National Day and Hang Ten experienced note-worthy sales as respondents preferred Hang Ten's simple designs over competitors Giordano and Bossini.

Stage 2: Financial Analysis

Armed with segmentation percentage of sales, we next assess the levels of growth of the different segments after initiating the new and revamped branding and marketing campaign.

Youth & Working Adults segments expected to lead growth

The segments expected to grow the most over the next five years are the youth and working adults segments at 10% and 6% respectively. This is mainly due to the targeted marketing campaign that will change perceptions of Hang Ten as a young, trendy and casual brand for them. The integrated marketing communications will seek to appeal to these segments and thus, improve growth.

Price-conscious & Events-specific segments forecast to grow marginally
On the other hand, the segments expected to grow the least are the price-conscious and events-specific segments at 4% and 2% respectively. As there will be less aggressive marketing pull for the price-conscious individual, we expect growth to slow. We also factor in the possibility of Hang Ten losing some of the segment due to a misalignment between price-conscious expectations and Hang Ten's new image. However, we must also consider the projected organic growth with Singapore's aging population and influx of foreign workers that will still push the segment to experience marginal increase. Event-specific segment is also projected to grow marginally as a result of organic growth in Singapore's population over the next five years.

Hence, using % of sales per segment and respective growth rates, projected sales at the end of the 5th year are estimated at $1.4 million for price-conscious, $800,000 for working adults, $550,000 for youth and $250,000 for events-specific segment.

Stage 3: Role of Branding Index (RBI)

In this step, we are examining the role Hang Ten plays as a brand in driving demand for its products in the market. The figures that we attribute to the RBI of the 4 segments are an indication of the proportion of intangible earnings attributable to the brand.

For example, the RBI for Youths looking for casual apparel is 40%, which means that if in 2010, Hang Ten had $1 million from the youth segment, $400,000 of the earnings can be said to be “earned by the brand”.

Segments	RBI (%)
A)     Price-conscious individuals ("Aunties", "uncles", foreign workers)	10
B)     Working adults who value simplicity and comfort	20
C)     Youths looking for casual apparel	40
D)     Events-specific purchases (e.g. National Day)	15

In determining the figures for RBI, we conducted secondary research, and re-looked at the qualitative and quantitative studies done previously. The main results of the studies are as follows. It must be noted that the value of RBI for Hang Ten is relatively low because this is a brand that

Segment A: Price-conscious individuals are not as concerned about the brand as about the price of the products. Therefore, we can expect high price elasticity of demand, but that is not the case for brand.

Segment B: Similarly, for working adults, the brand does not matter to them as much as the comfort of the apparel. There is a distinction between Segment A because we expect the latter to be more stringent about prices.

Segment C: We believe branding will have the most impact on youths because they value emotional and social qualities the most and this touches the highest stage of CBBE. If a brand is able to make the wearer feel good, popular and induce positive judgment and feelings, the RBI of the brand will be very high. Currently, Hang Ten is not beyond salience yet, hence our rebranding efforts that aim to build brand equity.

Segment D: Events-specific purchases are usually sporadic, therefore, we do not attribute a high score as the absolute amount of sales are relatively low.

Stage 4: Brand Strength

Next, we implement a Brand Strength Analysis to determine the brand risk and discount rate attached to our brand. This provides us greater insights regarding the net present worth of Hang Ten.

There are 7 elements which we need to explore and evaluate to obtain a final value tagged to the brand strength of Hang Ten:

1) Leadership
The ability of Hang Ten to obtain market share and function as a market leader amongst the casual apparel industry. This is lowly rated at 3 because Hang Ten is not a market leader. It is a highly competitive industry with main competitor, Giordano, leading the segment.

2) Stability
Hang Ten's ability to hold on to customer loyalty and retain its brand image amongst consumers over a long period of time. Considering that breadth of brand awareness and its "value-for-money" proposition is relatively strong in the price-conscious consumers' minds, Hang Ten performs relatively well in this respect scoring 6.

3) Market
This measures if the casual apparel market Hang Ten competes in is stable and growing with ample opportunities and high entry barriers to ward off competitors. We rate this lower at 3 because the casual apparel market is saturated with many players competing for share

4) International Image
The extent to which Hang Ten has an international image, which would help boost its status as a strong and quality brand, through a wide presence in foreign markets and active exporting. Given that Hang Ten is headquartered in Hong Kong with ASEAN presence, Hang Ten's internationality is not in question. However, the Singapore market does not seem to believe its international image, hence, the lackluster brand image and performance. With these considerations, we scored Hang Ten a 5.

5) Trend
Hang Ten's ability to remain relevant and up to date with consumers' tastes and preferences. Currently, Hang Ten has much to improve on trendiness and relevance. A conservative estimate puts Hang Ten at 3 in this respect.

6) Support
The extent to which the Hang Ten brand receives organisational support through investment and advertising to help build and sustain the brand. Unfortunately in Singapore, the Group does not provide much resources and focuses instead on its bigger South Korean, Taiwan, Hong Kong markets. Resource leverage is low and so support is rated 3.


7) Protection
The strength of Hang Ten's legal protection of its trademark. Hang Ten scores high on this with 8 because its brand elements are controlled by Hang Ten Group Limited in Hong Kong and has a robust legal protection system.

As we can see, Hang Ten's current brand strength is poor and has a lot of room for improvement. This in turn results in a high discount rate which means that there is a high opportunity cost of capital in investing in Hang Ten.

Stage 5: Hang Ten Singapore Brand Value

In the last stage we use the future brand earnings, calculated from % of future sales per segment and RBI, to derive net present value of future earnings and discount the earnings with discount rate found from brand strength. The resulting figure gives the final estimate of Hang Ten Singapore's brand value.

Brand value is relatively low, mainly due to the belief that Hang Ten, as a brand, has not yet fully reached its potential to influence consumers. This shows us that there are plenty of areas to improve on, for example, Hang Ten's international image, trend and support from the Group.

Conclusion
Through the brand valuation process we realize that although it is essential to financially analyze the brand and its contribution to the business, it is equally vital not to merely slap digits on brands and conclude whether it is a failure or not based on absolute numbers. A comparison between initial and future valuation of the brand or that of competitors' could be a good indicator of the brand's real position. Ultimately, the branding process is a long-term relationship building with consumers and therefore it remains a challenge to standardize valuation. After all, it is every marketers dream to hear a consumer say, I love this brand! which might or might not be translated wholly into brand valuation.

With the brand valuation, we are coming close to the end of our branding journey project with Hang Ten. Keep your mouse on this page all you Hang Ten-lovers!!

Introduction to Assignment 4

The main aim of Assignment 4 is to address the tactical and strategic gap identified in Assignment 3 by choosing and developing one of our three proposed solutions. The assignment will identify and rationalize the chosen solution by examining it in greater depths and developing it into a marketing campaign that will both address and reconcile the gaps identified.

The overview outlines the thought process that we took in evaluating Hang Ten's current marketing programme in conjunction with our proposed marketing campaign.

Overview
(1) Rationale of chosen solution
(2) Analysis of current Hang Ten brand elements
(3) Exploration of Integrated Marketing Programmes
(4) Elaboration and Evaluation of Suggested marketing programmes 

Enjoy!

Our Solution

From our qualitative and quantitative studies, we discovered an evident disconnect between brand positioning and brand image. In order to bridge the gap between the two, we have decided to adopt the strategy:

Retaining Positioning and Identity, 
but Altering Marketing Mix

Rationale

We expect to garner highest returns from this solution. Based on previous research, we concluded that Hang Ten’s consumers rank trendiness as the top factor in the favorability study, but trendiness was ranked last in terms of its role as a contributing factor to the strength and uniqueness of the brand.

Thus, with our strategy to promote Hang Ten as a trendy and youthful brand, we aim to improve its image and standing in the minds of consumers, and have it translated to heightened brand awareness and better sales.

We will be able to leverage on existing knowledge, to learn from competitors who are performing better in terms of their channel, product and communications strategies.

Risks Involved

Of course, implementation failure could occur when the customers are not receptive towards the brand revamp. This happens most often when a company undergoes a brand revamp, abandoning the loyal customers who are skeptical about the change. As such, Hang Ten will need to proceed with caution to not alienate these customers.

Feasibility of Strategy

However, this strategy is still the most feasible, because of the following four reasons:

1. Hang Ten would be able to capitalize past strengths, while improving the current marketing mix to strength brand equity.
2. Minimum cost will be incurred in implementing this strategy, because it requires the least overhaul.
3. As examined previously, the strategy involves the least risk, as it does not lead to a misalignment of internal company goals and drastic changes to the brand positioning and identity.
4.  We will be able to avoid any external conflict of interests of operational or copyright issues with the Hang Ten USA counterpart.

With this rationale in mind, the following entries will delve into our team's recommendations and marketing plans for revitalizing Hang Ten.

Brand Elements Decisions

Brand elements are the trademarkable devices that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. Since positioning and identity remains unchanged, the main brand elements of Hang Ten will not be altered to maintain a consistent brand story. We evaluate the overall memorability, meaningfulness, likability, transferability, adaptability and protectabilitty of Hang Ten's brand elements below.

1. "Hang Ten" brand name & logo

As suggested from previous research, Hang Ten's breadth of awareness is evident. Consumers can recognize the brand easily with its memorable, iconic two-feet logo. It is the same brand name and logo the Group uses, making these elements protectable and transferable. Hence, we recommend brand name and logo remain unchanged to leverage these strengths.

2. Slogan: "We're Hang Ten"

The current slogan is transferable as all regional Hang Ten stores in Asia employ it. The slogan plays off the brand name to create awareness and reinforce it in consumers' minds. Although it does not summarize the descriptive information of product offerings, it suggests inclusiveness and a sense of belonging. Coupled with our proposed marketing strategy, we will construct a friendly and approachable association in line with its image, making the slogan more meaningful.

3. URL website: http://www.hangten.com.sg  
The existing link is clear in defining the brand name and region. It is also protectable and meaningful. Possible Internet naming will follow such convention to ensure consistency and quick identifiability.

Exploring the different marketing programs

1. Price

Price is the revenue-generating element of the marketing mix and price premiums are the most important brand equity benefits of building a strong brand. Prices can play multiple roles to the consumer, such as signaling value or quality and competitive pricing. There are two main pricing strategies:

Value pricing aims to strike a right balance of product quality, product costs and product prices that fully satisfies the needs and wants of consumers and firm’s profit targets. Despite increasing competitive pressure on cheaper prices, a strong brand can still command price premiums if consumers value perceptions remain high. 
   

Everyday Low Pricing (EDLP) focuses on maintaining a consistent set of “everyday” base prices on products, encouraging consistent consumption and hence, higher brand loyalty. It is seen as a complementary pricing approach to determine nature of price discounts and promotions over time. 

In addressing the strategic gap, we will not alter Hang Ten’s current pricing strategy. In line with Hang Ten’s emphasis on “value for money” prices are kept low. Value pricing contributes to the consistent demand for Hang Ten’s products and remains affordable for its target market and retains Hang Ten’s competitive. It is the communication of pricing that will be adjusted to shift from “discount”-image to “value”-image to build Hang Ten’s brand equity.

 2. Product

When it comes to the Product element, Hang Ten needs to consider not just the tangible clothes apparel that is being sold, but also the perceived quality and value and brand intangibles that are associated with their products. Products should offer functional benefits and also provide process and relationship benefits to best meet consumers' needs. Hence, besides providing quality clothes apparel, Hang Ten should also consider the following aspects:

Process benefits emphasizes increasing the perceived quality and value of the products by ensuring that customers have easy access to product information and broad product selection. This helps in the customers’ decision-making process.

One possible source of product information is their own website. Currently, Hang Ten Singapore’s website lacks product information and there is no other avenue to deliver the relevant product information other than through the stores themselves. Hence, Hang Ten can consider utilizing their website as a source of information through the use of catalogues.

Relationship benefits focuses on fostering loyal consumers. One method to do that is through loyalty programmes. Currently, Hang Ten offers ‘Hang Ten’ membership with every $30 spent, but they fail to publicize this. Hang Ten can consider concentrating more on the differentiated loyalty rewards and communicate them properly.

3. Place

The ‘place’ component refers to the channels of distribution where Hang Ten products are being sold. The plethora of department stores, retail stores, web-shops, etc. can be categorised into two major channel types:

Direct channels are where products are offered to end-consumers without the use of any intermediaries or third-party retailers and distributors such as company-owned stores, company website, phone or a physical sales force.

Indirect channels are where products are offered to end-users with the help of intermediaries, i.e. department stores and retailers that assist sales with functions such as bulk-breaking, customer matching and risk-bearing. 

Hang Ten Singapore operates its own company-owned stores across island-wide, and maintains a presence in selected department stores (e.g. BHG). With its recurring discounts, it is evident that Hang Ten employs a strong ‘push’ strategy to move its products through the channels.

Hang Ten’s indirect channels, however, contribute little to its already strong brand awareness and emphasis should thus be placed on strengthening the brand experience instead. The ability to customise store layout and décor to strengthen its image and support marketing communications make company-owned stores a better tool to achieve this aim.

 4. Promotions

The overall promotions mix consists of many complex elements that are explored below:

Advertising

Advertising can potentially bridge the gap between Hang Ten’s identity and image and build brand equity. Hang Ten needs to choose the right type of media collaterals and target the accurate avenues of advertising.

Hang ten currently employs only the use of outdoor advertising; posters in-store. Though it is highly repeated and easily noticed, exposure time in consumer eyes is far too short and the posters are forgettable with no clear message. Furthermore, the people that see the posters are most often already Hang Ten customers. 

As mentioned in assignment 3, this collateral lacks description of what Hang Ten stands for, and does not tell the consumers anything. There is no product info or brand statement, and the ambiguous “We’re Hang Ten” does no better.

Hang Ten’s offering of trendy, simple, relatively cheap, substitutable and basic shirts, meanwhile, makes it a low-involvement purchase decision. Companies in this category typically take advantage of using celebrity endorsements to support their collaterals. 

Other than improving the collaterals, we believe that Hang Ten should employ more visual, visible and interactive avenues. This automatically rules out the use of Radio and means that they should employ the use of print media and interactive forms of advertising. We have removed television as it is very expensive and our target market, the young adults and youths, are watching television less and less.

Sales Promotions

Sales promotions are another possible type of promotions which Hang Ten can undertake and would entail providing short-term incentives in order to encourage trial or usage of their products. There are two types of sales promotions: 

• Consumer promotions

Consumer promotions consist of strategies such as samples, demonstrations, coupons and refund offers and are designed to change the choices, quantity or timing of consumers’ product purchases. Out of these, Hang Ten could consider implementing discounts, coupons and refund offers which could increase sales. However, we feel that this would end up diluting the Hang Ten brand and exacerbate current challenges, reinforcing the cheap, washed-out local brand perception consumers already hold.

• Trade promotions

Trade promotions are not relevant as Hang Ten operates their own company-owned shops and do not need to consider providing any financial incentives or discounts to retailers and distributors.

Events Marketing and Sponsorship

Public sponsorship of events or activities, art, entertainment or social causes that are relevant and in sync with the brand image can be considered. If the appropriate events are chosen, Hang Ten can successfully identify themselves with their target segment, increase brand awareness and generate positive consumer perceptions about key brand associations. This method also helps create experiences and evoke feelings amongst consumers, enhancing corporate image dimensions and ultimately, deepening their relationship with their target segment.

Although coverage may not be as wide as other promotions methods, this limitation is mitigated by the importance of our priority to convey brand identity to our target segment. Events marketing and sponsorship is high on contribution unlike sales promotion which may end up diluting the brand or projecting a negative brand identity. Even though the cost of event marketing and sponsorship would be fairly high, it is a worthwhile investment and could reap substantial benefits by boosting awareness and creating strong brand associations in the minds of target consumers.

 

Social Media

Hang Ten can consider Social Media as a new addition to the integrated communications mix with a choice of several outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs and mobile phones applications.

The proliferation of social media platforms for marketing purposes has seen tremendous growth over the past few years, allowing companies to reach out to their target audiences and share information easily with anyone with an internet connection. Through social media marketing, Hang Ten would also be able to drive online traffic to their own website while simultaneously branding themselves with positive associations such as modern, trendy and being sociable which would help to boost their brand image amongst youth who embrace social media.

Personal Selling

 

This method uses face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for sales. The personal interaction allows detailed, customized messages to be delivered to consumers and consumers can give direct feedback. A relationship is established between the marketer and the consumer, hence ensuring customer satisfaction and subsequently, brand loyalty.

Although personal selling gives emphasis on the customer and builds positive brand responses, it is too costly and lacks breadth. We do not recommend this method for Hang Ten as it is irrelevant and attempts to enter resonance stage prematurely.

Endorsement

Using well-known and admired people to promote products can attract attention to a brand and shape brand perceptions that consumers infer based on the knowledge they have about the endorser. The celebrity should be popular amongst the target group to improve awareness, image and responses for the brand. A credible endorser would induce a rich set of useful associations, judgments and feelings amongst consumers. 

Hang Ten does not engage celebrity endorsement, hence missing out on a potential positive source of brand equity. If implemented, Hang Ten should strategically select well-known celebrities that are relevant to the brand. There must be a logical fit between the brand and the person, and marketing communications should use the celebrity in creative ways to highlight brand associations and facilitate their transfer.

Proposed marketing programmes and brand campaigns

After exploring and chosing the different posibilities of marketing programs alteration, we have decided on these options to help bridge the gap between our current image and brand identity:

Product Strategy: Product catalogues & after-sales service

Channel Strategy: Improved store experience

Promotion Strategy: Advertisements, events marketing and sponsorship, social media & endorsement

Please continue below or click the links to view our strategy.

Product Strategy

To increase the perceived quality and value of the products without changing the products themselves, Hang Ten can improve the coverage of product and discount information by using product catalogues. The following are page excerpts of Hang Ten's Summer 2011 collection. 

The product catalogue and promotional information will be published on the website. With a revamp of the Singapore website into a more informative and interactive one, this will serve to drive traffic to the webpage, thus product information will be at the centre of attention and improving product perceived quality.

Moreover, Hang Ten can engage in permission marketing by sending catalogues to members of Hang Ten by email. After-marketing services like free alteration can also further strengthen customers’ loyalty. These are low cost but effective ways of retaining customers after the purchase episode.

Channel Strategy (Place)

Hang Ten’s store locations cover most parts of Singapore and so provide it with good visibility and presence. As revealed by our prior research, what Hang Ten needs to do now is to ensure that its store elements, especially layout and product presentation, match its overall marketing programme.

Improving Store Layout:

Promotional products are prominently placed in Hang Ten stores, in a ‘bargain bin’ at the center of the stores. While this helps to push product sales, the store layout could be made more inviting and easy to navigate. The following sample store layout depicts a modern approach towards organizing the flow of the store such that it is more appealing to customers. 

We also recommend a more experiential layout to be adopted to enhance customer experience about the Hang Ten brand and strengthen their imagery perceptions. In the following example, the creative store art and neat presentation of apparel could simultaneously stimulate customers' interest and ease their browsing.

Promotions Strategy

Advertisement
1) Print media

Print media costs less than television and has the potential to have greater and longer exposure. What is important here is to get the message across in three seconds (roughly the time one looks at a print ad). In terms of location, Hang Ten should place posters at areas that young adults frequent (e.g. the stretch of Orchard Boulevard, bus stops). In addition, we recommend advertising in magazines like 8 Days, Cleo and Nylon to capture the young and trendy audience.

Example: Korea’s print advertisements 

Hang Ten should keep media content simple and trendy, in line with their product offerings. As mentioned, the use of celebrities will work well for Hang Ten. The focus is on both the actor and his clothes. Apart from this, there should be elements used in the media collaterals to help give the perspective of different usage situations Hang Ten can be worn. This widens salience.


2) Interactive forms of advertising

Interactive advertising ranges from websites to online advertisements to mobile marketing. However, out of all these, we believe using a good website, and drawing users to their website is the best and most cost effective way of bridging the communication gap.

Hang Ten's Singapore Website: http://www.hangten.com.sg/index.html

Website improvements: Hang Ten’s current website is not only badly designed but is malfunctioning (none of the links work). Its static appearance communicates an unappealing demeanour and does not fulfill its function in engaging consumers. What Hang Ten should do is to employ bright and fresher colours to accentuate their basic and simple image. They should also create a story with the website, so that consumers are enticed to stay on the website and explore.

Example: Hang Ten Korea http://www.hangten.co.kr/hangten/index.asp

Not only providing and emphasizing style, the Hang Ten Korea website also includes pages such as “NEW ARRIVALS”, “STAR photos”, “Hang Ten Diary”, “Events” and even “Brand Story”. They also play videos of interviews with celebrities using Hang Ten. Using a Adobe Flash instead of a HTML website also makes it more interactive. Do visit both websites using the links to have a fuller experience.


Pull of new website: Before we get consumers to stay and interact with the website, we must first get them there. So how does a good website pull viewership? Some simple methods would be to 1) have a lucky draw where customers have to register on their website after a purchase, 2) host a competition on their website where users win a prize or 3) pair up with famous bloggers to publicize the website.


From there, pulling strength would continue if the website is constantly updated with new and relevant information. Thus, both pulling strength and website improvement have to work hand in hand to be effective.


The Advertising Timeline


Overall, we believe that Hang Ten should be selective in advertising because of their constrictive budget. Having not invested much into advertising, the new advertising campaign needs to be well-calculated and planned as a sudden increase in advertising budget could give a heart attack to the group’s director. As such, advertising could be rolled out in this order: Interactive forms of advertising followed by print media. Arranged in decreasing order of interaction and increasing order of visibility, we believe that as consumers become more aware of Hang Ten, image can be reinforced with greater degrees of interactions.

Events marketing and sponsorship

Special launch events:

We strongly recommend special events as a direct touchpoint for consumer engagement. Following Hang Ten's revamped store layout to improve the brand experience, a launch event to create hype is vital to communicate the image to customers. Special invitations will be sent to opinion leaders and Hang Ten members to showcase new collections and store revamp, thus enhancing exclusivity and garnering more interest in the brand.

Sponsoring events:


Hang Ten should follow in the footsteps of successful guerilla brands such as Red Bull and participate in event sponsorship, focussing on identifying special youth events which would help to cement Hang Ten as a brand for youths and young adults.


Some examples are the Singapore Youth Olympics and Singapore Idol, where the participants and viewers are within our target segment.

    

Clothing apparel can be sponsored to the contestants of Singapore Idol and this can help garner greater acceptance of the brand, potentially increase its popularity and alleviate its identity of being trendy and for young adults. For youth sporting events such Youth Olympics and ASEAN games, Hang Ten could sponsor and design uniforms for the volunteers. The Hang Ten brand will be displayed strategically during such sponsorship events. This drives brand recognition and increases exposure in the right environment, thus playing a critical role in Hang Ten's communication mix.


Social Media

Twitter allows users to post a short status update of less than 140 words. It also allows for interactions and sharing of tweets between users. With a Twitter account, Hang Ten would be able to interact and update its supporters directly. The short status updates mean that followers are more likely to read them.

The following are examples of how Hang Ten can utilize Twitter to drive depth of promotions awareness, as well as reviews of their products and marketing events.

With over 800 million active Facebook users, Hang Ten will be able to gather its fans and form a community base of “fans”. As Facebook profiles are more detailed than Twitter, they will be able to provide more information about products, videos, photos and discussion boards where fans can interact with one another.


A good example of a Facebook fan page would be that of our competitor Giordano. In their fan page, Giordano includes their company vision and contact information. They also include photos of their products and events.

We recommend Hang Ten to create their own Facebook page and use it as a platform to educate, engage and retain consumers. Hang Ten could also organize competitions and invite fans to upload photos of them wearing Hang Ten apparel in creative manners, and award a prize to the most creative picture. Through Facebook's sharing feature, this will generate excitement and buzz for the brand.

Hang Ten will be able to engage influential bloggers to write product reviews for Hang Ten’s new seasonal launches. This is very commonly done in Singapore, as popular bloggers such as Xiaxue and Lady Iron Chef do advertorials for cosmetics brands and restaurants. As these blogs get over 30,000 unique readers per day, it will reach a large audience who trust these opinion leaders.

Group Photo at Hang Ten launch event in Manila, Philippines

An example of Hang Ten engaging bloggers in writing product and event reviews would be the Filipino blogger Aisa Paxie. It is a trend and lifestyle blog where she writes about the stores and product launches. In this particular entry, she blogs about attending the Hang Ten store launch in Manila.



As a complementary feature to the previous three social media platforms, we propose that Hang Ten create a smartphone application for users to be kept up to date about the brand’s promotions and special launches. They could also include special promotions for users of their apps in order to drive higher usage and store visits.


An example would be creating a special promotion solely for the smartphone users, to give them a discount when they install the application. As Hang Ten’s target customers are mostly youth who are up to date with trends, marketing through mobile apps would be another avenue to reach out to them.


In summary, social media marketing is relatively inexpensive and it places Hang Ten in direct contact with consumers, allowing them to gain a better understanding of them. As people lean towards multi-platforms, using social media allows us to reach a larger audience and help close the gap between brand image and brand identity.


Endorsement


Similar to Hang Ten’s Korean counterparts, celebrities and youth idols should be engaged to participate in Hang Ten events and featured in media collaterals. This communication speaks directly to the target market comprising of youths and helps them identify with the brand more.


We recommend local celebrity, host and actress, Michelle Chong. Michelle is a well-known actress in her early 30’s who rose to fame in 2007 after her lead role in comedy satire The Noose. The show is rated amongst the most viewed TV shows, attracting not just the older folk who watch TV but young Singaporeans that view the viral videos online.

With Michelle Chong’s high visibility and popularity amongst the target group, Hang Ten would certainly benefit from an association with her. Her reputation as a humorous, trendy actress makes her likeable, making her an ideal Hang Ten brand ambassador.


Hang Ten Singapore could also collaborate to bring in current celebrities who endorse Hang Ten overseas, such as Won Bin and Kim Hyun Joong in Korea. They are very popular young actors that are well loved by Singaporean youths and have an extremely high visibility and favorability.