Le Routard - The communication campaign for 2010

Résumé du document

The name 'Le Routard' might sound very familiar for all French speaking travelers. This brand is basically known for producing a large line of travel guides, and they also have a collection of clothes, shoes and accessories. In our work we will develop all the tools we need to set up a good communication plan for Le Routard's collection of clothes. We have been asked to elaborate a strategic plan of communication for the line of clothes and accessories in January 2010. The current positioning of Le Routard is defined for 'technical clothes for leisure, offering the consumer a good balance between quality and comfort with no fashion effect'. In this positioning they have insisted on the 'technical' function of the clothes. It is one attribute that is significant in the mind of the consumers and for which the brand is as strong as its competitors. We really consider this as an opportunity to develop the brand, as we saw it in our SWOT analysis. We don't totally agree with it's existing positioning. According to us, Le Routard has a confusing positioning. People have a wrong image of what really Le Routard is. That is why we think that a repositioning is needed.

Extraits

[...] Point-of-purchase communications (POP) 3. Exhibitions and trade fairs 4. E-communications 5. Sponsorship 1. Advertising It is an essential tool of the communication channel in our society. Different types of advertising exist. It can be done through displays, magazines, TV, Radio, newspapers, billboards and many others. We can see that it is non-personal mass communication. It helps to have a brand or product known by a lot of consumers. [...]

[...] But the communication goals mainly depend on the product life cycle. First of all to decide which goals we are going to focus on we have to know in which stage we are in the life cycle of the product The product life cycle The clothes of the brand Le Routard are in the first stage: the introduction. The collection Le Routard: - is not at the start of the introduction but more in the middle - doesn't appear for the first time on the market - doesn't make any advertising campaign The brand Le Routard is already known by the public but more for its travel guides or even its travel website So it is important to restart the implementation from the beginning. [...]

[...] The other communication channels are also important because with them we can directly reach our target group. Since the entire campaign touch different people we didn't want to put more money in one type of channel than in the others. But if the budget is different it is also because mass media in general is more expensive Research programme As the brand Le Routard never advertised before we have no idea if the selected advertising channels will be as effective as expected and achieve the designed purposes. [...]

[...] Sellers also told us that consumers take into consideration the fact that a well known brand is a sign of a good quality and so consumers are ready to pay more for good quality clothes. The SWOT analysis Now that we know how le Routard is seen in the outdoor market by consumers, we can make a SWOT analysis of the clothes department of Le Routard. In the SWOT analysis we already see at first sight, that they have a lot of strengths but also a lot of weaknesses to take into account. We also think that if they do any communication campaign, a lot of the weaknesses could be resolved. [...]

[...] When creating our advertisings that we will explain in the next point, we will have to take into account that people first will look at the properties of the product and only after that base their choice on feelings. Our type of advertising will be: - informational ( central route processing) - selective: we will promote the specific brand Le Routard - Theme : create brand attitude 5. Communication channel The different goals explained above need now to be put in practice. Therefore we will use some specific communication tools. A great number of tools exist but not all of them are useful for our case. [...]